Last Update from Addis

Well...as I type my family is at the airport getting ready to board the plane! It's finally here. These are the emails I received today. My family arrives tomorrow night at 7:55 pm. The boys and I are so excited. I made the boys t-shirts that say, "I'm the big brother". They are so excited to meet their new sister. The whole family is thrilled. This is the first granddaughter! I also made Lydia a shirt that says, "I'm the big sister". She can wear it to the hospital next week to meet her newest brother.

From my stepmom:
We spent yesterday with Lydia. In the morning Cam and Sue went to a couple of places so we stayed with her and she slept most of it. She is so incredibly beautiful, we cannot stop looking at her.
We spent most of the afternoon with Cam and baby in the lobby area of the Hilton. Lydia sang and giggled and squealed to her heart's content. She is really getting strong. She was standing on my lap yesterday and I had my arms in a circle around her. She was hanging on to my forearms and pulling herself to a standing position! I'm afraid you have an early walker on your hands. She is so bright and does so many advanced things. When I think about Troy's sister's little boy who was born in the beginning of December, she is way ahead of him. She transfers items from one hand to the other and has incredible hand eye coordination. She has been a big hit with all of the Hilton staff and many visitors. They all say the same thing-she is so beautiful!
I have taken some great photos of her with your dad. He nuzzles her neck and she giggles and giggles. She has a husky sounding voice. She looks so much better than she did the first couple of days.
We are very anxious to get home. We were ready to leave on Wednesday! The Atlas has been good to stay at even though it doesn't have the conveniences of the Hilton but is very clean, new and nice to stay at and the staff is wonderful. I would recommend it highly to any future travelers who cannot afford the Hilton. We just paid $4599 birr for 6 nights and the birr is 9.6 to a dollar. I told them they need mattress pads under the sheets and facecloths. They actually wrote it down.
We have less than 12 hours to flight time. We are going to the Hilton and have a good lunch then to the airport 3 hours early because Emirates told Cam we needed to yesterday. Lydia slept well last night according to Sue when I spoke to her this morning so hopefully she will do well on the way home. I can't wait for you to see her! We love you and miss you very much.

From my MIL:
We are bringing you home a healthy, happy baby. Thanks to your suggestion about the NURSIE AD - As Cam put it, "that stuff is a miracle worker." She is sleeping now and we have late check-out with the shuttle coming at 4:00 PM to take us to the airport. Jim and Barb will be coming here after their checkout and we'll all have a huge and late lunch. Anyway, the soccer tournament is going on and we got to see some of the Layla House play at both their "home court" and at the Kidane. What I love is that the soccer teams are co-ed and the girls are as scrappy as the boys. Some great footwork on all sides, I must tell you. I am sorry that I missed some more of the "tourism" aspects..I would like to have seen the stone church and a couple other things but I figure I can do more next time. Now that I've had this wonderful experience I can truly imagine coming again. We are ALL anxious to come home, to see you and hold the boys and prepare for baby boy's arrival.

On the homefront...the boys and I had a wonderful time for the 4th. We ate yummy food and enjoyed the company of dear friends. We came home exhausted and plopped into bed. Today we will finish up some projects (okay, I'll finish them up) like painting some trim. I've got laundry to do and I'd like to mop the kitchen. We'll see how much I get done. Tomorrow we will go to church and then come home and anxiously wait until it's time to go to the airport! That will be the slowest hours of my life! I'll be posting photos after we are home and settled on Mon. Keep my family in your prayers while they travel home.

Doing sparklers...in the daylight because little boys were asking every two minutes..."how much longer until it's dark out?".