Returning home and an amazing story to share!

     We made the trip home just fine. This time coming back it was 14 hours to DC.  I slept a little more on the plane this time and this flight wasn't as loud.  When we landed in DC everyone on the plane clapped, as did I, but the tears started flowing, too, knowing we were now halfway around the world from K.  We still feel peaceful knowing she is safe and loved by the staff at HH.  We had a smooth time going through customs and then we had a 3 hour layover before our flight to Columbus.  We were starving and went straight to a Five Guys even though it was only 10 am.  When we stepped off the plane in Columbus I was struck by how fresh the air smelled and felt.  It felt wonderful!! Matt laughed at me saying, "I told you the air in Addis was polluted!"  I hadn't even really noticed since I had fallen in love with the country.  I have decided that I will have to forget about the hard wood floors I want in my dining room and living room because I want to put all of our money into going on trips to Africa and serving the people there.  I told Matt that maybe when we retire we could spend half the year in Africa and half the time in the US.  He isn't sold on that yet.

We couldn't wait to get home to the kids!! We made it just in time to pick Andrew up at the bus stop.  It was so wonderful to scoop up his 12 year old self in my arms.  He was beaming, too.We drove him home and were met at the door by my parents and a welcome home sign from the kids and from one of our neighbors.  Then we walked to the bus stop and picked up Luke and Brooke.  They bolted off the bus and into our arms.  What a great reunion!  Then we began telling my parents and the kids all about our trip.  We gave them the gifts we brought and then enjoyed a delicious dinner my mom made.  Next, we hooked up our camera to the TV and loved showing them all of our pictures and sharing all about K and Ethiopia.  I hit a wall at 7pm and we ended up in bed at 9. I had started to feel bad before we boarded the plane in Addis and I was praying that I wouldn't feel lousy for my first day back at teaching.  Going back to work was better than Matt and I had expected but mostly because my parents were still here and were able to help out with the kids which was a huge help to us.  My parents were so amazing and did the best job taking care of our kiddos which gave us so much peace as we never had to worry about them.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  we will forever be grateful!   It was fun to be back with my students and I loved giving them each an African  birr coin.    I thought they might not find it that interesting but they seemed to really like it. In fact, two of my students accidentally threw theirs away with their lunch tray and they talked our janitor into digging through the trash and finding them!  And he did!  I need to do something very nice for him!

So are you ready for the cool story?? And I promise every word is true!!!  So yes, it is annoying that people  can post anything they want on YouTube but we aren't allowed to post our little girl's name or pictures of her even though she belongs to us!  But that is just the way it is.  By the way, prior to arriving at HH we had been butchering her name.  Then, come to find out she has about 4 nicknames.  It took us two full days to get it straight!  Anyway, when we heard K's (even when we were saying it wrong) name we knew that we wanted to keep it but also wanted to give her an American middle name. But nothing ever sounded right with her name.  It all sounded so awkward and forced.  It had been bothering me for weeks.  Then, about three weeks ago I had a dream about what her name was supposed to be.  I didn't even question it!  I was so certain that this was her name that I woke up feeling very excited and giddy.  I went to Matt and grabbed his hands and told him, "I know her name.  It came to me in a dream and I was told we are to name her that."  So I revealed the name to Matt and he smiled and said he liked it!  I started jumping up and down because I was nervous he wouldn't like it.  Then, I went to each of the kids and told them her name.  They all liked it and agreed that yes this would be her name.  I didn't want to tell anyone what we decided because I wanted to keep it a surprise until she came home.  But this is too awesome to keep a secret.  So after my dream I  kept meaning to look up her name (her American name) to see what it meant. But I never did. We were so busy the two weeks before we left that I never took the time to look it up. Then, the whole time we were in Addis I kept meaning to look it up but every time I went to look it up the internet was down or there was some other distraction.  So now let me back up and remind you that the first (and really only) dream I ever had of K before we ever knew of her (this was months ago - maybe even over a year) she was wearing a dress with purple flowers.  Then, when we spent time with her at HH we discovered that her favorite color was purple ( and this was very obvious).  Now when arrived back home one of the first things I did was look up her American name which is DRUMROLL........ here it is.....are you ready.....  it is LILA...... which means 'DARK BEAUTY' and also means 'PURPLE OR PURPLE FLOWER'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I am not kidding I almost passed out when I read that!  First of all let me tell you that this child is DARK, and yes, she is BEAUTIFUL!   And the whole purple and purple flower thing  - well if that isn't from God - I don't know what is! I truly feel that that was the Lord's way of communicating to us that this is the child he had chosen for us long before we ever had any idea.  There is no doubt in our minds! We love and miss her so much!!

So her full name is K***** LILA GRACE BENDICK!!!!!!!!
We think it is beautiful and we hope you do too!