Now that everyone has heard our story of how/why we came to the decision to adopt, our most frequently asked question is, "when will it happen and who will travel?"
The truth is we do not know when it will happen exactly. My best guess is that we will travel to bring Joshua home between May and July. Those dates are simply a speculation, based on the fact that we should receive a referral before too long. We will travel about 4 months after we accept a referral.
My mom, Krissy, and I plan to travel to Ethiopia to bring our son home. It will break Chad's heart to stay home, but we do not think him being away and out of touch for 8-10 days is a possibility for our business. While we have both left, and will do so again soon, we have always been in close contact with our employees. Close contact is not a possibility in Ethiopia. So, Chad will hold down the fort at home.
Krissy has been determined to go with since we first brought up the possibility of a little brother from Ethiopia. She has never wavered in her support for our decision to adopt. She has been 100% sure that it is the right decision for us. That says so much to me because there are not all that many decisions we make that she agrees with these days. At 13, that is totally age appropriate - but her total dedication to Joshua makes me weepy. She is working hard to raise/earn the money for her plane ticket. I am very excited to have her come with. I have always hoped that each of our kids would be able to go on a foreign mission trip as teens. I had no idea that her mission trip would be this personal, but that makes it so much more powerful to all of us. Krissy is excellent with children and will be a huge help. She has promised to keep a journal of her thoughts and feelings during our trip. I think that will be a wonderful gift to Joshua some day. I think when he is a teenager and wondering about where he came from hearing about it through his sister who saw his country of birth as a teen will be very powerful. We will also be bringing donations to the orphanage and perhaps she can do some work there.
My mom will be coming with too. I can not explain how thankful I am to have her coming. It is such a relief to have another adult, and she is definitely my first choice! She and Krissy have such a special relationship, so the three of us will be a great team. Dad bought her a new video camera for Christmas, she will be our trip recorder. I am so grateful for our family support. The love that has been poured out on us and this little boy we are all waiting to meet is unbelievable.
We will stay in a guest house. A guest house is similar to a Bed and Breakfast in the US. We will get Joshua on a Monday, meet with the American Embassy on a Wednesday to receive his travle documents, and fly home Friday. It is about 30 hours of airtime each way!
That is as much as I know for now. I hope it answers some of your questions!
**We have good friends that will adopt 2 children form the same orphanage. We are side by side on the waiting lists. So my prayer request for today is that we would be able to travel together. Wouldn't that be incredible? Wouldn't it be good for the kids to have friends to sit with on the plane and play with? Wouldn't the support we could give each other be wonderful?
