It is really finished!
We showed our faces at the Embassy this morning, swore an oath, signed a few lines and the adoption was completed once for all. Wild. I’ll write more detail later

We boarded Ethiopian air flight 501 at Dulles airport saturday morning at 9:45 am. While awaiting our boarding call, we skyped with Madison, Keegan, Cole and our Judy on a whim, which was wonderful. During our video chat, a call rings into our Skype account….Transition House. What? Quickly we pick up the call, with madison begging us to figure out how to 3-way video them in, to find Meseret and Kamise and a few of their other friends looking on. There was no appointment scheduled. Just a random call from our girls in Ethiopia.

We told them we were coming to bring them home to Florida. They smiled big. They had no idea we were going to show up the next day. An unexpected treat to talk with them. We nestled into our cozy little seating arrangement for the 13 hour flight to the ends of the earth…at least that’s what it felt like to me. Sitting to my right was an Ethiopian man who’d been very involved with CRU as a college student and now works with compassion Intl.l

Sorry to leave you hang in’ but this jet lagged body keeps nodding off here in the lobby of our guest house…must write later when I awake

————

After spending the morning getting grounded in Addis, we arrived at the transition house where the girls have lived the past 4 months, greeted by mostly new faces. There were only a handful of children we’d met on our last trip here, which was encouraging to find most of the kids had been taken home. For those still remaining, my heart ached. I asked Hannah if she knew when she was going home…she didn’t.

Meseret and Kamise scurried across the courtyard into our embraces, all squeezing tightly. We lingered as they told all of the other children and nannies goodbye, most with the traditional Ethiopian “grip right hands, bump right shoulders. Only a few did they embrace with squeeze tight hugs. Those were the special friends. Tears filled my eyes, pondering the # of friends they’ve said goodbye to over the past 9 months. They’ve become skilled at living with such uncertainty.

We settled into our guest house and laid low for the rest of the day. During shower time, Kamise laughed out loud when I held up the spraying spicket, remembering our last shower adventure. We giggled as she kept attempting to “get under” the spray, for the bathroom was cold. By the end, both girls surrendered to the spray which I thought was a quick transition to the newness of the shower spout.

Between the barking dogs, male voices chattering outside our windows, the sound of the water heater heating the water and a bed like a concrete block….sleep was challenging to come by. We are such comfort-driven Americans.
We boarded Ethiopian air flight 501 at Dulles airport saturday morning at 9:45 am. While awaiting our boarding call, we skyped with Madison, Keegan, Cole and our Judy on a whim, which was wonderful. During our video chat, a call rings into our Skype account….Transition House. What? Quickly we pick up the call, with madison begging us to figure out how to 3-way video them in, to find Meseret and Kamise and a few of their other friends looking on. There was no appointment scheduled. Just a random call from our girls in Ethiopia.

We told them we were coming to bring them home to Florida. They smiled big. They had no idea we were going to show up the next day. An unexpected treat to talk with them. We nestled into our cozy little seating arrangement for the 13 hour flight to the ends of the earth…at least that’s what it felt like to me. Sitting to my right was an Ethiopian man who’d been very involved with CRU as a college student and now works with compassion Intl.l

Sorry to leave you hang in’ but this jet lagged body keeps nodding off here in the lobby of our guest house…must write later when I awake

————

After spending the morning getting grounded in Addis, we arrived at the transition house where the girls have lived the past 4 months, greeted by mostly new faces. There were only a handful of children we’d met on our last trip here, which was encouraging to find most of the kids had been taken home. For those still remaining, my heart ached. I asked Hannah if she knew when she was going home…she didn’t.

Meseret and Kamise scurried across the courtyard into our embraces, all squeezing tightly. We lingered as they told all of the other children and nannies goodbye, most with the traditional Ethiopian “grip right hands, bump right shoulders. Only a few did they embrace with squeeze tight hugs. Those were the special friends. Tears filled my eyes, pondering the # of friends they’ve said goodbye to over the past 9 months. They’ve become skilled at living with such uncertainty.

We settled into our guest house and laid low for the rest of the day. During shower time, Kamise laughed out loud when I held up the spraying spicket, remembering our last shower adventure. We giggled as she kept attempting to “get under” the spray, for the bathroom was cold. By the end, both girls surrendered to the spray which I thought was a quick transition to the newness of the shower spout.

