TICKETS TO ETHIOPIA ARE BOOKED!!!

WOOHOO!!!  Tickets are purchased and we have our itinerary!  We will be flying LUFTHANSA leaving this next Wed at 11am and arriving in Addis Thursday night (their time)!  WE GET TO BE REUNITED WITH SAMI FRIDAY!  He will come back to the GH with us THAT DAY!!!!

I cannot even IMAGINE being able to leave the Transition House WITH SAMI!!!!  It was so exciting to take Kaleab with us, leaving the Transition House, and to do so with Sami, who is old enough to actually comprehend that this means he will be with us FOREVER...........literally gives me goosebumps!!!!

We flew Lufthansa on our trip #1 to Ethiopia, mainly so that we could spend time touring the Rhine and Mosel River area after leaving our sweet baby boy in Ethiopia.  Little did we know our hearts would feel heavy for Sami as well when we left Ethiopia that trip!  {smile inserted here}  I loved the service and the food on these flights. I felt like we were constantly being offered food....so much so I even turned some of it down!

Trip #2 we flew Ethiopian Air ~ the direct flight DC to/from Addis Ababa.  Not having a 5 hour layover in Germany was sweet, but I must admit, my body was SO ready to get.off.the.plane on that long direct flight (12 hours over and 17 hours on way back after a stopover in Rome to refuel).  

I had zero complaints of either airline either trip.  However......when looking into tickets for this trip, we saved $700-$900 by going through Tabitha Lovell and flying Lufthansa again!  We are a bit disappointed, for Kaleab's sake, that we aren't doing the direct DC-Addis flight, but hoping it will do all of us some good to have a layover in Frankfurt, Germany.  Stretch out the legs, etc.  Just wish we could show Sami some of the beautiful countryside we experienced just outside of Frankfurt!

Okay, enough logistics.

WE WILL SEE SAMI IN SEVEN DAYS!!!!  AND WE DO NOT HAVE TO LEAVE HIM BEHIND EVER AGAIN!!!!

We tossed around the idea of whether I should stay home with Kaleab to save Kaleab any issues with travel or returning to Ethiopia,  and have only Jeff travel; but we just couldn't let go of the desire and mind picture of the whole family being there when we get to bring Sami HOME!  In addition, I wanted to share in the travels we plan to do with Sami in Ethiopia, showing him his beautiful birth country!  We also didn't want Kaleab to have to experience another separation from daddy ~ a counselor friend advised that the minor regression we may experience with Kaleab returning to Ethiopia would be small compared to the attachment interruption that would occur between he and Daddy.

All-in-all, we just want us to do all of this TOGETHER as the FAMILY THAT WE ARE!!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!  Cannot even BELIEVE that we will be leaving in a matter of days to BE WITH OUR SON, SAMI, FOREVER!!!  AND BE THE FAMILY OF FOUR THAT WE ARE MEANT TO BE!!!!

THANK YOU, LORD!!!