Our Embassy Day!

Thursday, May 31st – EMBASSY DAY FOR US AND KEWOGO!!!!


We can finally post the name of our daughter! Her Ethiopian name is Kewogo, which is pronounced (Ku-WAH-GO). She also has several nicknames. They are Ku-Wah, Ku-Gah, and Cowa. It has been kind of difficult because all of the staff, special mothers, and other children all call her something different. We have alternated between Kewogo and Ku-wah mostly. We have slowly introduced Lila and we will see what she begins to prefer. Today we took Kewogo to our embassy appointment. This is when the US Embassy asks us a series of questions, gives her a passport and then tomorrow they will give us her visa. I will first back up and say that Kewogo had another great night of sleep. I am glad at least one of us is sleeping because it sure isn’t me! She ate a great breakfast and the funniest thing was to watch her eat samosas, which are little fried pastry triangles filled with lentils. They are one of my favorite things to eat here and Kewogo liked them, too. She would take a bite off of the corner and then shake the lentils in her mouth. It was hilarious! After breakfast we came back up to the room and I was holding her and singing to her when all of a sudden she fell asleep. I was surprised since she had only been up for two hours.

Not too much after that we were picked up to go to the embassy. It was a long bus ride and Kewogo was very quiet. Then, she fell asleep again. We waited two hours and were the last family called. Kewogo was very quiet the whole time and took turns sitting in our laps. She even fell asleep again!! We had just finished with our appointment and we were giving each other and Kewogo a congratulatory hug when all of a sudden she let out a cry and threw up all over herself and Matt!!! And I mean ALL OVER! Of course we had not one thing to clean it up with so we went back to the bathroom and Matt attempted to clean himself up and I basically had to strip her down and luckily I had a tank top underneath my shirt so I put that on her. I might add that I had dressed her so cute in a purple flowered dress in the hopes of getting some good pictures afterwards. Oh well. It was so sad to watch her silent tears roll down her face. Thankfully our driver had plastic bags on the bus because she continued to get sick on the ride back to the hotel. Poor thing! It was awful. Finally, she fell asleep yet again. She stayed asleep in the hotel room when we returned and slept for a long time. Now the only reason we found this whole incident slightly amusing is that it is a well known fact that our children are big pukers and have to get sick every time we go on vacation or any little getaway. We think that this was Kewogo’s way of saying that she is definitely a Bendick and will fit in with our family just perfectly!!

When she finally woke up she was smiling and playful and definitely had some energy back. We played for a little bit and then I gave her a shower. I was reaching for a towel when all of a sudden I look over at her and she had grabbed Matt’s razor and had shaved a piece of her hair off!!! I screamed and she held out the razor and piece of hair as though I should be proud of her! Scared me to death! I really expected to see blood somewhere, but when I examined her and found none my heartbeat began to resume to normal.

We then went down to dinner and met our friends for dinner. I had dressed her in an Ethiopian dress in a second attempt to get some good pictures now that we can FINALLY share them. We tried and tried but she would have none of it. Soon after we sat down for dinner she started getting quiet again. Scared that we would have another getting sick incident I took her back up to the room and Matt and I ate in shifts. She fell asleep again we believe she is out for the night. It was not quite the magical day that we had anticipated but we are thankful to officially be through with the legal side of this. We won’t really feel like everything is complete until we are home safely reunited with the whole family.

First Full Day Together

Wednesday, May 30th – Our first full day together


When my eyes opened at 6:30am I immediately looked over at K and was amused to see that she was quietly in her sofa bed reading a book! I watched her for a few moments as she looked through the pages and then I went over and quietly said good morning to her. On my way to her bedside I noticed on the floor a pocket angel that my dear friend Jen had given me in New York City. It had fallen out of where I had put it and it was a great reminder of how God had protected us and blessed us through our first day and night together. As I sat by her bedside she looked very concerned and serious. I am sure it felt strange to her waking up in a quiet hotel room away from her friends and the familiarity of Hannah’s Hope. I stroked her head and spoke sweet words to her but her demeanor did not change. I then lay down next to her and a couple of minutes later she fell asleep again. She slept for about 45 more minutes and when she awoke again I pulled her into the bed with us and we snuggled her for a little while. After a few minutes she began to feel comfortable and was her happy silly self.