Between the barking dogs, male voices chattering outside our windows, the sound of the water heater heating the water and a bed like a concrete block….sleep was challenging to come by. We are such comfort-driven Americans.

We boarded Ethiopian air flight 501 at Dulles airport saturday morning at 9:45 am. While awaiting our boarding call, we skyped with Madison, Keegan, Cole and our Judy on a whim, which was wonderful. During our video chat, a call rings into our Skype account….Transition House. What? Quickly we pick up the call, with madison begging us to figure out how to 3-way video them in, to find Meseret and Kamise and a few of their other friends looking on. There was no appointment scheduled. Just a random call from our girls in Ethiopia.

We told them we were coming to bring them home to Florida. They smiled big. They had no idea we were going to show up the next day. An unexpected treat to talk with them. We nestled into our cozy little seating arrangement for the 13 hour flight to the ends of the earth…at least that’s what it felt like to me. Sitting to my right was an Ethiopian man who’d been very involved with CRU as a college student and now works with compassion Intl.l

Sorry to leave you hang in’ but this jet lagged body keeps nodding off here in the lobby of our guest house…must write later when I awake

————

After spending the morning getting grounded in Addis, we arrived at the transition house where the girls have lived the past 4 months, greeted by mostly new faces. There were only a handful of children we’d met on our last trip here, which was encouraging to find most of the kids had been taken home. For those still remaining, my heart ached. I asked Hannah if she knew when she was going home…she didn’t.

Meseret and Kamise scurried across the courtyard into our embraces, all squeezing tightly. We lingered as they told all of the other children and nannies goodbye, most with the traditional Ethiopian “grip right hands, bump right shoulders. Only a few did they embrace with squeeze tight hugs. Those were the special friends. Tears filled my eyes, pondering the # of friends they’ve said goodbye to over the past 9 months. They’ve become skilled at living with such uncertainty.

We settled into our guest house and laid low for the rest of the day. During shower time, Kamise laughed out loud when I held up the spraying spicket, remembering our last shower adventure. We giggled as she kept attempting to “get under” the spray, for the bathroom was cold. By the end, both girls surrendered to the spray which I thought was a quick transition to the newness of the shower spout.

Between the barking dogs, male voices chattering outside our windows, the sound of the water heater heating the water and a bed like a concrete block….sleep was challenging to come by. We are such comfort-driven Americans.

Monday we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. We learned that government offices overseas hold to this celebration as well, and so we did not get our Embassy appointment confirmed until Tuesday morning. As soon as we heard we had a confirmed meeting at the US Embassy on Monday at 9am in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia we booked our flights. We fly tomorrow (Friday January 20th).

Many details have come together for us to be freed up to travel including one of our best friends Judy Lewis, recently married and who has moved to Atlanta, planned to be in Orlando the very dates of our travels, who now will stay with our kids! Judy, has been with us on this adoption journey from the beginning, and it is a very sweet blessing she is able to be with us for the send off and will be here for our welcome home. This is incredible. Thank you Father.

We will return next Friday at 6p very tired (after more than 28 hours of flying) with two little girls, who up until now have never traveled more than maybe 40 mph in a car, and have only done that a couple times in their lives.

There will be much to process in the days that follow. Lisa and I will not have words the girls will understand to help them. We will be as present as we can for them, and walk the best we know how with them as they enter a very different world.

We covet your prayers. A heartfelt thanks to all who have walked with us to this point. We have needed you, your words and your prayers. We are so grateful.

We will post what we can as we go, but our first trip proved to be a challenge to find internet access. We will see if we can do better this time.

Off we go.

Early this morning, while hurriedly applying my makeup to fly out the door to school (Friday’s the day boys’ program meets), I checked my email inbox.

Sue Hedberg….

subject line: your cases have cleared

deep sigh. heart leapt. deeper sigh. a tinge of excitement.
Then awe.
God did it. Our Father did it! My mind rewound to 14 months earlier, when God told us to, “Put our feet in the river.” One of my deepest fears…he’ll lead us into the water…and leave us hanging.

