It's a travel date!

Well the day came. Last Tuesday Lindsay called from CHSFS to tell us that Girum had gone through court. I had just walked into the house and the answering machine was blinking. I was not expecting to hear from our agency until after the 15th of April. This was the date they told us would be the soonest that we could see his case heard .... so needless to say my heart was racing and I was in shock. When I finally got a hold of her she said we could make travel arrangments for the 13th. My heart sank. The 13th. that was only two weeks away and I had so much on my plate for that weekend including my big girl scout sleep over and my sons spagetti dinner that he is planning with two of his friends to raise money for a washing machine for AHOPE (an HIV orphanage next to Girum's) I was physically sick. I thought there is no way I can leave that soon. Lindsay told me that she thought the 2oth travel group was already full so I would have to wait till the 27th group to travel. I told her I would discuss it with Shawn and we would talk in the morning.

Shawn and I decided that night that with so much planned we would have to leave Girum in the Lord's hands for a few more weeks and just travel on with the group on the 27th. I got on the phone that evening and thought I would throw caution into the wind and see if I could by any chance get frequent Flier tickets to Ethiopia. Up till this point I had tried not to worry to much about the cost of these tickets. Shawn and I had been pricing them up to this point and knew we were looking at between $1600 and $3000 a ticket depending on the notice we were given. When we first started this adoption so many people on our adoption forum talked about how when you follow God's promtings he always provides a way. At first I thought of this as a cliche. However, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that God does provide a way and when we leave things to him he will bless us. I knew that if the needs be that Shawn and I could pay for these tickets however I found the cost quite unsetteling.

So I called Delta Airlines and explained to the agent that we were adopting and needed to see if we could use our miles to bring home our little boy. She worked for over one and a half hours to try and find us tickets. I thought there was no way that this would be possible. She came back on the line and said to me " I don'd know how you are living, but the Good Lord is looking out for you." I relpied "You have no idea how much" She was able to find us two round trip tickets to Ethiopia and Back on the dates we needed. I hung up the phone and was in tears. My emotions really were getting the best of me. It is true if we trust in the Lord he will help. Not the same way for every person but he is aware of our personal struggles and needs.

A friend on the forum sent this scripture today that I found so fitting with my little frequent miled miracle.

2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

So as it stands now we will leave on the 25th of April arriving in Ethiopia the next day at 9:10 pm. For those of you wondering it is 31 hours of ACTUAL flight time.

We can't wait to bring our little Adam Girum Frasier home to his forever family. I am posting the picture my dad took this last week for us to take with us to Ethiopia. It will be exchanged with the people responsible for helping him find his way to us. May God Bless you all as he has our family over this wonderful journey.