Our trip to Ethiopia Day 1

In order to bring some life back to my poor neglected blog, and channel my nostalgia of everything that was happening at this time last year, I have decided to finally blog about our trip.

The night before our departure I attended the rehearsal dinner for two amazing friends who were tying the knot the next day. 4 days prior we passed the 1st phase of court in Ethiopia so it was official that I wouldn't be playing bridesmaid on Saturday. I was so glad to be with them Friday night and kept it together until it was time to wish them well and head home to try and sleep. The overwhelming emotions of happiness for them, the travels ahead, and the fact that we would be seeing our boy in a couple of days became too much in that moment. I don't remember sleeping much that night.

We headed to DC first on Saturday afternoon. Sweet friends and family saw us off and prayed for the days ahead. In DC we grabbed a meal near our next flight and it was wonderful seeing so many Ethiopian faces in the terminal. We spoke to the just married bride and groom as we enjoyed dinner and then headed to board the long flight. It was a treat meeting these blog real life friends and sharing in the excitement of what was to come.

I remember thinking that I would sleep a lot on the plane and that didn't happen. I just couldn't believe the time had finally come. After a brief landing in Rome to refuel/change flight staff/clean the plane we were headed to Addis Ababa. It was wild watching what we were flying over. Seeing the desert stretch out below us for hours, flying over the Nile...all of it just seemed surreal to us. As we began our descent the sun had set. Our first glimpse of this city were the beautiful lights below. I shed a few tears of joy and disbelief that we were in the same city as our son. We were closer than we had ever been...