Quick Rewind

We have a moment for a quick overview of the past two days

Sunday was spent entirely in travel.  Our Ethiopian Airlines flight was good.  Over 13 hours, but they took good care of us and tried to make it as painless as possible.  We were served a couple meals and numerous snacks.  We watched a movie.  We tried our best to sleep.  By the end of the flight, Sarah had two of the top ten scores in a rather competitive in-flight Sudoku competition among passengers, and Ryan had himself well-researched in anticipation of his upcoming Fantasy Football competition.

In Ethiopia, we landed out in the middle of a runway and took a bus back to the airport terminal.  I was struck by the number of stairs we had to go up and down (with luggage) to get out of the plane, in to the terminal, to the visa/customs area, etc.  I saw a couple escalators, but they weren’t working. 

Visa and customs went smoothly.  We exchanged some money at the airport.  And, then we waited for a very, very long time for our checked bag to come through the baggage claim carousel.  Thankfully, we were in good company.  I would have been more concerned if we were the only ones standing there, but as it was, they couldn’t have lost the luggage of every passenger on board…they were apparently just delayed in getting it from the plane into the building.  It eventually showed up.  We found the shuttle driver from our guest house (who spoke fluent English), and made it to our room.

We got settled in our room for just a bit.  It felt like 2am to us (and we still hadn’t slept), but we were anxious to get over to see our girl, so we ate some breakfast (included with our guest house) and called the Children’s Hope driver to come pick us up and take us to the transition house.

Once we arrived, we were taken to the Family Waiting room, and in just a few minutes, the family coordinator brought baby A in to us.  We could certainly recognize her from the photos (though her hair was now done up in about 11 tiny pony tails).  She was pretty quiet and wide­-eyed as she was placed in our arms, but she didn’t fuss or cry at all.  She was just taking it all in with those big, beautiful brown eyes.    

When we got out the toys we’d brought (mercifully, she was grateful for both), she quickly grabbed at the one stuffed animal with a teether and put it straight into her mouth.  She doesn’t appear to have any teeth yet, but maybe soon.  She began to interact more with us, and soon we were brought some rice and carrots to feed her (it was about 12:30pm by this time).  That girl saw the food and went after it hard.  It took one of us to feed her bites while the other one held her hands so she wouldn’t grab the spoon.  She lunged forward for every bite and after several bites began making a satisfied little “umm” sound after each spoonful (lest you become worried that it was the first time she’d eaten for days, she really looks well-fed and cared for…all the children do, and she’s not skin-and-bones by a long shot.  I think the girl just likes to eat).

As the afternoon went on, Baby A got more and more comfortable and started to babble and make some sweet sounds.  She smiled and giggled at us.  She played peek-a-boo and was interested in touching our faces and eyes and noses.  We were delighted with our first moments with our daughter.  She was so responsive and interactive and happy. 

Eventually, we walked around the rest of the house, saw her friends, saw where the kids eat and play, met her nannies, etc.  We put Baby A down for her nap and headed back to our guest house mid-afternoon  (we hadn’t really slept in about 28 hours, thanks to that fire alarm back at the hotel in DC, plus I was starting to have a funny tummy). 

I had a bit of a rough evening and overnight, but I’m feeling quite a bit better this morning.  Today, we’ll go back and hang out with our girl for a little while before going on an overnight trip to the town where she was born and spent her first 6 months of life.  We’re looking forward to seeing a bit more of this country. 

(Pics from House of Hope - Children's Hope Transitional Home)

On to Asella

Sarah woke up feeling much better (although we appreciate continued prayers for our health)  and we are about to go see Baby A before we leave for a quick trip to her birthplace.

Treasure

Today we met the treasure at the end of this long journey AND she’s worth every step, friends.  Every step.

It was one of the best days ever…

ignoring the stomach issues Sarah started having after we left Baby A today.  We plan to travel ~5 hours tomorrow to her birthplace and meet some of the birth family.  Please pray Sarah heals quickly… this will be an important day to get answers to questions Baby A will have someday.

