Monday, August 5, 2013
It's the day after AJ's 8th bday. I'm in the bathroom cleaning up glass from something I broke when my phone rings. I almost didn't answer it because of all the glass, but I answered anyway. It was Lesley from Lifeline. "Hey, feel like going to Ethiopia this week??", she said. I about died. She told us that we had a court date on Monday, August 12, but we had to be in Ethiopia on Saturday, August 10. Which means we had to leave Houston soon! We quickly booked tickets to leave on Thursday. We had less than four days to get ready. This was a HUGE answer to prayer. We knew that the Ethiopian courts were closing very soon for the rainy season and didn't expect to be able to get a court date before closure. Of course, we prayed for it, but knew that His timing was perfect and we didn't know what He had planned. So happy our timetables matched!!!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The girls were being taken care of by Mom and Dad and we drove ourselves to the airport.
Our flight left Houston around 4:00pm. Uneventful flight and we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany during the night after about 9 hours. Thankfully, we were able to get in the lounge so I could take off my contacts and brush my teeth. Left there for our flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I think I slept a total of one hour the entire trip over there. I was so excited and had so much nervous energy. And Bret was still! For once, he was the statue and I was wiggly. Another 9 hours later, on Friday night, we arrived in Addis around 8:30pm local time and got our visa, went through customs, and onto baggage. Once there we found our bags and a man came by with our name on a sign. He helped us outside and got us to Jimmy. I was a little nervous because we were supposed to meet Woudneh at the airport. Jimmy got him on the phone and he spoke with Bret and said there had been an emergency and to follow Jimmy to the guest house. The man asked Bret for a tip, suggesting 20 US dollars, he ended up tipping about $7. The whole place was crazy with people everywhere, but it was cool temps outside. Jimmy drove us to the guest house and we got checked in. The room felt clean but was definitely sparse and not like any American hotel room I have ever stayed in. Bret plugged in our adapter/converter and then a power strip into that. And promptly threw a breaker. So our first night, we had no lights in the bathroom and showered in the dark. The shower consisted of a bathtub with a shower wand mounted at about your knees. Bret had to lean over to wash his hair. We asked about the wifi password so we could let everyone know we made it, but the password wouldn’t work. So called Mom and the girls so they would know we were okay. We were very cold at night; I slept in all my pj’s and was still cold. Woke up around 2:30am for no apparent reason, laid in bed for a while before finally getting back to sleep.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
We woke up and went down to breakfast and met the other families staying there for court. (Gregory’s and Middlecamp’s. Kristan and Jesse Keller, Chelsea and Whitney Sewell, Julann and Jason Yoder.) We were able to meet Woudneh and he explained to all of us what the emergency the night before was about. One of the couples flying out had had trouble in security. US bullets were found in the outside pocket of their luggage. Big issue that even worried Woudneh, but he was able to declare himself responsible for them and they were able to fly. (The bullets were not placed there by the family!) We were the only family there that had not yet met their child and the other families helped give answers to some questions we had. All were there for babies, in fact, I think Justus might have been the oldest (at 4.5 months). We filled out paperwork with Woudneh and the Sewells and then headed out the door to meet Fedasa.
Traffic was pretty bad and probably took us an hour to get there. Once we arrived, we had to go to a specific room and wait for them to bring him in. Jason Yoder recorded it for us. I don’t even know what I felt upon seeing him. It felt surreal and yet perfectly normal at the same time. I had been thinking of him and praying for him for so long, that it just felt so right. He was so cute and was bundled up heavily. We sat and snuggled and changed diapers and took pictures. He mostly just slept and ate. We were able to get a few little grins out of him, mostly side smirks. The other families had told us that they keep you very busy and don’t let you spend a lot of time with your baby. Mostly b/c they don’t want the baby to bond too much at this point. We ended up getting to spend over six hours with him that day and all of us were so happy to do that, even though we were all hungry. I pulled out our protein bars and we snacked. We were able to put one of the outfits I brought on him and wrap him up in the blanket we brought. I watched him easily track a toy with his eyes. He really wanted to do nothing but stare at Bret and grin. I think he is already smitten with his daddy and it makes me so happy. He didn’t seem to have any health issues other than a croupy cough and a bad case of “cradle cap”.
