Tomorrow is THE BIG DAY!!

Saturday August 18^th  (4:40 pm CDT and 10:40 pm in Kinshasa)

Well, I am 5 hours off of the East Coast flying over the Atlantic and I am just thrilled and blessed to be on this journey to pick up my son.  The trip so far has been very smooth.  Katie and I left Nashville at 11 am yesterday, with a layover in Charlotte, then spent the night in Washington DC last night.   We had a fabulous meal at the hotel.  Crab stuffed mushrooms to start, then salmon with mashed potatoes and veggies.  We figured we would splurge on our last good meal before airplane and congo food. (Thanks Tim Chandler for the dinner and fabulous accomodations…xoxo!). 

Today, we had breakfast and made it to the airport.   We did have to spend some time rearranging things in our luggage because our carry-on’s were too heavy.  (Of course, after all of the work…they never even checked them.).   Then, because of the rearranging, I ended up leaving my new DVD player on the luggage cart.  GRRRrrr.   Oh well, if that is the worst that happens…we are doing great!!   Plus, I can still show movies on my laptop.

We have the most wonderful lady sitting in our row.  She is smart, witty, traveled, and has a heart of gold.  Her name is Mary Ellen and she is on her way to stay 3 weeks with a friend in Uganda who is in the final stages of breast cancer.  This is a friend she met while teaching in Uganda many years ago.  What a blessing she is to this friend!   

Mary Ellen, Katie and I just ordered a glass (or 2;-)) of red wine to celebrate my adoption!!  We decided we are going to have a party in row 33!!  Woo hoo!  

I have covered (and will continue to cover) a vast array of emotions.  From….”Am I Crazy”, “can I do this”, “I can’t wait”, “really…2??”, to “ I am not nervous at all now.  I am just ready to do this!”   God is at work and will give me everything and everyone I need.

August 19^th  (10:45 am CDT…..5:45 pm in Kinshasa)

We just arrived at St. Anne’s where we are staying a few hours ago.  We walked down the street to a market and bought lots of bottled water for the room.  The place we are staying reminds me of the old dorm rooms at SewaneeJ, except we don’t have hot water here.    

I am not sure what I expected to see when we drove down the road…but what I saw definitely wasn’t it.   I have been to 3^rd world countries and have seen the poverty, but I have never seen people living in such filth in my life.   There were hundreds and hundreds of people on the side of the road in the city standing in dirt, dust, sand, rock and trash.  There were Literally mounds of garbage all along between the road and the tin homes where they live.   It made me hold my breath for much of the ride from the airport.  Well….that and the fact that I was in the front seat with our driver Matthew who was scaring the crap out of me the whole time.  I just knew we were going to run over a pedestrian at any moment.

We are about to shower now and then have dinner at 7.  After dinner I am quite sure we will all be ready to collapse and the tomorrow is THE BIG DAY!!   I get to meet my son and never let him go!!  

Please continue to pray for our meeting tomorrow, the language barrier, the transition and all of our health and safety.

I will have pictures and video tomorrow!   WooHoo!

Long sleeves on an August morning?  LOVE IT!   

The last post being September of 2011 really shows how long this journey has been, but we are almost together.  Mine and Katie's visas are coming today and all we wait for is the "go ahead" from the Embassy to book our flight.  It is surreal!  The waiting, the paperwork, the tears, the stress will be all worth it when I meet my son for the first time.  It is hard to explain how you can love someone you have never met, but God has placed him in my heart and family and I am blessed beyond measure!  So now I gather for the trip.....his little clothes and shoes, toys, snacks, first aid stuff and things for the orphanage.  Come on phone...RING, or email....DING!!  I am ready:-).

The next big change since September is that this blog should say "Journey to find SONS".  That's right....2 BOYS!  HA!   Dwight is coming home too!!  YIPPEEE!   The last I heard from Jamaica is that it could be as soon as 2-3 months, which means I could have both boys by Christmas!  What a Christmas gift would that be?   A house filled with smiles, laughter, lights, music, food, Jesus and FAMILY!  That is what it's all about.

Am I scared?  Absolutely!!  Do I fully comprehend how much my life is about to change?  No way!!  But I know that I am living out the path that God has put me on, and because of that, HE will give me everything I need to raise these boys to be fine young men!  He will place people in my life when I need help.  He will place people in their lives when they need a male role model.  He will Bless us on this Road!

I wanted to start this blog back up so I can use it to keep you updated while in Africa and moving forward to Jamaica.  We will have sporadic WiFi, so I will update as frequently as I can!!

Thank you for praying and being constant encouragement!

Cindy, Christian and Dwight!   oh...and Sophie and Abner of course:-)).