blessed {court trip week 2}

I've been dreading writing this post. The "we're home" post. Somehow it makes it seem so final to put it in words. Like maybe if I don't document it all we can just teleport back to Ethiopia! It's so hard to be back, but it is good to be home. Back to familiarity and family and friends. It's just hard to figure out how to do "normal" without him here. After everything we have seen and experienced, how do we just come back to our luxurious life as if nothing ever happened? I feel incomplete, and a little irresponsible for just living my everyday life without even considering Eliyas. I wonder what he would want for breakfast, will he sleep in? Only a couple months until I find these things out, I hope!

Let me try to recap the last week+... we left off with our trip to Entoto Mountain. It was a sweet time with Eliyas just being a family outside the walls of the orphanage. We fit so perfectly and naturally like we had been doing this family thing for the last 9 years. Over and over, we just keep thinking how blessed we are. We are so thankful God entrusted us to be his parents. He is such a gift. It was neat to see him taking in all the sights and surroundings. 

We spent the next couple of days soaking up time with Eliyas. We learned that he is amazing at any sport or activity he tries. His hand-eye coordination is awesome. He is good with a football, soccer ball, marbles, basketball... we think he will be great at anything he tries. It's so fun to watch him play. His smiles and facial expressions are priceless. He is so expressive. We were savoring our time with him as we knew it was coming to an end all too soon. Our flight was scheduled to leave Monday night, July 29th, and we were both dreading it. 

We got to talk to a man who worked for our agency who said he was the first one to meet Eliyas when he came to the orphanage. He was telling us how amazingly smart and mature he was from day one. We have been thinking the whole time, wow this kid is SO smart, but it's always nice to hear it confirmed from someone else. He told us how Eliyas first came to his office, he opened up his laptop, went straight to Microsoft Word and starting typing his name and his friends' names. He couldn't believe it! We have also been surprised at how well he can work all of our electronics. I keep asking him if he learned it in school but I haven't gotten an answer yet! He also told us that he is such a sweet and friendly boy, is very adaptable, and is very good at expressing his thoughts and feelings. He said because of his personality and characteristics he really thinks he will have a pretty smooth transition coming to America. This was encouraging to hear, but we are expecting and preparing ourselves for some hard days ahead. We are praying that the Lord will prepare his heart for the changes ahead and that God will direct our steps to making it as smooth as transition for him as possible. 

Wiping my tears, such a sweet boy

Monday finally came around and it was time for us to go. We struggled the whole day, we were heartbroken to leave our son. We told him goodbye that afternoon and just didn't feel right, of course, about leaving. As we were saying our goodbyes I was crying, Eliyas pulled toilet paper out of his pocket to wipe my tears. We joke that he probably saw all the tears on the first day and knew he needed to be prepared on the last day. :) When we got back to the guest home we debated staying a little longer or staying through till embassy, but at the last minute decided we better just get in the van and go to the airport. As we were packing our things Chase realized he didn't have his passport or jacket that his passport was in. He must have left it at the orphanage. This was after 7PM and we knew that the doors get locked at 7 and the kids went to sleep, so we knew we weren't going to be able to get back in. Plus, having to go to the orphanage would have been an hour+ detour from the airport and we wouldn't have made our flight. At that point, we just thought we would try to get a flight out a few days later.

We were more than thankful for some extra days with Eliyas. When we went to see him the next day and he ran to us and jumped in Chase's arms, I don't think he had done this before. He was so excited to see us. We were so glad for this bonus time with our sweet boy. We were still trying to get on a flight for later in the week, but were surprised to find out there wasn't a confirmed flight until the 21st!! Neither of us were upset about 3 more weeks with our son, but it was starting to get old living out of a suitcase and eating out every meal. We were told we might be able to get out on standby sooner so we just checked in with the airline every few days to see if we should bother coming to the airport.

In the meanwhile, Eliyas learned how to give eskimo kisses, played lots of football and soccer with Dad, ate a few hamburgers and pizzas with us, and we all just enjoyed the extra family time together. We got to go along to get his passport done at the immigration office (we didn't stand out at ALL there :)) and went to some doctor's appointments with him that we think are for his medical clearance for embassy. We were glad to see these things started so soon! Progress in the right direction!! 