The transition house is a small complex with a dirt courtyard with trees surrounded by the rooms where the children are taken care of and sleep. The room we stayed with the kids was the lobby of the old guest house. It’s a 4 story building that is now used mostly for storage. You can go up to the top floor and look out over the city. All of the places we went had gates and walls with barbed wire on top. The drivers would pull up and honk and wait for the gates to open, then drive in and let us out. The nannies at the transition house seem to do a good job with what they have to work with. They all seem to care for the children and love on them and play with them. Mulu showed us around the complex and his room. He was sleeping in a bassinet of sorts. His name and measurements were printed on a piece of paper and taped above his bed. I took a picture of it b/c we still had not had any info on his weight and height.
We left there mid-afternoon and ate at an Italian restaurant. I had pizza with ham and mushrooms. It was pretty good, but wasn’t a fan of the mushrooms and the cheese tasted different. Bret ate zilzil tibs with injera and said they were good. It cost us 350 burr and all debated trying to figure out the check, then realized we were worrying about $2.50US. We went back to the house and visited with the other families and used the very spotty internet to let everyone know we were safe and sound. Turns out you can only use the internet in the main room downstairs. We talked about going to church the next morning possibly. Went to bed a little more prepared for the cold night; Bret added another blanket to the bed and we slept better. Woke up at 2:30 am. Listened to the nightly Muslim prayers for a while. Bret started reading around 3:30 because he couldn’t go to sleep.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Got up and had the normal breakfast of instant coffee and pancakes. Another family had come in the night before so we met them (Jamie and Josh Soucy). This is their second adoption; their first was a daughter from Rwanda. Jamie is the same age as me and very sweet and personable. Decided along with the other families that we would rather have more time with our children than go to church so we headed to the transition house. We were able to stay about two hours and Fedasa (we called him Fedasa the whole time we were there, not Justus) ate a bottle and then threw it up all over my legs. When I went to find him a change of clothes, they told me he had been vomiting. I gave them the dirty blanket I brought that he had thrown up on. About 15 minutes later I saw it hanging on the clothes line and a nanny pointed to it to show me it was clean. It couldn’t have been actually washed, but only rinsed. He threw up again once more before we left and I was so worried about him. He seemed to not be in pain though and had no fever. His smiles came a lot easier today. He just stares at us and is so beautiful! The Soucys met their daughter for the first time and she is very congested and having a hard time opening her eyes and breathing.
We left there and went to lunch at another Italian food restaurant. It was very good and we enjoyed visiting with the Sewells and Soucys. Jimmy took us up to Endito Mountain. There was some confusion with our bags as they wouldn’t let us take them into the museum there. Jimmy said he would stay with the van to watch our stuff, but then walked off leaving the van unlocked. Finally got an assurance that our bags were okay and we went to the museum and an old man gave us a tour. Then we went around and toured the first church in Addis. It was so cool looking and our guide was nice and spoke English very well.
We then went to Tamoca Coffee Shop; drank coffee and bought coffee beans and grounds. Also bought a coffee pot for Konnette to replace hers, and one for me and Mom. We went shopping next. It was a lot of fun finding things for people back home, but especially for Justus for the future. Found some toys and jerseys for him. I asked Jamie what was the best way to shop when in another country (she travels a lot). She says she has found it easier to buy it when you see what you like. So that’s what we did and it was much faster and more fun. We left there to go to another coffee shop, but didn’t get out. We were the only ones who drank coffee from our group and we didn’t want any. So Jimmy took us back to the guest house to rest a bit. We did some updates via Facebook and texts, then headed out for a traditional dinner with Woudneh. It was a restaurant owned by his sister in law. It had little round tables surrounded by chairs. When they bring your food, they place a large round tray on the table. The tray is covered in injera and then they spoon different foods on top of the injera. You get more injera to pick your food up with. It was all tasty, just different. There was a small stage there and musicians and dancers. After we finished eating, the dancers came over and tried to get us to dance with them. We did a little bit but it’s hard to dance like them. The way they move their shoulders is crazy! After a while, almost everyone had danced, and they pulled Bret up on stage to dance. He had to follow the example of the dancers and did pretty good. It was hard though because of the high elevation. Woudneh paid for our dinner and then we went back to the guest house to sleep.
