CRUNCH TIME!

Reality check Top Ten...

1. We will not be able to finish everything we had planned on doing before leaving for Africa tomorrow. Tomorrow.....wow. AFRICA ...WOW!!!!!!!!

2. #1 is OK because there is nothing we can do about it and there is no reason to spoil this amazing moment because the furniture isn't just so, the windows aren't cleaned, the grass isn't mowed, there is still some soot on the ceiling of the kitchen from the small cooking fire I started last month... and I better stop because if I keep making this list I will start feeling bad about it all again. Breathe deep.... Once we get on the plane I am hoping we can relax and just live in the moment. However, until then Lynn desperately wants a pretty little white dresser and a rug for Tarikua's room but I just can't see it happening before we leave in less than 24 hours. I have convinced myself that someone who has never owned anything in her precious little life will not know that she is missing a dresser to put things in. But Lynn knows... so I will need to take care of that when we get home.

3. If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. See #2. Gotta get that dresser! Doing my part to help the U.S. out of the recession!

4. We are doubling our number of children without doubling the number of parents. As the saying goes Lynn and I are suddenly running the family with a prevent defense. Bend but don't break.

5. We have amazing friends and family. Thanks to so many reading this we are going to be taking over some much needed supplies and a very nice monetary donation to the care center and Tarikua's deaf school. So many have also responded to help out with Savannah and Carson and the dogs while we are away. The school has been great. Work has been great for both Lynn and me. God is great! THANK YOU ALL!

6. Fishing with Carson for an hour last night was a good idea. There are about to be four beautiful women in my house. Carson and I are going to be doing a lot of fishing. :-)

7. First Baptist Church is such a terrific place. Mission Hope has been such an amazing resource. The congregation and staff are just phenomenal! Here is but one example. Our children's minister is driving my kids to meet us at the airport next week for our homecoming. BIG LOVE TO NATALIE AND OUR WHOLE FBC FAMILY!!!

8. Lynn just got an E-mail from a family in NY whose daughters were friends with my new daughters in the care center. Among other revelations I have learned that Zenash does not like pasta. A picky eater. Lynn worries about dressers, I worry about having to get a second job to afford daily carry-out from the local Ethiopian restaurant which is awesome but not cheap.

9. Its funny but I find myself telling complete strangers about this adoption. I told the very nice owner of Jess' Lunch in Harrisonburg about it last week and she bought my lunch for me despite my protests that she didn't need to. Tears welled in her eyes and she said I had made her day and only made me promise to bring them there for a hot dog. (Glad she doesn't serve pasta- See #8) Hey, maybe I should talk about the adoption to the guy at the dresser store! For some reason I feel close to Zenash and Tarikua when I talk about them and talk about the trip. Its the only way I've known to love them for the last eighteen months. As I write, my heart is in Ethiopia. My hand is holding theirs. I imagine Lynn holding them. I hope they love us because we love them so much already. I wonder how much they know and understand. It is night time there. Are they thinking of us as they drift to sleep? Are they able to sleep? Time alternates between creeping and flying. I worry, I smile, I love... So very soon.

10. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, Savannah and Carson are truly amazing kids. God has already blessed me beyond measure. I wouldn't have dreamed of doing this without them on board. Forget about toys and rooms and the junk. They are about to share their parents with two strangers. What dear sweet little souls they are. I love them more day by day and I am utterly convinced that this experience will touch us all is amazing and wonderful ways. We may be in for rough times as reality sets in but I am so proud of all that they are, and I am so confident in their ability to welcome Zenash and Tarikua to the family. I think they must get it from their mother. Lynn's capacity for love is so amazing. Her heart is like a balloon that swells and swells but never pops. Like the song says, "somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good." Either that or its Grace. Yeah... I think that I probably just converted several people who knew me in my youth or childhood.

Stay tuned......