P.S. All communication networks over here are pretty rough.  Phones at the airport were “down”. 50% of cell phone calls have network issues and are unable to connect.  We have Wi-Fi at our hotel, but it is also working about 50% of the time.  We probably won’t post anything on Tuesday due to travels, but plan to be back online Wed.  Maybe.

Wake Up Call

We don’t fly that often…it’s a rarity for us.  That, coupled with the fact that this is the only flight from Dulles to Ethiopia today and we paid about a bagillion dollars for our tickets, resulted in three separate alarms set to wake us this morning and a fitful night of sleep.  I was up at about 2:30am for over an hour.  I must have finally fallen back to sleep because Ryan woke me when he asked, “What’s that noise?  Do you think that’s the fire alarm?” 

Sure enough.  About 4:30am, the fire alarm began sounding here at the hotel.  It was loud.  It was bright.  It was early. 

Some people were filing out.  Some people were standing outside their rooms looking at the commotion (all the rooms on all six floors face the center of the hotel, where there are a bunch of trees and water falls).  The swans paddling in the center pool didn’t seem fazed by the event (but they should have been…I sure didn’t see any employee responsible for evacuating them in the event that it became necessary).  The fire department arrived sporting oxygen masks and pick-axes and then spent a lot of time looking at one another and at the apparently-malfunctioning alarm system.  They’ve finally got it silenced now (probably thanks to a pick-axe).

So, here we are at 5:23am, almost 2 hours before we need to leave for the airport.  Showered.  Ready.  Blogging. 

Ryan just started the tiny in-room coffee pot.  Thankfully, it was well-stocked with supplies…all decaf.  Nice.



DC Dinner Date

Well, it took a small army to get us on the plane today…you people have been so helpful.  Thank you for your encouraging calls, notes, visits, and gifts.  Thank you for bringing us food this week when I was so focused on planning for next week, that I couldn’t manage to get dinner on the table for the day at hand.  Thank you for loving and watching out for our kids while we’re away.  Thank you for tolerating our dog for the week.  Thank you for driving us to the airport.  Thank you for the caramel macadamia clusters in my carry-on bag that provided my primary source of sustenance until dinner time tonight.

This morning started with Ryan running out to grab donuts for the kids and seeing this beautiful rainbow in the sky. 

It was like God was smiling down with a nice reminder of His promises to us (you know, like the one to never leave us or forsake us, the one to never again flood the earth, and the one not to drop airplanes out of the sky and into the ocean, etc). 

Our flights were smooth and painless today.  Final destination for tonight is Washington, DC.  We enjoyed a fun dinner date at a unique restaurant- Stone’s Cove Kitbar.  “Kitbar” is a made-up word (they do that kind of thing in DC) combining kitchen and bar.  Apparently modeled after having a dinner party in someone’s home, where people kind of congregate in and around the kitchen drinking wine and watching someone cook, this restaurant has a bunch of bar seating around a large, open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant where chefs take your order and then prepare your food right there while they’re talking to you.  It was fun to see the cool variety of entrees being prepared.  We had an appetizer of lobster salad cones.  I had shrimp and grits and Ryan had a funky flatbread (which included bacon, so that was a guaranteed winner).  We were able to walk from our hotel to the restaurant and back.  It worked slick.

All reports from home seem good.  We’re grateful things seem to be going smoothly.

We’ll leave DC at 10am tomorrow morning for our 13-hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

Only at Walmart

I start this post by admitting that I shop at Walmart.  There it is.  I’m not proud of it.  I know I’m the only one (because I never see any of you there).  I know that shopping at Target would make me more hip, stylish, and intelligent, but I think a lot of things are a bit less expensive at Walmart, there’s a little bigger selection on some of the items I buy (I appreciate having 17 types of dog food from which to choose, you know), and I know where things are in the store, so I’m not switching now. 

 That being said, I would submit that there are a myriad of things that happen within the walls of Walmart that would never happen at any other time or under any other circumstances (adult women wearing tube tops, parents shopping with their 3 year-olds at 11pm, people screaming at the top of their lungs and threatening to call the police because their prescriptions have been filled incorrectly by the pharmacy, etc.)  Yesterday that list grew.  I cried while shopping at Walmart.