Monday, August 12, 2013
We headed to the transition house and it took forever because of traffic. We got there later than normal, but just in time. The nurse was there and they were about to take Jamie’s baby and another to the hospital to be checked out. I was able to ask her about Fedasa; she said he was fine and had stopped throwing up and that she wasn’t worried about his cough. I thanked her for taking care of our babies. We prayed over the Soucy baby and then they took her away. We skipped lunch so that we could spend more time with the kids. Fedesa threw up again. He liked to do that when I was the one holding him. Still no fever, but the cough was still there and he didn’t seem distressed. The nanny seemed surprised that he threw up. We stayed there until it was time to leave for court.
We met Woudneh at the courthouse and went into a room with lots of other people and filled up the back row. We sat for maybe five minutes and then they called us back. The other people looked at us and I wondered how long they had been sitting there. The lady judge asked each man of the family (Mr. Bret) several questions. Have you seen your child? Are you prepared for the responsibility? Have you studied our culture? Do you know this is binding and cannot be revoked? Do you have other people of other races in your life? We answered yes to these and others and then she signed some forms and we left the room. The whole thing took 10 minutes and was such a relief! We ate a late lunch at the Sheraton with Woudneh. He spent most of the time telling us an amazing story of how he got to this place. It is very long and I’m not sure I will be able to relate it all, but I will say that God’s hand has been at work for decades regarding these adoptions. I just sat and cried while listening to him. God is so mighty and amazing! I thanked him for being obedient to the call God placed in his heart and how blessed so many families were because of him.
We took him back to his car at the court, then Jimmy took us shopping again to get the last few things. We went back to the guest house and the Soucy’s went to the clinic to see their daughter and then to the airport to pick up her parents and sister. We packed up all our stuff and went to bed.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Had breakfast and checked out of the guest house. Our flight wasn’t until almost midnight that night but we wouldn’t be coming back and had to take all our stuff with us. We went to the transition house for a few minutes to drop off our luggage. We quickly went in to see Fedasa and check on him. He looks so small and I worry about how wet and cold it is there. There is no heat and they keep the doors open to the courtyard for good airflow. But it makes the babies sicker I think. They said he was not coughing or throwing up, but I’m not sure they understood my question or just didn’t want me to worry.
We left and drove several hours to Adama to the orphanage that Fedasa was taken to when he was found. We took our donations there and were able to give them lots of clothes and shoes. I took bracelets that I had made for our fundraiser and gave them to the staff and to the elderly women staying there. The home was a house for babies, widows, and the elderly. We met the lady that took care of him when he came in. She said he only weighed 700 grams when brought in. That is only 1 pound, 8 ounces! I can’t even believe he survived.
We saw the place he slept and were able to take pictures. We then toured the orphanage across the street. It has older children and we played with them. They are all so precious and I want to take them all home with me. I played the hand slapping game with a girl that was probably 14 years old. She was so sweet and had a beautiful smile. She tried to teach me how to say thirty-eight in her language and kissed me on the cheek and neck when I left. My heart breaks for them! We toured the boys’ home and it was so neat and clean. All the boys just hung on every word Woudneh said and he did his best to touch each one with a high five or head rub. We left and went to a third orphanage where the Sewells baby was at before the transition house. All of the orphanages we so clean and filled with precious children and women who love them. Seeing all they do to take care of the children and how much they love on them, it makes me so happy and sad at the same time. It’s hard to even sit here and type through all my tears. I can’t really even think about it all; it’s so hard to comprehend and there is so little I can do.
