Travelogue - Day One

Our flight left Kansas City at 1:30 in the afternoon, December 23, 2009. Thanks to my amazing organizational skills (otherwise known as nervous energy) we were packed and ready to go around 8AM.

We flew through Detroit to Amsterdam then Amsterdam to Sudan to refuel (we didn't get off the plane) and then onto Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We arrived in Ethiopia 24 hours after our departure from KC. During our initial travel day I kept thinking about what that same trip would be like with two little boys in just one week. I was scared.

We checked into the Union Hotel, right next door to the Care Center where the boys were sleeping soundly, around 10PM local time. It's Christmas Eve. I wondered if anyone told them that tomorrow was the big day. And if so, did they understand? Would they like us okay? Would we know what to do and what to say?

I slept soundly - amazingly enough. I'm sure the long flight and many hours of travel (and the fact that I snatched the comfortable bed) helped.

I was so grateful to be there and felt a calm sense of peace that all the planning and preparation had paid off. We were here and by tomorrow afternoon we'd be a family of four.

The Care Center is on the right. Our hotel is behind it.