Journey to Sabrina

WOW. That about sums it up, but I am sure you want to hear and see more. So, I will try and start at the beginning. We left Saturday to drive to Chicago, about four and a half hours. The miracles started with check in. Thanks, Diane for the many tips. We went straight to over sized luggage check-in. We had eight trunks for three people. The agent set the first trunk on the scale 53+ pounds, supposed to be 50 or under. He says we are going to pretend that I am not a mathematician and doesn't weigh any more trunks. He tried to waive the fee for our extra luggage but was unable to do it. We felt that $360 was a fairly low price to pay for the privilege of carrying all of these supplies.

Our flight was delayed in Chicago, but we still had plenty of time in Washington, D.C. Good thing, because the line to get onto Ethiopian Air was nuts. I was very glad that I had downsized our carry-ons, as they were definitely weighing the carry-ons. We were able to meet up with Christy King, also with CHI, in the line. We had such a great week together.

In Ethiopia, one of our bags was missing. But just as we got to the front of the line to report it, I took one more look around and found it. We had customs officials save us from the line and OK our entry without opening a trunk. As we were leaving someone stopped Scott but did not make us open our trunks. We witnessed others with their donations strewn about. We were greeted by Abdissa, his wife, and Aduna (our driver for the week) from CHI.

We loved the Ethiopian Guest House. All of the guests were in the process of picking their children up for adoption. There were our family, Christy, a couple from WI, and two other families. The adapter I brought was the wrong one, and when I downsized my luggage I ended up with no pajamas and a shared bathroom. There were great shared spaces, a yard, good food and wonderful staff.

Monday morning Aduna picked us up to go to the Thomas Center to meet our children. Noelle was the first one to see Sabrina; before the van even stopped. It is hard to describe the emotions. In some ways they were less intense than I thought they would be. Everything felt so right, like she has always been apart of us. Sabrina was able to come back to the guest house with us. So we spent the day getting to know one another.