And the plot thickens...

Well, just moments after my last post, our travel plans began to morph.  We became aware of the fact that our connection into JFK tomorrow night may be in jeopardy because of a winter storm that is supposed to hit midday tomorrow in NY.  SO, after talking to Emirates- twice, American Airlines 3 times, Susan Parr travel, and the travel agent we use for domestic travel, we've decided we need to be proactive. Emirates insists that even if 8 inches of snow falls, they WILL leave JFK at 11:00 tomorrow night, and we need find a way to be in NY when they take off if we want to leave for Ethiopia before Monday night.  American says they can't change our connector flight because it was booked through Emirates, even though the 6AM flight out of RDU tomorrow morning is wide open.  Basically, both of our travel agents have told us to be at the RDU American Airlines desk when they open tomorrow at 4:30 in the morning.  Even though we're not booked on the flight until 5:25 tomorrow night, they assure us we will be able to get on the 6AM flight if we're there at the counter.  So, now we're in rush mode, as we are now leaving 15 hours before anticipated so that we can go and camp out in NY tomorrow in the hopes that the Emirates bird will fly as scheduled. 

Okay, I'm rambling.  All of that was simply to say, please pray- after all our planning and preparation, we are now experiencing near chaos!  It's all good though- it will make the story that much more fun in 10 years!  Blessings to you!

One Wild Scavenger Hunt

Okay, so currently I'm home alone with less than 24 hours to go.  I've pretty much finished the list and we're gearing up for our last family night.  Ryan and the kids are still not back because Ryan is finishing up the last of the scavenger hunt.  Well, that's what I'm calling it anyway- the Ethiopian Scavenger Hunt.  Several items on our packing list have turned out to be hard to track down- here are a few of the toughest ones:

A plain white t-shirt for Abe, not an undershirt, a t-shirt. You know, a t-shirt or a onesie that can be worn as a shell with 2/3 of your wardrobe.  After checking Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Baby Gap, Old Navy, and the Children's Place,  we decided they simply don't stock white t-shirts in January.  Then, my precious friend Eve hit the jackpot while buying a birthday gift at the Raleigh Babies R Us.  Yaaaah Eve!  

Powdered whole milk- This is what Abe is currently drinking.  That took a trip to Walmart, then internet research, then phone calls to multiple grocery stores in the Wake Forest area to finally hunt that down.  Apparently it's readily available in most countries of the world, but here in the Raleigh area it's found in the Hispanic section of the Louisburg Food Lion.  Good to know it you're planning on adopting a toddler from Ethiopia- huh!?!

And finally, the item that Ryan is currently shopping for- bubbles!  Why bubbles you ask?!?  Well, here's sorta how the story goes.  The other night, Ryan and I were feeling a little stressed.  We'd done the bulk of our packing on this particular day and the reality of what we were doing was really feeling a little overwhelming.  To top it all off, we'd been in communication with another adoptive family who has recently returned and their "bonding" experience has been less than ideal.  So, we were discussing the what-ifs of our situation.  What if he cries the first week or month or if he never stops crying. At this point, we were both ready to jump off a ledge.  Then a thought occurred to me and I turned to Ryan and said, "Wait a minute, wait just a minute.  If anyone can handle this, we can.  We have four children, we've spent the last 15+ years of our lives working with kiddos.  We have had countless hours of training on seperation anxiety.  Heck, people have paid us to train other people on this stuff.  We need to get a grip!"

To which my precious husband responds,  "Bubbles, that's what we need, we need bubbles. What kid isn't captivated by bubbles?  That's what I'll do, I'll take one of those no spill bubble tumblers."  And it was decided, bubbles would be the therapy of choice!

Well, kind of like white t-shirts, bubbles aren't so easily found in January.  We did manage to locate some wedding bubbles in the party aisle at Target, but they weren't the perfect bubbles. So, right now he and the kids are at the boutiqueish toy store in town acquiring bubbles while I enjoy a few last moments at home.  Ah, I love that man!

A Few Distractions

Have you ever had one of those times when the days seemed like years?  That has certainly been the situation I've been in the last few days.  It seems like there's not enough time to get it all done, but it also seems as if every day is so long- weird, I know.  I keep looking at the clock thinking, how can it only be 7:30- it must be midnight!   The bottom line is, we're ready to get this show on the road.