I see the country and how poor it is but how happy the people are. How guilty I feel for all my complaining when I have so much. I take so much for granted; just being able to turn on a faucet and get clean water to simply brush my teeth. I feel so much about it all, I don’t even know what to type because I don’t even understand everything I feel. It’s too much.
We drove a bit more to go visit Woudneh’s mother. She lives in a little house with no glass in the windows and you have to walk through a little dirt courtyard filled with animals to reach her door. I think Woudneh takes most of the families there and you could tell it was important to him. She fed us boiled eggs and boiled potatoes and injera and bread with some other stuff. It tasted really good but I was definitely out of my comfort zone. They brought us cold water to wash our hands with; they pour water over your hands held over a bowl. The water was from their yard and I was worried about the cleanliness of our hands using that water, but was scared I would offend someone if I pulled out my hand sanitizer. By the time we left and drove over 2 hours back to the transition house, it was almost dark. There was no electricity working there so we used our phones as a flash light so we could see our babies.
While we were feeding them, Whitney told us he wondered what was going on in the back because he had seen a bunch of the nannies running to a room and yelling. We wondered but had no clue. I was left the room to go get Fedasa a bottle and about that time Jamie and her family and Woudneh pulled up. Jamie jumped out and ran toward me with a shocked look on her face. She asked if I had heard. Heard what?!
A baby had just died. They had just called Woudneh; he was yelling into the phone and pounding on the dashboard yelling no, no, no! Out of 370 children, this is the first to die. They didn’t know why. We were all in shock and scared, especially since we were about to have to leave our babies. Mulu came in to take Fedasa since it was time for us to leave for the airport. We asked if we could pray over him first and she said yes. But before we could even start our prayer, he started throwing up again. Woudneh walked in at that point and saw it. I told him that had been doing that the whole time we had been there, every day. He said something to Mulu and she took Justus and walked away. I was heartbroken since I didn’t even get to say goodbye to him. I asked Woudneh about it all and he said they were taking the baby boy to the hospital to see what had caused the death. He was very shook up. We went outside to get in the van and a nanny holding a baby ran out and climbed in with us. I thought it was the child that had died and was so upset about all of it. I cried for quite awhile in the van, until I heard the baby cough and I asked the nanny who it was that she had. It was Fedasa! So we were able to hold him all the way to the airport, where they would then take him to the clinic to check him out. I was so glad to get that last few minutes with him. We left Addis about midnight (able to fly business class which is so nice and much easier to sleep). It was around 2:00pm on Wednesday when we landed.
September 4, 2013
We got word that all of our documents had been submitted to the American Embassy in Addis Ababa. This was a big surprise b/c it had been less than a month since court. The downside was that the embassy was behind and it was taking longer than usual to do their part of the process. Every three years the embassy staff changes and a new staff had just started. Finally we heard on October 5 that they had finally reached our file and were starting their investigation. Even though an investigation has already been done, they check the details again to make sure. One of the things they do is to interview the person who found the child. In our case it was a businessman in the town of Gimbi. Gimbi is about an 8 hour drive by car from the capital. With Woudneh's help, they were able to quickly locate the man and he said he was available to come to Addis on October 21, 22, or 23. The embassy set an appointment for the 21st at 1:00pm. A week later, he contacted Woudneh saying that he couldn't make that date due to work issues, but he was available any time after the 25th. Since that date is a Friday, the embassy scheduled an appointment with him on October 28, 2013 at 1:00pm. As of right now, that day is only four days away and I'm praying that he makes that appointment!!
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This waiting is much harder than I thought it would be. How can a little baby that you have only seen and touched a few times, find such a place in your heart already?? He is not from my womb, but I feel the same about him. To leave him halfway around the world where it is cold and wet when he is sick and when there is nothing I can do. This is hard. Hard. Hard. I hate it. But even though I want to cry when I think about it, I know that He is in control. He loves him more than I do. He is a fighter and God has him here for a reason. I trust that God will bring him safely home to us, but if He chooses not to for some reason, I know that is what was best for him and for us.
Lord, please bring him home quickly!
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