Back to Ethiopia for Our Embassy Appointment!

Rob and Olivia flew out Sunday morning at 5:50 a.m. to go get our kids!  Our embassy appointment was today (Tuesday) at 1:00 p.m. Ethiopia time, and we PASSED!  Rob was able to get a lot of good information on the kids' history, some medical questions answered and take the kids out to eat for lunch.  This was their FIRST EVER time to eat in a restaurant and maybe their first time to use a fork!  Crazy, but in Ethiopia the traditional meal is eaten with your hands and it is likely that's all they've ever eaten.  They were pretty talented right off the bat and enjoyed showing off their fork skills for Dad.  :-)

Tomorrow they'll get a chance to spend one last day with their friends and nannies, one last night sleeping in their beds at the Transition Home and then, on Thursday morning, they will be with Rob until they board the plane.  I have to tell you all that the scene of them saying goodbye continually plays in my head.  Shedding a lot of tears these past few days.  This has been their home and family for the past year and while they are coming to a family that loves them, this will be one more time of losing people they love and of saying goodbye forever.  So much wrenching heartache that braids itself throughout the joy.  Such a complicated, beautiful, horrible reality adoption is.

We would be so thankful for prayers for them.  This is surely all very exciting for them, but we also know that inside they have to be scared to death and so uncertain of what's to come.  If eating in a restaurant and using utensils is new, can you imagine all they will have to acclimate to once in the U.S.?  We are going to be very diligent about taking it slow with them and giving them time to adjust.  We would really love specific prayers that they would learn English quickly and be able to communicate their feelings to us. 

This is a forever home, but it will take some time to bond as a family, get used to America, and grieve.  For the next couple of months we will be hanging out very close to home.  Probably won't see us at church for a while, probably won't be seeing us much at all.  This seems really severe, but all the good literature on adoption AND families who have gone before, advise that it is critical that we bond well at the outset to help with success long-term as a family.  In the context of the rest of their lives, a few months seems not so long.  We have appreciated so much - do appreciate - all the kindness shown to us by so many of you. We pray everyone will be understanding of our decision and patient with them as they graft into the Thomas family.

Our good friend Tracy has set up a meal schedule at http://www.takethemameal.com/ .  If you are interested in helping us out in this way, please email me and I will get you the login information.  We don't expect this, but many people have asked if they could bless us this way, and the answer is yes!  I have no idea what to expect in the next few weeks, but imagine it will be challenging and not having to plan meals and grocery shop will help this mama a ton.

I am hoping to post more photos soon.  Olivia promises to put her photography skills to use today (at midnight our time, they are just going down to eat breakfast (8:00 a.m.) and preparing for their day.)  The plan today is to stick close to the Transition Home, spend time with our kids and the kids still waiting on their forever families to come.

Susannah Konjit - 3 1/2 years

Hope you all take time today and the next few to focus on Christ and the true beauty of this season.  Slow down, pray up and enjoy.

Love you all . . .