The last couple of days have been filled by a few distractions which have helped to pass these last days.  Abby and I went to the pediatrician yesterday because her medical paperwork needed to be updated for the Gladney file.  We are fortunate that our pediatrician has an adopted daughter from Uganda and he has returned a couple of times since their adoption to provide some aide.  I feel he is going to be a great resource as we work through these first few months with Abe.

Last night we had a terrible storm.  I was home alone (a rarity) baking Lily's birthday cake when we lost power.  So, for about half of my much needed alone time, I was working by candle/lantern light.  I had told the Lord I needed some quiet time before we climbed on that plane- I guess he took me literally!  The storm did a real number on our new trampoline.  Ryan's parents had purchased it as a Christmas gift for the kiddos and until we can find some replacement parts, it's out of commission.  They were so disappointed.  And, quite frankly I am disappointed too.  It has been such a great source of non-messy, healthy entertainment- I thought it would be a great resource for the transition.  Oh well, at least it wasn't a tree through our roof!

Did I mention that we found the trampoline parts spread across two yards?

Today we had Lily's 5th birthday party.  Because of our crazy schedule, it wasn't a typical Campbell birthday bash.  The crowd was small, the icing was canned, and the invitations were not hand-made, but I am the only one who cared.  However, Lily was princess for the day, our guests were among our dearest friends,  and she knows she is loved, and that was my objective.  I kept the princess party promise I made months ago and quite frankly, that's enough at this point.  Thought I'd include a few photos.

The Birthday Princess

The Royal Family

The Queen looking especially becoming!

A new bathrobe from Nana

Wonder why Nana thought Lily might need a new bathrobe?

Overwhelmed

Let me just start this thing by saying... if you haven't already figured it out, I think that somewhere in the last several weeks, this blog has become less about updating you guys and more about providing free therapy for me.  I have always tended to talk WAY too much when I get nervous, and this blog seems to be taking the brunt of my motor mouth these days.  So, I apologize in advance for my ramblings.  

That said, let me tell you where I am at today.  I am overwhelmed.  It's not the packing, the list making, the shopping, the laundry, or the cleaning that has me messed up.  It's the reality of this thing, this adoption.  I am simply overwhelmed at what God is doing.  I am overwhelmed when I think about how privileged I am to be on this journey.  I am overwhelmed that God trusted me enough to call me out of my comfort zone and into this process.  At the realization that I will never be the same.  I will never again not be aware of the plight of the orphan.  I am simply overwhelmed at God's goodness, at his faithfulness, and at his interest in my life and my family.

Little things make me cry.  Not for long, not the kind of cry that wipes you out or rearranges your day.  But those tears that spring instantly to your eyes and roll hot trails down your cheeks for just an instant before you regain composure and move on to the next thing.  This morning it was at the thought of that moment- the one where they place Abe in my arms for the very first time.  And in my mind I was practicing saying his birth name in my best Ethiopian accent so that he would experience the least amount of fear possible in that moment.  And they came, the tears.   They snapped me out of my daydream and back to my reality.

Yesterday it was when the mail arrived.  Ryan and I have the privilege of taking quite a few care packages from waiting families.  They are families who have been matched with children but are still waiting to pass court so they can go and bring them home.  Yesterday, 3 of those packages arrived.  I took them all out of the boxes so that I could re-pack them into our luggage.  One of my children was in the room and she asked me if we could read the note in one of the ziplock bags.  It had a little photo of the child and then the mother had written a small note.  I'd say the child was about 2 years old.  Knowing we would be reading it to the child in Ethiopia, I agreed and we pulled it out and the first line read, "This picture of you makes us smile."  And the tears came.  I choked my way through the rest of the note, but I thought about the magnitude of this thing, this adoption.  

That child, that 2 year old, is living in some kind of care facility, without a family.  No mama to tuck him in tonight or to hold him when he falls or to read him Goodnight Moon 7 times a day.  I am sure he is largely unaware of the magnitude of his loss.  Yet there is a family who is aware and they are already preparing to provide for his needs and they're clawing their way to him one piece of paperwork at a time.  Doing everything they can to give him what he needs.

And then I thought about our Lord and the fact that before we knew our need, he was making his way to us.  The Bible says that,  "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  He knew the depth of our need and he did the difficult things, before we ever knew we needed them done.  He wants so desperately to be our "Forever Father."  

I am so thankful that I surrendered my live to the Lord so many years ago and that he continues to pursue me.  He fills me with a purpose for living, a goal to press on toward, and provides for me abundant joy.  That, my friends, is overwhelming!

