*I am finally ready to start blogging about our trip! But I will have to stop when I get to the days we got to see Gracie. Looking forward to telling you all about our adventure :)
We left our house around 6:15 pm for the airport Friday evening. I had taken the boys around 1:30pm to my moms and laid them down for naps. I tried not to make a big deal about leaving especially to Brysen. I did good at not crying until I got in my van to drive back home. Blake picked us up and took us in our van to the airport.
I was so thankful to get all of our donations in the two tubs and the orange suitcase. Although we had weighed them before left I was nervous about them somehow being overweight or even though the airlines said we didn't have to pay for our luggage I was nervous that for some reason we would have to. One of our {{many}} answered prayers. They went right through for free weighing less then 50 pounds. Blake helped us take all of the luggage inside the airport.
We got through security and found our gate. Someone was announcing that our plane to Chicago would be 45 min late. We decided to go ahead and eat supper because we knew we would be rushed in Chicago to make our plane to Turkey. We didn't want to miss the plane that was going overseas. It was a very little plane to Chicago and the ride was short and fast...45 min to be exact.
When we got to Chicago we ran through the airport. In my head I was thinking this will be good exercise since I will be sitting for the next 11 hours...little did I know! We ran to the tram that took us to the B section which is International part of the airport. Almost right away I noticed people talking different languages and Muslim people. We went back through security and ran right up to the gate. They were calling all passengers on our flight for the last time...another answered prayer...we made it in time. They checked our passports and we boarded. It was dark outside and we were tired. The plane had two seats on the sides and four in the middle. We met the chef!! :) He had a chef hat on and he made quite the food! They served food on Turkey time so they were serving at weird hours.
Right beside us was a family from Missouri. She was originally from the states and he was from Kenya. They had three children and he is the pastor at his little church in Missouri. They were headed back to Kenya for a month to see his family and build a school. It was comforting to me to see them reading their Bibles. They told us they would be praying for us on our journey.
We slept 7-8 hours of our flight. >Another answered prayer. I didn't even take Advil PM like I thought I would. We had such a peace and could feel the prayers. It was SO comforting to know all of our family and friends were praying for us. I had such a peace knowing that God was in total control. I just pictured Him holding our airplane. It was bright and sunny outside but dark as could be inside the plane. They made everyone shut the shades. Lots of different cultures on the plane. Muslim, Indian, African, American and I'm sure there were others. LOTS of babies crying and it was hard not to get annoyed but can you imagine taking a baby on that long of a flight??? :/
Landing into Turkey was beautiful! The water was magnificent and there were sailboats sailing on the sparkling water. I felt so excited and happy. We had made it across the water and we were well rested and we were just excited to be almost to Africa!! Much confusion when we got off the plane! Went to an information desk and they told us to check the screen in 50 min and it should tell when the plane to Addis Ababa was leaving. So we found a little table and ordered a coffee drink. For some reason I was a little leery about drinking it but it tasted so good. NOT $10 worth though.
This was a little Turkish man serving icecream. It was funny to watch him try and get the girls to come buy some of his icecream. He was very busy so it was fun to watch all different kinds of people walk past.
Britton kept checking the screen and finally it said, Turkish Airlines to Addis Ababa....Boarding!! So we walked as fast as we could to gate 211. We went through security again and waited in a room to board our plane for about 15 min.
I got tears in my eyes when I saw the plane that would take us to Gracie. I don't know if it was just because of emotional stress of traveling but I think it was just the realization that this is finally happening. For us adopting mothers this is part of the labor in our hearts.
This is the plane that took us to Africa. >Another answered prayer...God is finally letting this happen!
There were alot of Ethiopians on this flight so that made it fun! I noticed right away and commented to Britton that they were all so friendly and nice. It was a trait of the Ethiopian people I noticed through out our whole trip. It was a nice flight but it seemed a little longer because we were awake most of the flight. It was almost a 7 hour flight.
Food on the plane :/ It was a little scary but i did eat the salmon, mashed potatoes and the roll. It tasted so good because I had not really eaten all day.
Finally we were starting to land. The sunset was like none we had ever seen. Bright red, pink and orange.
My shirt says it ALL! Love did find a way on so many different levels. Finally we were starting to land. It was pitch black outside which was kind of disappointing but thats what you get when you buy the cheapest airplane tickets :) Everyone clapped when we landed. You can tell they love their country.
WE MADE IT!! >Another answered prayer. We were so excited at this point. We went and got our Visas and went through customs. It really was uneventful. Very easy.
Here we are getting our luggage >Another answered prayer! All of our luggage arrived safely and in one piece! We had so much to be grateful for. Then we went back through security...so weird, why would you go back through security to get outside. Oh well we were not arguing at this point. A couple days before we left, Yonatan (Our Guest House Manager) friended me on fb so I would know what he looked like when he picked us up. It was very easy to spot him. We walked out the doors and BRRRR! It was raining and cold! We had no idea it would be cold. It was a good thing we brought some sweaters and jackets. Britton and Yonatan were chatting the whole way to the Guest House which was all of 5 min. It was dark outside so it was a little confusing and weird. They brought all of our luggage upstairs to our room and said goodnight.
Yonatan told us that two of the rooms were full so we tried to be as quiet as we could. We were so tired and our feet were so swollen from sitting so long.
We loved our little room. The bathroom was right next door. We decided to go ahead and unpack so in the morning we could sleep in. It was 1am Sunday morning at this point.
Woah! We brought way to many snacks! We ended up giving most of them away. I made a mental note for next time to bring more clothes and less snacks. When your stomach is a little shaky the last thing you feel like eating is packaged junk food.
We were so thankful to crawl in bed. We felt sorta gross because we didn't take showers so we wouldn't wake the sleeping families. But we fell right asleep thanking God for a safe journey.
*I am writing this in detail because I want to remember every part of our journey so sorry if it gets long :) If you prayed for us or thought of us on this trip we really really appreciate it. We {felt} the prayers. We had such a peace.
Blessings~
