THIS IS THE WEEK!

Well it is finally here. I have to admit that I have gotten so little sleep in the past two weeks from trying to get ready to go. I can not believe all of the little details that have to be done to leave four kids at home and get five 70 lb suitcases packed. We have had a couple of crazy and exciting things happen since I posted last so I will bring you up to speed.

1st. We found out that we need a transit visa for our son coming through Amsterdam. Of course the Dutch embassy told us that we did not when I called them last month to make the flight arrangements. However I was miss informed and it is funny how the words "I am sorry some one told you that" seem to send chills down my spine. So a very nervous weekend worrying that we were going to be stuck in Ethiopia for another week. See we can not get a Dutch visa until we have the US visa. Our original plans were to visit the US embassy on Tuesday as that was our appointment day. Then we would pick up the completed visa on Friday. Thus not giving enough time to get to the Dutch embassy and have them issue a dutch visa. WOW who knew that traveling with an Ethiopian passport would cause so many visa issues. Shawn and I were talking last night and just commenting on how blessed we are to hold a US passport. Interesting enough....if you are a US citizen you do not need a transit visa.
I waited up till 1AM last night to call the US embassy to see if they would consider expediting our visa and they said they would be happy to do so. She even moved our embassy appointment to Monday. I could not believe how friendly they were. Then I got up this morning and the Dutch embassy had emailed me back and said they would be happy to expedite the visa as long as we could prove that we had a flight itinerary. So once again everything has worked out just fine. Even though it cost Shawn and I a few restless nights.


2nd our babysitter who was suppose to watch the kids has had some serious health issues. We got a call from her mother-in-law on Saturday. She said "Jill, we have a BIG problem." She then told me that her daughter in law had a massive blood clot on her brain and was in the ICU in critical condition. Her condition is life threatening and we are keeping her in our prayers.

So needless to say I had to find a new babysitter. Not an easy task in 4 days. I picked up my Grandma right after the phone call and told her my plight. She said I think I have your answer. My neighbors from Ghana, "I bet they would babysit for you." He just graduated from BYU with his masters in Statistics. And she can not work because of VISA issues. What is it with the VISA issue? So to make a long story short they are coming to watch our children. My girls are thrilled to have someone from Ghana watching them as they have been learning so much about their country in school and have done numerous service projects for the country of Ghana.

So now I am off to start packing suitcase number 4. I will update soon. And I am posting the latest picture of Girum cut from his birth certificate. We recieved it last week. It was so great to see Shawn and I's name on it as his parents. It is all starting to seem real. I can not wait to see him.