We celebrated Chase's birthday while we were there. That morning, I told Eliyas that it was his birthday and asked if he knew how old he was, he quickly replied, "26!" He asked us on the first day how old we were, and I guess he remembered that Chase was 25. Wow, smart boy! We went to Makush Art Gallery for lunch and picked up a couple of paintings of Harar, where E is from, and had popcorn and cereal for dinner at the guest home. We both wanted something familiar, that wasn't pizza or pasta. We thought we would just be eating a bunch of Ethiopian food while in country, but every restaurant pretty much had pizza, pasta, and hamburgers! Eliyas loves all of those things too, wasn't expecting that! :)

Later in the week, we called the airline again to check on the waiting list and they told us we could get a confirmed flight out at the end of the week! We were hesitant to leave our son, but we knew Chase had to get back to work if someone was going to pay for the next trip to bring him home! We soaked up every last minute with Eliyas and thankfully this goodbye wasn't quite as painful. He has seen the process happen enough to know that families come, and then they go for a while before they come back. I think he was starting to get confused about why we were still there! As hard and terrible as it was to leave, we were comforted knowing that the Lord's timing is perfect and that he is in really good hands. We were so pleasantly surprised by the orphanage he is in. It is very clean and organized, and the children all seem happy and healthy. The director, nannies, and other workers are all really amazing people. You can tell they love those kids and work hard to provide a safe and loving place for them. We are so thankful for these people that have taken care of and loved on our son.

We missed home, familiarity, a schedule, a home cooked meal, surprisingly enough, the Texas heat, and our beds. Having spent 2.5 weeks in Ethiopia I hope I can say I learned some patience, heck, we had to spend 3 hours at the airline ticket office just to get our flight out confirmed! Our driver was with us and laughed that we should be glad we were getting to experience what they have to go through just to get a plane ticket! I told him I should come back a much more patient person. :) 

We both learned a lot on this trip. Neither of us had ever left the country! It was quite the experience for us, we learned a lot about ourselves. I learned that I am a little more high maintenance than I thought, that I need to learn to go with the flow more, and that a hot shower isn't a necessity. I also learned that the amazing man that I married over 7 years ago, is an even more amazing father. He was loving, affectionate, caring, patient, and just the right balance of everything. I am so blessed to do life and family with him, and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives as parents. It was a fun, emotional, exhausting 2.5 weeks together- we haven't spent more than 5 or 6 days off work together since before we were married, it was some sweet time together!

After a 15.5 hour flight, (that I slept 10+ hours of, PTL!) we had a long layover in Dulles and were able to get out and see some of DC! We have never been there before, so it was fun to be able to see some sights! We visited Arlington Cemetery where Chase's grandmother is buried, had lunch in Georgetown, had a DC Cupcake, saw the White House, Washington Monument, and did a LOT of walking. We finally made it home and crashed. Now we're getting things ready for him to come home, and praying that it is no more than 9 weeks. We already miss him like crazy, I don't quite know how I'm going to make it 9 weeks! It helps to know we're not alone. Our agency has a great community that is supportive and helpful throughout all the stages of the process! We are so thankful for the friends we have made along the way. 

We appreciate your prayers during this final waiting stage, the hardest part. Please join us in prayer for the following:
- That Eliyas' little heart is comforted and calmed throughout these weeks. We pray that he knows deep down he is loved and has a forever family and that we are coming back as soon as we can.
- We pray the Lord would start preparing his heart now for the change that is about to take place.
- That we would wait well- always relying on the Lord and trusting in His perfect plan & will.
- Pray that everything that needs to take place over the next 9 weeks happens on time with no hold ups. (We are also praying for a miracle, that he would clear quicker than 9 weeks! There is a certain test that has to happen that takes a minimum of 9 weeks to get the results on... we would love for this to happen quicker!)

Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers for all 3 of us. We have definitely felt them, please don't stop now! 

so far to find you {court trip days 4-5}

we were waiting and praying

and longing to bring you home

Our first official family photo after court! 

 Day 4: We started the day with pancakes, toast, and pineapple juice, then left to see our boy and start our day that would make us officially parents! We spent some time playing with Eliyas that morning, then left for lunch...and eventually court. Something you should know about Ethiopia...there is a thing we call, "Ethiopia time." We have quickly found out what hurried, rushed, and planned lives we live. Because here, a plan is meant to be changed, a schedule isn't a big deal, and if you're supposed to be at court at a certain time, it's not a problem if you're late. I was trying to get a plan nailed down with our guide on this day, explaining that if plan A couldn't be confirmed then we would just go with plan B... his response that we have since heard a few times more, "only heaven knows." 

