At the Gate

And we wait.

Last year, waiting for our plane to be fixed on our way to Addis.

Do we stay or do we go??

On the one hand, we have been given the good news of TENTATIVE travel dates!
IF we get the go-ahead, we fly out April 25th.

Hoorah!
BUT, and this is a big but, we won't know for sure until April 22.

And, on the other hand, there is a chance we will be asked to wait, possibly for a good while and I can't even really type it out because it stresses me and I am in denial for the moment and I am happy here in my hopeful spot.
So.
Don't ask about the 'what if's' right now. Just tear a page from my current book of hope and say a prayer for us to have lift off.

We are in something of a travel gate/limbo.
And that's ok with us, because HEY we live for this kind of excitement!
Um, ok, maybe not so much.
It's yet another step forward on that dimly lit path of faith, for me, aka "Miss Control Freak."

But I am hopeful.
I am even maybe a little bit more than hopeful, I am, shhhh, anticipating.

I keep telling myself, on the one hand, that I should hold back and brace myself for not going.
But somehow, even for a cynical control freak like me, that just seems like such a downer and well....I am too selfish to rob even myself of the joy. I'm not going whole hog, there is a tiny little twinge of "but maybe not" every time I think of getting on that plane, early that Saturday morning.

But a bigger part of me can't help it, and I feel like maybe, just maybe, it's really gonna happen and we can go. We got good news from the agency last week that signals that it is very possible we might be able to go get our girl. On April 25th. I stood in Target and cried, making a minor spectacle of myself when I got the email. And Belay himself, kind of like the "Great Oz" of Gladney adoptions in Ethiopia, he himself said to give us the dates.

So I'm running with it.
I'm hoping like mad.
I'm praying even more so.

And I'm packing like a dervish.
Because prepping a babysitter, the teen and the small ones to stay and the others to go across the world is like coordinating troop movements, realigning the planets, or some other crazy humongous game show task....it takes some doing folks!

And we have made an important decision, much discussed and debated: we are taking all the girls to go and welcome our new daughter into the family!

Yes, this pic is old, but goofy fun.

It will be an all girl trip (except for dear Coffeedad, of course!).
We are very excited about it and think it will be a lifelong neat and good thing, even if it has it's own particular ups and downs. And the little girls are excited about it too, really. Or, they will be once they get over the three shots they need and then eat the ice cream promised to make it all easier. One scoop per shot. Yeah, that's not a bad deal....score!

So that's the update. We knew we'd be in a little limbo after court.
That's why I have been silent on this. I debated putting this up.
But I've decided that I'd rather have the prayers that might be thrown our way to go, instead of pacing in worry alone. And because I know from experience how awesome this blog community is, I'm also thanking you for those very prayers, deeply, in advance.

So, we wait to the 22nd for firm news.
Go.
Or no go.
We hope.
We pray.
We beg for prayers in blogland: I believe it's called a "bleg."
I'm blegging.
Again.

And we're waiting at the gate.