Please feel free to pass this along to your respective churches if they would like to pray for us!
April 25: Andrew's mom comes in to get the boys familiar with her again since she'll be watching them first. My mom comes in on May 1st to finish the shift.
Please pray that there are no delays with their flights and that the boys warm up quickly and are easily adaptable with all these transitions and that they don't go crazy (the grandmas too!). We also have a few details that we need to finish up on Monday with legal paperwork and Andrew has to work on Monday and do a PT Eval.
April 27-29: All our flights and layovers. We fly to New York and have an itsy-bitsy time frame to catch our flight to Dubai. We spend the night there and then fly into Ethiopia in the morning.
Please pray that we don't miss any flights, for as much comfort as possible while flying, that we can get some sleep on the airplane, minimal jet lag, and that we don't get sick, no lost luggage, quick trips through customs, and nothing bizarre happening
April 30 & May 1: Friday is the day that we will meet Netsanet. We will spend a few hours with her on Friday and Saturday in the care center to give her a few hours to get used to us and for us to observe her routines and personality.
Please pray for her. While we've been anticipating this for months she has very little understanding of what's happening. She doesn't know us and is likely to be terrified of this strange looking woman who can't stop crying.
May 2 & 3: On Sunday we go down to the care center in the countryside where Little Miss first lived. We also will get the chance to meet her birth family and see the medical clinic that our adoption agency funds.
Please pray for traveling safety in country, pray that her family will decide to meet with us, pray that we are able to have a meaningful connection with her family and know the questions to ask that we will share with our daughter as she grows up, pray for her family for the heartache that this visit will bring with it and that over the years that they are able to meet their needs and thrive. Also on the 3rd in the evening we will visit with Little Miss again after not having seen her on Sunday.
Pray that she would remember us and will show signs of becoming more familiar with us.
May 4: This is our embassy appointment where we apply to get the paperwork we need. It shouldn't be a problem, but it can take a long time and be boring for the children that have to attend the "interview".
Pray that there are no administrative glitches, that the meeting happens quickly and the kids and adults hang in there until the end with minimal meltdown. This is also the day that we "take custody" of Little Miss if all is going well and she will come back to the hotel with us. If she is having a hard time with our presence this might be delayed another night.
Please pray that we are able to take custody on Tuesday. Pray that she starts to have to fun with us and be comfortable, that we are able to communicate despite the language barrier, and that our initial living together goes smoothly including sleeping and eating.
May 6: We start our flight back to the States Thursday evening. We fly into Dubai just for refueling, we won't even get off the plan, and then into New York. We have a long layover in New York about 6 hours and then we fly into Baltimore around 5:30 Friday evening.
Please pray for this flight. We've heard horror stories about toddlers crying for 15 hours and dirty diapers that don't stop. (one of my friends brought her child back into the States wrapped in a towel because nothing else was clean)
We also need to get through customs and immigration without a hitch.
Other prayer requests in general:
Safety while in Ethiopia
Health for us, our childcare providers, the boys, and Little Miss
Language Learning
Jet lag once we're home
The boys' adjustment
Andrew & I getting used to three kids
Little Miss learning how to function in a family again after over a year in an orphanage
Sleep issues for everyone
Just everything!!! :)
We appreciate everyone's prayers so much. We will try to update as much as possible from Ethiopia. Also, our blog will be updated as often as possible with our information as well Little Miss' pictures once we're traveling.
Thanks again,
Love,
Andrew, Jamey, Peanut, Little Miss, and Pickle.
