Ethiopia - Day 2

We both woke up really early, but refreshed after the first night. After the sun finally came up we went to eat breakfast. The hotel breakfast is okay, but nothing to get excited about. Amazing coffee, of course! The one thing I can't get used to is the juice. I think it's Papaya or mango...but it's super thick, almost jelly-like. I can't do it.

Anyway, after breakfast we headed over to the care center. It was Saturday so all the kids were there (the older kids...4 and up I think...go to school during the week. I knew it would be crazy, but I think I underestimated just HOW crazy. We thought we'd be able to play soccer or games with the kids, but every time we took a ball out of our backpack one kid would grab it and refuse to let go. Even bubbles...no one wanted to chase the bubbles, they all just wanted to be the one to get the bubble jar. So, we utterly failed with the older kids! In our defense though, we are the only family here from our agency right now and we had a baby in our arms too. They're all amazing kids though and when we got to spend time with some of them in smaller groups you could just see their personality come shining through... I think it would have been a lot easier if there was at least one other family to help appease the masses. Next Saturday we'll get to test out that theory. ;)

Did I mention the nanny knew we were coming and did M's hair all fancy? It was so cute, parted to the side and all flattened down. Anyway, after we had to say goodbye we had our favorite hotel driver, Benyam, take us to lunch at Top View. As the name implies it has a great view over the city, and some fabulous pasta dishes! (A remnant of Italy's attempt to take over Ethiopia is LOTS of great Italian restaurants.) Then it was back to the hotel to rest.

For dinner we went to another Italian place called Rico's. The pizza was okay, but we were both wishing we had ordered one of the entrees instead. Ethiopia celebrates New Years in September (haven't quite figured that one out yet), but a couple of the American hotels were having New Year's parties and fireworks. Our agency reel invited us to go to one, but honestly, the thought of trying to keep our eye lids open past 9:00 seemed an impossible task. So, we decided we'd just ring the New Year in mountain time...at 10AM the next day. ;). Had we known neither of us would sleep longer than 4 hours that night anyway we may have just gone to the party!

Ethiopia - Day 1

We're here! After a 28 hour journey, we made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Our plane landed at 7 AM, which is 9 PM at home...and despite all the Tylenol PM and No Jet Lag, neither of us slept on the plane and both had quite a bit of jet lag!

We got checked into our hotel. We had gotten lots of advice from new friends who are also adopting from our agency about what to bring and what the hotel has and doesn't have...so we knew we should bring extra toilet paper, our own shampoo and hand soap. I am, however, shocked that they all failed to mention our night stand would be stocked with a lifetime supply of condoms! Definitely not in America anymore! ;)

Anyway, after we got settled our agency's Ethiopian staff picked us up to take us to the care center...we finally got to meet our daughter! The whole experience was just surreal...the drive through the city (ugh...more on driving here another time), the gates opening, going into the nursery, waiting for the nanny to change her diaper, and finally our beautiful girl was in our arms! The chubby cheeks, beautiful big brown eyes, little tuff of hair and cute fingers and toes we'd seen in so many pictures became a reality. We were there for 2 hours and she was so happy and content the entire time...and when one of her nannies talks to her she just lights up and jumps up and down, squealing. I love that she is so smitten with them!

Praying we get a good night's sleep tonight so we can start feeling somewhat normal again tomorrow!

A Bedtime Prayer

Tonight as we go to sleep, a young woman will be going before an Ethiopian judge and relinquishing all rights to the little girl she gave birth to 8 month ago.  I can only imagine this will be one of the hardest things she's ever had to do in her life.  It's been a really emotional day for me just thinking about what she must be going though during the long drive to the capital city.  (Watching We Bought a Zoo didn't help out my emotional state either!)  So, before you go to bed tonight, please say a prayer that peace and comfort would surround her.

 

There is also a possibility she could change her mind and decide to take baby girl home with her.  Honestly, we are so smitten with her already, we would be completely and utterly heart broken...and it's really hard for me to even think about that ending.  But I know in my heart that adoption is a second choice, that God intended for kids to be raised by the parents that gave birth to them.  So, I will also be praying if there is any possible way that her birth mom can raise her and give her a love-filled home...that she would go home with her mom tonight. 

