Tuesday, June 14, 2011

day #2 in rwanda

at the airport before we left!!! we were so excited. and so sad (us about leaving sawyer, hannah about leaving john)
arriving!!!!!

i love this place. just love it. God feels so PRESENT. a friend once said, "you can almost taste Him in Africa." it's true.
bailey keeps saying, "i just can't believe we're in AFRICA!" in her super cute voice. i'm so glad we brought them. so so glad. they are doing SO well.
and, to go back a bit, just to get it out there, we brought WAY too much stuff on the plane for the kids. it was ridiculous. they could hardly carry their backpacks. and they used hardly ANY of it. we will definitely be doing things differently on the way home.

ok. onto today.

we got up after all sleeping for at LEAST 10 hours. it was amazing. i did take a tylenol pm - to ensure some sleep. (i also took one on the plane and it did NOTHING. i just can't sleep on planes. that is very annoying.)
walked over to eat breakfast - our hotel has a breakfast buffet each morning. it was great. and, i LOVE how all the windows and doors are just open here. it's like outside is inside and inside is outside.
then we drove to court to submit our paperwork.


then we went to meet our boys!!! it was amazing. i jumped up and down. and they were just PERFECT. it was so perfect. lincoln is going to be a handful. but he has the BEST smile. and levi is so cuddly and sweet. we have yet to get a smile from him. when the nun came to walk them back inside, lincoln CRIED...real tears. it was SO sad...yet also kind of nice to know he liked us :-)

the church by the orphanage
the famous blue gates!

after that (which we'll be able to share more about soon we hope!) we went to a glorious lunch. we LOVE peter - he is walking us through everything here. he's amazing. we so enjoyed getting to know him more over lunch!





we went back to our hotel for a few minutes to regroup. and then spent 2 more hours at the orphanage playing with our boys! bubbles were a HUGE hit. as were the cars and soccer ball!
we spent the evening just here at the hotel - hannah and i went for a run! we ate snacks for dinner in our room. joshua loved watching soccer on tv. played some card games. tried to get all this on the computer (internet is VERY frustrating here! i can read your comments in my email. i can't even get on blogger. my friend, ali, is posting this for me!)
we are SO thankful. everything is going so so well. our hearts are SO at peace. we love being here, taking it all in. the people are beautiful. i can't get enough of driving through the city and seeing it all.
we will be up and out of here early tomorrow morning for our appointment at court!!! pray that was pass! and soon! that's the next step.
we have so many praises....many more praises than prayer requests...for the peace in our hearts, for how well our kids are doing, for our stomachs all being fine!, for how well our first meeting with lincoln and levi went. we just feel like we are being held TIGHTLY by Him. and it's beautiful. and amazing.
hopefully by the end of tomorrow we'll officially have 2 more children!!!

15 comments:

Amy said...

Cannot wait to see pictures of YOU with THEM!!! So glad things are going well!!

Katy said...

unbelievable! LOVE seeing you in your purple dress - i so clearly remember the post when you bought it...and new it would be for the day your boys met you for the first time! what a beautiful day. so thankful for all the ways God is paving this through. Excited for tomorrow for you....and oh - love that you and hannah got to go RUN in RWANDA! That is AWESOME!

Judy said...

rejoicing!
praying!!


so glad you all got good sleep! And that meeing the boys went well!!!

I just realized tonight that I've been praying for you guys so much and that I haven't been praying for Lincoln and Levi! So tonight I'm praying big time for them.

Christy said...

ohhh i love that picture of you :)
love you girl XOXOXO

Megan said...

I'm so excited for you about how well things are going! Hope and pray you all sleep well again and that court goes well tomorrow!

scooping it up said...

i almost peed my pants with excitement hoping to see a pic of THEM. feeling giddy for you. so glad everyone is having happy tummies.
Praise God for you.

beckley said...

wow.

just wow.

wow.

peace be with you-

Kate and Geoff said...

I am just like Bailey. I just CANNOT believe you are in Africa! Court, I am nearly beside myself for you. And what an amazing gift that Rebekah, Joshua and Bailey are there to experience all of this with you. I can't stop thinking about that part. Love you SO much! xo

Katie said...

I was SO excited to read this! It's like I can just feel how much JOY there is in heaven over this time for you guys. Praying for His strength to uphold you guys!

p.s.-Thanks for the garage sale tips. We made $1100 and then were given a large gift by friends to make our total be around $3000 at the end of the day!!!

Kim said...

SO EXCITTING AND CAN'T WAIT.
THE PICTURE AND UN REAL. HOPE YOU ALL CAN GET SOME REST. WE LOVE YOU ALL HUGS TO ALL

Kris said...

Amen and Amen!!! I'm on the edge of my seat reading all of this Courtney! We are praying for you guys, and like everyone else, cannot wait to see the pics of your boys! Enjoy every precious moment!!

Anonymous said...

So excited for you guys!!! We are thinking about you all several times a day. Can't wait to meet your sons. Love you all!!!
Kelly
P.S. You ran in RWANDA...so cool!!

Alden and Dorian said...

Ohhhh, how wonderful to SEE pictures of Kigali and you all. LOVED seeing Peter too! God has so orchestrated every little detail hasn't HE! It is always amazing to SEE it all play out. LOVED seeing the BLUE doors and it's area. SOOO incredibly thankful for the peace you all are feeling. Praying....for ALL of it. Loving you and continually praying! AND...thanks Ali for posting!

Holly said...

awesome...it's just all awesome!

Courtney said...

It's true...God is so evident in Africa. So glad you get to experience that. Praying for continued joyful encounters with your boys and speedy paperwork processing!