They have ARRIVED!

Yay! The children are HERE! It's a day I've been praying for and worrying over since I arrived on Monday. I started school teacher-inservice Wednesday, counting the hours until Friday when we could go to Dulles and get the ACE kids. 

We left school around 10:30 to get the bus from Faith. It was an old school bus that couldn't travel faster than 55 miles per hour. Excellent. Hahaha! You know what a worrier I am! To make matters more... interesting... it was the September 11th memorial motorcycle parade. If you have never seen one of these parades, you probably don't live on the cross section of 81 and 70. Worst cross section of highway ever. Everything goes through there... So roughly 2,500 bikes (according to local newscasters) were slowly roaring through town, while we tried to plough through with our bus. I tried thinking loudly: We're going to get my children! Please let us through!... but that really wasn't working.

So I prayed, and Alex prayed, and the bus driver prayed... and we took Leesburg Pike. Picturesque.

Pulling up to Dulles in that big bus had me literally in tears. Seeing all those little faces smiling and arms waving as we pulled up. They had 50+ suitcases and bags, all around them-- like a little island of travelers. When we got close, I really cried, because they were all calling "Miss Elie! Miss Elie!" I have missed their voices so much! 

So we packed the bus and pulled away... their adventure starting on August 19th, 2011.

We're exhausted but still adorable.

Notice all the luggage packed in the back. Alex said it was like a giant game of tetris, trying to manhandle all those bags out of the aisle and on the seats. 

Sleepy smiles...

Taramjee and Chulmonetaramjee were out within 5 minutes. They slept in 100 different uncomfortable positions during our 2 hour ride. My favorite was when Andrew was sleeping on his own lap, with Opie sleeping on Andrew's back. It lasted 3 minutes until Andrew shoved Opie into the window.

Alex had to guard David the whole ride... he kept trying to flip out of his seat and onto the floor! Poor baby is so tired!

We were greeted warmly at Grace Academy, nearly too weary to notice. But Cici's Pizza and lots of soda perked us right up!! As families began to arrive, you could nearly feel the shiver of questions through the crowd "is that my mother? is that my family? do all those kids live with me? who do I belong to?" 

It was a very touching moment, as I thought how near and dear that question is to each of us in life. Who do I belong to? Who loves me? Who wants me? I don't think this question is a rare one or an odd one. Everyone of us craves to have relationships and people who want them. 

The greatest answer to your question is Jesus Christ. He loves you, just as you are-- weary, pizza sauce on your chin, your hair stuck up, and sleepies in the corners of your eyes-- just the way you are--not the smartest, a little stressed, with a mediocre job, a coffee addiction, and bills to be paid. 

Jesus is waiting for you to come home, just like all of our Grace families were waiting, anxious to see their new sons and daughters... to bring them home, to tuck them in bed, and to be with them ever step of the way. 

I hope you know that this is true... Jesus is waiting just for you to come home. You can bring all that baggage with you, he'll carry the suitcases for you-- not even grumble about how heavy they seem to you, because he won't notice. I hope you come home to Him...

A Joyful Homecoming is waiting for you, just like for my children when the bus arrived at Dulles. 

If you have any questions about this relationship with Jesus begins, or just what it looks like to come home, I hope you'll email me! I'd love to tell you. It's the best homecoming you'll ever know...

--elie

Below: The Story of A Homecoming from Luke 15

The Story of the Lost Son

 ^11-12Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, 'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.' ^12-16"So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
 ^17-20"That brought him to his senses. He said, 'All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him, Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.
 ^20-21"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
 ^22-24"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.