Immeasurably More

I have been sitting here watching a flashing cursor for five solid minutes.  Yesterday Mark and I were chatting about how we were feeling about being in the air heading to Ethiopia.  During the conversation I said, "Many events that are life changing come without warning and happen so fast. Some are good, some are bad.  But, sometimes you have no time to prepare for something life altering.  There are only a few days in one's life that you know in advance will forever change your life.... the day your babies are born, your wedding day, and on occasion the start of a new job.  When we get off this airplane, we KNOW our lives will never be the same."  It's a profound thought.  One I have given so much thought to over the past week.  Stepping into something so much bigger than us forces us to rely on Holy Spirit to do the work and prepare the way.  We can see it coming, but we have no idea the intricate details of how each step will look, how long each will take, how Tyson would respond to us, if he would be welcoming of us, etc.  We knew/know God knows.  And, like nothing I have experienced before, God did something profound today.

Immeasurably more.  That's what He did because that's Who He is.

We landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia right on scheduled time (7:04am local time, midnight last night for you EST folks).  Things went seamlessly really from flights to transportation to the guesthouse to the accommodations at the house.  All the things we had discussed as "what ifs" seemed to melt away the closer we got and the more before us we realized He was.  When we arrived at the airport and met up with the Bethany employee who is hosting us (he is awesome), he mentioned to us in the van ride from the airport to the guesthouse, that Tyson (we call him by his Ethiopian name here) knew about us and that he was very excited to meet us today.  Our ears perked up.  TODAY.  We looked at each other with tears and batted them away so we wouldn't miss any details.  We were told the plan was for us to go to visit Tyson at 3:30pm (8:30am for you) to give us time to rest and him time to get back from school.  Sounded like a great plan to us!

We quickly settled into our suite at the guesthouse (as quickly as 4 people can unpack 12 suitcases.  We added one last minute to accommodate the kids' school books).  Then, we decided to just take an hour long nap or we would never get on the right schedule (we are exhausted!).  Mark, Brycen, and Regan were fast asleep in 5 minutes.  I couldn't go to sleep, but I did rest.  The minutes were ticking away and after the one hour of rest, we ate lunch, played a few games, and began getting ready.  I have to say, I was excited and a bit anxious... just unsure of what to expect.  But, I remained remarkably at peace.  We kept looking at each other saying, "Can you believe we are here doing this?"  There have been countless times the past 6 years where we just kept saying, "How do you think you'll feel when...." or "Can you imagine what it will be like when..." AND HERE WE WERE.  DOING THOSE VERY THINGS we had dreamt about.  There was a knock on the door a few minutes until 3pm and we were told our ride was here.  So, we headed downstairs and got in the van.  The same Bethany employee (Mengistu) accompanied us and we went to pick up Tyson's social worker so she could join us.  She is the one who told him about us earlier this week.  When she got into the van, we quickly made "official" introductions, though we felt like we already knew each other.  We asked about his reaction to seeing our pictures and finding out he had a family.  She smiled big and said, "He was excited and just looked up at me with a big smile and said, 'when?' "  We were grateful to hear he was excited to meet us and that he was expecting us.  As we neared the orphanage Mark and I kept making eye contact like, "can you believe this?"  And then we saw the orphanage.  As the gate opened, I started videoing.  I didn't want to miss one single detail.
As the van doors opened we could hear the other children yelling Tyson's Ethiopian name, but we couldn't understand the rest.  The social worker told us they were yelling his name and saying, "Your family is here!"  We stood outside with the other children for  a few minutes (felt like forever). Then, Brycen said, "here he comes".  I am typing with tears streaming.... I turned to look beside a van that was parked and when he saw us he got the biggest smile, sped up, hugged each of us, saying, "Mom" and "Dad."  We knew right away he was made for us.  Many children, understandably, are timid, quiet, and often cry during the first meeting.  It is overwhelming for grown adults.... can you imagine for a 5 or 6 or 7 year old?  He immediately called Brycen and Regan by name (which astounded us) and gives us confirmation he has been staring at our family picture book for two straight days.  Then, he asked us where Corbin and Hudson were (by name!).  We explained to him they were in America, but they would be living with us once we left Ethiopia.  He was happy with that answer, grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, come!"  He wanted to show us how he climbed the jungle gym and rode a bike and a scooter.  We all kicked around a soccer ball for a long time and had the best time.  During soccer he fell and skinned his knee (and we swarmed him like he was in cardiac arrest).  He sat beside me on the cinderblock wall while the nannies went to get bandaids.  The whole time we sat there, he had his hand on my leg and didn't want any of the other children to touch him or me.  Just a Momma and her boy with a boo-boo.  What can I say?
After the fall, we colored. Just so happened the coloring book I took had stickers in it (which I hadn't really noticed).  But, that one page of stickers became quite the highlight.  We all had stickers on our faces, knees, shirts AND WE LOVED IT.  He kept like 6 stickers on his face most of the visit.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.  It was sweet to watch him share, making sure all the other children had stickers, too.  We took selfies and laughed at each other.

