All I Want for Christmas...

...is here

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, filled with all the things that you enjoy most.

Two Weeks, Two Months, Two Years

Please enjoy this second update in the three part series, “Two Weeks, Two Months, Two Years.”  As you may remember, someone once told me that you can often appreciate some notable change from where you started once you've been home for two weeks, for two months, and for two years with your little one.

Today marks two months home for us.  This is a busy (non-normative) time of year for our family, what with the holidays, Christmas preparation, some travel, extra commitments with church events, etc.  Nonetheless, we’re making it. We’re starting to find a rhythm.  We have clean laundry, the children are reasonably well-educated, and I cook meals more nights per week than I don’t.

Baby A fits right in here as one of the gang.  It's kind of strange to think that she hasn't been with us right from the start.  She loves being with people, and the five people under this roof are at the top of her list right now.  And, we’re getting to know the ins and outs of this little peanut.  We know what’s likely to make her giggle (tickles or funny dancing); what’s likely to make her cry (taking something from her…like say a Lego, a remote control, or a tiny piece of whatever she’s picked up from the carpet).  If we can’t see her, we know where she’s probably crawled off to (the Christmas tree).  We know what she likes to eat (King’s Hawaiian Rolls are tied with birthday cake); what makes her gag (oatmeal).  We know what’s normal for her in terms of mood, quantity of drool, and diaper consistency.

A’s got a consistent routine, in terms of naps, bedtime, bottles, meals, etc.  She’s but a few weeks away from walking.  She’s got two new teeth.  I think she’s making attempts at saying the kids’ names.  She claps, and points, and waves, and plays peek-a-boo.  In terms of development, she’s really very close to where my other kids were at this age.  

We are sure looking forward to sharing this Christmas all together as a family and to lots more sweet days to come.

PS—We have to send updates/reports back to Ethiopia at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-placement, and once a year after that until A turns 18.  Our first report is due in January, so the social worker (she’ll send these first three reports, and then we’ll do them on our own annually) was two nights ago for our first post-placement visit. The visit went smoothly.  It was kind of fun to mentally review how A has developed and changed since we brought her home.  This was the first time the social worker had seen her in person, and I didn’t hear it clearly, but I’m pretty sure she said, “My, that’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.”  It was either that or, “My, the blinds in your living room are tremendously clean.”  Both statements would have been accurate.

Major Accomplishment

Yesterday was exactly one month since we returned home from Ethiopia.  The day was also marked a significant achievement around here.  No, Baby A isn't walking on her own, but this is almost as big.

I made dinner for my family.  It included more than one dish and had items from several food groups.  It involved the use of the oven.  It was served at some point during the 6 o'clock hour.  It was eaten with pleasure by at least three members of my family (which is as much as I can ask).  It gave me hope that sometime in the future (maybe even before the end of 2013), I will be functioning like a normal person again.  And it made me appreciate, so much, all the amazing friends and neighbors (and a couple local take-out restaurants) that have made it possible for me to go a full month without having to spend one single second on meal planning and preparation.  It's been a good run.

You may continue to hold your breath for an announcement about the resumption of my daily house cleaning rotation...and if you come over, thank you for stepping over the dust bunnies and pretending that the kitchen counters aren't sticky.  

Birthday Girl

We celebrated A’s first birthday this weekend, and we were sure grateful to have her home for the occasion (as things stretched out waiting for a court appointment this summer, this was the date I was looking to, hoping that we'd be home together for the celebration).

Our main birthday festivities actually took place a couple weeks ago when our extended family was here for A's dedication at church.  So, the actual day was pretty low-key.  When we were in Ethiopia this summer, one thing we did was purchase a birthday gift for A for every year up to age 18 (it wasn't our original idea...we had heard of another family doing this when they adopted a child internationally, and we thought this was such a good and rich tradition).  So, as part of baby A's birthday celebration this weekend, we gave her the ball we purchased in Ethiopia for her first birthday.  It's soft-filled and colorful and decorated with Amharic numerals.  She really likes it.

As a quick rundown of the birthday girl...