Prayer Request

Many of you have asked how you can help us over this next few days.  There really isn't anything physical that we need.  We are about 98% packed and other than some errands and some list making, most of the trip preparations are complete.  

We are attempting to have a "normal" week.  We are hosting Lily's 5th birthday party this week, and we are going to try to log 5 school days.  We have our second unit celebration with our co-op, and we have a doctor's appointment.  That's about it!

But, we do need prayer.  Please pray specifically for my children.  They have been very supportive and encouraging about the adoption from the start.  We talked a lot about what it would look like and the sacrifice it would require along the way.  And while they are very excited, they are also becoming very nervous.  Last night two of them had "Will you still love me?" meltdowns.  Pray that the Lord would just give them peace and that Ryan and I would have wisdom and encouragement for them.  Pray that we would be able to balance our preparations with loving on them.  Pray that I would not get worn out with them easily, as I tend to have a "put on your big girl panties" kind of  mentality.  

Thanks in advance for your prayers! 

Obedience

I guess this is an appropriate place in the journey for me to take a minute and say thank you. Ryan and I owe a big thank you to so many of you who have helped along the way.  The prayers, phone calls, blog comments, e-mails, and gifts have simply been overwhelming.  The encouragement we've received has been sustaining at many of the toughest points.  So, we simply say thank you.

Which leads me to my next thought, which is simply to offer encouragement to all of you.  I don't know where many of you are in your lives.  But I simply want to say this.  Whatever it is the Lord is asking you to do in your life, please listen.   Let me tell you why I feel I have to say that.

I truly thought I might be losing my mind when the Lord called us on this journey.  We had 4 beautiful, healthy children. The possibilities of ministry within our own church and community were countless, and we were plenty tired with what we were already doing.  I knew that people would think we were crazy when we shared the news.  And they did.  Even some of our closest, most committed Christian friends needed a moment to process the idea.  

I personally worried that this might keep us from "real ministry."  The time and energy we would need to give to the process and then to the child would take away from what we were already doing.  Every time God has called me to minister to my family, I have worried that others would not hear because I was focusing on my own family first.  But I am here to tell you today that when you are obedient, God will be faithful.  He will, he just will!

When I felt God leading me to begin this blog shortly after we started the process, I thought, "Okay Lord, but who on Earth will read it?"  Have you seen the ticker?  Someone is reading it.  I know this because almost everyday for the last 6 weeks, I have gotten an e-mail from someone I've never met introducing themselves and often asking for some sort of advice or sharing their story of where they are.  We have folks on 4 continents and across the US that are following our journey.  The Lord has given us a circle of influence we never could have imagined or asked for, ever.  We are humbled and overwhelmed not just by what God is doing IN our family, but what God is doing through our family.

So, moms, if "all" you are doing today is changing diapers and making bottles, do it as unto the Lord.  Dads, if "all" you are doing is punching a clock and showing up for dinner with the family, do it as unto the Lord.  I have learned, in some small way, that anything we do, if done with obedience and faithfulness, will lead us to the next small thing, and before you know it, all the small things will matter and you will begin to see people of character being influenced by your obedience.  And it is one of the most delightful things you can fathom this side of heaven.  

New Year, New Tradition

Today marks the end of the holiday season and what would normally signal a return to normalcy at our house.  Not so much this year!  We are down to only 9 days until we travel to meet Abe. 

 As Isaac said while we were packing Abe's clothing the other day, "I can't believe we really get to keep him!"  My sentiments exactly.  Even though we have been praying and preparing for almost a year, it still doesn't seem possible that it's really going to happen.  We are all very excited, nervous, and anxious about the whole thing.  

As you can imagine, this holiday season has been incredibly busy.  However, it's been a blessing that our trip preparations have fallen during this time in many ways.  For one thing, the church office is closed from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day every year.  That means that Ryan has been home to help with the packing, organizing, paperwork, and all of the other items that must be done.  

We have tried hard to enjoy our Christmas break and balance our to-do lists with treasuring some final moments as a family of 6.  Today we celebrated Pajama Day.  Because we've been so busy, we decided to set aside one day where we did nothing that was truly productive.  We stayed in our jammies all day and played.   Everyone chose one thing they wanted to do and we all did it together.  We ordered pizza for dinner, and made one final batch of holiday cookies.  I am happy to report that I did beat Ryan at ping pong on the Wii.  Overall, it was a big hit and we plan to make it a standing New Year's tradition.  Hear are a few photos of our new tradition!