Whirlwind in the best way!

So much has happened in the last week!
Let me back up. We returned from our first trip to Ethiopia on July 12. We were told it could be a few weeks or longer until we returned. We went on a family vacation to Forest Springs July 16-19. Oh my we were still trying to recover from our trip but tried to enjoy ourselves as much as possible.
We had a few days to regroup and Derek went back to work.
On Thursday morning July 24 I woke up to a couple glorious emails from the US Embassy. We were submitted to the embassy and the requested embassy date was Thursday, July 31!!! WHAT??!!!
Let's just say this was an absolute miracle because we were told we missed submission by a day and would be submitted the following week. Needless to say we were shocked!!
Well, good thing I had already begun to pack for trip number 2! We were in our car driving to Chicago some 30 hours later. Yes!  We had just over 24 hour notice.
Derek came home right after I called him and, through many ups and downs, got our flights booked. Since Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead we had to wait to hear if there was availability at the Guest House we stayed the first time. We woke up the next morning, the day we were leaving, to sorry, we have no rooms available. We tried another guest house and no luck. Starting at 5 AM, we began the search for a hotel to stay for our trip that was going to start in a few hours. As you would know, GOD worked out all the details. We had our flights booked and our hotel and drove to Chicago to catch our 6 AM flight on Saturday morning, July 26.
So, as I type this post I am laying on our hotel bed in Addis Ababa listening to the sweet sounds of my baby boy snoring!!!! Praise Jesus!!
We were able to pick him up at the orphanage on Sunday and he joined Derek and I from that moment! Oh my! We are in love!!! There are of course things that came along that are difficult and even sad but we are embracing them and with God's help we will get through.
We have so much joy!!!
Now we have our embassy appointment tomorrow, Thursday, July 31 and then we will be issued Jude's visa so we can bring him back!!!
We fly from Addis on Saturday, August 2 and arrive home with our 5th family member on Sunday, August 3!!!!
Thank you for your prayers and support as we have journeyed this adoption!!!