Our Journey to Ethiopia - Day 1

Here is my journal of our journey to Ethiopia to meet our son Abraham. It will be long, but I want to have every detail I can remember written down so that our family can look back in years to come and remember this once in a lifetime journey...

Our last time as a family of 4 - just before we head out down to Seattle

As we boarded the Airport Shuttle to head to Seattle, my head was swimming with all sorts of thoughts... "Oh Lowa and Whittaker, I just cried and cried saying goodbye to you - I am going to miss you so much. Abraham, I cannot wait to meet you. What will Ethiopia be like? Will L&W be ok while we're gone? How will Abraham react to me? What if he can't stand me?" Tom and I talked about our excitements, our fears, our hopes and all that we would miss at home while we were away.

We truly tried to make our last night in the states one that was enjoyable. We booked a hotel down in Seattle (as our fight was leaving at 7:30 the next morning and we had to be at the airport at 5:30am). We went out to a nice dinner and enjoyed a wonderful date night full conversation. I remember thinking, "How did I get so lucky as to marry this man? Thank you Lord for blessing me with him for my husband."

As we awoke the next morning, nerves were alive and alert in both of our bodies. Thinking about leaving for Africa weighed heavily upon our hearts. We were heading to meet our son Abraham who we had dreamed about for over 8 months. God had laid this desire upon our hearts and we were on our way to complete His calling for our family. We got to the airport, got our baggage checked and later boarded our plane to WA DC. The flight was quite uneventful and I enjoyed a movie and some tv shows (The Office to be exact). While talking to the woman next to me about our reason for traveling, another woman seated right in front of me overheard our story. She was also traveling to Ethiopia to be with her brother and sister-in-law who adopted their baby girl from Ethiopia. Their little girl had been hospitalized for over a week and they had just correctly diagnosed pneumonia (after having been misdiagnosed for the week prior). The parents were exhausted and the husband's sister was coming to help. This woman was amazing and it was a blessing to know her! More to come about how this all worked out later in the journey!

On Ethiopian Airlines traveling to our boy!

In WA DC we met up with all but one of the other couples traveling with AGCI. The bond formed instantly and from the moment we met them we felt as though God had brought us all together as support for each other. My traveling buddies will forever be in my heart and I am so grateful to each and every one of you for your support, love and memories that we will always share!

As we prepared to board the plane for Ethiopia, I was aware of how much in the "minority" I felt. There were so many beautiful Ethiopian people flying back home. It made me very aware of how my son will feel many times in his life. It was such a good and powerful experience. We walked onto the plane and began another leg of our journey to Abraham. The flight was excruciatingly LONG. There were movies available, but I spent much of my time watching the monitor that showed how far we had traveled thus far and how much further we had to go. Yes, I was torturing myself! Crazy woman! One of the most memorable things from this flight was the moment our plane passed over the threshold of the African continent. All I can say is that this was incredible, and put me in a state of awe! As I looked down from the plane window, I saw beautiful blue ocean and then a sharp shoreline full of beautiful colors. Then a few minutes later all I saw was brown, a vast sea of sand - the Sahara desert. This desert is enormous and goes on and on. Wow, God creates such beauty in the midst of harshness. As I was watching the Sahara, every once in a while a small village would pop out of nowhere. I remember thinking, "How can anyone live here?"

The Sahara Desert - vast and amazing

After many hours on the plane, we finally touch down in Addis. As we fly in there are very few lights for a city of 5 million people. I thought, "Wow, how wasteful we are in the United States. We use our lights when we don't even need them. These people use their lights only when they have to." It was shocking I had a serious reality check of the abundance we have in America. We were no longer in the United States - we were in Ethiopia where things would be vastly different, yet in many ways the same.

After getting off the plane, we went through 2-3 hours of getting our visas and passing through customs. All of us were completely exhausted and very ready for some sleep - which would not come for a while. We then grabbed our bags and went through Ethiopian security (much less hooplah then the US). And then.... we saw Yohannes! What a sight to see. He was holding our sign, "Welcome to AGCI." I can't remember being that excited at an airport. We met our last traveling buddies (whom I love), and then headed off to the vans. Traveling with 7 families provides for a lot of luggage, but Danny, Binyam and Yohannes managed to get it all packed on top of and into one van (we had two vans for traveling, but one van carried all of the luggage)- what STUDS!

At Customs in the Ethiopian Airport


Our bags passing through Ethiopian security


Yohannes welcoming us to Ethiopia!


Loading up the van - hard work.

As we drove through Addis all I could do was stare out of the window. What beauty, poverty and sadness I saw. Children would run up to our van and beg for money and food. I could not believe what these children had to live in. One image that sticks out clearly in my mind... as we were driving I remember seeing a tarp lying on the side of the road on top of dirt and rocks. I thought that it was just more garbage, but as we got closer I saw there was a person sleeping under there. My heart broke. I wanted to go to that person, help them, give them food, give them a bed. I couldn't believe that a person would have to live like this. As I would learn during our drives throughout the city, there are tarp homes all over the city. These visions will be forever ingrained in my head and heart.

After driving through the city, we finally arrived at the Union Hotel Apartments. Our luggage was taken upstairs, we checked in and headed up 4 long flights of stairs. Addis is 8,000 ft. in altitude and being a person who lives at sea level, my body had some adjusting to do. I was sucking wind each time I climbed those stairs :)! Tom and I unpacked our bags, got our Hannah's Hope donations all together and crashed in bed. I didn't have a problem falling asleep, but Tom struggled with the time difference.

Tom checking in at the Union Hotel

We went to bed knowing that tomorrow we would meet our son Abraham...