When time doesn't matter - with the Broscious Family

I remember meeting Deanne in the Dulles, Washington airport.  It was almost two years ago.  We were making our first trip over to Ethiopia for court.  There was this woman.... peppy as ever and desperate to take pictures!  I figured she would EXHAUST me on the way over to Ethiopia.  For a minute I wondered why I didn't remember Mike being there... I thought maybe because the memories of Deanne overshadowed him....., but then I remembered I didn't have the privilege of meeting Mike until our second trip.  Deanne traveled with a friend on that first trip for court to meet our girls.

I loved Deanne from the moment I met her.  Mike too.  What a great couple.  Deanne has never met a stranger.  You wouldn't believe the number of people she was talking to on that airplane to Ethiopia.  14 hours later and I bet they were ready to get off the plane :)  Just kidding Deanne!!!  Everyone loves you!

We experienced a lot of the "firsts" in our life with Sara, right alongside Mike and Deanne.  The first time we saw Sara, Deanne was there.  She heard Sara scream at us.  She saw, right along with us, this feisty little bundle of energy, slowly begin to come out of her shell and tolerate us.  In the meantime, we got to watch her interact with little Cambria.  The tiny little thing that would smile without prompting.  She was such a teeny little sprite!  We experienced passing court together - that moment when the judge declared that the girls were ours.  I got to hug the new mom and it was great!  We grieved together as we left for home, leaving our newly declared children behind - as we waited for Embassy approval to bring them home.

Just about a month later, were back in the air... this time with Mike in tow, to be reunited with our girls and bring them home with us forever.  Mike fell right into the groove of the group as if he had been with us all along.  It was great to meet the other half of Deanne.  Oh the laughs we had together!  There are some things you can just never forget... apparently Deanne can't forget when I told her to "Shut Up!!!".  It was said with pure love to a dear friend, I'm sure :)

We got to see Mike hold his daughter for the first time.  We got to experience passing Embassy together.  Our families forever connected, not just by the girls we brought home, but by the friendship that was established in that short time, in a foreign country.  I'm truly amazed at what God does in the adoption process.  Deanne and Mike are an additional blessing God gave us through years of disappointment in adoption.  

Nearly two years later, and we had the privilege to meet up with this wonderful family again.  Deanne and Mike were in Myrtle Beach with their family and we could not pass up the opportunity to have them over.  When they pulled up, it was like two years had never passed.  I hate to admit it, but when I saw Deanne, I cried....like a family member you hadn't been able to see in years, but like not a second had passed.  God made that bond stronger over the years and it was like we were never apart.  

Oh, and the GIRLS.  It did a wonderful thing to my heart to see these two Ethiopian beauties together.  And my how they have changed.  Sara, who was so much larger than Cambria, was now small in comparison.  Sara is a little tiny thing, and Cambria, almost a full year younger than Sara is taller than her and weighs more than her.  To see them together again... I really can't describe it.  They didn't know, at least I don't think they knew, what it meant for the two of them to be in a room together again... how a piece of Ethiopian history came together on the soil in America... they didn't understand, they didn't care, but we did.  The girls were together again.  Someday that would mean something to them.

All the time that passed.... it didn't matter!  Love  you Broscious family!  So thankful God put us on that plane together and the girls in their forever homes at the same time!  Let's do it again soon :)

In Christ,

Charity