I Made It!

Well. I made it! It's been a week since I've been here. 

The flights here were way easy, besides a guy who refused to let me put my seat back to sleep! But overall, it didn't feel as if I had just traveled for 24 hours. 

We had a crazy experience in Germany! Our first plane from San Francisco got in a little bit late, so when we landed in Germany, we had 5 minutes til boarding on our next plane! Well, if you have ever been to the Frankfurt airport, you'll know it's not small. At all. We ran for 40 straight minutes, took a train, and barely made the flight! We were the very last ones on the plane. Nickoli put it in good words saying "It felt like we were on the amazing race!" He was right. I saw Levi get a look from a guy giving him dinner when Levi pointed out who all was with him. "FIVE kids!?" It was too funny.

Jet lag stinks. My new sleeping hours are 8pm- 4am. And no matter how hard I try, I can't stay up past 8 and I can't sleep past 4. But at least I'm getting 8 hours of sleep, yeah? 

Wednesday morning we went and met the moms of all the forever family houses. And then on Friday I got to meet the 13 kids in the intake center! My heart melted as little Nati grabbed my hand and walked me downstairs, and as I played peek-a-boo with a little girl, Kalkidan. 

We've gone to lunch and dinner with American friends, and I must say, it was nice to be able to understand them! (Levi said that I can take Amharic classes if I want...yes PLEASE!) 

And we went to a NGO Bizarre, a place for forenges(sp?)(foreigners) to go and mingle and shop. I saw a woman who looked like Angela Porras, and I almost cried right there. (Miss you Angela!) 

Sunday we went to church. Jessie stayed home to finish unpacking and such and I got tapped on the shoulder twice with people saying "Jessie! You're back!" As Ruth would say, I said "I'm not Jessie!" and they responded "Well then who are you!?" That's not exactly how it went, but close enough! 

Yesterday, Monday, I went over to the office to get information about all the sponsorship kids. The stories I heard broke my heart. Mother, father, or both parents dead from HIV. The kids diagnosed with HIV. Paralyzed. Vision problems. The list goes on and on, and my heart just broke and broke. Seeing pictures with the names and stories made it even worse. And in two weeks I get to meet these kids! I'm excited to meet the sponsorship families, and the kids in the forever families. 

Today, I woke up at 3:30, sick to my stomach! It's not pleasant. Moving hurts. No food will stay down. And the fetal position is my new favorite position. Not a fun day. 

Well there's my first week! I'm hoping in this next week I can get a little bit more normal sleeping hours! 

Thank you Jesus for allowing me to go on this amazing adventure! Use me to be Your light to everyone I encounter! 

For understanding of more of the technical terms (forever families, sponsorship families, intake center, etc.) head on over to bringlove.in and browse around and it will all be explained to you! 

Two Weeks?

Two weeks? More like 12 days! 

These next two weeks are gonna be crazy! I'm moving halfway across the world!

So much happening/to do with so little time!

 Coffee dates, Youth, Church, Packing, Shopping, Birthdays, Parties, all on top of every day life!

A little photo splurge of my 'lasts' before I go with what's been going on!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

 Happy Birthday Tsehay!

There have been a few girls nights going on... :)

I went to my last Theology, led by the amazing Ryan Murphy! 

I got to hang out with my cousins for what could have been the last time, we aren't sure...

I got through two unexpected shots.

 I recieved an early Christmas present from Mom and Dad! :D

 And did some shopping to prepare myself. 

I feel like there is still so much to do. 

Sometimes I feel like I just don't know where to start at. And other times I feel as if I have more than enough time to accomplish it all.

In one corner of my room I have a suitcase sitting there, with bags of stuff around it all waiting to be packed. It's unreal, really. I've been waiting for almost seven years for a trip somewhere in Africa, and now I have this amazing opportunity to go to Ethiopia where my siblings are from to learn life lessons, and about how Tsehay and Fekadu grew up. I really can't wait to see what God has for this next season of my life. 

My room is now mostly in boxes, about to go up in the top of my closet. That's a weird sight. I always expected to be here til I got married. I guess God has different plans! 

(This is the unboxed part, but the *mostly* cleaned out closet!)

With the days growing shower, the enemy is definitely on the prowl. I have had a few days where I wanted to just give up. Last week I had this super weird stomach ache, that I can't describe without you thinking I'm literally crazy. Yesterday was the first say I woke up and felt decently normal, and today was an alright day too. It's been over a week with this feeling, but I am believing that it will be gone soon! Along with this weird thing, I noticed some spots on my lef. I had absolutely no idea what they were, but I showed Mom. I was hoping for her to look at them and say "You're fine," but when she looked at them, it wasn't a "You're fine" kind of a face. Less than 2 hours later I was at the doctors office. I was definitely worried. I don't really know why, but I was. I let a group of my closest friends know what was going on, and they prayed with me as I went in. It ended up being something really minor and now it is being treated. Thank you Jesus, and get behind me Satan! :)

The one thing I am still waiting on is my fundraising. I need about $1,500 before I leave. I am believing in Him to provide. :)

Welp. 

12 more days!

Let's do this.