All of that was more than enough.  It had exceeded all our expectations given all we had heard. But, God did

immeasurably more.

Because that's Who He is.

We had discussed with our host that it was almost time for us to leave. So, I asked him if he would ask Tyson if he had something he wanted to say to us or a question to ask before we left for the day.  So, he asked Tyson.....and Ty looked down, thinking, and then replied, "Thank you and I love you."

and I died.

We had heard it a million times from others on the other side of this journey: he will be worth the wait.  In my heart I really, really hoped so.  But, we had gone down some DARK roads and seasons.  And, in an instant, every tear, valley, fight, battle, fear, delay, and problem became insignificant.  All of them led us to him, in this season, on this day and it was perfect.  He is worth it.
Tyson kept asking us when we were coming back (answer: tomorrow).  We will visit him every day until court on Tuesday.  Then, after court we will have a good-bye ceremony at the orphanage and then WE WILL LEAVE WITH HIM.  Crying again.  So, through the interpreter, he was told we would visit him after school the rest of the week and then we would come over again on the weekend, too.  He was so cute telling the host to make sure we knew he did NOT have school on Saturday or Sunday so we could come earlier in the day (can somebody just tell me: HOW CUTE IS THAT?)
Leaving the orphanage wasn't as hard as I had expected, though we wish we could have him with us RIGHT NOW.  But, he was so happy and excited about our visit tomorrow, it made it ok.  He let me nearly kiss his face off and then we left.  He waved with a big smile on his face as we drove out of the gate.  It felt perfect.  As we pulled away, Mark and I were both tearful because it had been so awesome and could've been so hard.  We couldn't help but recognize the power of prayer.  We know so many of you were praying for us right then.. we literally pulled into the orphanage at 3:32pm (8:32am for you).  We are thankful for those prayers and thankful for a God who exceeded every single expectation we had, our God who does

immeasurably more.

We are exhausted, as we had 5 hours of sleep Monday night and none of us slept much on the plane (Brycen with the most sleep at 2 hours and the window seat... go figure), but we have a restful day on the agenda for tomorrow.  We have plans to go visit Tyson again around 6pm just before we go to a traditional Ethiopian dinner and dancing!  The week is shaping up to look fairly busy, but all fun stuff! We are excited to experience it all.  When we can share face pictures and his name we will gladly do that (Tuesday after court).  Feel free to follow along at my instagram page or Mark's Facebook page.  Twitter isn't loading here, but we will update the others when we have wifi and time.

I just can't adequately express with mere human words how forever grateful we are for all of you who have stuck it out with us.  Through thick and thin.  Highs and lows.  Delays and successes.  Hard days and happy days.  You have been the hands and feet of Jesus to us for six SOLID years.  ROCK SOLID.  We know one of the ways God loves us and makes Himself known is by how we love each other.  To a watching world you have LOVED US WELL.  And, you've not only made God believable, but you've made Him to be the God who is capable of

immeasurably more.

humbled. grateful. hearts full to overflowing.  THANK YOU.

until he's home,

Carrie