When we made it through all the check in points and found a seat to wait. We re-united with the others that were adopting from our agency and Jadon had his friends to play with while we waited.
Now in the Ethiopian airport you will go through an additional check as you enter the gate for your flight. Previous experience helped in this area, once you enter your gate you cannot leave and there are no restrooms inside the gate. Travelling with a pre-teen and a 4 year old it would not be good to be early in the gate. So we held off as long as possible and it was a good thing we did. Our flight was delayed 2 hours, so yes we were inside the gate for about 3 hours total. Fortunately no one had to go, if you know what I mean.It was an absolute joy to watch Jadon and his friends as they had an absolute great time talking about the plane. One of his friends had flown from his orphanage to Addis Ababa and he was telling the other 2 all about it. It was hard to understand the exact words they were talking about but one thing I do know is they were discussing how the plane has toilets. It was so cute to see them get so excited about the plane and the bathrooms. As the time came to get on the plane the excitement grew and these children were ready to go to America.
Jadon's excitement was priceless to see his little face light up as we boarded the plane. His excitement was huge in helping him stay awake for an additional 2-3 hours after we took off. Basically he stayed awake until about 3-4AM ET time which was so good because he then slept for the next ten hours making the plane ride home so much easier than we had expected. It also helped him switch to our time zone easier too (9hours difference). Our total first flight home was about 16hours. We then had a few hours in Dc before we flew to Cincinnati and then HOME to Nashville. Jadon was amazed by the airplanes. He loved getting to sit next to the window both times on the short flights. He would constantly point at the window and say "America??" with the biggest smile.
Arriving in Nashville was the most exciting thing for us! We couldn't wait to see our friends and family waiting for our special homecoming moment. This was the moment we all had dreamed about for months. Even though we had had custody of Jadon for over a week, it was this moment that seemed to make it official. We had a huge crowd of people waiting for us to welcome Jadon to his new home with his forever family. We were also blessed by a sweet lady that worked at one of the restaurants who was from Ethiopia and could speak Amharic. She came out to meet Jadon and was able to talk with him in his native language. This was a huge comfort for Jadon after traveling for so long.
Jadon was a total rock star coming out of the airport! It was such a sweet ride home in our car headed to our home as a new family of four! Jadon was so excited about his new room and bed that first night at home!
As you can imagine, many joyful tears were flowing that night after tucking him in the his new bed and just standing there in amazement of the work God had done in our lives to bring us this precious boy we now call Son!
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