We’re certainly still adjusting around here, but our A is such a sweetheart, and it’s been fun to get to know her and watch her grow and change over the past month as she’s become more comfortable with us and with this new environment and with this new concept of family.  We know God’s got good plans in store for this little one.

A’s been to the pediatrician and received a clean bill of health.  She’s just a little peanut (not quite on the growth chart for weight yet), but her body is working well and she is strong.  She crawls around the house, pulls up to standing, and will walk behind a push toy.  She’ll eat about anything we give her (she devoured her birthday cake like no one year-old I've ever seen!).  We’re going to keep with the formula for a while longer to see if we can beef her up a bit, so she’s doing four bottles per day in addition to eating solid foods with us at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She’s got four teeth now (which she has “accidentally” used on all of us, including the dog!!).  She’s starting to get the concept of books and will sit for just a moment while I turn pages.  She enjoys being outside.  She despises her carseat.  

Baby A sleeps great overnight and during her two naps each day.  She likes to play and giggle and tickle with the kids, and she is excited to see Ryan when he comes home from work each day.  

Life is good around here...and when it's not, you're invited to remind me that God's not done working yet.

  

Two Weeks, Two Months, Two Years

I've read somewhere that two weeks, two months, and two years are good times to look back on the changes of your child and of your family since you first came home.  That they are points when you can look back and appreciate some noticeable change.  This weekend marked two weeks for us.  So, here goes:

We are still adjusting, but we are very most-certainly going to make it.

Baby A is a good little sleeper.  Even when we first took her from the orphanage and she had that terrible cough, she never woke during the night (she sure woke us about every 20 minutes with her hacking and whooping, but she slept through it undisturbed).  These days she naps twice (morning and afternoon) and sleeps from about 8pm to 7am.  I know.  It's beautiful.

Baby A is eating well.  We've fed her about 3000 new foods in the past two weeks, and she's happily (and non-anaphylactically) accepted all we've offered.  We're still figuring out what agrees and what disagrees with her little tummy (we've had some major situations in the diaper department), but through it all she has never acted uncomfortable or ill.  We've got her taking four bottles per day (she was taking two at the orphanage), and she eats "meals" with us at the table.  She's getting good with finger foods, and seems particularly fond of peas, corn, and those weird apple-cinnamon baby puffs that they make now.

We've visited the pediatrician for some blood work and some baseline measurements.  A's not on the growth chart yet for weight (though that's actually nothing new for us...perhaps you've met our eldest string bean).  Baby A was a cooperative patient and the doctor was able to help us clear up the nasty cold and cough that had been plaguing us for some time (compared with two weeks ago, A sounds much less like a snuffly pig when she takes a bottle).

Baby A LOVES her siblings.  I am so grateful that we have other kids at home to welcome this sweet girl.  I didn't think through how difficult it might be for a little one to go from a orphanage full of children to being an only child with two bewildered parents staring at her.  Well Baby A still has two bewildered parents, but at least she has several other small smiling faces ready to play and cuddly and giggle with her at all times.

A is getting more and more comfortable around here.  She will often crawl away from me to explore another part of the room (or house).  She's getting more willing to have me put her down and walk away to do something (on those rare occasions when my work requires the use of both hands simultaneously).  Though she continues to prefer mommy, she is getting more and more fond of her daddy.  She's so happy to see Ryan when he gets home from work in the evenings.  He usually giver her that last bottle and puts her down for the night, and that has become special time for them.

Our family systems and routines have needed some tweaking, but we are finding some work-ability.  We had a decent week of school this week...skipped one 2nd grade science experiment and one day of writing.  That's passable, right?  I ran about 12 loads of laundry (remember the diaper situations referenced above??).   People got to their respective appointments and out-of-the-house commitments.  I generally spent 15-20 minutes on A's hair in the morning (which is 14 minutes more than I spend on my own each day), but we managed to fit that in to our morning routine even when we need to leave the house by 8:30am.  You'll notice nothing here about food preparation.  Mercifully, our dear friends and neighbors have been bringing us dinner on M,W,F and it's absolutely been saving my life (generally at 5pm each day, I'm changing crib sheets and trying to decrustify a baby after a horrible...well, you get the picture).  I hope these meals continue forever.  I never want to cook again.

