Coming Home
We left Ethiopia on a Wednesday evening and began the 17-hour trip to the states. The transition home gave us a can of formula and told us this should be enough to get us home and have for a couple of days. We gathered up all the clean clothes, blankets, towels, and burp cloths that we could find. Chris was so worried we were going to run out of things to wipe Haven down and change him into because of the constant explosive diarrhea. He went and bought a couple of extra scarves in the airport before we loaded just in case. We prayed very very hard that God would allow Haven to have as little accidents as possible. God heard our prayers. The first 7 hours or so Haven did great. We had one accident, but the rest of the time he basically slept in the bassinet in our laps. Hallelujah!
The rest of trip was very difficult. I will spare you all the details of having poop everywhere about once an hour, but we basically just had to start stripping him down and throwing everything away. It was out of control. There was a couple sitting next to us on the plane that had adopted a 7 month old little girl. This little girl was throwing up constantly and Haven was having diarrhea constantly. At one point this momma looked at Chris and said, “Can this nightmare please be over now!?”. It was hard and very long and we were exhausted.
We landed in DC and had about an hour to clear customs and immigration before our next flight left. We were booking it. A sweet man, who I call one of our angels, let us get in front of him in the immigration line. He said, “I can see what kind of people you are”. We cleared with no problems except for we were running out of time to catch our flight. When we walked into the airport, another man, who I call our second angel, was waiting for us to get our bags and recheck them for us. He told us to book it and that they were holding the airplane for us. We were literally running through the airport with Haven hanging on for dear life. BUT, we made it! Never been so glad to get on an airplane before in my life!! And it’s a good thing that Chris bought those extra scarves, because on this flight we did run out of clothes and had to wrap sweet Haven up in that scarf!
When we got to North Carolina some relief began to set in. We were one hour and half flight away from getting our son home. Something we had been dreaming about for 2 ½ years. We were feeling good and excited at this point. It also helped that we ourselves were able to stretch our legs, change clothes, and freshen up a bit in the airport bathroom. As we were loading the airplane, we heard someone calling our name. We looked behind us to see a long-time friend Scott Ross. So technically, Scott was the first person in the states to meet Haven. How funny! It was so nice to see a familiar face and begin showing Haven off.
It was now I realize we are out of formula and Haven eats every two hours, so this is going to be interesting. I called my mom before we took off and asked her to bring some formula to the airport. Little man was going to be hungry!
I had no idea who all we were going to see when we got to the airport. I knew it was not a very convenient time, being in the middle of the day on a Thursday and most of our friends work. I knew my mom, sister, and Chris’s parents were coming into town to be there and I had asked our very talented friend Amy Whitt to be there to take pictures for us. (She is amazing! Check out her site: www.amywhittphoto.com) Other than that, we had no expectations.
When we came walking through the airport, emotions flooded my spirit when I saw each face and who they represented. Friends and family that had walked this long journey with us and had been there each step of the way to support, encourage, and pray for us. One of our social workers with our agency was there and a couple of other friends going through the adoption process as well. To see sweet Story meeting her baby brother for the first time, the one we prayed for each and every night, oh it was too much for this momma! The whole experience was incredibly overwhelming. Story saw first hand how God answers prayers and that evening instead of our prayer being, “God please help us to get Haven home soon” it changed to “Thank you God for bringing Haven home to our family.” He is so faithful and we are beyond blessed to be home, all together, as a family of four. Home on Valentine’s Day! Such a beautiful love story written by our Father in heaven!