and then we saw your face

in a moment you were wrapped up in our hearts

The last week has been such a whirlwind I honestly can't remember what time we were supposed to be at court or what time we arrived, (for those of you who know me and my memory...this is a strange occurrence) but I know I was panicking that we were late and we were going to have missed our appointment! We made it up the stairs to the third floor into this waiting room with a bunch of people. Thankfully, we got the hook-up with our agency, or maybe because the orphanage started with an "A", but we were called back immediately and we were out of there in no more than 10 minutes! It was very unofficial seeming for such an official thing... probably the easiest part of the whole process so far! We went in the room with the other AWAA families that had the same court date, the judge asked us all a few questions, and before we knew it she said something to the extent of, "Congratulations, your children are yours!" Some of the most beautiful words we have ever heard! I couldn't hold back tears of joy (there's been lots of those on this trip!) at the thought of our official forever family.

we took a step of faith 

and now here we are

We spent some more time with our son after court, telling him over and over we were officially a family and he was officially our son. A forever family. How I wish I could erase the hurt, pain, and tears from his past and future. Thankful that we have a Father who comforts and holds his heart in His hands. I am quickly being taught that as much as I think I can protect and comfort him, I will fail. So thankful for a God who will never fail him.

will you let me hold you in my arms tonight

i have come so far to find you

so far to find you

We also learned a lot about Eliyas on this day. Some things that were painful to hear, and some things that made my heart soar. We had quickly learned over the last 3 days how smart, caring, mature, easy-going, and loving he was. But to have all of these wonderful characteristics plus lots more confirmed by an outsider who has known him for the last year was so wonderful to hear. We learned he wants to be a doctor when he grows up and his favorite subjects are Environmental Science and English. (He continues to impress us with his English day by day!) We have been told by multiple people on this trip, "You are so lucky." We really are. We are truly blessed by how God has graciously allowed us to be this amazing boy's parents. 

from a world away, i journeyed

just to hold your hand

Day 5: Since we passed court and were officially a family, we were allowed to take Eliyas on an outing! We went to Entoto Mountain and took a tour of something historical. (I honestly couldn't tell you what it was exactly...apparently my brain is kind of mush at this point!) The important thing is we had a beautiful view of Addis and most importantly, we got to spend some special time with our boy!!! It was amazing how easy it was...it was as if we have been doing this for years. So natural, and so wonderful. We went to lunch at one of our favorite places so far, Island Breeze, where Eliyas made quick friends with Eli! Eli and his family are here for court to bring 2 new brothers into their family! We were encouraged that he connected so quickly with someone new that didn't speak his language. They have had a blast together ever since.

you will never be alone again

i've come so far to find you

so far to find you

That's all I've got for tonight... I will try to get the rest of the days out soon. The bottom line is that we are loving life as a family of 3, learning every day, and trusting in the Lord for His timing and His will. We appreciate your continued prayers. Some of the hardest days are ahead and we are leaning on God for strength! 


Zephaniah 3:17The Lord your God is in your midst,

    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing

**lyrics from Casting Crowns' "So Far to Find You"

holding my world in His hands {day 3}

And these are Your days, you give them
All for Your fame and all for Your glorious kingdom
Jesus, You have ordained
All things to dwell in Your purpose

We arranged to get to the orphanage a little earlier this morning. We are trying to squeeze in every possible minute with him while we are here in his country. We considered skipping lunch, but we learned the kids take a nap after lunch, so they needed us to go out for lunch and come back as we have done the last 2 days. (This is amazing, I would love for this to continue once he's home!!!)

So I will not worry or fret
My God is the God who will never forget
All of His goodness and all of His promises
He's holding my world in His hands

We had some real sweet time with our sweet boy today. Today we learned that he knows even more English than he seemed to know yesterday (I think he will end up being fluent by the time he comes home!) and he is opening up to us more and showing more of his cute personality. He is so smart. We just keep looking at each other every day like, "Did he really just say that/do that/understand that?" He is so clever and has the best sense of humor. He knows how to charm us for sure- I don't know how I will say no to that sweet, sweet smile and "Please Mom?" with an Ethiopian accent. He is so expressive. His facial expression, hand gestures, acting... it would only be fitting that he seems to be a little dramatic. Chase and I clearly aren't dramatic at all... we need some excitement in our lives!! ;-)

I'll give you a sneak peak with a picture he took of our feet. Cannot wait to show off our beautiful boy tomorrow!