So, that's how it is.  At two weeks, there are a lot of good days.  There are a lot of smiles and giggles.  There is a lot of sleeping.  There is a lot of poop.  There is a lot of happiness.  There is a lot of work, but thankfully there are a lot of helpful hands (ones that reside under this roof and ones that stop by to bless those that do).  There are a lot of milestones.  There is a lot of noise.  There is a lot of gratitude for the chance to live this good life.  We are very most-certainly going to make it.
  

PS--A note to my loyal reader(s).  I predict that my remaining blog days are growing few.  If you'll remember, I was effectively pushed into this endeavor kicking and screaming all those years ago.  And, while I think there's been some value in chronicling our journey, I'll be glad to retire our adoption blog and re-focus my writing efforts on a once-a-year Christmas letter.  I may post a few times here and there, but as I have mentioned previously (like a few weeks ago when I just had three kids and they could all speak fluently and use the bathroom)...I really don't have time to blog.

So many firsts

A is fitting into our family so well.  It makes my heart smile to see her light up around her siblings (they are totally smitten by her).  She is glad to see daddy when he gets home from work.  She tolerates her dog (which is more than I do most days).  She enjoys crawling around and exploring her new home.  She is such a resilient and flexible baby.  It’s hard to believe all the change and newness she’s experienced over the past week and a half: 

Being outside

Having sun/wind on her face

Mirrors

Air travel

Parents

Television

Shoes

Grass

Carseats

Siblings

Doorbells

Grandparents

Carpet

Finger foods

Night lights

Cousins

Washing machines

Enfamil

Cold weather

Domestic housepets

Highchairs

Stairs

How we're doing...

The question that I've answered the most this week is, "So, how are you guys doing?"  And the answer is, "Except for a few isolated moments here and there, we're really doing very well."

I've been sick as the dickens.  Finally today, I feel like I'm making some significant improvement.  This same thing happened after our first trip.  I brought back a dash of the "orphanage crud."  I just can't keep my hands off those sweet kids (despite their snot and coughs).  Feeling crummy for a week once I'm back home seems a worthy price to pay.

A has been improving faster than me.  Her cough is almost completely gone; her runny nose is improved; and she hasn't woken in the morning with junky eyes since the second or third morning home.

This week was irregular in that we had several morning appointments and commitments.  We were generally able to make it places by 9am (leaving the house by 8:30am), though I don't want to make it a habit!!  We didn't do school this week for the boys, but I actually think our normal school day routine will be easier to maintain since we'll be at home for naptimes, etc.

We've got about the best friends in the world, who have been keeping us well-stocked with food and ensuring that I need never cook again (now if I could only wrangle some type of free housekeeping service!!).  Folks have generously been helping with childcare while I've taken A to doctor's appointments (just getting a baseline for her health, doing some testing, and determining which vaccines she'll need to receive).

So all in all, we're really doing very well (and I can only assume that I'll be an even better mom-of-4 once I can breathe through my nose again).

We made it home

We were so thankful to make it home last night around 7pm.  What a sweet time with our family and friends.

Introducing, for the first time...our party of six

PS- I'm so glad to report that our first day and night at home have gone really smoothly.

She's Legal

Baby A got her passport...

...and it tastes just fine.

We're packing up and getting ready to head home.  In a few hours we get on our flight to Washington DC... scheduled to land in first thing in the morning there (it'll be about 17 hours for us in the plane).  We'll be all the way back home later on Saturday...which is tomorrow...which is crazy to me.

Thanks so much for your prayers and well-wishes this week.  We have enjoyed reading your kind comments and thinking of you from across the globe.  We will appreciate you praying us on home.  I have to admit that I am rather dreading this long plane ride, but it will be worth whatever the difficulties to put our feet back on US soil and bring home our girl and see our other kids again.

PS--Her pony tails look much better in person than in this "horned" photo.

