The REAL Gothcha Day!

This morning our van arrived around 9 a.m. and picked up four very anxious adults. We were up early and ready to go pick up our babies! When we arrived the nanny brought Tamirat to us. First sight of us and he busted out crying..not quite the welcome we were hoping for but also not unexpected either! After a few minutes of walking around he calmed down and for a slight moment we romanticed the idea that he might just remember us... We joined our friends the Fischers in the family room and just relaxed with our new babies. It wasn't long after that Ty did what he is most famous for doing with us..he fell asleep in my arms.

This time when he fell asleep I was not at all disappointed..we have the rest of our lives together!

After hanging out at the Transition home for a few hours we were given the ok to leave with our little ones. Ty had not been crying (he was sleeping) and when he awoke he was a bit confused. We were not confused that he wasn't real happy with us, but we were so happy we just our emotions lead the way. In the van Ty was very curious and stared out the window sitting on my lap. (There are no car seats here and it is very legal to hold your baby while driving the car as we witnessed first hand from a car in front of us.) We also gave him a lollipop, in celebration of the big day.

Leaving the transition home, headed to our guest house. Big smiles from everyone!

When we arrived at our guest house the staff greeted us with enthusiastic smiles and admired our cute boy. We took him directly to our room to have a little one on one time with him. If someone new had met us at that moment they would have thought we were first time parents...giddy and anxious!

Entering our guest house suite. Exciting!!

We all sat in the living area on the floor and fed Ty his lunch. He never cried once we left the transition house. Completely surprised us. After lunch we played with a few toys. Ty showed us that in fact he does like toys and can crawl...both of which we were unsure of based on our last visit.

Ty and Brian...checking out the space.

Around 3 Ty started showing signs of being sleepy so I laid him in the playpen we were using as his bed. He had held onto a mini board book the entire time and kept it with him during his nap. He never moved..he slept solid for over 2 hours. When he woke up he actually smiled at me. Still no cries. As the afternoon progressed we were able to see a side of him that we had not before..a curious little boy who can crawl, babble and even smile if he wants to. Can't wait to see what he'll teach us tomorrow!!

Extra pics..

We thought this sign, located at the entrance of the Hyatt swimming pool was hysterical. #4 states: Do not spit or blow nose while you are in the pool. #5 Please do not swim if you have the flu, cough, an open wound or any infection (we were so disappointed that we wouldn't get to swim while down with the flu!) #7 Pregnant women are advised not to use any facilities (Is that legal??)

The staff were preparing for a kids b'day party..beautiful setting!

One of the many courtyards at the Hyatt in Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Sunday Reunion

 

 

 

 

We were so excited this morning when we woke up. We knew that our friends the Fischer's (Sabrina and Adam) would be arriving! In typical international travel form, their plane landed at 7:45a.m. and they finally made it to the EGH 3 hours later. Hugs and smiles were abundant as was our shared excitement over tomorrow's great baby event! The Fischer's have a daughter at the same transition house. We have also met another couple, Brett and Ashley from Indiana. The are here for their first trip to visit thier babies (they are adopting 2). As soon as Sabrina and I talked we had a lunch plan and the day began. They took us to a great Italian restaurant, GreenView where we dined on very authentic tasting Margharita pizza. History lesson: Ethiopia was once overtaken by the Italians and though they do not have a stronghold anymore, these smart Ethiopians took the best part and continue to create very tasty Italian food. After lunch we stopped in at a local grocery store for a few items. When we entered there were 2 guards at the door (not your typical greeting at Publix) and they asked to look in my backpack. The lady saw my lollipops and smiled..so I gave them both one. Yes, it was weird, but what the heck. We bought some milk, the guys are hoping to enjoy it with cookies later. After that we made a trip to the Hyatt to get some money exchanged into Birr (Ethiopian currency) and we were blown away at the how nice the hotel was. We have heard that the Sheraton is even nicer. It is kind of wierd to have this extravagant place here. We walked around and enjoyed the lush scenary before we headed back to our place to prepare for our little ones.

Ethiopian Bound..again!

 
 
Nearly 32 hours of traveling and we’re here! Our flights were totally uneventful, just the way we like it. Our first layover in Chicago was ridiculously long, but in true Roy fashion we Googled my favorite pizza joint (Giordano’s), found one less than 5 miles from the airport, hailed a cab, and set up camp with our deep dish ‘yumminess’ for three uninterrupted hours. We nearly missed our flight, that was a tense moment. I had walked to the restroom, came back and noticed people lined up. Since Brian was in charge I asked him if it was time to board..he said not yet that they were boarding ‘children/assistance’ tickets. Twenty minutes later the announcement for Final Boarding was announced… and from then on I was in charge. We landed in Germany 8+ hours later, found an area set up for napping and caught up on an hour of sleep that we desperately needed. Our flight left on time and we arrived here in Addis at 9:30 p.m.
Internet is not very strong tonight, hopefully will be better tomorrow. I will post as I can. Looks like we’ll have to wait to see Ty. Our transition home is not open to visitors tomorrow so we’ll wait to see him on Monday. Good news is that once we see him we will be bringing him back to our house with us. Yay! The ladies here set up a playpen in our room…with a cute little pillow and blankets tucked in perfectly. It is surreal to think that we are finally going to have Ty as our own. We are so glad to be here! Love the EGH (Ethiopian Guest Home), they are so kind and accommodating. We hope to Skype tomorrow with our sweet girls back home. Missed them on the phone tonight..their social calendar is pretty busy today and our timing just didn’t work out. Sending love to them!

