Ethiopia – Day 4 – Court Date!!

My day began at about 3:00 am…could.not.sleep!! I laid in bed trying to will myself back to sleep, but to no avail. I finally just gave up and got up at 5:30. A bottle of Coke Light and 5 Advil later, my headache finally went away! Craig nearly knocked himself out after slipping when getting in the shower. The tub is like an ice rink and the little rubber mat was not firmly attached. We left our hotel at 8:30 am for our Court appointment and were all still in one piece. Thankfully Tesfa, our agency representative, went with us. She is an absolute sweetheart! She is so tiny Craig was convinced she could have fit in his back pocket! The court is nothing like I expected. The building looks like all the other buildings with nothing setting it apart to look “official”. Because of the bottle of Coke I mentioned earlier, I was dying for a restroom…let’s just say the restroom there should only be used in serious desperation and with a watchdog at the door (which is actually just the end of the hallway). Jordan served as my watchdog, and I was grateful for the roll of TP in my bag! We sat in a large room with both adoptive families and birth families. It was quite humbling to think we were there for such joy for our family, while the birth families hearts were aching. The sign on the wall requesting “Silence” didn’t seem to matter to the families from Europe. It made us very uncomfortable with their lack of respect. After waiting about one hour, we were called in to the judge’s office with another family from our agency. The entire proceeding took less than 5 minutes. The judge is a beautiful, soft-spoken woman. She asked us a few basic questions and we answered together with the other family. She asked us if we realized this is permanent and final and cannot be reversed; had we been trained in adopting internationally with regard to bonding and attachment; have we met other families who have also adopted from Ethiopia so our children will know other Ethiopian children; and have we discussed this with our ‘own’ children and are they accepting of the adoption. She also emphasized the importance of helping our children maintain knowledge of their culture and heritage. All of the questions required only answering “yes”. At the end, she simply stated, “All of paperwork is here, so it is final.” AND…that was it! We were done! They were officially ours, or we were officially theirs!!
We spent a few hours at the Care Center playing with Neni (Nen is the correct way to pronounce it!) and Achole (Uh-cho-lay)! We were there through lunchtime so we were able to watch all of the little ones gobble down their injera and lentils. They were a mess when they finished, so each one headed to the water spigot to rinse off their faces and hands! We were able to share our family photo books with them. I really think Neni is starting to grasp the idea that we are his family! He was so excited to hang his picture poster above his bed! We also hung Achole’s poster above her crib. Sister (the head nanny) has decided she would fall out of a regular bed….
We celebrated our court clearance with an amazing evening with our new friend, Fekadu. He took us to dinner at ‘Yod Abyssinia’ for a delicious Ethiopian meal and show. The show included singing and dancing from many of the different regions throughout Ethiopia. Craig and Braxton tried some honey wine, Jordan and I declined! We made it back to our hotel just in time to say goodbye to the other family we attended court with. I so wish we lived closer to them!!

Ethiopia - Day 3

We headed to the Care Center first thing today. We turned in all of the necessary paperwork for submission to Embassy…now we just need to pass court tomorrow morning. We also took all of our donations for the Care Center. Now we’ll have a few less suitcases on the way home!! Today was a very calm morning. All of the older kids were at school, so we were really able to spend focused time with our kiddos. We were able to stay until it was time for them to eat lunch. Thankfully Little A didn’t seem as tired today. N spent a lot of time looking at the pictures on Craig’s Ipad. Jordan loved showing him how to take ‘silly face’ pictures. He figured out how to work that thing very quickly! We played more soccer & basketball today. Braxton loved getting to spend more time loving on Little A.
After lunch, we spent the day enjoying the city of Addis Ababa. We visited Mt. Entoto (and almost died from lack of oxygen!). We were able to purchase scarves from the “Former Women Fuel Wood Carriers”. The Fuel Wood Carriers are unbelievably strong women – the loads they carry on their backs are astounding. The women who make the scarves are part of a project to give these women an opportunity to earn a living without the excruciating labor of hauling the huge loads down the mountain. We bought a lot of coffee at Tomoca, and would have purchased more, but they ran out! I guess we’ll have to go back later this week for more. Craig and Braxton were thrilled! Then we went shopping. This proved to be rather stressful with all of the beggars and street children trying to sell things. Our guide reminded us many times not to give money to the beggars and to buy only from the proper vendors. It was heartbreaking to hear the women carrying babies saying, “please sister, baby hungry”. By the time we were done shopping, we were surrounded by street children and others begging us to buy things, and they continued tapping on the windows after we were in the van. We were all a little overwhelmed after that experience!

