And we're off ... August 18, 2010

A year ago today, Miss Faye was coming to pick up my mom and Steve (my stepfather) to take us to the airport on a journey that would forever change my life.  I had been planning for this for a little over 9 months.  9 months.  I know, its not lost on me.  We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  We checked in, handed over our 6 pieces of luggage, 2 of which were full of shoes for my friend Emily.  Packing the night before was not fun.  Trying to fit shoes and socks in that those suitcases were hard.  But thanks to mom and Steve.  I feel like waiting for the flight was not so bad to head out of Birmingham.  We flew from Birmingham to Atlanta to Dulles.  In Dulles we met two of the families that would become like family that week, Bethany and Issac and Ali and Joe.  We got to speak with each other.  I remember Ali being so excited and full of life.  And that pretty much fits her to a tee.  Then from Dulles to Rome (for a 45 minute fueling of the plane) to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  That was an incredibly long flight.
We landed in Addis, got our visas and head to get our luggage.  One suitcase, 2 suitcases, 3 suitcases, 4 suitcases....and that was all.  Where were the other 2?  One was somewhere in the world where suitcases go when they are lost, the other was taken into custody, both were the suitcases with the shoes.  Which I was so thankful for, but it was a long hassle to figure out what to do. Thankfully Emily (who we were bringing the shoes for) had told me about the customs possibility and had told me to tell them to keep the shoes and someone from her organization would come get them.  So about 2 hours later while the other 2 families waited for us, we finally were able to leave the airport.
Holt took great care of us.  They had drivers waiting for us.  They took care of our luggage and got us safely to the hotel.  I was exhausted and freaking out.  What am I about to do to my life?  I lost it.  Tears, ugly cry.

The view from our back bedroom.

View from the front balcony.

Part of the bedroom

The hotel's kitchen stayed open til midnight so we were able to get something to drink and then it was time to go to sleep.  Thankfully, I had some sleep meds with me and take them I did.  Because tomorrow was the big day... finally meeting my heart.