Our newest blessing

We thought it would be fitting to begin with an introduction....

Here is our new baby girl, Adaya Marie Mbali. She was born on January 4, 2009 in South Africa.

Adaya (pronounced Ah DAY Ah) is Hebrew and means "Adornment of God". Marie is Shena's middle name after her grandmother Ivany. Mbali (pronounced Em BALL ee) is Zulu and means "little flower". Just perfect!

We are very busy preparing for travel. The long to-do list is a nice distraction. We are so excited to meet Adaya. We have only looked at her pictures around a million times.

This time next week, she will be with us. How blessed we are!

Makai is looking forward to going on an airplane to "Afca" with Daddy, Momma and Gogo (Shena's mom) to meet "Daya".

We leave Toronto Saturday evening. We have 2 overnight flights. The first from Toronto to London and the second from London to Johannesburg. Then a short flight to Durban and a short drive to Richmond.

34 hours of travel.....how many Backyardigans episodes does that equal? Time will tell!