Ethiopia - Day 2

Today we had the amazing opportunity to attend church with Fekadu! We went to his church, an Amharic-speaking Lutheran Church. His church partners with Compassion International and serves nearly 400 children in their program. The passion and energy in this church was unbelievable. As an extra bonus, they were also having a wedding! I have never witnessed such a lively wedding in my life!!
We then made a brief trip to the Care Center to visit our kiddos. Unfortunately, I think we woke Little A up from her nap and she started off our visit crying. She calmed very quickly though and spent the rest of our time there resting her head on our shoulders and falling asleep. I think she was scared and exhausted from being in her new environment. N was happy to see us! Braxton, Jordan, and Craig spent lots of time kicking the soccer ball around with N. He knew exactly where his ball was from the day before!! The WORST part was when we were leaving. I took Little A back to her nanny so we could leave. By the time I was almost back to the van, she was following me down the sidewalk crying. Her nanny told me, “She wants you.” I picked her up and rocked her a bit until she fell back asleep. The nannies let me put her in her bed. I certainly don’t pretend that she has attached to me (or us) in any way, but I think I just happened to be someone there who was willing to sit and comfort her after the move to a new place. Jordan ended up getting quite emotional this day also, so the two of us were not a good pair. Thank goodness we had Craig and Braxton to take care of us!

Ethiopia - Day 1

It’s hard to believe, but we finally made it…court date trip!! After 13 hours, we landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We had no trouble getting through customs – not one bag was checked, so we made it through with all of our donations for the Care Center. After dropping off our bags at our hotel, we headed to the Care Center to meet our kiddos. Since it was Saturday, none of the English speaking staff were there. It was such an awkward introduction! The staff obviously knew we were coming though because when we got out of the van, one staff member scooted our kids out one door into the courtyard area and another staff member scooted the other family’s little girl out. Julie and I just stood there whispering to each other … “is that them?” All 3 kiddos (hers and ours) looked a bit different than our pictures. N and A are both much smaller than they looked in their photos. Little A is as light as a feather. They had only arrived at the Care Center the day before we got there. They flew on an airplane from Gambella to Addis Ababa. The past few days have been a whirlwind of transitions for them – changing orphanages on one day and then having 4 white strangers show up to visit you the next day. Little A was exhausted and spent much of her time just laying her head on our shoulders and snuggling. We spent time blowing bubbles, kicking around the soccer ball and watching N write. He was so proud to write his ABC’s and numbers to 100. He also wrote 3 words (apple, ball, and spell). He was beaming while showing off his skills!
I definitely had not planned on anxiety taking a strong hold on my body – never had that lovely problem before, and my nerves were in overdrive. It took me 2 days to get myself calmed down enough to eat without feeling like I was going to be sick with every bite. I guess that’s a good diet plan…or not!

Referral!!!

So just when we had gotten comfortable with the idea of a longer wait for our referral, God stepped in. Amazing how that happens.

Today, we accepted a referral of the most beautiful siblings, a boy, N, who is 8 and his little sister A who is 2 1/2. We are thrilled beyond belief that God is providing the ability for us to be a part of their lives.

Now we start the next leg of this journey with some paper updates for our home study and USCIS (immigration) approval since N is a little older than our initial age range. Then we wait for submission to court, the assignment of a court date, and our first trip to meet the kids.

Friends we are blessed beyond words. Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragement and please do not stop. It's still a long road ahead for our kids and there are so many more that need our love, support, and prayers.

Craig

An update!!

We are super close to receiving our referral (according to our coordinator)!! So close that we are no longer moving up on the waitlist when someone else receives a referral...we are THAT CLOSE to the top of the list!! The agency is currently waiting on paperwork to be completely processed on several children. He did tell us there are children in our age range already at an orphanage, but the paperwork is not complete yet. The unknown is how long that process will take. It could be done tomorrow or it could take another month...or two!! It is almost unnerving to know that our children are waiting for us, but we don't know who they are!! I would really like to call our coordinator and beg, but that wouldn't be too mature. :)

We will definitely be waiting at least until October for our first trip for court. The court will close in the next few weeks for the rainy season. It should reopen toward the end of September. This adds another hitch to our process. Our homestudy must be current through our court date...and ours expires on Oct. 15th. This means we "get" to update our homestudy, get refingerprinted, trips back to the doctor for everyone, etc. Someone really needs to tell the state a homestudy should be valid for 18 months. Who completes an entire adoption process in 12 months!?!

I got 4 shots yesterday (OUCH!!) to prepare for our travel. I have a new appreciation for the poor little babies when they get their immunizations!! Craig still needs to get his also. I have a few more shots to go since both Hep A & B are a series and possibly polio...depending on my results of the blood test for antibodies. We all four need yellow fever and typhoid, and unfortunately, our insurance doesn't cover those 2. We also all have a prescription for malaria pills. I can't decide how I feel about those since they do have side effects...hallucinations to name one. Yikes! I guess it's better than contracting malaria though.

So...at this point, we are still waiting and waiting and waiting...but we are getting closer to a referral with each passing day!

Good News!!

We found out last week we moved up another spot on the waiting list!! We are officially #7, with 5 families 'on hold' in front of us...this makes us UNofficially #2. Wowza! The only active family on the list in front of us has requested both siblings be under the age of 36 months (in order to maintain the current birth order in their family). This makes us #1 on the list to accept an older child (up to the age of 6). So, with this news...we will most likely not move anymore on the list until we get our referral. So exciting!!

We are very hopeful we will receive our referral by the end of the summer. Unfortunately, we may get caught up in the rainy season in Ethiopia. The courts close during the rainy season (usually begins early to mid August through the end of September). If we don't receive our referral VERY soon, we most likely would not get a court date until October. I think reality is...we won't be traveling until Fall...which is a huge bummer. Maybe we'll get a wonderful surprise this week!!