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!