Back from Trip #1

A few days ago we arrived home from our first trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was an amazing trip as a family but it was also a very difficult one. Spending 36 hours (17 going and 19 coming) on a plane is just hard. But we made it and are now processing our whole experience. I will be honest and say re-entering back into our lives has not been as easy as we thought. There are so many thoughts, sounds, and sights to work through and then to adjust back into our "normal" routines and not to mention getting back on Central Standard Time. There are so many things we want to share about our trip and experience to Ethiopia. Things like:

*Warmth of the people
*Rich history
*Beautiful country
*Our new friends (BeJoe Girls and Soli, our driver)
*Time at the Holy Trinity Church
*Watching our children play
*Seeing people interact with Marcus and Kylee (Marcus would stop production on the house next to us when he would go outside)
*Drive up Entoto Mountain
*Visits to the orphanages especially seeing our little girl and the naked babies sunning

But the one thing that keeps standing out to us is that this would not be possible without the help and support of so many people. We could never say thank you enough for all the people who have and are praying for us, the ones who always stop to ask how things are going and for the many who have helped us financially. This truly is a group effort and we can't wait to be able to share our new little girl with everyone.

So here is the next step. We have passed our court date and our waiting for a group that oversees the women and children of Ethiopia to give us their support. Once we receive that support we will be given a date at the US Embassy to receive her passport and papers. Once we have a date Marla and I will travel back over to begin an intense bonding time before heading back to the states. Please continue to pray for our little girl and this process.

Our Day in Court

Today, Feb. 4th, was a very special day. About 10:30am we gathered
with about 8 other families. They divided us into two groups to sit
before the judge. She simply asked us a few questions and made sure
that we would continue to teach our young daughter about her Ethiopian
heritage. We also heard that all of the birth mothers met earlier that
morning. What a selfless act they made to place their children into homes.

--
Mark Kuykendall

Bitter Sweet

Today was a bitter sweet day for many reasons. One, today was the
last day we will get to see our Ethiopian Princess. It was sweet
because she interacted with Marla by giving us one big smile. Two, we
realized it will be a long road until she is fully interactive with us.
We know she is in great hands and she loves her care giver. Also,
today we had the honor of having a private tour of the Holy Trinity
Orthodox Church with Belay as our guide. To hear of the church
history and the personal impact it has had on Belay (I will have to
blog about that later). We realize the lack of church history in our
lives and were humbled by Belay and the church.

Tomorrow is our big day in court. We will stand with 8 other families
to pledge our love and support for the children we hope to adopt.

Continue to pray for us. There have been many upset stomachs over the
last 24 hours.
--
Mark Kuykendall

Two Worlds Come Together

This week has definately been one of two world's coming together. As
we ventured halfway around the world, we never could've imagine who we
would meet. First, we met the Girtz family (Michael and Shelly). As
we began sharing stories late the first night, we found out that we
only live about 2 hours apart. As the conversations went on we found
out that we both had 8 year old daughters. The girls were all asleep
but could not wait to wake up and meet each other. Margo and Kylee
have been together every minute, and they love sharing this experience
together. Then as we shared pictures, we noticed that daughters were
both in the same pictures. It turns our that our two
Ethiopian princess are crib mates. The Girtz's daughter is age 4 and our's is
2. The care givers say they are great friends. Oh, what a great
experience this has been! We know that the Kuykendalls and the Girtz
will find ways to help these girls grow up together and for our
families to forge a special bond.

Thanks be to God for this connection.

Chow,

Mark, Marla, Kylee and Marcus.

Wednesday Update

Yesaterday was another great day visiting the care center. We missed
the babies laying in the sun naked. When we got there the children
were all out in the yard playing. Tuesday, "Baby Ethi" was much more what
we expected. She was much more reserved and did not offer much
interaction. We are realizing that it will take a lot of time. We
played with all of the children and Ufayse did allow Kylee to hold her
again.

After our meeting we traveled about a hour to the country side
to a lakeside resort. It was like something out of the movies. It
was beuatiful. We were there with over 75 to 100 girls in the
Kichanae orphanage. It was wonderful to have authentic Ethiopian food
and to see all the girls. Later that night, we had a processing meeting
with a social worker and all the couples.

Overall, it was a great day. Charlsie has been a lifesaver. Marcus is doing well and Kylee had her
hair all braided. Our driver Soli (my new best fried) wants to take
Marcus to a stream spa to help his cough. We will probably go their
today. He is really worried about him coughing and wants him to get
better. Today we are going to get some souveniour shopping done and
visit the Lion zoo.

We have one more visit tomorrow and then we have court on Friday.
Everyone is saing the MOWA group should have a resolution soon. We
have meet many other great couples. We miss everyone and can't wait
to share all this with you.

All our love,

Mark, Marla, Kylee & Marcus
--

A Day of Firsts

Today was full of first:

We have had an amazing day full of many emotions. We started off the
day with the visit of a lifetime. We went to the iorphan care homes
to visit the children. As we pulled up we were greeted by 15 precious
babies completely naked basking in the sun. It was one of the most
precious sights we have ever seen.

We then made our way into the room where "baby ethi" was. We prepared
ourselves for not much reaction because she is very reserved. But
were we wrong. After a few minutes she bounded over to Marla twice
and not long after she was allowing Kylee to carry her around. It was
a priceless morning.

We then re-grouped and had lunch with 10 other famlies who were
visiting their babies.

After lunch our afternoon was filed with visiting two incredible
places. The first was a hospital dedicated to leoprasy patients.
Here they train the people and allow them to make a living. We saw
women with nothing more than a few finger numbs knitting and
croqueting.

After the hospital we went to a place where silk farm. We got to
experience the entire process from the silk worm creating cacoons to
the finished silk products. Kylee had to have a scarf.

We then closed up our eveing by hanging our at our guest house. The
children love playing with the drivers. Oh how they are a God-send.

A long but unforgetable day.

Not the start we had planned for!

Today is the day that we start our physical journey to Ethiopia. Our hearts have been the for some time now. But things have not started off as we had hoped or planned for. I have been very sick for the past few days leaving Marla to do all the packing. But the worse part is Marcus. He has been very sick. We had to call our doctor early this morning. What a blessing our doctors have been. Our doctor meet us at the clinic to check Marcus over one more time. Marcus has developed a bronchial infection. We have load up on medicines and are just hoping and praying he can handle to plane ride. If you run across this post please pray for Marcus' health.

But now we are at the airport and waiting to board our plane to Ethiopia.

It is hard to believe this day is finally here.

Soli de Gloria!