Our Itinerary

Hey there Friends and Family!

Hope everyone has been enjoying this Advent season. We celebrated with Ben's parents two Saturdays ago, then were up in LaPorte, IN, with my parents and sister's family- along with most of the Schuster clan on Christmas Eve- for a few nights around Christmas. Sadly, there were a few sickies, so we missed out on seeing some. LaPorte, true to form, produced a good bit of snow, though not till after Christmas Day. We skated in on ice on Wednesday, which hung around through Christmas Eve. Ben and I were able to have a fun late-night-movie date (yes, a movie at the theater!) on Christmas night in Michigan City, where we saw The Blind Side. Great movie. A story of loving people.

It's always rich to see our kids and Jennifer and Matt's kids play together. They just love to be together, wrestling, crafting plays, playing with dolls, irritating one another, and sitting down to the table for game after game after game. Pit is especially entertaining these days.

Well, after arriving home yesterday (Saturday), we've been slowly, slowly making a path through the disaster area called our home, while simultaneously chugging through our lists of things to do in preparation for our trip to Ethiopia on Wednesday morning. We're going to take the Peoria Charter bus to Chicago to start things off and Lord willing, will fly out after 1pm. The kids will be lovingly shuffled from Ben's parents to my parents, some time here at home, some time there. Pray that the kids and our parents will enjoy this time and that things will go well. We'll arrive in Addis Ababa, which is 8 hours ahead of (later than) us on Thursday evening, New Year's Eve. We'll be going from Chicago to Washington to Addis (only stopping for gas in Rome), with the same route on the way home...well, in reverse of course...and with an extra seat. :D We'd love your prayers for smooth sailing. But, God is in the journey no matter what, smooth or choppy.

During our time in Ethiopia, our time is well planned out and coordinated by America World in-country staff. They will pick us up at the airport, take us everywhere we need to go, help us fill out all the needed paperwork, and deliver us back again to the airport at the end. Here's a peek into our schedule. On Monday, we will meet our children for the first time. (Oh, by we I mean all of us who are travelling together, maybe 3-4 families.) We will take the van over to the Transitional Home and go through the famous gate, and wait to be united with our kids. We'll stay there for a few hours and play with them and just start to get to know one another. We'll also meet with the doctor there to discuss Eyasu's health and development. Then, we'll go back to the Yebsabi Guesthouse where we'll be staying. The next day, Tuesday, we'll have a Paperwork Party in the morning, then return to the Transition Home in the afternoon, this time, leaving with our children. Eyasu will finally be with us and in our care...for as long as we both shall live. (Well, both meaning him and the rest of his new family.) On Wednesday, we will go to the US Consulate and apply for E's visa to travel home with us. He will just have an Ethiopian passport for now. Thursday, we'll visit a couple of the orphanages in Addis where children come from to America World families. Friday, we get his visa from the Consulate, shop in the market for souvenirs and fly out late that night. There are also some fun things like a meal at a nice Ethiopian restaurant and some other fun excursions planned. As it turns out, we will be there for Ganna, which is Christmas in Ethiopia! It is on January 7th, and we're so happy to be able experience this holiday with Eyasu/Ezekiel while there! We'll give a full report later.

We should return to Chicago on Saturday, January 9th, at about 1:30 pm. We'll hopefully be able to keep you posted on this as the time approaches. We hope to have some updates here on the blog during our trip, however we really don't know how often we'll have access to a computer. Since we've been US-bound these past 6 years, we abandoned the handy laptop on our last purchase, so we won't be taking one with us. My friend, Marianne, will be helping out with updating our blog if we're able to send email but not get through to our blog for some reason.

Well, I really need to get back to packing. I'm putting together a few photos to encourage discussion with Eyasu on the way home in the airplane. Nevermind that he won't understand a word I'm saying, nor I him. Doesn't matter. Well, it might matter at some point. But for the most part, we just want to start the conversation. Pray that he'll trust us. Pray that he won't be afraid. He's leaving everything he's ever known. The kids pray well for this, and often, that he'll like us, that he'll like our house, that he'll be able to learn English fast. In the photos, I'm including one of some snow-covered trees in our yard, since he's never seen snow. Oh brother! I also bought a cute little toy plane (like matchbox car sized), so we can at least talk about getting in one before it actually happens. Again, oh brother! Please don't be tempted to think of "how great this kid has it" by coming into a family like ours, or to a country like ours. The circumstances Eyasu has endured in his brief life are some of the most tragic any of us could imagine. He has undoubtedly been truly hungry. He has lost his birth family to be cared for by strangers. These things will not just magically disappear when we meet him next week. They will affect him his whole life long. And yet, we're so thankful that God is a God of redemption. He is able to take this, too, this child and his suffering, and redeem the situation for his glory..."that all men may know." He can restore. He can heal. We praise Him for it.

Well, we'll see you soon, friends. Here, there, or in the air. :D
Much love, Susan, for Ben too