Hello from Ethiopia

Hello from Ethiopia! We are at the Jupiter Hotel right now so we have good internet connection. We are totally in love with this country! Every one is so friendly and nice! Of course the highlight of our trip is meeting our beautiful daughter! She is adorable! We got to see her a total of 7 hours :) She is so shy and sweet. Telling her goodbye was one of the hardest things we have ever did. She put her little brown arms tight around our necks and held on for dear life. We said a prayer together and we all had tears. We know that Jesus will keep her safe while we are away. She is so excited to come home to America. And we are so excited to bring her home. I won't be blogging about our trip until we pass court which will not be here in Ethiopia since we don't have our MOWA letter yet. So as soon as we pass court I will tell of our adventures :) Thank you all so much for praying!

Ethiopia Bound

I never thought this day would get here. I still can't imagine that at 6:15 tonight we will load our three donation boxes and our one suitcase into the van and head to the airport. It is so surreal at this point and so many emotions that are taking place. Sad to leave my boys (tears), happy to meet my new daughter...finally, scared about flying across the ocean, saddened at the thought of seeing poverty, scared that I might get sick :( , nervous about hoping I remembered to pack everything and sad that I have to tell my daughter goodbye and leave her there for a couple months. Mix that all together and you can imagine what we feel today.
BUT there is such a peace that we feel just {knowing} that God is already in the next moment of each minute...He's there and He knows that we are nervous, scared, happy, excited. What would I ever do without Jesus.
Or the all you kind people wishing us well and praying for our journey. It means so much to know that people are thinking of us. Keep praying because we have a long week ahead of us.
We arrive in Turkey at 5:00 tomorrow night...not sure what time that is here but thats a 10 hour 45 min flight from Chicago and then we arrive in Addis Ababa at 12:15 am. So it will be dark when we land. Hopefully we can get some sleep at the guest house Sunday night :)
Thank you all so much for being part of this journey. We still have a ways to go. Leaving her will be hard and waiting patiently for embassy will be hard also. But like I said, there is such a peace knowing that God is in control and my life is all His. We are doing this for Him. Its all about Him!

I love you all! Hope you have a good weekend and week :) Please remember us in prayer...I will blog if I can and if not I will blog about each day when we get home Lord willing :)

Packing

*YAWN* The days have been busy and my brain is so tired at the end of the day from all the stuff that goes through it. Carter and my mom colored pictures for Gracie. Carters is the purple little girl that he colored and cut out all by himself. Mom said he worked on it for a hour!
...Getting medical release forms for the Grandparents....Dr.'s name and phone number, boys birthdays and our health insurance information. Hopefully nothing will happen but it is always good to be prepared.
All my "To do" lists....Master list, things to buy list, Grocery list, things to do list....
These are our rolling backpacks that I bought this past winter. We are carrying on our most important bathroom supplies, two outfits, pj's, underwear and books, Bible, snacks, important papers, computer, camera, video camera, and music :) ....its a good thing their rolling! We are only allowed one carry on each.
I'm packed! Britton said, "Thats all your taking??"
Were taking one suitcase and two tubs of donations. I originally thought we would take three tubes but I got smart and decided to take a suitcase so we can bring home gifts and stuff we buy her. Yes that is a iron in the above bin. I wouldn't want to be caught with wrinkly clothes! :)
Brittons going to deflate the soccer balls as soon as we get a air needle.
My sweet boys today at lunch...I've been having alot of tears thinking about leaving them. Oh how I love our precious lunch time moments.
*3 more days to go!!!!! yikes! :)

* We got word today from our case manager. She said that Gracie's family made it to court this morning and gave their approval before the judge. BUT the MOWA (Ministry of Women Affair) letter did not make it. This is not uncommon but it means that there is a possibility that we might have to leave Ethiopia and Gracie would not be our legal daughter. We still go to court but they can't finalize until MOWA gives the letter. Soooo praying that they get their game on! It would be so cool to tell Gracie that she is our daughter! :)

*I will blog one more time probably before we leave. I heard that blogger might not work from Ethiopia and if thats the case I will tell you all about it when we get home! I will be writing in my journal every day and will try to remember detail

*I am always amazed at the love of our God. We keep receiving money towards our adoption in the mail. {{we feel blessed}} Prayers are really the only thing we ask for BUT God knows our every need and is taking care of them. "Thank you God!"

*Gracie~I want you to know how excited we are that we are finally on our way to meet you. You are so worth the wait! Every moment I spent longing to hug you was worth it! I can't wait to kiss you sweet little brown cheeks :) We love you so so much already and we would fly across a hundred oceans to get to you. Looking forward to painting your nails and giving you lots of hugs and kisses. Although still so young, your brothers are so excited to meet you. They pray all the time for you and Carter is looking forward to playing with you outside. Brysen will point to your picture on the china cupboard and say your name. Daddy is looking forward to having a princess and spoiling you...he's a good daddy and you will love him so much. And mommy is looking forward to the lifetime, Lord willing, of having a daughter to do girl things with. We can go get our nails painted together and go shopping and watch girl movies together and so much more that we have to look forward to. We love you! See you soon sweet girl! :) Love Mommy

Put-N-Bay

Our little Filbrun family went to Put-n-bay last weekend. We had so much fun! We relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. My boys waited eagerly Friday morning for Grandpa and Grandmas van to roll up :)
The cousins eating at Taco Bell for lunch
Getting ready to take the ferry ride over to Put-n-bay
My little family minus one
Graydon, Annie, Colton, Chase
The gang minus Mom...the picture is blurry because the boat was rocking back and forth :)
Carter and Aunt Lindsey
Brothers

When we got to the place we were going to stay four little baby birds were just leaving the nest. Bruce unhooked one from the window screen
Our bedroom
Porch
eating area on the porch

Dad rented golf carts for each family!!! :) They were so much fun! We enjoyed putting around the island




So beautiful! It was breathtaking!

Playing at the park
My Carter Britt
Playing down by the lake...the rocks were so cool! Great skipping rocks

swimming


My special husband...the one who needed this relaxing trip the most
My pregnant friend and sister-n-law. So excited to be a Aunt again in September!
Where we stayed
afternoon snuggles....he misses daddy when he's so busy
Puzzle time with Grandma
Story time with Uncle Bruce
One of the kitchens

Family baseball
Batter Brysen :)

The board walk in town
The boys got to sit in this helicopter
swimming at the pool

supper time on the porch
Bruce and Lindsey trying to act like their mouths are not full of food :)
beautiful sunsets

sleepy boys

Outside the candy shop
Carousel rides
Beautiful flowers by the way...we had so much fun! Looking forward to going back and thankful for a relaxing weekend.

*We leave for Ethiopia on Friday! So 5 more days! Packing today and doing laundry :) and giving extra hugs to my boys :(

Hope you all have a great week!