Provision(s)

We leave Portland on July 13! We will arrive in Addis on the 14th and spend our first day with Anna Jubilee on the 15th. We hope to also meet the girl I sponsor through Compassion--pray that they can arrange this on such short notice. We leave Addis at night on July 20 and get home on the 21st.

We are going via United/Lufthansa even though it's painfully more expensive because the better connection times will almost save us a day of travel/hotel each way, and with this long of a trip and us living 3 hours from the airport and Aaron still tired and uncomfortable, comfort and ease won out over dollars. We will change planes in Germany to give me a chance to try out all the Deutsch I once learned from Das Frau, in whose honor I shall wear purple (that day only, not every single day, as she did).

I continue to be amazed and grateful how every apparent setback is met by God's abundant provision, delivered by his people. Medical bills? How about on the day before surgery you receive a $2500 grant from a certain diminutive musician's ministry, Shaohannah's Hope! I love that we got a grant from Mr. Chapman because I met him once, and seriously, he's hardly taller than me. We got free backstage passes to a concert when I interned at a radio station, so we went, even though we weren't really fans. We hung back in the meet-and-greet line to let all the actually-excited people get their handshakes and autographs first. We thought this a bit amusing since people sometimes wanted Aaron's autograph when he was in his band and he always felt funny doing it since really, what's the point? Finally we stepped up and greeted him and he offered nicely, "Would you like my autograph?" and I replied without thinking, "No thanks; would you like mine?" Obviously he did not remember this incident or we would have been on Shaohannah's Blacklist.

Price of plane tickets almost sending you back to the hospital? Generous friends have sent a large gift to help make up for the unexpected extra cost!

Need some baby stuff? Ha! We will have you drowning in pink clothing and sippy cups before you can count to onesie! Our anniversary felt like Christmas when we opened two boxes of baby goodies from our friends Mike and Ren. Feeding stuff, toys, clothes, carrier, you name it, they passed it on. My mom couldn't keep herself away from garage sale steals. Aaron scored the essentials for fall at DetroitLions.com. And then today there came The Giant Box of Adoptive Families' Girly Goodies, oh my! I'd told other moms some time ago that I needed very small clothes since Anna was so tiny, so I was next on the list for this box as J's daughter had outgrown things already. I couldn't stop laughing pulling things out--it just didn't stop! I think Anna is already too big for some of this, but the friend from our Web board I affectionately call Crazy Laura just received a referral for a very young girl. Congratulations and watch your doorstep before too long, girl!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Okay, in the interests of honesty . . . this is what the rest of the room looks like right now. I had it all cute and organized until I started doing laundry, I swear!