We're Baaaaaaaack!

SO, everyone that is reading this blog has probably been wondering where are the updates.

Well, the reason that there have not been updates is because we have been traveling to get back home!!!

When we were able to finalize all of the paperwork for Meti with the U.S. Embassy on this past Thursday, Leigh and I discussed the possibility of flying home early if we could make the arrangements. As we have mentioned in the past, there are only three flights from Addis to the U.S. on Ethiopian Airlines so we were not sure how it would work out. We were scheduled to fly back on the 13th which is the day after the Millennium celebration and we were a bit concerned about the celebration and what might happen. Over the last few days in Addis, we noticed a significantly higher level of chaos on the street. As anyone who has been to a 3rd world city - and Addis has nearly 6 million people - there is always chaos on the streets with people everywhere and the roads congested. But, we could feel the excitement in the air of the pending celebration wherever we went.

That being said, we were able to get our tickets from Addis changed and with the help of Jonni, we were able to get the tickets from D.C. changed. So we headed to the airport for a 10:30 p.m. flight on the 8th. Of course it was delayed and we did not get off the ground until about 12:30 a.m. on the 9th.

But before we left, we were able to visit the National Museum (our last desird site to visit in Addis) which is famous because it is where the ancestor of us all is housed - "Lucy". For those who are not familiar with "Lucy", it is a fossil discovered in Ethiopia by a team of American and Ethiopian anthropologists. When the discovery was made, the Beatle's song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamond" was playing on the radio and thus the name. Now ironically, the actual fossil is touring in the U.S. so we only saw a replica. But it was still pretty cool.

Interestingly, this time of year is considered the rainy season in Ethiopia and though we had some scattered light rain on some afternoons, we never really had any rain until we left the National Museum. After that it started really raining and rained the entire day.

Ryan, Abby, Marta and Enoch (in my last blog I thought his name was Eli) were wonderful enough to stop by the hotel and share lunch with us. that was pretty special and we got to meet Enoch and hear his story in more detail. Enoch had a sever cranium problem when he was born. The front of his cranium was fused and was not growing as his brain grew which forced the back of head to expand to handle the brain growth. At the age of 2 months, having been abandoned, Gladney made arrangements to bring Enoch over to the U.S. and he underwent surgery where his skull was cut open from ear to ear and the front part removed, broken apart and reassembled with mesh to allow for it to expand. He has a big lump on his forehead and this will slowly dissipate as his head grows. After Ryan and Abby met him, they decided to adopt him and 4 months later he was theirs!!

That evening we headed to the airport, tired and exhausted. After 17 hours of flying - during which Meti did remarkably better than either of us - we were back in the States. Our friends, the Rock's, whom you met earlier in the blog, were so kind to pay for a hotel room for us at the Embassy Suites as a welcome home gift and so we went immediately to our hotel and room after clearing immigration, which was even easier with Meti than it had been with Tali. We put Meti down for a nap and both of us collapsed on the bed and slept for four hours. When we awakened to the sound of a crying Meti, we got up showered. Matt and Jocelyn brought Katie Z over to the hotel to meet Meti and then we all journeyed to the promised land of American food - TGIFriday's. It was good to have ice again and to be able to eat a salad without worries.

After enjoying fine companionship, we went back to the hotel intent on getting a good night's sleep before we headed to ATL in the morning to finally see Bella and Tali and enjoy the excitement of our new family coming together. Unfortunatley, someone forgot to tell Meti the plan, or if they did, she never bought into it. She decided it would be best if she cried out and screamed all night. I told Leigh that there were people worst off than us in this situation. She asked whom? And I told her the people that actually paid for the adjacent rooms to ours that had expected to get a good night's rest as well.

In the morning, after a good breakfast, we went to the airport and Meti never cried again until the middile of the next evening when she awakened feeling hungry.

The family reunion was absolutely one of my most precious moments. Isabella and Talia were so sweet. They had made signs with the help of Jonni and came running to meet Leigh and me as we came up the escalator. They huged Meti and Meti just soaked it all in. We got all of our luggage and Tali wanted to push her new sister in the stroller. The joy in the eyes of Isabella and Tali and Meti was so warm and comforting. God had answered everyone of our prayers - from safe travels to caring for our two daughters while we were away to a bonding spirit between Meti and us to a bonding between all of our children.

When we got to the house, Jonni and the kids had placed gifts for Meti all up and down the stairways and had created a huge calendar to count down the days until our return. In fact, when we told the kids that we might come home early, they told us not to becasue there were still five days left on the calendar. How's that for proof of the power of prayer!

Over the past few days, we have all struggled to adjust to the time changes and besides Leigh and I being ill with flu-like symptoms, Meti has battled a few issues as well. We took her to the doctor's yesterday and she has a head cold, an ear infection, ring worm on her head and is recovering from chicken pox. But, all are treatable and we are so thankful for her presence in our lives, our home and our family. To watch the children play together and dance to the music has literally brought tears to the eyes of Leigh and me. God has been so faithful throughout this entire process.

We, once again, thank you all for your lifted up prayers and all the other support you have given us. We look forward to each of you meeting Meti in person to see what a bundle of joy she is.

We are also talking to Gladney about ways that we can help Ryan and Abby in Ethiopia with the struggles they face in improving the lives of so many other children. There are over 75 million people in Ethiopia and over 5 million are orphans. We will let you know of any opportunities that develop as many of you have e-mailed us expressing a desire to help.

In Him -

Greg & Leigh ("It's good to be home and on a much faster computer connection!!")