Bathtime, Take 2

Bath time was much easier today, mostly due to the fact that we found a better sink plug (a gatorade lid this time) and used a bath towel rather than a bath mat for a sitting surface on the bottom of the sink. We even had time and hands enough to snap a photo.

I tried my very best at parting and pony-tailing A's hair today, but I was able to get in a mere four before we (both) needed to stop for a breather.  I think the four look pretty cute.  Mostly symmetrical and well-placed.  I have hope that once we get home and I actually get her hair truly soaked and combed; and once she can sit in a Bumbo watching some type of media or sibling entertainment while I work; and once she likes me better, I will be fully capable of attending to these beautiful, curly locks.  Until then, I say, "Thank you, God, for headbands."


We're going to pick up A's passport/visa this morning and then visit the Ethiopian National Museum, which according to our guide book, is the best of it's kind on this continent.

Thursday

Our Embassy appointment went smoothly today.  We were in and out in 30 minutes; they asked us questions to which we knew the answers; and they'll have A's passport stamped with her visa and ready for pick-up at 10:00am tomorrow morning.  Baby A will be a US citizen once our plane touches down on US soil.

Baby A has had some good moments and some hard moments.  We hope some of the difficulty is illness and tremendous food and atmosphere change.  She gets a medal for good behavior under duress.  She's been sleeping well at night, and she seems happier when we get out of the guest house and she has some different scenery to enjoy.  She's pretty sick with the "orphanage crud."  We'll be anxious to get her home and get her feeling better.  

Embassy Appointment

Today is the day.  Our appointment at the US Embassy is Thursday afternoon.  They will ask us some questions, we will (hopefully) answer them well, they will issue Baby A her passport/visa, and then we can go home on Friday.  We can't wait until our family is all together for the first time!!!

It is another beautiful day today.  We ate breakfast at the guest house with a man from Holland who is here working on a World Bank project... he has been here for months and said it was like someone flipped a switch 10 days ago... it went from cloudy and rain every day to sunny and 72 degrees every day.

Enjoying the view from the balcony

Both the girls are taking a morning nap

New Pics

Finally got some pictures to upload.  First two are from yesterday while hanging out in our room.

We gave Baby A a bath this morning.  Picture this...two grown adults who've been parents for years, both with master's degrees, completely soaked and desperately struggling to bathe one small and reasonably happy/cooperative child.  There's no bathtub here.  There's no bucket or small basin.  There's a sink (without a plugging mechanism), a coffee mug, a baby bottle lid.  There certainly wasn't an extra hand to photograph the event, but we've got a clean(er) baby.  MacGyver would be proud.

October 15, 2013

Baby A left the House of Hope today and is staying at the guest house with mommy and daddy now.  The nannies explained her schedule, and we ventured to the grocery store to get some formula and baby cereal.

The internet has been sketchy today, and we can't get any pictures posted, but she has changed a bunch...

She's got four teeth now (had none in July).
She can sit unsupported.
She is crawling.
We haven't seen it, but we think she can pull up to standing.
She can stand with help.

It's been a little hard for her to showcase her skills on the tile floor and the cement courtyard at the guest house.  Whenever we get to some place with carpet, I don't even know what she's going to do.

We'd appreciate your prayers for good health.  A has a yucky cold (with a cough and plugged nose), and she's been handling both of her ears, so I'm betting on an ear infection in the mix.  I hate that she'll have to fly with her ears already feeling funny, but thankfully she doesn't seem too worked up about it now.

We made it

It's Tuesday morning at 9am, and we're sitting in sunny, beautiful Addis Ababa (rainy season has ended, and it's so much more pleasant this trip than it was back in July).  Our flight was smooth and relatively painless.  A friend loaned me the first season of Downton Abbey on DVD.  I only got through disc one of three, but I'm already feeling more culturally-relevant.

We ate a quick breakfast and showered, and now we're resting for just a little while as we wait for a driver from the House of Hope to come pick us up at our Guest House and take us to the Transition House to see Baby A.

Deja Vu (but better this time)

I just like it so much when I know what I'm doing.  I am so much more relaxed this trip since I have some idea what to expect.  Psychoanalyze me, if you will.  There it is.