We ended the day at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with traditional dance (more like a 2 hour show). We enjoyed it so much, my cheeks hurt from laughing and smiling so much. Can't wait to take E back there on our Embassy trip!!! I'll post some pictures tomorrow... I'm about to pass out.

We are beyond blessed and so thankful for how the Lord has completed our family. Today as I was watching him, I started crying thinking, "What if we had said no to the Lord's calling us to E?" It hurts too much to think about. I am so thankful we said yes. We are the lucky ones to call him our son.

And I am your child, beloved

And all of my days, my future is laid in your promise

Jesus, to the end of the age

I am not alone or forgotten

Tomorrow afternoon is our court appointment! After court, we will officially be a family of three in the eyes of the Ethiopian court. We will then be able to share his name and his beautiful face!!! Be prepared for your heart to burst. You've been warned.

Thank you so much for your prayers throughout this journey... we are feeling them every step of the way and we are so thankful for all the love and support we have back home!

family of 3 {court trip - day 2}

On their own, on the run

When their lives have only begun

We started our second day in Ethiopia with a wonderful carb-filled breakfast at our guest home and quickly leaved to spend another morning with our E. When we got to the orphanage he greeted us both with big hugs and smiles. We spent some time with him in what must be the "family room". Kids seem to only get to go in there when their family is there to see them (this breaks my heart as other kids walk by...) We were pleasantly surprised at how much more English he knew than what he seemed to know the day before! I'm sure there was a combination of nerves and a little bit of him protecting himself on the first day, but on the second day he opened up to us like we never imagined. 

These could be our daughters and our sons

We spent a lot of time playing with him and his friends on the second day and it was so special to see how he interacted with the other boys. It is so hard to think about what it is going to do to his little heart when he leaves these boys. They have been his family, and they are an amazing group of boys. There are some a little younger and some a little older. They are all so caring and patient, especially the older boys. They are totally different than how I've seen American boys interact together. Even with the toys and things we brought for E- he would play for them a minute and then hand it to his friend to play with. They are all so sharing, affectionate, patient, and loving. There are a couple older boys who speak very good English so we were asking them to translate some things for us and they were so sweet. 

Let's not forget that he called me "Mommy" for the first time on the second day (no one has to know it was, "Please Mommy??" because he wanted to play a video game on the tablet :)) He has melted our hearts and as if he hadn't already won us over... he got us head over heels.

Just like the first day, the second day ended much too soon. We went back to the guest home with hearts full, thanking the Lord for blessing us with this amazing boy, and praying for the transition and life change that is about to take place.

boys become kings {court trip - day 1}

Boys become kings, girls will be queens

Wrapped in Your majesty 

We left Dulles at 10:20 AM and 13 or so hours later we landed in Addis Ababa at approximately 6AM ET time. We were finally on the same soil as our son. Our driver picked us up and took us to our guest home and told us we had 15 minutes to get ready to leave... to meet our son. How does one recover from a 13 hour flight + rain-drenched hair in 15 minutes?? Who cares!!!!! We were about to meet our son!

After 13 hours on a plane...2 hours waiting for visas + immigration + baggage + customs + 3o minutes waiting in cold rain for driver...we had 15 minutes to change and get ready to meet our son for the first time!!!!

Our driver and AWAA guide took us to E's orphanage with our lives in their hands. We have never seen anything like the driving in Addis... no traffic lights, street signs, stop signs... so major intersections are just free for alls. Yeah, totally weird. But somehow, it hasn't really bothered this back-seat, passenger-seat driver at all! We arrived at E's orphanage and they took us to a room and had us take off our shoes. Then we waited for what seemed like an eternity for them to bring E out... Chase and I were both shaking and only slightly freaking out. Then he finally arrived! He came right in with his huge, beautiful smile and gave me a huge hug. I didn't let go for a long time, and neither did he. Needless to say there were lots of tears shed!! I wouldn't remember it if it weren't on video, but our guide said to us right in the midst of the first hugs, "You are very lucky." He was so right. WE are the lucky ones, the blessed ones. This magnificent boy that has been through more in his life than we could even fathom... we are the ones that are blessed to be his parents and to experience the wonderful years we have left with him. 

