Calls from Africa

Julie & Brandon sent us a number today to call them. It was 11:30 at night Sunday night. So far, she says the country is so much more beautiful than she ever imagined. Everything is very green and the number of types of flowers and trees is amazing. Upon arrival they found themselves exhausted and it was hard to get used to the higher elevation. Julie says there are mountains all over. They went for pizza Saturday night with their group and believe it or not Brandon actually ate it. He has said all along he was going to live on protein bars. From the start of their trip, their host has picked Brandon to be a leader with the group. When he receives the calls from Alemu, he then updates all of the families and gets them organized for their outings. This has been a great distraction from the lack of amentities. Although they are in a "version of modern" hotel, there are certain things that are not quite the same. The bathroom in particular.

Today they were taken by a driver to a couple of museums that helped to explain the proud past of Ethiopia and it's people. Julie was amazed to see all of the Christian artifacts. Actually the whole city has crosses everywhere you look. They spent some time shopping and Brandon discovered he is a natural born shopping negotiator. He had others amazed at his talents and they were able to get some great things. They were treated to a traditional dinner and native dancers where they were offered either Ethiopian or International cuisine. Julie stuck with International "chicken kabobs" and they were good. Brandon bonded with a protein bar. They were asked to sample some kind of Honey wine, which was warm all the way down.

They are busy packing up to get ready for the journey to the Blue Nile. They were happy to find out that rather than stay in a village they have found the group a hotel. The Blue Nile area is pretty undeveloped and Brandon wasn't sure how much adventure he was up for. This would not be a typical camping trip. None the less a hotel was good news. Julie says the people are very friendly, but the sights of poverty are difficult to see. Even though the city is modern for its country, you don't get away from seeing poverty on just about any street.

The next time we can here from them will be on Tuesday evening when they return to the city. They were so glad to hear Gavin's voice. he asked them if they were in Africa yet and did they see the lions. They haven't seen lions, but at night the wild dogs from outside the city come in to hunt through garbage. She said you can hear them fight out side.

Unfortunately, Gavin has been sick all weekend and that made it hard for them to hear that news. We are laying low this weekend and praying he will feel better in the next 24 hours. He seems to be better today, so give it another 24 hours and he will be back to pestering his Grandpa again.

That's it for now,
Sandy

Update on Their Travels!

This is your new friendly reporter Sandy De Witt, Julie's mom. I have been given the task to post the details of their travels as they come in.

We received a call around 8:00 pm Thursday night. They had safely and uneventfully arrived in Washington DC. They will be meeting a few other couples that will be taking Ethiopian Air. The first thing Julie said was, Mom you have to tell the Physics students that all I could think of as we took off in the airplane was inertia and momentum. She told me you would understand because she is such a science geek. They spoke with Gavin for a few minutes. Frankly, Gavin is doing well and was not even all that interested in talking. My how quickly they forget. Brandon was unable to get any international phone service, but they are told a phone might be available through their host once they arrive.

Thanks for all of your prayers and interest.

Today is THE Day!!!

I am sitting at the computer knowing that we have 1 hour before we leave on this journey to our son. All I can say is "YEAH!!!"

Gavin did great this morning and is so excited to stay with my parents. He and Grandpa have a secret shopping trip planned for Friday and that is all her could talk about this morning. All I heard was something about peanuts and ice cream...:)

Several people have asked about our travel schedule and return flight plans, so here it is:
*Leave GR at 3:00, arrive in Washington and sleep overnight
*Leave for ET at 10:30 on Friday morning and arrive on Saturday morning.
*Saturday and Sunday we will be doing excursions around the city.
*Monday we leave to travel north of the city to Blue Nile Bridge and Gorge, as well as the Debre Libranos Monestary. We will stay over night in that area. (If you have time Google this, it is incredible)
* Wednesday is "gotcha day", we will pick-up Grayson
* Thursday is the Embassy appointment
* Friday we will pick-up Grayson's passport/visa and head home at 10:15 pm
* Saturday we will arrive in Washington at 7:55 am
*Saturday afternoon we will fly Northwest 2561 to Detroit and arrive 2:20 pm
* Leave Detroit at 3:28 on Northwest 1010 and arrive in GR at 4:19.