Over the past 14 months, my vision of Him has shifted, my eyes detarred a little more by His faithful provision and pursuit. He is no longer the one who might bail out and leave me hanging, but the Faithful One. And He has done it.

We will find out tomorrow if our tentative Embassy Appointment on Jan. 23rd is a go. If so, we will fly the friendly skies on a very unfriendly route back to Ethiopia to bring our daughters home. I opened a photo stream from Sue last night in my inbox. The girls had one more goodbye with their birth father. As I scrolled from one to another, a story was being told, a vivid story. How I longed to be a fly on the wall as all three flipped through the photo album’s we sent the girls. Then their father was writing on a piece of paper and they were pensive, deep in conversation and thought. Scrolling down further, dad’s eyes were filled with tears. Next photo…tears stained his cheeks while Meseret’s eyes filled. Next photo…dad and Meseret, both with tear-stained cheeks, Kamise’s eyes filled. Next photo….all three a wet mess, wiping tears, huddled in close.

They seemed to stand in a prayer circle. Then their birth father turned to enter the vehicle which would take him the long 14 hours back to his village. My eyes filled. Tears poured over. Tears stained cheeks. Soft heaves. The ground is so holy. Dennis and I were sobered by how wildly our Father has entrusted to us these two precious girls’, whose losses I cannot fathom. Their father is passing on the baton to two who have more resources in every way to raise his daughters into who God designed them to be. I don’t understand why things are the way they are. I never will. But I’m grateful our Father gave us the courage we needed to put our feet in the river 15 months ago.

As I scrolled through the pictures, I kept thinking, “This is so much bigger than us. This is too much for their young hearts to bear. This is too much for my old heart to bear (ok, almost middle aged). And then I thought, “I’m good at sitting with people in crisis. I’m good at being “with” people whose lives are turned upside down.”

I think my Father was bringing me much needed comfort. He’s been authoring my story for 42 years and knew this chapter would be written when in my mother’s womb. He whispered that throughout the chapters of my life, he’s been pouring into me to prepare me to walk alongside these two little girls’, be with them as they grieve, guide them through their lives, cheer them on in their endeavors, and lead them to Christ.

We received another email from Sue Hedberg this week….if you’ve been following our story, you know what that means. My heart skips a beat and something life-changing is going to likely occur. Sue offered us possible appointment dates with the US Embassy in Addis Ababa. January 19, 23 and 24th. This means Meseret and Kamise are coming home to their “forever family”. Their birthfather has an appointment with the Embassy tomorrow and if all goes as planned, we will be “cleared to travel” and pick-up our daughters.

The news felt surreal, once again. A friend responded to the news in a text message yesterday, “Your babies are coming home!” As I read those words, the reality sunk in. These are my daughters. They are Brockmans. They belong to us.

I’m full of anticipation. However, right now the expression of our loved ones excitement seems greater than mine. Perhaps I’m preoccupied with gathering the various oils and products they’ll need to care for their hair and skin, discerning the appropriate curriculum to educate them, wondering what this transition will be like for us all. I am excited they’re coming home. I am expectant. I need prayer for my mind to remember that His grace envelopes our household and that “He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” I’m grateful for the emotion those around us are displaying, for I think I’m tasting the Father’s excitement through them.

I’m stunned that He’s so faithfully provided the financial means to bring the girls home. Faith released. We are almost there! We have no idea what sort of medical expenses we’ll encounter after they come home and we also will need to pay an attorney to enable us to readopt them in the US.

A sweet friend of mine, who is an incredible creative jewelry designer, has offered to donate 50% of her jewelry sales over the next 2 months help with these expenses. Grace enveloping.

So, go check out her custom-designed jewelry at http://www.designsbytahra.etsy.com!!! And I’d say that even if she weren’t donating from her sales to us!

It was fun to celebrate Madison Sunday as we recounted 16 wonderful years watching her grow. What a gift she is to us!

One of the things she wanted was to paint her room a neutral gray. Now her plan is till fill her walls with artwork. You can see a few more photos here.

We host 10 winter conferences all across the USA at this time. I am in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/Saint Paul) at our conference which is called TCX. They are developing the theme “Fused” which is the idea that we are bonded or welded to Christ. They are broadcasting the main sessions live. I will embed the viewer below.