 It’s been such a whirlwind week.  We got our court date.  We tried desperately to book our airline tickets to Ethiopia with really short notice.  We ruminated nervously about the Boeing 787s that keep catching on fire.  We finalized plans for our kids while we’re away.  We thought about everything we’ll need to take with us to Ethiopia.

 At some point during the week, we realized that we hadn’t purchased any gifts to take for our baby when we meet her next week.  We’ve got a room full of special toys and dolls that have been given for her, but we wanted to get something else to take now (something that may well be lost in the shuffle of an orphanage full of kids…something she probably won’t bring with her when she comes home for good in a couple months).  So, as any good and thoughtful mother would do…I put it on my Walmart list.

Fast forward to yesterday…I was doing my weekly shopping.  Alone.  I can choose to fight the crowds and shop on the weekends, solo, or I can take my entourage and have the place to ourselves on a weekday morning.  I often do the latter, but this week we have some morning activities, so I decided to do the dreaded Weekend-Walmart-Run.

 I made my way through cosmetic and hygiene items, picked up a couple household items and office supplies, and was kind of excited to zip through the baby section to find some kind of cute lovey to take for our girl.  I was pleased to find a nice little selection of soft dolls with rattles/bells inside, even one racially-appropriate (thank you, Walmart).  There were stuffed animals attached to teethers and some attached to silky blankets, etc. 

 I was waffling back and forth about what to get, and it hit me that I don’t know my daughter.  I don’t know if she would prefer a baby doll rattle or a silky blanket.  I don’t even know if she has teeth to use a teether.  I don’t know if she can crawl.  I don’t know if her personality is zebra stripes or pink flowers or red paisley.  She’s almost 8 months-old, and I’ve never met her.    

 And then, I lost it a little.  I cried.  I’m not usually a cryer.  Sure, my eyes well-up sometimes (more these days than ever…not sure if it’s motherhood or adoption or getting old).  But before this, I probably can’t tell you the last time tears ran down my face and I required a tissue.  I’m not cold and heartless.  I get mad and upset and desperate sometimes.  I just don’t cry.  Except yesterday, in aisle G4 at Walmart.

 

 

Next Stop…Ethiopia

We've been in a bit of a whirlwind this week with lots of adoption action.  In the middle of the week, we heard that Baby A's birthmother had contacted the orphanage director (the newspaper ad must have been effective), and they went with her to court on Wednesday, where she gave her consent for the adoption.  Additionally, the staff in Ethiopia contacted the Ministry of Women's Affairs and found out that they had completed and sent their approval letter to the judge.  We were delighted with all this news and thought we'd be in a good position come next Monday (July 15), when the next hearing was scheduled.

 

Then the next day (Thursday), we got a call saying that the judge had issued us a court date!  So, we’ve got our marching orders…on Friday July 26^th, we get to stand before the judge, and declare our intent to adopt our daughter.

 

During this first trip, we'll spend time with our girl; appear in court; travel four hours south of the capital to the smaller town where she was born; and potentially visit with her birthmother.  The adoption will be considered final once we've appeared in court (FYI- as far as we know, the courts will close for the rainy season sometime around the beginning of August, so we're very grateful to get our hearing in before that time).  Then we'll return home (sans baby, ugh!!).  The US Embassy in Ethiopia (which does not close for rainy season) will complete some details for immigration/passport/birth certificate, and call us back over for an appointment with them roughly 4-6 weeks later.   We'll go back for our second trip to appear for that interview and bring our baby home (perhaps the beginning of September).

 

So once again, we could use your prayers:

• for safe travel
• for the logistics of lodging/transportation/documentation/court appearance to run smoothly
• for energy, patience, and health for Ryan’s parents who will be caring for our kids while we’re away
• for safety, health, peace and security for the kids…this is, by far, the longest that we’ve ever been away
• for our first moments and hours and days with Anna to be washed over with an extra measure of grace
• for our peace and sanity on a really hard day in a couple weeks when we'll have to board a plane and leave our daughter behind while we fly back to a home and a family that will seem a little empty for the next few weeks