The first leg of our journey went really smoothly.  Flight to DC was smooth and efficient.  We arrived ahead of schedule.  Our checked bags arrived, too (I have about an equal amount of confidence in airline baggage processes about as I do in general technology...when I have to check baggage, I always prepare myself to never see it again, so it's like a little gift when that familiar bag flops down the shoot onto the baggage claim conveyor belt at my destination).

Because of the timing of our flights, Ethiopian Airlines put us up for the night in Washington, DC, just like last time.  So, we were at the same hotel.  We walked to the same restaurant area.  We ate at a different place (which was really great).  And when we came back to the airport this morning, we knew the ins and outs of the Dulles airport a bit.  We knew where to find the check-in counter for Ethiopian Air.  We knew where to find coffee once we got to our boarding gate.  Oh that the rest of our trip would go this smoothly.

We'll get on the plane in a couple hours, and then God-willing, we'll land in Ethiopia 14 hours later at what will be 6am on Tuesday morning over there.

PS- I spent most of our flight yesterday working on our Christmas newsletter, and I would humbly say that it's shaping up to be a good issue.

In Two Days

In a couple days, I will don my least-sparkly jeans, and we'll board a plane to begin our journey back to Ethiopia.  We're a bundle of excitement, nerves, anticipation, and relief.  Here are some FAQs about our trip:

Q- How long will you be gone?
A- We'll be in Ethiopia for 4 days, 7 total days of travel, returning Saturday evening.

Q- How long is the flight?
A- About 14 hours.

Q- What's the time difference?
A- Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us here in the midwest.

Q- Will Baby A stay with you in Ethiopia?
A- Yes.  We'll pick her up on the first day and take her back to the guest house where we're staying.  She'll stay there with us throughout the trip.

Q- What's your schedule while you're there?
A- We have our interview with the US Embassy on Thursday.  The rest of the days are really non-scheduled and up to us.  Perhaps some sight-seeing, souvenir shopping, etc.


We'd appreciate your prayers for our trip...
for smooth flights and travel mercies
for good health and energy (us, Baby A, our kids here, Papa & Nana who are caring for our kids this week)
for our Embassy interview to go smoothly
for Baby A to feel just as safe and secure and loved as possible as we begin our lives together
that God would finish what He started, over three years ago, by delivering all of us home together under one roof

Things that happened Wednesday...

Wednesday was a big day around here:

Our middle celebrated his 6th birthday.

We also got word that our case was cleared by the US Embassy.  We're booking tickets to go back to Ethiopia next week to bring home our girl!  We are delighted, overwhelmed, surprised, anxious, grateful, relieved.

By the way, did this post seem a little familiar to you?  Birthdays have served as good bookmarks for us in the past couple months.

Looking Ahead

This Tuesday, October 1st, as a routine part of the review process, the Embassy will  interview Baby A's birthmother.  We were pleased that our adoption agency staff was able to quickly locate and contact her upon the Embassy's request for an interview.  We are now praying that all the parties are able to meet as scheduled on Tuesday at 10am.  Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of us, so it'll be Tuesday 2am (our time).

We're hopeful that once the Embassy speaks with Baby A's birthmom, most of their questions will be answered, and they will have need to request little else in the way of additional documentation or interviews.  In theory, they could complete their investigation quite shortly and give us clearance to travel.

Good News

On Friday, we heard from the US Embassy in Ethiopia.  They have begun their review of our case.  We're hoping this process will be complete in about four weeks, and we'll have clearance to travel for our Embassy interview and to bring home our girl.  This four-week time frame would assume that the Embassy would be able to get in touch with everyone they wish to contact without difficulty (orphanage directors, local/state officials, Baby A's birthmother).  Our prayer right now is that lines of communication would work well, cell phones would have coverage, people would make connections in a timely and efficient manner.

We're glad that our case is progressing.  The past month felt like an eternity.  We'd be elated if we got to book plane tickets for the end of October.


