Day 1 Continued- Travel to Ethiopia

So as I layed in bed last night reliving what I had written about my first flight to Amsterdam, I remember some other details that made me giggle. So I will quick add them to my Day 1 post...

Since I was NOT going to get the upgraded seating, I headed to my assigned seat only to find a man already in my spot. THAT IS SO AWKWARD! He knew right?! How do you not know you are sitting in someone else's spot? I am all ready to ask him to move BUT he was wearing a black clergy robe.... how am I suppose to ask a man of the cloth to "get out of my spot?!" Then he looked up at me and with a thick African accent said " You don't mind, do you?"

Um, well no I guess not.. So I sat on the aisle. Remind me if I ever take another long flight.. I hate sitting on the aisle. I love sitting on the window where I can wedge my blanket into the window and side of the plane and sleep!

So now I am sitting on the aisle, and next to me, in the middle, is a young man. This young man, based on what I am over hearing from his conversation with the man in cloth is a homosexual and does not believe that God is mad that he loves men. I spent the next 10 hours watching movies with my headphones on in the hopes of avoiding be dragged into the conversation between the man in the cloth and the young man next to me. I thought about this a lot last night.. why did I try my very best avoid this conversation? Well, probably because I was horrified at the abrasiveness of both people speaking.. and the fact that everyone within three rows forward and back could hear what was going on... for the entire 10 hours, they were quiet for about 1 hour.. as we deboarded the plane the man in cloth leaned over and said "Miss? I hope you love Jesus because if not, you are going to hell." He then handed me a napkin with his name and phone number on it asking me to promise to call him to talk about it more.. Ya, um, no thank you. I love Jesus lots, and I don't like when people think they are better than everyone else because they do love Jesus. For heaven sakes, I need Jesus more than most people, and because I am forgiven does not mean that I still don't need HIM and am any better than anyone who does not know that Jesus loves them. Anyway, off my soapbox.

Ok, I think that is really the end of my first flight. The next post will be about my Amsterdam to Addis flight... or so I thought...  

Day 1 - Travel to Ethiopia

So I have been procrastinating writing about my time in Ethiopia and up until recently I have not been sure why the delay. I am pretty sure I am having a hard time writing because I have yet to completely admit to myself how hard of a time that was.

I was ready. 

It was necessary. 

It was amazing. 

It was one of the hardest times of my life.

I have this picture... 

And I think it depicts what I was try to feel while I sat on the tarmac in Los Angeles. I wanted to be excited and not afraid of what was coming or what I was leaving behind.

The night before I had packed, and repacked everything that I thought I could possibly need for my unknown time in Ethiopia with two kids that I was not even 100% sure I knew what they needed. I packed clothes, shoes, jammies, toys, snacks, PediSure, and EVERY TYPE OF MEDICINE I COULD!

Since my flight left Los Angeles close to noon, the plan was to drop the kids off at school and then Ricky would drive me to the airport. I was prepared for what I thought would be an emotional morning, with tears from Mommy and the kids. What it actually was almost makes me laugh now. We got to school and I started walking the kids to class like I usually do, one by one, I dropped them off and got a half hug. I grabbed on tight and hugged longer... It wasn't until I dropped off Jakey that my heart began to sink.. how long would it be before I was home? How long until I could hug my little bubba? That morning was so hard on me, and although we have talked about it some since then, the kids have been pretty upbeat about it all. Focused on the end prize. 

Hubs took me to Red Robin for lunch, I love me some dirty bird! After a mix up about the terminal location we finally were able to get me into the ticketing area for prescreening of luggage and such. And you know what?! My baggage was overweight! SHOCKER?! LOL. After taking out some of bubbles I had packed to play with the kids, I was finally ready to take off.

Hubs and I walked together to the TSA line where we both knew that he would have to leave. You know that feeling like you forgot something... that is what is felt like to walk into the TSA line without my man. That sinking, something is not right... where did I put that... why can't I find it... I am going to go crazy without... ya that is the one. Oh the permanent damage that day of looking back at him and seeing his eyes wet with tears has done to my heart. I will never forget that moment. I don't want to forget that moment. In all the crazy of the past year, in the all the moments I cried "you just don't understand!" he really did understand, but the aching in his heart was for me... Since then, there have been moments of ugly (post placement uglies) where I have looked back into my memory bank and pulled at the memory of him watching me get onto a place and fly to Ethiopia.. my heart gets soft and no matter where we are in the moment, I want to hold and hug his neck.

Ok! Well, now that I am a mess...

I wanted so much to have the Economy Plus seat that my mom had offered to pay for (Thanks MOMMA!) so I ran to the boarding gate and waited...and waited. While waiting I met two very different men who were also waiting to see about an upgraded seat... Mr. Photo (I don't know his real name) and Mr. Nice (I am sure he gave me his card, but I don't know where it is or remember his name... gosh I am good at this! ) As we stood there in line chatting, the conversation turned to our final destinations. Mr. Photo was a... YOU GUESSED IT... photographer who was flying to West Africa to document a medical missions team that was already hard at work providing medical care to refugees across the continent. Mr. Nice was going to Amsterdam to speak at some kind of conference.... He was pretty discreet about it all, but was really a nice man. Then it was my turn.. I felt kinda weird sharing.. like they were going to think I was some kind of special person or something weird like that.. but I did and I was right. Oh those conversations are so awkward right? The ones that start out with "Oh wow, you are really amazing, God Bless you!"... I hate that conversation because I am not amazing and oh how I do need my God to bless me, but because I have sinned and fall short daily, not because we are adopting. Annnywayyys.... I shared briefly about our adoption and the horrible long delay that had happened between our last trip and this trip.. Mr. Photo asked "How long are you staying...?" I don't know, I said. Mr. Nice, "Well, where is your husband?" At home, with our other 4 kids... "Oh wow.. um.." total awkward silence. I laughed and said "Don't worry, I am gonna be fine and I will be home before too long.." Maybe that was for me more than it was for them.. cause why do they care?

Side note... This is more for me than anyone else at this point. I don't want the memories to get fuzzy of these moments in our life. I want to be able to look back at some point and have it well documented that moment when I left my family in the United States to travel alone to Africa to be with my kids who had waited a year for me to come back.. so if I ramble.. I am sorry =)

I then proceeded to watch EVERY MOVIE AVAILABLE for the next 10 hours and 40 min!