I actually find the trial and error at mealtime kind of interesting so when we went down to eat breakfast I showed her what was available and let her pick. She chose oranges, jelly filled pancakes, noodles, and bread. We also ordered her yogurt and porridge but in the end she only ate the oranges and bread. We sat with our new friends and had a great time visiting with them and sharing stories. After breakfast we headed back up to the room and played with some of the toys and activities we brought. (By the way, she LOVES taking the elevator. She giggles every time it begins to go up or down.) We are discovering that she knows more English than we thought she did. Every once in awhile she would point to something and say the English word. We also practiced some of the Amharic words we looked up. She seemed to be pleased when we would speak something in Amharic. The greatest surprise was when we said to her, “Eh-wed-eh-SHAH-lehu” which is how you pronounce “I love you” in Amharic. She responded back with an “I love you” in English!! It was awesome!!

We also discovered that this girl loves to dance! We played music from our Ipod for her and she started busting out the moves. Brooke will be thrilled! Another shock to us was when the Newsboys song, “Something Beautiful, “ came on she sang the first line in English!!! We stood there dumbfounded with our mouths open! We had played that song for her on our first trip and I can’t imagine that she has heard it since then so we are guessing she remembers it??!! Quite the shocker. Trying to adhere to her schedule at HH, we then went outside to play. On our way out we saw, Danny, one of the drivers for HH. He was there to pick up the other family and when he saw K he gave her a big hug and asked her in Amharic if she wanted to go back to Hannah’s Hope today. We watched her shake her head no and then he told us what he had asked her. We felt victorious that she would rather be with us! We then went outside with the jump rope and did that for a few minutes. Then, out of nowhere she began to do her withdrawing behavior and stiffened up and became non responsive to us. Next thing we know she is trying to run away from us and wouldn’t let me pick her up. Maybe she was reconsidering her decision of wanting to go back to HH. We decided to go back inside and took out the play-doh and then she became playful again. I would love to know what is going through her mind as she shows those sudden withdrawing behaviors. We are guessing that something triggers an emotion and it is her way of grieving it. I am sure we will see much more of this. She was a voracious eater at lunch again and Matt could hardly stand watching her eat several fried fish fillets. I could eat fish every night of the week, but I have to agree with Matt, that the fish here is disgusting! She also ate her weight in pineapple and rolls. After she finished eating she pointed to the upstairs and motioned for her to sleep. Ok then! I guess this girl wants a nap! On her schedule it says she naps occasionally. We took her up and placed her in the bed and sure enough she was out in one minute. After an hour I joined her. Matt went and worked out and did some work. She ended up sleeping 2 ½ hours! When she woke up we were able to Skype with the kids before they went to school. She sat there very shy as she listened to their voices but she got a smile on her face when they spoke her name. We got her to say, “Ciao, Luke” and “Ciao Brooke.” (Andrew had already left). They got a kick out of that and so did we. We decided to brave another trip outside to play hoping it would go better than the first one. Luckily it did and she really let loose and had fun. I can tell she is annoyed with my jump roping ability which makes me laugh. After having a successful playtime outside we met up with our friends and headed to dinner. It was another successful night of eating and then she turned into a typical child and decided she did not want to sit still any longer! She kept trying to escape from the table and Matt finally had to get stern with her and she spent the rest of the time in his lap. Our last shocker of the day was when we noticed a picture of the twin towers in NYC on the wall next to our table. I told her that I had just been in NYC and she pointed at the picture and said, “America.” All four of us were so startled by this. Now I couldn’t wait to show her the picture book I bought of NYC just two days ago. Luckily it is in my suitcase. We had another successful night of going to sleep. She was even out faster tonight. We can’t wait for our Embassy appointment tomorrow when we will officially be finished with this long, laborious, soul searching, faith requiring, spirit yielding, unpredictable, life changing process.

                                                                              Flying angel!

                                                        She is a serious jump roper!

                                     She kept wanting to jump with Matt. We couldn't keep up with her!
                                                                        

Gotcha Day - Tuesday

Tuesday, May 29th OUR GOTCHA DAY!!