 

If she does relinquish her rights, we will be on our plane 48 hours from now!  My brain is pounding for all the prep work, but it'll be worth it when we get to hold that sweet little girl...

This is a test....it is only a test...

Apparently Blogger is banned by the government, so I'm testing out email posting and hopefully that'll work for me to be able to post while we're over there.  (We leave in SIX days!!)  Testing out posting pics too, so here's as much of her as we're allowed to show right now!

 

I Had Christmas Down in Africa...

You know that acapella song "12 days" by Straight No Chaser?  The one that goes through the 12 days of Christmas and then randomly throws in "I had Christmas down in Africa"?  That's my new theme song for this season.  Why?  Because I'm having Christmas down in Africa this year!

We got our court date today...it's January 2nd!  That means we leave in like THREE WEEKS to meet our daughter and we'll likely be there for Ethiopian Christmas on January 7th!  How amazing is that??!

Sorry to keep this so short, but I now have a million new things to get done on top of the million I already had to do before Christmas!!  :)

We've seen her, we're smitten...now what?

What happens next?  The question I hear (and love answering!) at least a couple times each day.  The answer is, again, we wait!

Our paperwork is all ready to go, it just needs to be translated into Amharic (the predominant language in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia).  Then we get submitted to court and wait to be assigned a court date.  (This may actually have already happened...the agency is getting confirmation.)  Right now the court dates going out are for the end of December, so we're hoping for January.  (Ethiopia celebrates Christmas on January 7th this year...how amazing would it be to be there for that??!)  If I had to guess though, I'd say it's more likely to be end of January/beginning of February.

So we'll travel over for Ethiopian court...get to spend lots of time getting to know our little lady in the orphanage and hopefully take a little extra time to see some of the amazing country she's from as well.  On this trip we also hope to meet her birth mother, which makes me a little teary just thinking about her heart through all of this.

Then we say goodbye and head back home without our little girl,which makes me a little teary thinking about my heart through all of this.  The US embassy will then investigate our case and once they give their clearance and issue her Visa we can head back over again to bring her back to her new home.  This can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 4+ months...but it's definitely going to be on the shorter end of the spectrum, right??!

There's still a lot that can go amiss between now and that super long plane ride home with our baby girl...so please pray for a smooth process with as few bumps in the road as possible.  Will let you know when we have news of a court date!

Chapter 3

First came the document gathering, or as many adoptive parents affectionately refer to it, "the paper chase".  Being a complete Type A, I actually kind of enjoyed that process and was able to fly through it in a couple months. 

Then came the waitlist.  The first year wasn't bad at all.  Our agency had estimated it would be 12-18 months...so that first year, while it was always in the forefront of my prayers, it was in the back of my mind.  However, the closer we got to the tops of the lists the harder the wait got...and to be completely honest the last couple months have been extremely emotional.  Thankfully I have the best husband ever...and he was kind enough not to ask me if I needed medication (though I'm quite certain it crossed his mind).  ;)

Let's see, where does that leave us?  Oh yes...Chapter 3...the REFERRAL!!!!

October 25, 2011, the day we first saw a picture of the little girl we hope to become our daughter.  The boys and I were having a playdate at a neighbor's house when Steve called from work.  Our coordinator was on the other line and he wanted to conference her in...what?!?  I was already shaking as she went on (forever!) about some paperwork that is about to expire and then finally said the words I'd been waiting over 16 months to hear, "there's a 5 month old baby girl that needs a home".  She went over the information they have on her for the next 10 minutes or so...or at least that's what I imagine she was talking about, I don't think I heard a word of it!  (Thankfully she emailed it all to us as well.)

Did I mention that Steve was at work?  And that it was about 11:30?  And that we had agreed to look at the pictures together?  Longest day of my life!

She was worth the wait though!  Big eyes, huge chubby cheeks, soft brown curls...beautiful.  I'm not allowed to share her picture or any identifying information on the Internet until we pass Ethiopian court, so you'll have to settle for this pic of her cute little hand until I see you in person.  ;)

I'll do another post soon on what the next steps are...but just wanted to say thanks again for all the love and support!  Steve and I are truly blessed to have you as friends and family in this crazy journey.