Day 7-April 9th

This was our last day in Ethiopia. It was definitely bitter-sweet. Sweet...because we were looking forward to returning home and being reunited with F**** (we missed her so much). Bitter...because we were taking T and M from everything they knew. We have grown to love Ethiopia and it was hard to leave the environment, culture, geography, etc. that our 2 Ethiopian beauties have come from.

The day started with playing with rocket balloons in the courtyard of the Guest House with another family who adopted a little boy (through another agency). Then we went with Robel, David, and our pal, Maria, for some great coffee and a tour of a coffee factory organized by our agency. The coffee was delicious...the tour was okay. The most amazing part of the tour was seeing how many women sit there all day sorting through coffee beans. Wow! Each one was probably so happy just to have a job (although I highly doubt they get paid much)...I could not imagine many people in the states being thankful to have a job like that.

Then we had a great treat...Robel and David asked if we wanted to go out out lunch with them to a place where only Ethiopians go (not really a place for foreigners). We are a little brave so we said, "Yes!". It was a very authentic experience! David and Robel ate REAL chunks of raw, red beef...it was wild to watch. We ate our meat cooked...of course. It was a great "last meal" to end our wonderful adventure in Ethiopia.

After lunch, we headed back to the Guest House to pack and prepare to leave. We had another nice surprise when Mulle' arrived to hang-out with us for a a few hours until we left for the airport. It was great to see him interact with our kids and we have some great video of him singing songs with them. He
was such a pleasure to get to know during our stay in ET.

It was strange as we were getting ready come back home...we were so happy to go, yet so sad to leave!



 

Day 6-April 8th

Wow! This was a BIG day! Before we left to go to Ethiopia we were told we would meet our kid's birth mother on Monday. We were told we would make a round trip drive (6 hours each way) to where she lives and have some time with her. When we arrived in ET Sunday night, we realized this was not the plan. We were then told that we would not be able to meet their mother until later in the week, and because of that only one of us would be able to go because one of us would have to stay with the children (we were getting on Tuesday). We were told one of us would have to make an over night trip the very "rural" area where our kids are from, meet their mom, spend the night, and return the next day. We did not like this for a couple of reasons: 1) we would be apart over night, 2) we both would not get to meet T and M's birth mother. At a lunch we had with Duni (the program director from our agency) on Monday, we expressed our dislike of the "plan" given to us. She said she would try to work something else out for us. We are so glad we "pushed" a little to make something happen that met our desires. On Thursday morning, we got a knock on our door at the Guest House. We opened the door and was greeted by Mulle', a great new AWAA employee. He said, "Are you guys ready? You are going to meet the birth mother now." "NOW?!?!" was my response. They had worked it out to bring our kid's birth mother to Addis...and not only their birth mother, but their older sister, and their aunt from their father's side of the family! Wow! What a surprise!


We made the tough decision to leave our kids with a nanny at the guest house while we went to the Transition House to meet with the birth family. We thought it would be WAY to difficult for M and T to see their birth family again after they had been relinquished at their orphanage in January.

There are no words to express the experience of meeting T and M's birth mother...I wish there were. She was stoic for the most part, although she softly cried when she looked through the stack of pictures we brought her of her children and our family. Their sweet sister and aunt smiled a lot and also kissed every picture they saw. The meeting with their birth family was wonderful in that we have priceless information to share with our children when they begin asking questions about their birth family, where they are from, why they were relinquished, etc.. It was an emotionally draining experience, but soooo worth it for the incredible information we attained for our children. There were several moments and facts shared during our meeting that we could tell were "divine" and ordained by God....truly incredible!

After the meeting with their birth family, we went back the guest house to get our kids. We raced up the 6 flights of stairs to where T and M were being cared for. Due to the high altitude and our poor physical condition, we felt like we were about to die when we got to the top of the flight of stairs. We could not wait to get back to our kids!!!


After we were reunited, we left to do some sight-seeing. We went to the top of Entoto Mountain....the sight of the original palace and the first church. We were able to see incredible views of the city of Addis Ababa! Breath-taking!

After Entoto, we went to the Black-Maned Lion Zoo". Safety standards there are not what they are here in the states...we were seperated from the lions by some widely spaced metal bars and a chain link fence. Literally, if you stuck your hand through the fence, you could lose it! It was an very cool up-close-and-personal experience. All 3 kids loved it! Xavier said he liked this zoo better than ours in Los Angeles...the lions are "too far away at ours".

It was a very full day!