PS--I'm not particularly proud of this milestone, but I'll have you know that I just typed this post straight onto blogspot...not a word document.  And, I uploaded it myself, in only two tries ("my people" are downstairs engaged in an NFL game).  Blog-schlmog...I'm still not enjoying this          

No News

This is just a quick post to say that we haven't heard anything new from Ethiopia.  We know that our case is at the Embassy in Addis.  We know that they will review all the details and interview Baby A's birth mother (and perhaps the orphanage directors, local or state officials who have previously given approval on our case, etc).  We know that our adoption agency, as well as other agencies that operate in Ethiopia, worked to push a lot of families through court before the rainy-season closure.  We know all those families are now at the same point in the process as us.  Surely, the Embassy is swamped.

We are still hopeful to travel mid-October to bring home our girl.  We'll let you know when we have news.

Things that happened Thursday…

Thursday was a big day around here: 

Our eldest celebrated his 8^th Birthday.

 

We also got word that our case was submitted to the US Embassy in Addis.  Baby A’s birth certificate, passport, adoption court decree, and various approval letters will be reviewed, processed, investigated, etc.  We are told that the process generally takes several weeks, but we’re so grateful that things have moved so smoothly since we’ve returned home from our first trip.

It’s been two weeks…

…since I held my baby.

 Last week went pretty fast.  It was spent getting things back to normal around here with routine and house and schedule.  Ryan and I brought home yucky colds from Ethiopia and were pretty miserable for a few days, but we enjoyed sorting through photos and video from our trip and putting updated pictures of Baby A in frames throughout the house.  I got out the 6-12 month clothes and filled her closet.  I purchased some diapers and baby bottles.  Last week was good.
  

 

 

This week didn’t pass quite as quickly.  We’re back in the grind of life.  Ryan was busy at work.  Our three year-old is battling through the cold we had last week…ugh.  We’ve anxiously had an eye on the news about the US Embassy threats and closures in the Middle East/North Africa (unlike some neighboring countries, the US Embassy in Ethiopia has remained operational).
 I sure wish we knew how much time we have in front of us before we can go back for her.  The official paperwork says the time between the two trips is somewhere between 6 weeks and several months while the Embassy completes their investigation and prepares her documentation.  We’ve been told to expect a couple months.  I feel confident that I can wait this out, but it would be so much easier on my mental health if I knew where I was in the wait.  I’ve undertaken some strenuous tests of endurance before (marathons, homeschool years, 14-hour plane rides, labor), but previously I’ve been able to count down the miles, days, hours, centimeters.  This deal is like walking blind.  It’s hard.  I don’t know if I’m miles away from my destination or if I’m going to trip over it with my next step.  In any case, I guess we know that today we are one day closer to having our family together.       

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

We received our official adoption decree from court today (which will allow us to add our girl to our health insurance plan).  As I think about the zillion families (they seemed to be from Europe and Canada, in addition to America) who appeared in court on Friday July 26^th in Addis, I know that court reporter had A LOT of paperwork to do for the number of cases that were heard that day.  I am pleasantly surprised in the turnaround time with which we received this document.  It was 7 business days, which even included translation into a language we can read and understand.

Our adoption agency staff in Ethiopia (the ones who sent this decree to us via our adoption consultant in St. Louis) will now deliver it, along with some other paperwork we left with them when we were there, to the US Embassy in Addis, who will investigate the case as they deem necessary, and then prepare a passport and birth certificate for our daughter.  Oh that this next part of the process might go as quickly and smoothly as our receipt of the court decree.  

Without Further Ado

Now that we’ve been to court, and she’s officially ours, we can share our girl.  Could she be any more darling? 

 

 

Counting down the days (probably 40 or 50 of them, at best) until we get to see this sweet smile again and bring her home for good.  Step on it, Embassy!! 

Fancy Pants

We’re sitting in the airport in Toronto killing a 7-hour layover, though we’re not complaining…our Ethiopian Airlines flight took off over an hour late, we had to circle the Toronto airport for a while before landing, and it took us 2 hours to go through US Customs and Immigration once we got here (I don’t know why we went through US Customs here already, since we’re not in the US yet, but I guess it’ll save us having to do it once we get home).  Anyhow, we would have never made a connecting flight with a reasonable layover interval.  As it is, we have been able to enjoy a little “western” breakfast, electricity, free Wi-Fi, and cable television (apparently the royal baby was born this week, and it was kind of a big deal).  We’ll have a bite of lunch before boarding our short flight home. 