We made it to Addis Ababa with no trouble at all other than the fact that we didn’t sleep at all on the plane and were completely exhausted when we arrived. Much more so than on our first trip. We were slightly rejuvenated when the doors of the plane opened and we breathed in the familiar Ethiopian air. It smelled wonderful! We were back! We walked off the plane with our new Columbus friends and we both agreed that the smells were welcoming and gave us a boost of energy we needed. For the second time now I was amazed when we arrived at baggage claim to find our luggage waiting for us. We also had short lines through customs so we were quickly well on our way. As we rode from the airport to our hotel Matt and I marveled at the fact that it felt like we were just here and that hardly anytime had gone by since our first trip even though the last few weeks had been packed with an enormous amount of activity. It felt very natural to be back and in some strange way it felt like coming home.

Before we left Ohio I had made arrangements for us to visit the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis. I hadn’t gotten confirmation before we left if this would be able to take place or not because we weren’t sure what time they had us scheduled to pick up K. But when we got to our hotel and picked up our itinerary we saw that they had planned for us to go visit the hospital first thing. We were thrilled because we knew our only chance of visiting the hospital would be this morning. We dropped of our bags in our room and I took a 5 minute nap and then we were off. On the plane we realized that our new Columbus friends were also visiting the Hamlin Hospital at the same time as us so we were able to meet them there and be on the same tour. Such a small world!

The Hamlin Fistula Hospital is a hospital that was opened by Catherine and Reginald Hamlin in 1959. An Obstetric Fistula refers to an injury resulting from long unrelieved obstructed labor. Prolonged and obstructed labor can lead to the death of tissue and an abnormal opening between the birth passage and bladder, and /or rectum. Following this traumatic experience the woman becomes incontinent of urine and/or feces and can only be cured by surgery. A constant trickle of body waste makes her offensive to those around her and unwanted. Eventually she becomes a social outcast in her own community. We became interested in the hospital after reading Catherine Hamlin’s book, The Hospital by the River. After reading it I knew that I had to see it with my own eyes and that I would always want to support it in some way. I had contacted the hospital a couple of weeks ago asking them if we could bring anything. They told me they needed pantyhose! I had envisioned bringing bins of medical supplies but pantyhose it was! When we got there we were escorted to an Octagon shaped room and a woman stood in front ready to give a presentation. Apparently they were short a guide that day so our Columbus friends and we shared the presentation and tour with students on a school field trip. This meant that we had to wait for her to give the Amharic presentation to the students and then give the English presentation to us. Let me just tell you that it takes 4 times as long to speak in Amharic than it does in English so the Amharic presentation was very long. Since I had no idea what she was saying in Amharic I was struggling stay awake during that part of it. Matt kept nudging me as my eyes kept closing. As soon as she gave the English presentation though she had my full attention and I was wide awake. We then were able to tour the grounds and the different surgery and recovery rooms. The grounds were beautiful with lush landscaping and lots of flowers and flowering shrubs and trees. This made me happy to know that the women had a serene and pretty place to recover in. As we toured the rooms and saw the dozens of patients there I was so thankful that I had already experienced my cry fest on the plane. It was very heart wrenching to see all of the patients and know of the pain and suffering they had endured. It was also hard to see such young girls there and to know what they had been through at such tender ages. Then, there were the difficult to look at before and after pictures of the patients who had months of physical therapy to regain the use of leg muscles after holding their legs in the same position for years in an effort to stop the leaking. I just wanted to go and hold their hands and stroke their heads and tell them that they were beautiful and worthy in the eyes of the Lord. When we were finished with the tour we were able to buy some crafts that the women make while recovering. We gave them the pantyhose we brought and discovered that they have the patients wear the top part of the hose and then cut the leg part off and use them to braid rugs. It was truly a wonderful experience and we hope to always be able to support the work they do there. Catherine Hamlin still lives on the grounds, is 88 years old and is still performing surgeries. She is a true gift from God.