Day 5- April 7th

Wednesday morning was our appointment with the US Embassy....the very important step of getting our kid's visas. We were so blessed! Many times families have to wait hours to get to the little window where you do a short interview and are either granted (or denied) the visas. We were in and out by 10:00am...with SUCCESS!!! It is kind of wild to see all the families from different agencies waiting with their Ethiopian children (mostly babies) to get their visas. It is also strange how important this step is, yet is feels so casual when it happens...it's kind of like walking up to a bank teller. No cameras are allowed at the embassy, so unfortunately I have no pictures of this event.


After our successful embassy outing, we did a little more shopping and then enjoyed a lunch at a beautiful restaurant called "Lucy's" (next to the National Museum of Ethiopia where replicas of the famous bones of "Lucy" live) with some of the awesome AWAA employees (T, Robel, and David). This was our first experience watching the guys eat one of their favorite foods...RAW meat! Xavier ordered chicken nuggets...but it was not the McDonald's type he was used to...they were more like crispy, dry, popcorn chicken bits...I did not make him eat them.

We finished the day with getting T's hair braided...I had no idea what to do with her hair! Getting it braided would buy me time to get home so that I could meet with a friend from church to get a "hair lesson".

It was a nice day and we felt so WONDERFUL knowing that we were cleared to return home with ALL of our children!

Day 4-April 6th

Today was "Gotcha Day" the day we got to keep T*n***e and M*l******m forever!

Before we were able to get them from the Transition Home, we went shopping for a couple of hours. It was a great day for purchasing traditional Ethiopian scarves, wood carvings, clothing, etc. My favorite purchase were 2 messobs (tables for Ethiopian traditional bread-injera). The place to purchase the messobs was not in the main shopping area. Our driver, David, had to drive us to a special "store" to get them...it was quite the shopping experience. We were ushered down a "alley" and taken into a room with no light...we were given stools to sit on and the messob "store" owner brought us a variety of messobs to look at. When we wanted more options to look at, he disappeared for about 10 minutes then returned with more messobs. It was a fun shopping experience!

The best part of the day was getting T and M...of course! M ran to us when he saw us waiting for him at the transition house. T was full of her reserved smiles! It felt soooooo good to know that  we would not have to leave them again!

The hardest part of the day was when T saw some of her friends leave to return to the big kids transition home and she started to cry. She was sitting on a curb, while I was talking to some of the AWAA employees, and when I looked over at her I realized she was quietly sobbing! I ran to her side, put my arm around her, and we had a good cry together...it was REALLY difficult to watch her grieve. We knew this would be part of the process, but I under estimated how painful it would be for me to watch...my heart broke for her loss.

We were supposed to go visit the older kids transition home with T and M. However, we thought it might be too difficult for T. So we decided that I would stay with T and M at the transition home for the babies (where everyone meets/picks up their kids) while Kenny went to the big kids transition home to take picutres of where T and M stayed.

M's Bed

T's Bed

We left the transiton home together and went to the guest house where we were staying. We had a few gifts and toys ready for T and M  when they got there. T loved her Princess Tiana doll and M loved his cars! I wish I would have brought something special for X to open...I felt bad that I had nothing "new" for him too. We spent the evening playing together in our suite, playing out side in the courtyard together, and enjoying our first dinner together.

Before bed the kids all got showers...a new novelty to T and M. They thought it was funny to have the water hitting their heads! Then when we put T and M into bed, X asked if he could sleep with them too. So all three kids slept in a bed together on their first night! It was adorable! I am so proud of X and how caring he is of his new brother and sister. He is a great kid!!!

Day 3-April 5th

Day 3 started with a lot of paperwork to prepare for our appointment with the US Embassy on Wednesday.  It is incredible the amount of paperwork that is involved in the adoption process...every piece brings you closer to your children though, so it is all worth it!

On this day (Monday, April 5th) we had the life-changing experience of meeting T and M face-to-face! We originally thought we would be traveling to meet our kids birth mother this day, but for some reason communication got confused and it did not work out...we would have to meet her later in the week. The joy of seeing our Ethiopian beauties was truly incredible...it is impossible to really capture the experience in words. Through pictures, videos, and updates we had grown to love T and M so much...it was almost overwhelming to see them in person.

They loved the fact that we wore shirts that had their picture on it! M would point at him and his sister on each of our shirts and say their names. We spent about 2 hours together the first day and spent a lot of our time together playing with rocket balloons and playing on the swing set equipment they had at the transition house.

