Our Last Week in the USA!

What a week! I can't believe this week has gone by so quickly. Emma loves visiting the pool at Mema's house. She has become an amazing swimmer. We are thrilled that there is a pool 300 yards from our house in Kigali.

Tuesday night, Mema and I took Emma to the Wild Animal Park. Summer evenings are our favorite time to visit. All of the tourist are heading out and we are heading in for the cool weather and active animals. Emma loves to play on the playground and ride the carousel.
Wednesday we visited Sea Life Aquarium. We had purchased discounted tickets through Groupon and needed to use them up before we left. Emma had a great time with her Uncle David looking at the sharks and sting rays.

Thursday was Mommy's day to play. I was able to have dinner with my So Cal Mommy's. We had an amazing time catching up laughing. I just love these incredible ladies! There are 11 kids between the 5 of us. We really needed a break!
Friday we spent the day with some of Matt's family. 7 great-grand kids had a blast running around the yard playing baseball. There were Dodger, Padres and Angel fans present. It was a "big game" as Emma said. It was awesome to see Matt's cousin, her husband and their 4 kids home from Africa. They serve at an international school there and just returned to the States a week ago. We were so happy to be able to spend the day with them. We hope to spend Christmas with them in Africa! The day was full of food, laughter, and prayer...the perfect send off!
It is now Sunday at 1:30 AM. The bags are packed-for the most part-and ready to go in a few hours. We will be having a send off in the morning at church and then heading to LA to stay the night before flying out early Monday morning. I really can't believe that the last 3 weeks have gone by so quickly. I also can't believe how much this feels like when we left for China. There is anticipation, planning, packing, unknown. I also know that this is not only a new adventure for our family but it is also bringing us another step closer to our son.

Please be praying that our travel goes well. We are checking 10 bags and have 6 carry-ons. Each bag has been weighed over and over again. We are praying that they are under 50 lbs according to United Airlines. If they are over, the person checking us in can charge us $400 for each bag that is over. We are considering taking a Starbucks card and selling a big story about moving Africa to teach children and volunteer in an orphanage. Also, pray that Emma would travel well. We have 22 hours of air time plus several hours of layover time. She is used to flying but the last long flight she had-11 hours from Hong Kong to San Francisco- was when she was 16 months old. I know that she will have her moments-as I will probably have too. Just pray that our melt down moments are not at the same time!