Strep, 5 year Prep, and new Visa steps

Oh my has this been a difficult week! I finally found my daily rhythm last weekend and we enjoyed Saturday and Sunday with our friends. Beautiful weather enticed us outdoors and now we're all longing for signs of spring! On Sunday Kendall returned from a friend's house feeling pretty bad, her throat mainly. By Monday morning we were sitting in her doctor's office, diagnosis Strep Throat. Poor kid. It was miserable for her. But in the way that only kids can, by Tuesday morning and 2 doses of meds in her she was up and about and feeling way better. Love that medicine!! She went to school on Wednesday and I went to my doctor, for the same diagnosis. This stuff is wicked! Hoping I'll bounce back as quickly??
Sweet Mallory turns 5 this weekend. We are praying she won't be a victim of this junk! Prayer is all we have left since the precocious little girl refuses to stay out of our faces and insists on a hug even as we're running the other direction. Let's hope 5 gives her more self control than 4 did!
We received interesting news this week regarding our second trip back to Ethiopia. The way the US Embassy gives dates was based upon your agency. So for our agency we knew that they have a standing arrangement every other Thursday. Having been briefed on the steps needed to get our paperwork to the Embassy, the timeline had us believing we were good candidates for the March 3 court date. We were so sure we even made our lodging arrangements for that week. But then 2 hours after we made those reservations we received an update regarding the Embassy dates. The Embassy has decided to do away with set days for agencies. It's a free for all! What?!? Not really. The way we now understand it to be is that in an effort to move more cases through efficiently they have decided to alert the agencies as soon as each file has been reviewed and is cleared to have a Visa Interview. Our agency will still try to group families together so that we have a travel group. Though I know now from experience how wonderful such a group can be, I'm quite sure the agency needs to group us together in an effort to not overwhelm the in-country staff and the travel coordinator here in the states. I'm hopeful that our agency and the Embassy will find a 'groove' that proves to be most beneficial to the children and their families who are waiting to be united again. This first full week apart from Ty has been a roller coaster! Many tears have been shed in anxiety and the inexplicable weight of separation from our child. He is on our minds constantly and we find ourselves reaching out to the other adoptive families..it's our one true connection back to the days with Ty. We are grateful to hear from them and so very glad they want to talk about our babies together. One thing that helps is to know that though he may be miles away he sleeps under the same moon and wakes to the same bright sun that we do. And always, we are all under God's ever watchful eye, the most comforting thought of all.
One more bit of exciting news came this week. One of the traveling families had stayed in Ethiopia and was scheduled to leave on Jan 31st. They had contacts in Ethiopia and were able to extend their stay. We learned yesterday that they had been told to extend their trip because it was a good possibility that they would get to have their visa interview next week. We are so excited for them and pray that all goes well. If this comes true for them it is a good indicator that our paperwork may be close behind. We, too, could be getting an invitation to return sooner than we thought! It's all in God's hands, and as I've said before His timing is always perfect!

Friday with Friends

Another deep sleep night! Yay! Today is a busy ‘let’s get things for Ty’ day. I registered for an upcoming baby shower my sweet neighborhood friends are planning. I have to admit it is a whole different ball game registering for a one year old! It was fun to do and by focusing so much attention on Ty, I was totally excited about his arrival. After registering I did a little shopping and picked up a few clothes and snacks for the sweet little guy. We’ve been invited to dine with friends tonight, looking forward to a night out. I have a feeling we’ll be doing a lot of the talking as our friends are dying to hear details of our visit with Ty. Should be a good night.

 

Jetlag Thursday..ugh!

We slept for 9 hours straight! To bed before 9 and awake at 6 am. Boy we were beat! About mid morning I began to really miss Ty. Wonder what he’s doing? Is he feeling better? Are they making sure to give him extra fluids while he’s on meds? Is he looking at his photo book and remembering us? It sure does stink to be separated from your child. Glad I fell in love with the nannies and had a chance to really see them at work, as I think that has made me feel a bit better about the situation.
I can really tell how tired I am, guess this is jet lag?? Funny, in Ethiopia at 11 pm when I wanted to sleep my body thought it was 2 pm and wouldn’t sleep. Now I’m here and you’d think I could just slip right into my time zone, but no. Even with 9 hours of sleep last night I am struggling. At 5 o’clock this afternoon I started fading fast. Would have helped 36 hours ago to be able to sleep at 2 am!! UGH!
My mind is racing with things I should be doing, but all I want to do is sort through my Ty pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.