When it was time to leave, it was extremely difficult to leave T and M. M tried to climb into the car with us and T*n***e just stood off to the side on the curb and got watery-eyed. As we pulled away, I asked our guide, T, if that was the most difficult thing he was going to make me do that week...he said "yes". The only comfort was that the next day would allow us to be joined together as a family forever. Hurry up Tuesday..............

That evening Robel (an AWAA employee...and super cool guy) took us out to eat for a traditional Ethiopian meal that included some great music and dancing.

Day 1 and 2-April 3rd and 4th

Our plans to travel to Ethiopia to get our beautiful children was anything but predictable! We passed court to make them legally ours on February 25th. However, we were told that due to some new investigations being conducted by the US Embassy in Ethiopia in regard to adoptions, that we would have to wait to travel until mid-May. This was extremely disappointing, but we tried to focus on the "good"...it gave us time to get our home remodeling project done and time to do more fundraising to cover the costs of our adoption. After, only a couple of weeks though, we received a call that the Embassy was already looking at our case and we could be traveling by mid-April...a whole month early! Wow! This was not the end of the surprises as we received a call on Monday, March 29th saying the Embassy was finished with their investigation of our case and we had an appointment with the US Embassy in Ethiopia on April 7th! We needed to be on a plane by Saturday, April 3rd! In 5 days!!!


The days from March 29th to April 3rd are a bit of a blur. We scrambled to get packed, collect donations, find plane tickets, pay fees, try to get as much of our home remodel done as possible, etc.. Not to mention that April 4th was Easter, and Kenny and I would not be at church...a little tricky when he is the Associate Pastor and Youth Pastor and I am the Director of the Children's Ministry. We both had emergency meetings with our teams to get everything covered...we were both so thankful that we serve with incredible people who can take-over in our absence! 


By God's grace we were able to get plane tickets (3 round trip, 2 one-way). We only took three sets of clothing for each of us due to the large amount of donations we received that we wanted to take with us. After we finished packing, we ended up with 4 large suitcases (each weighing the 50 pound max), 2 huge duffel bags (each weighing the 50 pound max), and 6 pieces of carry-on luggage (each weighing the 15 pound max). The bulk of our donations for the Transition House and orphanages included: baby formula, baby wipes, children's motrin, cough medicine, and clothing.


Our flight left Los Angeles at 6:15am Saturday morning, April 3rd, and we traveled over the entire Easter holiday, arriving in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 8:00pm on April 4th. We had stops in Chicago, Washington DC, and Rome. We flew on Ethiopian Air...not the greatest airline ever, but we were so thrilled to be on our journey to get T*n***e and M**l*****m! One amazing thing is that "T*n***e" means "resurrection". She was born in Easter and we were traveling on Easter to get her and her brother...it is so cool the way God orchestrates things!

Our luggage and carry-ons

Could not resist this picture in Washington, DC

The plane taking us to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

In Ethiopia...our donations for our agency's Transition House

and orphanages...seperated and ready to be delivered.

We Are Home!

So sorry I have not updated this blog sooner! We were not able to access this while we were in Ethiopia and had to do our updates via Facebook only. We have been home for 2 full days now and things are going so well! I was expecting/prepared for things to be really difficult for a while, but am amazed by how well everyone is doing! The kids have been playing, laughing, running, and occassionally having a little spat (this is the new norm with 4 kids I am guessing)...it is like they have known each other for much longer than they have. They have all been taking naps at the same time, going to bed at the same time (8:30pm) and waking up around the same time (6:30am-ish). I did not think they would fall into the routine immediately...but it seems that they have! 


Since I was unable to update our blog while on the trip, I plan to post everyday for the next few days and create a post for each day of our trip and add picture highlights from each day. It was an incredible journey filled with amazing memories and experiences! Truly a blessed adventure that we praise God for!!!

We Leave Tomorrow!!!!

Well, after a week of unexpected phone calls and scrambling to get "everything" together....WE LEAVE TOMORROW to get our beautiful T*n***e and M**l*****m!!! Wow!!!! All I can say is. "Wow"!
I can't believe the time is finally here! After all of the waiting, the ups, the downs, the successes and failures, the time has come for us to be united with our children. The emotion of it all is overwhelming and fabulous. This experience has been the most faith-building thing we have ever done. We have seen God work in incredible ways and do the impossible. HE IS SO GOOD! Pray for us as we have the adventure of a life-time. We will do our best to update this blog and our Facebook pages...we hope to share as much of our journey with you as possible. Thank you to everyone who has given to us, encouraged us, supported us, and most importantly prayed for us through this process. We would not be where we are without you! Thank you for making a difference in the lives of 2 children who are no longer orphans. T and M, HERE WE COME!!!!!!