A Family Reunion

This is a picture of Letemeskel and I on our last day in Ethiopia before we flew back to America.  We spent time at a playground with another family and their children.  She was very excited and nervous for this day.

Our flights flew from Addis Ababa to Rome to Washington DC to Atlanta to Tulsa, OK.  We got to the airport around 6:00 PM (Ethiopian Time) and boarded the airplane around 9:00 PM.  We left Ethiopia about 1 hour later.  Our stop in Rome was to refuel and swap flight crews.  After about 17 to 18 hours of traveling from Addis to DC, we finally landed.  Lete was all smiles at this point and we went through Customs and Immigration in about 2 hours.  Once we completed this, we boarded the flight to Atlanta.  In Atlanta, we were delayed about two hours due to plane problems, but Lete took it all in stride.

As we landed, we held hands and she was very excited.  When we left the air plane, we walked hand in hand towards the baggage claim area and once we were about one hundred yards from the security gate, we could see Zachary jumping up and down and waving his hands.  As we got closer, we saw Levi starting to do the same.  Lete ran to see her brother and hugged both Levi and Isaac tightly.  Then she hugged her Mom.  Their were joyful tears everywhere, even Lydia got emotional too.  It was one of the most beautiful moments both Susan and I have every been blessed with in our lives.

James 1:27 (Contemporary English Version)

²⁷Religion that pleases God the Father must be pure and spotless. You must help needy orphans and widows and not let this world make you evil.

When I read these words, they can sound somewhat empty, especially when one looks at how little the typical church walks to these words, but when I see how these words can create what Susan and I just experienced, I simply am at a loss to adequately describe the raw emotion and love that was expressed from everyone.  It was amazing.