'Twas the Night Before Flight...

'Twas the night before flight and all through our place, not a girl or a dog, but a whole bunch of suitcase...s!!!! Ya, ya, ya...not a poet! But our house is quiet...very quiet! The girls are settled in at Mema and Papa's. Last we heard, via a phone call from them, they were perusing a favored Scooby Doo movie and prepping the popcorn machine! Their comfort zone! Riley and Murphy have also "settled in" at Mema and Papa's...as settled as two crazy mugly's get when it's their favorite playground with two doggie cousins to romp around with! Let's just say...it's quiet here but there is no way is it quiet there! SORRY!

Our bags are all packed, with the exception of what needs to be added in the morning. On international flights, we are allowed 2 50 pound bags each without cost. So we are both packing the max...with carry on's. So as we were packing items last night, we found that the suitcases that we had were not nearly deep enough...we needed way more space to pack all of the WONDERFUL and GENEROUS donations you all provided! So, we had to wait until tonight to finish the packing after our besties dropped off some more HUGE suitcases!!! THANKS R and E!!! Nonetheless, we are bringing 700 toothbrushes (pediatric and adult), 19 cans of formula, 14 pairs of shoes, 50 goodie bags, not to mention 96 hand held mazes, 100's of toy airplanes and dum-dum sucker that we can pass out to children we see and/or meet along our travels!!! I can just imagine the smiles that will come across some of these faces!!!! We will be sure to share as many as possible with you all!!!

We also packed many special treasures for Ella and Isaac. Some special clothes, 'lovies', a photo book for Ella, a rattle for Isaac, coloring book for Ella, etc. We felt they needed to feel special upon our visit. We also are bringing nail polish to paint Ella's nails in case we have time to try to begin the bonding process for a longer time span. Could be fun...or else I can sit with her and color and maybe even get a few hugs in! For Isaac, I'm gonna kiss him and snuggle him. He's not going to have too much of an option...being so young!!! Tehe!

As for our itinerary...we don't know! We only know that we will fly into to Addis Ababa on Friday evening, late. The other "for sure's" are that we have court on the 29th and we sit with a judge...then we leave on the 30th. We are planning to head south to meet the birth parents as well as to visit another orphanage in that region. Additionally, we plan to visit one other orphanage while in Addis that is not our children's in order to visit children and take pictures for other waiting families...life blood for those mommy's and daddy's!!!

Just know, we cannot blog in Ethiopia. We do have access to Facebook as well as email, sporadically. So, check there if you want any updates! I'll do my best to let you all know what our life is like when we meet our newest additions!

Pray for Ella as she goes through this unique and difficult transition. Pray for Isaac as he begins a new stage in his little life. Pray that God brings our family together without any more hesitation!

See you in Ethiopia!