May 16th, 2011

We asked the nannies yesterday where Loza's name came from. They said the name is biblical from Jacob's story in Genesis 28. The story is Jacob had to flee from his brother so he was on his way to live with his uncle and he stopped for the night at a city and made camp. During the night Jacob had an amazing dream from God. When he woke up this is what he said "God is in this place-truly. And I didn't even know it: incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God's house. This is the Gate of Heaven" Genesis 28:17 The Message....The place where he had this encounter was Loza....In the English translation it is called Luz...but in the amharic translation(which is their native language) the place is called Loza and that is where she got her name from. It is a very amazing story and one which has stamped my heart forever....the really cool part is that everyone knows we are going to name her Loza Journey Robbins. In Genesis 28:20 it says this "If God stands by me and protects me on this JOURNEY on which I'm setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my Father's house, this God will be my God." So...officially her first and middle name are in this whole story from the Bible. Zach and I are just in awe of how amazing God is and how detailed he is. This last verse has been what I have been praying through the past two years through this adoption process....very amazing stuff...

Very busy day today. Had breakfast and then went and visited Loza. She was very active today. She is smiling at both Zach and I a lot. She was talking a lot of babble and Zach got to feed her and change her today. We are so in love with the little kids there. After visitation time we exchanged money and then had lunch at Dembit Dome. We met Tsedey today and she was awesome. She is the women who forsees Illien Adoptions in Addis. She prepped us for the court hearing tomorrow and told us that our MOWA letter was there so we should pass court tomorrow. That is awesome news!! We went "shopping" at the post office today and bought all sorts of authentic Ethiopian treasures. Zach was hilarious...he was bargaining all over the place. AFter that we came home and took a nap. Teddy took us to an authentic ethiopian restaurant tonight called Yod Abyssiania. It was awesome. We all shared a meal and ate with our hands. They had live entertainment and dancing. It was an awesome experience. I am exhausted...headed to bed. Big Day Tomorrow.