We welcome any friends and family that would like to welcome us home and meet Grayson. Please remember that it will be an emotional time for all of us and I apologize in advance if I don't talk with each person individually. Be sure to ask Gavin about his adventures with Grandpa too!

Thank you for continued prayers for safety.

Generosity

When we give a gift to someone we give freely and willing. We wish to bless the other person we are giving to. This week we have been on the receiving end of the gift giving.
I must admit sometimes it has been difficult because I feel like I want to give something back too.
God has opened my heart to accept the gifts as they are given, a way to bless our family in this time of need.
Generosity this week:
* Friends at school had a cake reception and gave gifts and donations to the orphanage.
* My Aunt and Uncle from Oklahoma sent gifts for Grayson, the orphanage and a sweet baseball mitt for Gavin (thanks guys he loves it).
* My brother met us to fit a new car seat in the car and payed for the new car seat too!
* My sister-in-law called to donate an outfit.
* My grandparents and parents donated 48 onsies to the orphanage.
* A lawyer donated his time to finish our trust this week.
* My Aunt pulled strings to complete our new life insurance policy on time.
* My students held a surprise shower for me on Tuesday, with a lot of help from the team teacher (thanks Krista)
* Cash donations from friends

Above all of this we have been blessed with prayer and words of encouragement.
Words cannot express how grateful we are.
I thank God for each and every one of you.

Plugging away!

I don't have much to post except that we are leaving in 10 days for Washington!!!! Grayson's room is full of luggage and clothes, although nothing is in the luggage yet.
I did want to mention a few things in this short post.
First, I wanted to thank Rob, my student, for making the pictures for Grayson's room and managed to make a full size R2D2 for Gavin too. I appreciate your artistic ability!
Second, we were blessed with an anonymous gift last week. It was given with a letter that simply asked for us to bring home treasures for our boys from Ethiopia. I don't know who you are, but thank you. You have blessed our family.
Well, until next time...

D-U-N done!

When Gavin is done doing something he will spell "D-U-N" and then say done! That is how I feel about the Grayson's bedroom. We are D-U-N! We added the final touch with a rug tonight and now that is one more thing that I can check off the list.

Gavin was such an incredible helper in the whole process.

Above is a picture of the new crib. Did I mention we were able to get that for free due to a manufacturer defect in Gavin's old crib? God blesses us even with the details!


This is a part of the bedroom. Thanks to one of my students for drawing the vehicle patterns for me and all I had to do was trace and paint!

This rug and lamp was the finishing touch that we added tonight. A few books on the shelf and it should be just right...

New picture!

We have a new picture of Grayson! The original picture I posted was our referral picture when he was 2 months old. This picture is at 5 months old. We don't have any new measurements, but last we were notified he is 9lb 9oz and 22 inches long.

Such a cute little peanut don't you think?

Okay, now I am distracted from my "to do" list that I posted earlier this week. I must get back into my clothes search in the attic! :)

Travel Date!

My friend just e-mailed me today and asked if I had a travel date yet. I did change my ticker on the top, but realized that I forgot to post our plans (sorry Tracy)!

We will be leaving for ET on March 26 and arrive back in GR on April 4.

Last weekend we spent finalizing travel plans and buying our gifts for travel. This weekend the goal is to unpack some of Gavin's baby clothes and see what we actually have in Grayson's size and season. We also have a goal to get all of our travel documents notarized. After this weekend, I will be working with a long term sub to set-up arrangements for my classroom. I know I have several things to do after that but I am not sure how it will all get done... Still praising God for the opportunity though! :)