When we returned to the hotel we have now been awake for 28 hours and are beyond exhausted. As much as we couldn’t wait to be reunited with K we were both worried that we were not of sound mind and didn’t want our exhaustion to take away from the moment we have been waiting for the past 2 ½ years. We decided to take a one hour nap and then we awoke and had the driver from Hannah’s Hope come pick us up. We were still in a haze and I just prayed that adrenaline would kick in as soon as we arrived at the gates of Hannah’s Hope. Thankfully it did and when we arrived at HH we were told that K was just finishing up her bath. We had met another adoptive family that morning at the hotel and they agreed to take pictures for us. We were standing in the courtyard waiting for her when all of a sudden she came tearing around the corner in a full out sprint and jumped in to my arms and gave me the biggest bear hug of my life! It was the most amazing moment ever! I expected her to be shy and reserved since we had been apart from her for 5 weeks, but this was definitely not the case. After she hugged me for a while she went to Matt’s arms and did the same thing to him. What a reunion! It was better than we ever could have imagined. We sat down with her for a while and played and talked to her even though she couldn’t understand a word we were saying. Then, we played with the other children. We gave HH our donations and then we pulled out a bunch of things for the children. When we pulled out the books the kids went nuts. It was so fun watching the joy on their faces. We also brought new coloring books and crayons and the majority of them immediately began to color. We pulled out new jump ropes (which they are masters at) and some Velcro ball catchers and taught them how to use them. It was sooooo fun to be back with the kids again. After playing with them for awhile it was time to go. We weren’t sure how K would react to leaving HH but we were thankful that we would be back on Friday and that we didn’t have to say our goodbyes right then. The kids were giving her hugs and kisses before we left and then without hesitation jumped right in the van. We could tell she was excited about the van ride and had fun looking at all of the sights out the window. She hasn’t been beyond the walls of HH in 3 months so there was a lot to see. When we got to the hotel we were starving as we had never eaten lunch so we only stopped at our room for a few minutes before heading down to eat dinner. We met the other couple for dinner and had a great first meal with our daughter! We decided to order some injera, dora wat, and shiro as this would be familiar to her. She had been very happy and playful but when they set down the food in from of her her mood changed. She suddenly got a very serious look on her face and became withdrawn. We were concerned because we didn’t want her to be hungry later but our new friends reassured us by telling us that they had witnessed her eat two full plates of spaghetti at lunch. Her sullenness continued until finally she sat on Matt’s lap and began to eat. And wow, can this girl eat!! She will fit right in with Brooke who out eats her brothers. She then moved to my lap and ate some more. In fact, she polished off the whole dish of Shiro! We weren’t sure what happened when she had withdrawn for a spell. Perhaps she was missing her friends and realizing that this was a new mealtime experience. We had a great time visiting with our new friends and I felt so much more awake after eating. We wanted to keep her on her schedule (7:30 bedtime) as much as possible so after dinner we said goodnight to our friends and headed up to bed. She was full of energy when we got to our room. She wanted to pull out the jump rope and play. We let her play for a few minutes and had a blast watching how funny this little girl is! We didn’t know we would be adopting a comedian!! Next, she did an awesome job of brushing her teeth and even knew to turn off the water in between brushing. Matt and I decided to make a comfy bed for her on the sofa for her to sleep on. She seemed very excited about it and she crawled right in, snuggled up with the teddy bear we had brought for her, and was asleep in 20 seconds! Well that was easy!! Again, not what we were expecting at all on our first night. She slept through the night but made some noises during her sleep. Believe it or not she was laughing during her sleep! This is very fitting because the other adoptive families have nicknamed her “Giggles.” Even in her sleep she continues to radiate joy! Thank you God for the best Gotcha Day we ever could have ever dreamed of. We couldn’t have written the script any better than that.

                                                                          The Hamlin Fistula Hospital

                                                      In our arms forever!

                                                          Best smile - our "Giggles!"

Ethiopian Air - Flight 501

Monday, May 28th

                                      We were so happy to see this screen when we got to DC.

                                    Our new friends from Columbus we happen to be traveling with.
                           We just met them a couple of weeks ago.  It sure is fun to have travel buddies.

                              The sky show tracking our flight. I loved knowing exactly where we were at all times.

We boarded our flight to Addis Ababa with no problems at all. It was on time and the crowd was MUCH different than last time. On our first trip the flight was so loud and it seemed like one big family reunion with everyone up and walking around and visiting. This flight crowd is much more subdued. It is nice to have it quieter on such a long flight. Matt is pressuring me to try to sleep but I just can’t. I really wish I could. We are sitting next to, and in front of, a family who is from Ethiopia and now lives in Las Vegas. The husband is going over for 2 weeks and his wife and sons, 3 and 6, are going for two months. His boys have never been there and they are so excited to be bringing them to ET for the first time. I would be too. The parents have lived here for 17 years and Matt and I have had the best time talking to them and hearing about them growing up in Addis Ababa and what is was like. They think it is wonderful that we are adopting and they have actually considered it as well. The man said that they would adopt from Ethiopia if they choose to adopt someday. The best thing is that he knew a lot about the region where our daughter is from (Gambella) and was able to give us a lot of information about the culture and the people. He said that Gambella people are usually tall and that perhaps our daughter will be a volleyball player. Time will tell! As much as I have enjoyed visiting with him the 3 year old constantly kicking my seat is about to make me insane!! That could be contributing to my lack of sleep in a big way. However, having been in that position before allows me to be forgiving.