When we love, when we love the least of these

Our beautiful boy that we had studied pictures of, imagined just how he would talk, walk, act... he was more than we ever could have dreamed. He was all smiles- beautiful, radiant smiles. He went through his package we brought- puzzles, cars, water gun, stickers, gum, soccer ball, playing cards, and phonics cards. Right away he blew us away with how he recognized the English alphabet and could read pretty much everything put in front of him! Totally wasn't expecting that at all! We also brought a new photo album with us and he looked at every page so studiously. Like he was trying to take it all in and memorize every page. We told him Amharic names for grandma, grandpa, aunt, and uncle, and he laughed at us trying to use the vocabulary. He didn't let on to understanding much English and we were a little worried... We used our guide to translate for a few minutes and then we were on our own. We played cars, puzzles, tossed the soccer ball back and forth, learned some Amharic words, and he showed us tricks with his new soccer ball. He also did tell us he was 9 and not 10. I was so thankful for those words, I felt like we had just gained a year back of his life that we missed.

After a while he took us outside for Chase to play soccer with him and his friends. He is so good!!! Near the end of the day our guide asked him in Amharic if he had any questions for us and his only question was, "When are they coming back for the last time to pick me up?" This broke our hearts. We told him we would be back just as soon as we can. Oh, how I can't even fathom leaving on Monday night. The thought breaks my heart...

Then they will be brave and free

Shout your name in victory

The day ended much too soon. We were taken back to our guest home where we pretty quickly crashed after being up for the last 24+ hours. We knew one thing for sure, we were totally in love with this amazing boy. We were amazed at how smart he was, how sweet he was, how happy he was, and how quickly he was comfortable with us. We couldn't imagine the next day getting any better. We were so thankful at how God had designed our family and brought us all together in this amazing country. 

leaving on a jet plane

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

The day we've been waiting for for over a year is almost here! We are on our way to Ethiopia people!!! Things have been progressing pretty quickly and I haven't had time to post an update before now!

Since the last post, I'm thrilled to say a lot has happened! The first step in the process was receiving our MOWCYA date. This was the first step that needed to happen in order for us to get a court date for us to appear in Ethiopia. On July 3rd, we got an e-mail letting us know our MOWCYA date was July 8th, the following Monday! This is a meeting of the "Ministry of Women's, Children, & Youth Affairs" (sort of like social services) where they review all of our paperwork to determine if they will write us a favorable letter or not. We were hoping we would hear something on Monday, but we had heard from other families that they were behind... so we waited anxiously. You would think throughout this process I would be getting better at this...but I can't say I have. We kept stalking our e-mail every morning, as that is when news usually comes, and praying and hoping for the next message to be the one! Friday, July 12th, we got a glorious e-mail letting us know a positive letter had been written! Hallelujah!!! Then we had to wait again to hear news of a court date. We were told it could come in the next couple of business days and to be ready to travel shortly after. So the e-mail stalking continued, and finally on Thursday, July 18th, we got the best news yet! We had a court date in Ethiopia scheduled for Friday, July 26th!! Praise the Lord!!!

So over the next couple of days I ran around like a mad woman trying to get ready to leave the country TO MEET OUR SON Y'ALL!!!!!!! I still don't think I've quite processed this... our precious son that we have talked about, dreamed about, prayed about, studied pictures of... he will be in our arms in less than 48 hours. WOW. We flew out of Austin this afternoon and arrived at Washington Dulles this evening. The airline provides a hotel room at a nearby Hilton Garden Inn, so we're here currently debating what to do about sleeping as to try to sleep as much as we can on the plane tomorrow and wake up ready to go in Ethiopia! We leave the US at 10AM Monday and land at 6:45 AM Tuesday morning... we should be going to meet E soon after!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our last picture as a family of 4!!! :)

We would appreciate your prayers over the coming week for safe travels, for E's heart- for understanding, openness to the life change he is about to experience, and for a peace that passes all understanding- for all of us. We pray our time in Ethiopia is full of meaningful memories that none of us will ever forget, that bonding and attachment starts this week, and that the wait in between this trip & Embassy, where we get to bring him home, flies by. We are excited to meet other families from our agency who are going to either meet their kids for the first time too, or are going to bring their kids home! We are so blessed that we are able to take some care packages and photo releases for other families who are still waiting to bring their kids home. This has been such a blessing for other families to do for us, we are thrilled to return the favor.

Our court date is Friday, July 26th. (Might I add...this is the date we needed to happen by August 6th. God is so good!!!) Assuming all goes well, E will officially be a Kerlin then!!! This means we can then share photos and the name of our handsome boy!!! So if you're friends with me on Facebook... get ready. You're about to be overloaded!! (Assuming we can get WiFi somewhere in ET...)

I will try to keep the blog updated throughout the week if we have access to internet! We can't thank you all enough for your love, support, and prayers. We are feeling them!!!