Guest Blogger Daddy

It’s around noon and Ellie and Whitney are sitting in a chair by the window.

We slept fitfully through the night and had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. We weren’t tired but it was just difficult to think about waiting all day for Ellie to show up. I was thinking that the longer I stayed in bed the shorter the wait would be. Eventually, I got up and picked up a book and the T.V. remote. I climbed back in bed and put the book and remote on the nightstand. We just continued to lay in bed as the time slowly ticked by.

Thus it was that when the phone rang at 8:20 we were both still both in bed! It was the guy at the front desk. “You have visitor,” he said cryptically. We flew out of bed, wondering if it was Ellie or our guide for the embassy appointment tomorrow. As we came downstairs and turned the corner, we could see Ellie and Mimi, one of the mamas at the orphanage, through a window. When Whitney picked up Ellie, our little girl started crying. Things were somewhat awkward because Mimi wasn't sure if she should stay or go. She was really sad to leave Ellie but didn't want to intrude. We all had breakfast and then Mimi left.

After Mimi left, Ellie continued to cry on and off (mostly on) for the next hour. She finally settled down and fell asleep, but you can tell that even now that she’s awake, she is still rather...hesitant. She is in a strange environment with strange people (I don’t think she really remembers us from our week in July). She clings to us and snuggles us very tightly. Every now and then she will sit up a little bit and look at us. She looks like she’s not sure if she wants to continue to cry or not.

We are grateful that the Lord has brought Ellie to us again. Please pray for her as she leaves the only home that she has ever known and these strange people take her to the tundra that is the Midwest.

You can check out some pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/pastordanbennett/PickUpTrip

Love to all,

Daniel