So I finally had the release of emotion that I have been storing up since our referral day back on February 23rd. Ever since that day I have hardly cried at all, which might not be odd for some people, but with the roller coaster of emotions we have experienced over the last three months I knew that it needed to come out at some point. I am one who bottles things up and keeps going until an unfortunate flood occurs, usually at an awkward time. Sure I have shed an occasional small tear, but it has only lasted a matter of seconds as I haven’t had the time to process my emotions and have a good cry because I have always had to move on to the next the next thing that had to be done. This actually works out well for me but I needed the flood to release everything I’ve had stored inside. Well, Matt helped me with that when he suggested that I watch the movie, “We Bought a Zoo.” He had just finished it and said he recommended it while adding that it was indeed sad. I decided to watch it and ended up crying through the whole thing! It was very sweet and sad and full of hope. I also recommend it, but have your tissues ready! The flood continued well after it was over and Matt did what he always does best when this happens to me, which really isn’t often, maybe only once every four or five years. He offered me food! And then he makes me laugh. Then, he talks to me. I couldn’t imagine any better husband for putting up through such a soggy mess of tears. I am just so grateful that it happened now and not in front of K so that she doesn’t think her mother is an unstable nutcase!

Since I am still not sleeping after my cry fest my thoughts and prayers turn to K and thinking about what she will be experiencing in a few hours. She has been told we are coming for her. Is she excited? Nervous? Scared? Will she be sad to leave Hannah’s Hope and the life she has known the past few months behind? Will she mourn the loss of what is familiar to her? Will she be eager to be with us and feel secure in our love and affection towards her? Many more questions race through my brain and one verse keeps coming back to me over and over again. It is James 1:17-18 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits for all he created.

I hope that she sees us as a gift to her, as we receive the gift of her that God promised to us. I cannot wait to put our arms around her! This time is will be wonderful knowing that we won’t ever have to let go.

We currently have only 3 hours and 11 minutes left until we get to Addis! 1761 miles left to go! I can’t believe it!! That will give me just enough time to watch “The Sound of Music” for the 89th time.

Finally Heading Back!

We can't believe this day is finally here. We are at the Dulles airport waiting to take off for Addis Ababa.  Long story but I flew in from New York City (a surprise belated 40th bday trip) and met Matt in DC this morning.  Last week we were happy to discover that we are traveling with a family from Columbus who we just recently got connected with through a mutual friend. We are on the same flight and are sitting one row behind them! They are adopting a little girl as well and we happen to have the same embassy date.  Luckily I was too tired last night to be too anxious to sleep.  I managed to get in four hours before leaving my hotel at 3:00 am.  Since I left Columbus on Friday I had to have everything ready for both trips.  It actually all went smoothly and Matt did a stellar job of wrapping up the last minute details (well he says we'll see about that when we get there!) and having everything in order for my mom.

This morning I received the best email from an adoptive mom who was at Hannah's Hope last week.  She told me that she was able to sit down with K and they looked through our family book at least a dozen times.  This made my heart sooooo happy because I didn't know if she had been looking at it since we left it there with her on our first trip.  Hopefully she understands that we are coming for her and that as of tomorrow she will be united with us forever!!!! Here we come sweet K!!

We are going back to bring our girl home!!

