Wow...

Today is our last day in Ethiopia, what a week it has been. This is much harder than I expected, to be honest. The flight over was uneventful & eventually we made it to the Ethiopia Guest house. That first night I hardly slept, a glimpse of what was to come! When we met Iris on Monday I knew she might not run to me with a hug (lol), but I didn't expect her to burst into tears the moment she saw me. She had become quite attached to her nannies, which I know is a good thing, but she cried and was quite distressed most of the day.
Then night came. Wow. I have never missed my sleep more. Even when she is sleeping I can't sleep as I lay in anticipation, hearing her every noise and movement. She has never been trained to fall asleep in her bed, and instead must be asleep as you carefully put her down for the night. If not a blood curling scream happens and only gets louder. Of course in time we can work on this, but when you are staying somewhere with people nearby and it's your first couple of days together, it is just pretty rough. Blake truly spoiled me when he was a baby and I find myself up most of the night with Iris, getting about 3 hours a night of sleep. Then you add in the mental and emotional exhaustion, the piercing loud mosque call to prayer multiple times a day the fact that she can't understand us and has never been told no...and you have one stressed out situation!
Iris has made a lot of improvement from the first day, we have gotten lots of smiles and giggles as time goes on, she is eating well, and getting better stretches of sleep - Joe has yet to master putting her in just right, but has sacrificed himself many times to help  me out which has been wonderful.
It is just a real challenge not having the comforts of home, missing Blake, and wanting to get her home. Tonight is our flight and I have dreaded this for the last couple months. If we don't get a bassinet on the plane it will be somewhat tragic. We would really appreciate your prayers that the 17 hours would go as smoothly as it can go, that we would make our following connections in DC and Atlanta without delay and arrive safely in Tampa on Friday afternoon.
Can't wait to have family and friends meet our girl, she is a chunk of sweetness - most of the time!
One amazing highlight was when we waited in DC for our flight and was able to see the Griffin's and Boughner's as they got off their long flight - what incredible timing and a gracious gift of encouragement from the Lord, even if we couldn't hug through the glass. Being here a second time makes us appreciate even more the connections we made with families during our court trip - we miss everyone!
Joe is feeling much better, but is now skinnier than me (almost), so he looks forward to the food once we are home. Thank you everyone for your prayers and interest.
I thought it was interesting one night a lady said this is much easier than giving birth, I disagree. Of course physically there is not the pain, but it is much harder to come in after a year and retrain a baby, try to communicate, bond & deal with international travel - once we get the sleep thing down I think I'll feel 90% better.
Not sure how quick I'll make it back to the blog...hopefully soon (when you see me ignore the glazed over face & baggy eyes!)