What a Trip

Wow, so it is almost time to leave already, we have been here 9 days. I have been bad about blogging because at the end of the night, after our kids are in bed, I just sink into the couch. It has been a wonderful trip, an emotional one for sure. There are the obvious emotions regarding adoption and finally seeing and holding the children we accepted into our hearts long ago, but there are the other emotions that are much tougher than I thought. We have travelled before to countries before where English is not the primary language and to where the culture is vastly different than our own. However, one huge difference this trip: our son and daughter that we brought with us. I have been on guard every single second for their safety and wellbeing. Normally, I would enjoy taking in the sights more and smiling at the people, but I have had an emotional and physical grip on our kids the whole time. The Ethiopian people have been nothing but generous and welcoming to us (OK so there was one attempted pick-pocket on my husband but he ended up scaring the guy way more than we were), so I know that my worry and overprotectiveness have been unnecessary, but I can't help it. There are so many sights and sounds that they are processing this trip and they have been been amazing with hardly a whine or complaint.

A good example of no complaining is how our daughter acted the day we appeared in court the day after we met our boys. She started throwing up in the car ON THE WAY to court. She probably threw up 3 times at least. This is the day after our son threw up in the University Museum. We pulled up to the courthouse and gave her a napkin, she wiped her mouth and we walked in. Within 30 minutes, we were appearing in front of a judge and declared our love and willingness to adopt our boys. They both answered the questions they were asked with smiles and were perfect, just like appearing in front of an Ethiopian judge is something we do everyday! What an emotional time for a lot of reasons. Here is a picture of right after:

After court, we were in the car for about 2 hours and the sickness continued until we got back to the hotel with meds. Again, not sure if she was sick or it was just the car motions and roads. Yesterday, we finally figured out that Star Wars on the portable DVD player in the car is the way to keep their minds off the motion sickness. Their little heads will literally be bouncing up and down with their eyes fixed on Darth Vader. The night of court, we celebrated with a dinner at a restaurant with traditional food, music and dancing. Again, I am realizing just how rich in culture Ethiopia is. The next day, we took a plane to the birth city of our boys and took a tour of their original orphanage. The next evening, our host graciously entertained us and 2 other couples in his home and we ate traditional food and learned more about Ethiopia and each other.

The definite highlight of our trip has been the 5 visits with our boys. Each one has been a little over 2 hours. My heart has skipped a beat each time we walked through the gate and watched the children approach us, my eyes searching for either of the 2 boys that are now our own. Each time we have been greeted with a sweet smile and hug from each, them already recognizing and comfortable with the four of us. The first few moments are usually spent with lots of gestures and greetings and then we have gotten to the point each visit where we can sit and watch them play with their friends. They have a merry-go-around and today we watched our daughter push 6 children in it and then each of those children get out and push their friends and her. Most of the time, she fit her very tall body in a very small chair with our new younger son in her lap and held him tight. They were the best of friends today, the first of many days. We watched our sons play soccer and were amazed at how all the kids just kicked the ball around laughing and sometimes falling down hard, only to get up and keep playing. There are other children of varying ages so it has been amazing to watch how they all take care of each other. I have fallen in love with some of the other children too and know how lucky their waiting parents are that they will soon be together too. We have talked to the nannies about our children and got some essential information about their habits and personalities (how blessed we are by what we already know!). We will use this information to make them more comfortable and make the adjustment easier.

Today is my husband's birthday and he had a wonderful surprise today at the boy's home where our host arranged a party for him, complete with ALL of the children and staff signing and clapping happy birthday to him and some excellent cake and a coffee ceremony. The furniture was even re-arranged so that everyone could participate. So amazing! It was so thoughtful and we will never forget how they wanted him to feel special and loved while he was away from home. Leaving today was difficult and saying goodbye for now is sad, but we will be back soon and have them in our arms forever. I know they are safe and happy until then. More prayer will be needed for my heart to be still in the Lord while we wait to return.

MELISSA

Here's a link to a video we made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3UuSX3QCxk&feature=youtube_gdata

First Meeting

Today was amazing! I am feeling so very tired after this amazing long day but am so happy! We started off by taking a bumpy car ride to the National Museum. I enjoyed this ride because we got to see a lot of Addis Ababa and the local neighborhoods and people. Downside was that it was so bumpy and the fumes were strong. Our kids said they felt bad from the ride. Well....about 5 minutes into the National Museum tour, our son threw up, no notice. Our driver is the kindest guy you could ever meet and immediately helped. We took him outside and some ladies were so worried about him too and making sure he was ok. We quickly finished that tour sans Mike and him and then went to the National Museum where our driver stayed and let him sleep on him while we looked around. It was very cool and nice to learn more history about where our boys are from. Ethiopia is so rich in history.

