Well, we're wrapping-up our first full day in Addis Ababa and we are happy, content, and our hearts are full. This has been such an amazing journey and I totally see why Satan has fought it so hard as God has blessed our lives so much. We are forming lasting friendships with those in our travel group and are excitedly awaiting the arrival of 2 more families before Monday morning - there will be 7 families in all meeting their children on Monday. We have spent the better part of the evening enjoying homemade pizza at our guesthouse and talking about God and how He moves in our lives. With adopting children of another race and culture comes a lot of pressure, decisions, joy, and sometimes unease as we try to navigate the waters of life. We know that not everyone we encounter will approve of our adoption but we all agree on one thing - it's a heart problem for those who don't accept adoption (oftentimes, they themselves have not experienced adoption into the family of God through salvation). God has opened our hearts and called us to adopt, and He will help us in dealing with racial prejudice and difficulties associated with having a biracial family. We are excited and ready to meet any challenge that may come our way with the help of Christ!
There is a chef who works at the guesthouse, and he is just amazing. Tonight, we had homemade pizza with freshly baked crust, cheese, lots of savory spices, and marinara sauce.....so yummy! We had some left over so that's in the fridge for tomorrow when we get back from Julianna Ashure's resting place.
By the way, please be in prayer that our driver will arrive on time at 9:30 a.m. and that she will know where to find Ashure's grave. Our agency has tried to prepare us in that there are 1000's of graves and that it can be quite overwhelming. I have a lot of emotions pent-up inside right now and as badly as I want to see Maura Rohama, I want to pay my respects to my precious daughter, Julianna Ashure, first. I need time to continue grieving and then move forward to the excitement that Monday will bring when we meet Maura. I know tomorrow will be difficult - as evidenced by the tears that I already shed through the morning as I was preparing to visit her resting place today. Can one ever be ready for to say hello and goodbye at the same time?
We have brought some items to take with us and leave at her grave.
Now, for something you will laugh about. Last night when we arrived, it was HOT and stuffy in our room and guess what - no air conditioning. I went to the window and realized that it would open, so I opened it and the fresh air helped cool things down tremendously. Well, I didn't want to be sticky and sweaty all night, so wanted to leave it open but Jason refused because it doesn't have a screen and he didn't want to be bit by a mosquito and get malaria and he didn't want monkeys to climb into the room. Well, I haven't seen any monkeys yet and am not sure that there are any in the middle of the city, but it wasn't worth fussing over so we closed the window and went to bed. Today, Jason was resting and I was updating the blog when we heard the strangest noise outside (the window was open again). Jason literally jumped out of the bed and took off because it sounded just like a monkey! He turned to me as if to say, "See, I told you so!" Well, this is the noisemaker and the "monkey":
It was a dove! Truly, it did sound just like some of the monkeys at the zoo! I cracked-up laughing and of course, he had to run and get the camera. We certainly don't have doves like this in Tennessee!
Until tomorrow, have a wonderful day and thank you for all the comments, e-mails, and facebook messages! I can read messages but for some reason, I can't always respond and I can't send any e-mails at all, so sorry for my nonresponses at this time. Please keep praying for us!
To my mother-in-law, Happy Birthday!
