update

Once again, we are waiting. You would think that we would be good at this by now. God has taught us to trust Him and the waiting is more bearable than it use to be. I never feel alone. God is there and friends who are living this same journey are always there to listen. CWA is saying that our papers should be submitted to the US Embassy on September 7th. Then we wait to hear from them. Once the Embassy has investigated our case and approved it, we will be given an Embassy appointment. These are offered once every two weeks so we are hoping to travel in October. September 21st would be the first possible time that we could travel, but it is doubtful that we would be approved by then. Addia's first birthday is October 24th so we are hoping to be with her by then. Thank you for your continued prayers....

here she is!

Introducing Addia Faith Netsanet Collins....
Netsanet was the name her birthmom gave her and it means "freedom".

we are home with one sweet girl missing

We are home! We arrived home on Thursday. I can't even describe in words what it was like to be in Ethiopia. I think our caseworker described it best when he said it is a place of contrasts. The people are unbelievably beautiful. At one point I turned to Mark and asked "do they even know how beautiful they are?". They are very loving with arms around each other and holding hands wherever they go. They take care of each other. Admist all of the love and beauty, there is poverty that you have never seen before. As we were driven places in a van, I would see shocking scenes out of the window. Things that you can't imagine...things that would take your breath away....things that make you want to scream "stop" and jump out of the van to rescue someone. Then you realize you can't "fix" the poverty in one moment. I know visiting there has changed me forever...spiritually and mentally. We were so blessed to travel there with other CWA families. We made lifelong friends and had a lot of FUN being and living these moments together. I can't imagine the trip without them. I so hope that we travel for Embassy together as well. The best part of the trip was meeting our sweet Addia. Our first meeting could not have gone any better. She responded so well to us, looked deeply in our eyes, hugged me so tightly at one point and gave her Daddy a big kiss. Once we have our computer issues resolved, I will post a picture of her. She's a cutie with chunky rolls, big eyes and lots of personality. We were told that we may travel to bring her home in 4-6 weeks so we are counting down the days. Thank you for your many prayers...every one was felt and made our trip easier for us and our children at home. Pictures coming soon...