What do you think about going to Ethiopia next week?

Wow! Things have happened very fast since our referral day. We got our referral call on July 9th and little did we know that exactly one month later we would be standing in an Ethiopian court room.
On July 31st, I got a call from our agency. I answered the phone and Lesley said, "Hey Jacque! What do you think about going to Ethiopia next week?" I just laughed. Lesley laughed with me but then stared encouraging me that it was totally doable and she explained that she would walk us through the process. I was still laughing. Lesley let me know that our court date was Friday, August 9th but we needed to be in Addis on the Wednesday before.
When I got off the phone I knew I had to call Matt. I called him and said "We have a court date!" We then called a travel agent and started looking at flights. Once the flights were booked I felt better about the whole thing. I knew we could get packed and show up at the airport. So, we had about 5 days to get things taken care of and get packed. We did it and we were so happy to get on the plane!

 Here we are on the plane getting ready to leave New Orleans. About 28 hours later we landed in Ethiopia. Our first day in Addis was overwhelming. We left the airport, went and checked in at our hotel and then went to the Transition Home to meet Deacon.
Meeting Deacon was a moment that I will never forget. He was so happy when they carried him into the room. I didn't really know what to expect from that moment. I was afraid that we was going to scream, but he didn't. He was so happy and smiley.

This was a special moment for us. As I was holding him all I could do in this moment was to thank God for this blessing. He is the one who orchestrated this entire process from beginning to end and He is the only one who deserves honor and glory for what He done in our lives. Now, although we have gone to court and we are officially his parents this process is still not over. We will have to make a second trip in order to bring Deacon home. We are now waiting for more paperwork to be finished and for the U.S. Embassy to get their part done. Until all of that is done we will wait to bring him home.
This will not be an easy time for us and it seems that the days are really long. Please be praying for us as we wait to hear when we can go back.