The journey to ET begins officially tomorrow…

I received a phone call tonight. Alex was checking on all of us to make sure we were okay. He was very concerned and wished he could be with us tomorrow to go to the airport. Because we were leaving from Seattle after spending Christmas in the Olympia area with my parents, it just wasn’t practical to have him come from Portland to Seattle. He said it would not be a problem to ride the bus back. That would be one long bus ride…We tease Alex because when he first came to Portland he was lost several times and with his accent being so strong, and not necessarily asking the right questions, ended up in many of the wrong places! It is painful for me when he tells me he is going to take the bus some place new! He is quite the professional now but still…

Alex’s cousin, Michael, is going to be meeting us in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Wednesday. Our first anticipated adventure is going to be a long drive (8 plus hours and a long walk) to Alex’s mothers home. We will meet much of his family. Alex was on the phone with his mom (yes a cell phone out in the bush somewhere) and she just doesn’t quite understand who we are or why we are visiting. She doesn’t understand what it means that Alex lives in the United States. She thinks he must be in the city somewhere. Alex doesn’t think the nieces and nephews that live with her have ever heard of “white people” or even know they exist. We have recorded video messages and pictures of Alex to bring to his family so they will believe us. We are not sure exactly why or what to expect but we feel peace in pursuing this visit of his family. We hope to bring mutual love, respect and a melting of our family with his. A long term approach and plan. Details will be uncovered in time. For now, we are attempting to be open with our hearts and our mind as well as our ears to God and we are asking for courage to take the steps toward His plan.