In the file of things-to-do-better-on-our-second-trip: My sparkly jeans were a bit of a headache as we went through US security.  I failed the initial metal detector and failed the secondary “body scan” (I saw the image on that one…my mid-section was lit up like a Christmas tree due to the placement of the silvery sequins and metallic detailing on my jeans, Yikes!!)  After an additional pat-down, I apparently convinced the authorities that I was simply a fashionista rather than a strapped terrorist.

Hard to believe that I was wearing these same sparkly jeans when I last held Baby A before we left her…20-some hours ago.  Looking forward to being home to Kansas in a few hours.  Looking forward to being back to Africa in a few weeks.

Oh yes, and I’m glad to report that our Dreamliner 787 flight was free of flames and unremarkable.   

Court Update

It's official!!  Baby A is ours in the eyes of the Ethiopian courts.  Things went smoothly... the judge asked a handful of questions, we answered them, it lasted 5 minutes (though we waited 90 minutes for our turn... evidently about 50 other couples also had a 1:30 appt with the judge J).

We've accomplished what we came to do (and more) on this first trip and our looking forward to coming back in 4-8 weeks and bring our girl home (next step in the process is waiting on the US Embassy to process paperwork so they can issue her a passport so she can travel with us). 

We are back at the Guest House packing.  We leave for the airport in about an hour.  We'll arrive back in KC Saturday afternoon.

Thursday

Another full day at the transition house with Baby A and her birthmom.  Some really sweet time. 

Baby A is just a honey.  We’ve really not seen her cry yet (it’s only a matter of time) and have only really seen her fuss a bit when she’s tired (and once when it was apparently bottle time and we had no idea…that item didn’t make it onto the rundown of her daily schedule that they gave me).  Thankfully, a nanny hunted us down where we were hanging out in a different part of the house and wordlessly handed us a bottle…Baby A almost jumped out of our arms to grab it.

Our girl is really happy and loves kisses and tickles.  She sticks her tongue out a lot, and she’s putting everything in her mouth…maybe she’ll have some teeth soon.  She likes to touch our faces and yank our hair (well, my hair more than Ryan’s).  And, speaking of hair, I got to help the nanny fix Baby A’s hair up on Tuesday.  “Help” may be generous…basically, I held Baby A on my lap and handed rubberbands to the nanny when she motioned for them.  But, I was watching intently.  I’ll still need some intensive hair tutoring when I get home from my friends Hope and Lily!!  J

This afternoon, we said goodbye to our new dear friend, Baby A’s birthmother.  She has established a special place in the heart of our family.  We sure hope to see her again in a couple months when we travel back to Ethiopia for our Embassy interview and to bring Baby A home.

Tomorrow afternoon (Friday) we’ll go to our court hearing and declare our intent to adopt our girl.  And tomorrow evening we’ll fly on an airplane…away from one and back to three at home.  My how our hearts are divided.

Accommodations

Below are some pictures of the MT Guest House, where we have stayed this week.  The accommodations are comfortable and they’ve gone out of their way to meet our needs.  We appreciate the breakfast…excellent coffee, fresh squeezed juices, and homemade breads.  We also enjoy the Wi-Fi (when it works).  Many of the staff members are conversant in English, some are quite fluent.  However, the plumbing, the 13” TV with four channels, and the diesel generator located outside our window (the one that saved us from 90 minutes of darkness last night when the electricity went out) remind us that we’re far from home.

The front of the MT Guest House

The Lobby and Reception Area

Kitchen area in our room

Additional photos from the room

The bathroom - the hot water heater is the tank you see.  Unfortuntaely, we didn't figure out how to operate that until AFTER our first shower :-) 

The balcony/dining area is located on the top floor.  This is a sign embeded in the stonework on the balcony.  They get an "A" for effort...

The view from the balcony

Diesel generator