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Renee Swope

Encouraging and equipping moms to parent with God's grace and confidence.

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We Made It to Ethiopia!!


We are here! A little exhausted but we made it. I can’t believe I’m actually typing these words. We are in Ethiopia! We are in Africa!!

It was an amazing day of smooth travels. Only God and prayer could have paved the way for such an uneventful international trip that took almost 24 hours. The only little glitch we had was in Dulles when the Lufthansa service desk asked for our United flight baggage claim tickets and we didn’t have them.

They were on our boarding pass stubs in the seat pocket of the plane we just got off. It created a little stir and a lot of stress. I decided to twitter a prayer request and pray God would help them follow us to Germany and Africa. When we got here tonight there they were, all of our bags, waiting for us!

I love seeing God in the details. Like how He provided our friend Angela to drive us to the airport and how patient she was with our delays and crazy morning. How He kept pressing on my heart to go to Target before we left to print photos of Aster and our family so I could create a photo album for her birth mom and Meseret to give them this week. How that put me behind getting ready this morning but it ended up not mattering because when we got to the airport, there were no lines at the ticket desk, at security or even at the restaurant we went to for lunch.

Now, I’m not gonna lie. It was stressful and very, very long. Just traveling with four people on three flights for almost 24 hours with pnly 3-4 hours of very interrupted sleep is enough to make anybody irritable. We tried our best to give each other lots of grace but we had a few opportunities to practice the power of apology. But other than our exhaustion, it was truly an amazing day!

Another huge blessing God provided was our lodging tonight and tomorrow night. We are staying at a nice hotel that is owned by a friend’s family that we met through our friends Butch and Mandy. It is such a gift from God to be here. They have taken such good care of us from the time our feet stepped onto Ethiopian soil. We will get a good night’s rest here and then go to see Aster in the morning at the orphanage which we believe is about 30 minutes away from here.

We just had dinner and now we’re going to bed. It’s 3pm in North Carolina but 10:00pm here. When we got here it was lunch time according to our bodies and dinner time according to Ethiopia’s schedule so that worked out well. I have more photos to share but blogger is a little slow so I’ll try to post them tomorrow.

Most important of all will be our first family photos with Aster. We can’t wait to see and hold our little Ethioipian princess!

Comments

  1. I'm glad you got to Ethiopia safely. I am sure you found little Aster by now. Hope you enjoy your stay in Ethiopia and take some pictures for me.
    – Zemen.

  2. Thanks for the update! We are praying!! I am especially praying for your boys….being a boys mom myself (4 of them). God laid it on my heart to pray for yours specifically so…I am.

    Love across the miles…Sue

  3. Even as I type type this this morning, you are likely holding your daughter in your arms! It makes me smile to think about it.

    Can't wait to see those pictures, but only if she's napping!

    Hugs to you, my friend!

  5. Wow,soon a reunion that has been a long time coming. This is going to be one of those life defining moments in each of your lives. It will be the biggest thing to happen to Aster.
    God is so mighty and Good.
    Diane

  9. Perhaps I should pray that you are able to sleep tonight! I am sure your heart is about to burst with excitement…you are about to get to hold your baby girl!!!

    Blessings! So glad you made it there safely!
    Love and prayers,
    K

  10. Renee,
    It's great to hear the update – I continue to pray that God's plan unfolds perfectly!! Hope you get some rest and have a wonderful first day with your little girl tomorrow!! Blessings, Jill

  11. Thinking about you and your family. Am so thankful that you made it to Africa safely. Will keep you all in my prayers.

  12. What a sweet picture…thank you for sharing your journey with us. I will be praying that all continues to go smoothly as you meet Aster and her birth Mom. May the incredible love, grace and mercy of our Great God be evident to all of you on this journey.

  13. I have been praying for you on and off again all day today and yesterday. Praising God for being God in the little stuff as well as the big stuff!

    I am especially praying for your time with Aster's birth mom. Wow -what a picture of Grace, Hope and Love. My heart is bursting just thinking of that moment.

    Enjoy, savor and rejoice in every moment! Can't wait to see pictures!

    Love,
    O'Nealya