And the story continues...

After about 2 total hours of sleep, we got up at about 6am and started getting ready to meet our babies!  How does one get ready to meet one's children?  Well, lots of praying and crying, packing and repacking diaper bags, writing in a journal to chronicle my last few hours before I became a mom, shower, make up (why bother with all the crying right?), try to eat breakfast (dry toast and tea with honey).    Every minute I seemed to notice something else I was doing for the "last time" before I became a mom. It had rained the night before, so everything was damp and it was muggy and cool. We finally got into the van and started to drive to the care center.  We got to see Ethiopia in the daylight for the first time.  The dirt streets were lined with little businesses and people.  We moved slowly (soooo slowly) towards our babies, and finally got to the famous "blue doors", the gate to the orphanage.  Once inside we waited in front of the "family room".  After what seemed like an eternity, 2 nannies emerged from the nursery and walked down the long sidewalk lined with laundry hanging to dry.  There they were.  Our first glimpse of our babies was as 2 tiny bundles.  They looked much bigger than they were because were wrapped in layers and layers and layers of blankets and clothes.   The nannies handed Annabelle to Bill and Andrew to me.  And we were parents.  Lots of tears, as we had waited almost 4 years for this moment.  I still cry every time I think about it.  After that there was much more crying, lots of unwrapping and kissing and hugging and did I mention crying?  Everything in the whole world looked different after that moment.  If you have children, you know what I mean.  If you don't yet, you will, trust me.  It's like your life is already amazing and full and wonderful and then BAM!  More blessing than you could ever imagine right there in your hands in one moment.  God had orchestrated so much to get us to this point, we never could have imagined how this miraculous journey would end, or rather begin.  Thank you Lord, for the amazing gift of these children! 

Happy "Gotcha Day" Babies!