     When I got on here to post and realized that my last post was on April 21st I was so sad!  So much has happened since then but I haven't had anytime to write about it with all of the craziness of life.  When we got back home from our first trip we immediately jumped back into our normal routines.  Matt and I went to work the next day, my parents left, kids activities continued.  Other than being a little tired I really didn't experience any jet lag after the trip.  I did, however, get sick. UGH! I came down with a terrible sinus mess that left me without a voice for days.  I forgot how hard it is to teach when you don't have a voice.  I couldn't wait for Friday to come when we could all crash.  I don't think I had ever been so happy for a Friday before in my life.  Then, on Saturday Matt and I had a date night scheduled to celebrate my 40th birthday.  I suggested we cancel the date because I had no voice.  But he said that wasn't an option.  When we got to our restaurant that night there were 6 of our close friends from Copley sitting around the table!  SURPRISE!  I was so excited to see and be with all of them, except laryngitis makes it hard to catch up and share life.  They all came back over to our house afterwards where all of our kids (all nine of them) were waiting with more surprises. They showered me with fun birthday gifts, mostly all things Ethiopia, and we were able to show them all of our pictures from our trip.  It was so meaningful to have them there to share in our joy since we were with them in Copley when we began this whole process 2 1/2 years ago. 

After the big birthday weekend Matt left for Switzerland and I muddled through the week still sick, exhausted, missing our girl and feeling weepy, and trying to process everything we had just experienced.  I woke up on Monday, May 7th feeling overly anxious and stressed out due to certain circumstances.  I really thought I might crack. When I opened up my devotion this is what I read.

 "Let me help you through this day. The challenges you face are far too great for you to handle alone.  You are keenly aware of your helplessness in the scheme of events you face.  This awareness opens up a choice: to doggedly go it alone or to walk with Me in humble steps of dependence."
Then one of my favorite verses was highlighted.  James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy whenever you are enveloped in various trials...    I love when God speaks to me in such personal ways.  It was just what I needed to get me through the day. 
     On May 8th we awoke to find out that our file had been submitted to the US Embassy!  This was big news because we didn't think it would happen this fast.  I started to have an idea it might since things were moving quickly for the other families who were there right before us.  I was excited but was nervous because my last day of teaching was supposed to be May 24th and I knew there was a possibility things could move so fast that we would leave before I finished.  Then May 10th we got the email that said our screening of our I-600 form was complete.  OK we are moving along quickly - happy but can't believe it! I knew at this point I would have to stop teaching a week early in order to be ready to go if things kept moving so quickly.  My friend was able to sub for me again so that work out perfect.  I was so sad to finish up with the students but knew that I had to make May 18th my last teaching day.  Then, on May 16th we got the notice that they were moving on to the I-604 status.  Never in a million years thought things would move so quickly at this stage of the process. The  I-604 process scheduled for May 23rd!  I went into work on Monday, May 21st to wrap up some things and then had Tuesday to plow through my loooong list of things to be done just in case we found out we leave next week.  Tuesday night we went to bed knowing that we would hear something in the morning.  Since Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead I knew that we would possibly get our confirmation email in the middle of the night.  I thought that there was no way I would sleep through the night, but I did, and I never moved until 5:30 when we both popped up and grabbed Matt's phone to check for the email.  Nothing!!  We were so bummed.  I lay in bed disappointed while Matt went to the gym.  Then about an hour later he called me yelling, "We got it! We are cleared!"  I started jumping up and down!  When I went to wake Andrew up right after that his sweet eyes were barely open and he asked, "Did we get the email?"  "Yes!" I said.  He popped right out of bed and was just as happy as I was!  This continued with Luke and Brooke.  The last thing left to know was when our actual US Embassy date would take place.  This is where they issue her a Visa.  For many logistical reasons we were praying it would be on Thursday, May 31st.  We were told that we might not know until Thursday.  This part was KILLING me!  So much depended on this date.  I didn't think I could go one more day without knowing. When we sat down to do our morning devotion this is what we read,
 "Approach each new day with a desire to find Me. Before you get out of bed, I have already been working to prepare the path that will get you through this day. There are hidden treasures strategically placed along the way. Some of the treasures are trials, deisgned to shake you from earth-hackles. Others are blessings that reveal My presence: sunshine, flowers, birds, friendships, answered prayer.  I have not abadoned this sin-wracked world; I am still richly present in it. Search for deep treasure as you go thhrough the day.  You will find me along the way."

Well, a half an hour later we got confirmation that our Embassy date is indeed on May 31st!! Prayer answered and hidden treasure strategically placed!! I danced around the house all morning!!!  Matt and I got to work on the phones with travel agents, my parents, and our case worker trying to coordinate travel times and plans.   We leave on Monday, May 28th and will immediately go get our precious daughter!!!! We are thrilled beyond measure and haven't stopped praising God for this gift to our family.

And I would like to add that today is special K's birthday!! 5 years old- today May 24th!!!