We were due to meet the boys at 2pm and we get back to our hotel at 1:30pm after another ride and our poor son again felt bad from the van. We decided to administer one of the 10 or so prescriptions we brought with us in case he was ill from the food or water. After a short rest, we were back in the van!

I didn't think I was going to cry but when we pulled on the street and another couple in the car said "here we are and here's the gate," I lost it for a few minutes. To be in the courtyard where they play and just steps from them really hit me hard. We were ushered into the house and the four of us sat on a couch staring at the doorway. Well....in the door pop these two beautiful, wide-eyed boys and their nannies and I don't know how long that moment lasted (felt like two minutes, but probably was like two seconds) but the four of us stared at each other and then we opened our arms and they came (or were maybe pushed, I don't know!) and stood by us and we gave them fives and smiles and hugs and were just talking a hundred miles a minute. Within just a few minutes, they were smiling and laughing and in our laps. Seriously, the rest of the few hours we were there were that amazing, our boys were so comfortable and reaching out for us and playing with us.

We opened their backpacks. B laughed so hard at a Clifford book and both boys enjoyed looking at every page of their new photo albums. When they saw us in the book, they would point at us in the picture and then at our chests. They would point at their brother and themselves too saying their names. Their voices are so sweet and I love to hear them talk in their language. Our daughter was so amazing with all of the children and so gentle with her new brothers, it is so obvious she loves them so much. Our son put on such a brave face even though he didn't feel great and did his best to interact with them. The boys clearly already know who their new sister and brother are and B patted our son while he was laying down on the couch and then handed him his new stuffed dog from his backpack (something no other kids were allowed to touch!).

We got to tour where they live and meet all of their sweet friends and caretakers. We gave a couple care packages from other waiting families and got to see the first meeting for the other couple with us too which was beautiful. We got to be part of a coffee ceremony for a couple taking their son home today which was also very special. His caretakers were so emotional when he was leaving, it is so obvious they fall in love with these children. Very special place and very special boys!

So, thanking God for today and looking forward to so much more! Here are a couple of quick pics before logging off! Thank you again friends for following along with prayers! MELISSA

In Ethiopia!

It has been a whirlwind of wonderful news, packing and a lot of anticipation the past few weeks since my last post. We received our letter of consent, were assigned a court date and have arrived in Ethiopia.

We want to use this blog to keep family and friends updated while we wait and travel and for our boys to have history written down for the future. So....now that we are here (wow!!) I am going to try to post pictures and quick (not super thought provoking and deep!) posts of our trips. It is rainy season, so we have had some free time today to relax (thank goodness for bringing the kids each a large ziploc of legos!).

This morning we arrived in Addis Ababa after spending the night in DC and then flying 13 hours straight. Look at these smiling faces in the airport VISA line after sleeping barely a few hours! What troopers!

We spent the day unpacking in the hotel room, walking around near our hotel and getting to know a sweet couple that is adopting through our agency as well. Here are some pictures from our balcony and near our hotel.

Tonight our agency took us to a local coffee shop with wonderful (very small but a perfect amount and so delightful..Starbucks could learn from this) coffee and hot chocolate for kids. We went to a small Italian dinner place after with the new couple we met. Kids were completely asleep by 8:30 tonight. We can only hope they are on the new time zone now!

TOMORROW is a huge day as we finally get to lay eyes on and hug our boys! They were told about us specifically last week (we sent a photo album a few months back but don't know if they had an understanding until now). I have no expectations (or at least when they pop in my head I quickly get them out!) of our first meeting and am praying that I can take off any selfishness I have and be completely selfless when playing with them this week. These hours this week are all about them and letting them know they are already loved by us and will be safe and moving to their forever home together. I am sure many emotions will be running through my head and I want to push those back until later and give our boys what they need in those moments. Good news is that I am sure they will want to play with their new sister and brother too and I will get to sit back and watch that take place. I will be taking a ton of pictures tomorrow of course and will be able to post them hopefully later in the week. We are waiting until we are allowed to post them in public.

We appreciate your prayers and love and in the meantime....these backpacks are waiting to be loved by two beautiful boys

MELISSA