New Family Member :)

For the past two years, my aunt and uncle have been trying to adopt a little boy from Ethiopia.  I had seen pictures of him, and boy is he adorable!  Because of the cost of adoption, there was so much help from all over to make the adoption affordable.  They held a family/friend rummage sale and I believe they had some sort of fundraiser at their church as well.  Last year at Lifest, a Christian music festival, they were selling bracelets for a dollar each.  The support was overwhelming, and it was so wonderful that even complete strangers wanted to help.  His name is Bedilu and he was found abandoned and was put in an orphanage.  Because he was abandoned, this made it twice as hard for him to be adopted, but God has answered our many prayers, and finally made this possible for my aunt and uncle after two years!  I don't know all the details on the whole paperwork situation, but I do know that it was rough, and for a while I wondered if they would even be able to adopt him.  They had made previous visits to the country to meet with him and I didn't want that to have been all for nothing.  Time messes with the mind when there is a stalemate, but when something new comes up (good or bad), it seems as if the mind races to catch up with reality again.  When I was told the good news, my mind did exactly that and then I silently scolded myself for even slightly doubting.  And the visits weren't "all for nothing," whether the adoption went through or not because the scenery put them in thier place and they saw love in different ways.  This has opened thier eyes and they found love down there as well.  When they left to take Bedilu home, they brought care packages for the orphanage as well.  I just found out today that everyone is back home safe and I am sad that I do not get to celebrate this special moment together with them and meet my new cousin.  Maybe I will get to meet him during fall break or Thanksgiving when I return home.  And hopefully I will learn new things from someone who is half my age.