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!

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.

 

 

 

 

We're Home!!

 

My new 'forever friend' Sabrina..we can't wait to see them again!

 

This was the first time that Ty did not cry when surrounded by the others, we were so proud of him!

 

The Coffee Ceremony that the lovely hosts of the Ethiopian Guest House treated us to before leaving Tuesday night

We landed in our sweet home town tonight at 5:30. Our girls met us as we drug our suitcases out of the airport, with squeals of delight and big hugs. That’s the best!
We were so lucky to have traveled home with two other adoptive families. Ben and Heidi, Lisa and Dave. We all enjoyed each others company over coffee and pastries in Frankfurt during our 4 hour layover. We all were exhausted, poor Heidi nearly asleep at the table. We left Ben and Heidi in Germany and boarded our longest leg to Chicago with Lisa and Dave. This nine hour flight was made a bit more comfortable because my sweet husband had the forethought to ask if the flight was full. It was not, and so he moved us to the exit aisle…the leg room was worth the missing window. We both dozed, watched a movie, listened to music and read. We both had begun not feeling well in Frankfurt, so we snacked on pretzels and minimal plane food. In Chicago the four of us found a food court and passed our next two hours with more great conversation and wishful speculation of our next travel. We all agreed, we hope to travel with one another again.
Heading home from the airport we made a stop to see our friends Dawit and Debere. When we were in Ethiopia we had the great pleasure of meeting Dawit’s brother. He gifted us with traditional Ethiopian dress scarves and lots of kindness! We had arranged to carry back items for his family here. We were bringing lots of aromatic spices, clothes, fabric and other gifts for Dawit’s family. We were so happy to be able to do something for this family. It was their kindness to translate our letter to Tamirat’s family that was truly an amazing moment between us. And of course, if we were stopping by we had to have tibs! Debere prepared the yummy tibs, accompanied with injera and lentils..and cottage cheese for Mallory of course! Funny, we left Ethiopia and came to Tennesse for Ethiopian food! It tasted so good! We are so glad we found Goha and the family who owns it. Then when we arrived home we were surprised to find a yummy Chicken casserole from our dear neighbors the Johnson’s. They too have walked this path and know the toll such trips can take. We are so grateful for the love of our friends!

Gotcha Day!!

 

 

 

 

What a CRAZY-WONDERFUL Day! As promised we arrived at the transition house at 8:30a.m. When we walked through the gates the little toddlers were lined up on the sidewalk. When they saw us they clapped and cheered for us. It was definitely spontaneous and really a memory I’ll always hold dear. Knowing what I know now, that was a super way to start such a complex day!
Brian and I (and a few others) had decided against wearing our court clothes to the transition home. We figured (1) if we get the call that court was rescheduled for an earlier time then we would quickly change(we brought our court clothes) (2) there was very little chance we would go earlier (3) have I mentioned how HOT it gets? Dressing up is not fun when you’re sweating.. (4) Ty was likely to leave his mark on our clothing if you know what I mean. So sure enough, up to the Family Room we went and within 2 minutes we were told we have to leave for court..NOW. Oops. We all dashed about finding our clothes, changing and nervously laughing at the incident. We piled in the van and headed to the court house.
Our favorite translator (you got..Hanuck) took us into the court house, marched us up 5 or 6 flts of stairs (lost count after 3), and walked us right up to the waiting area where we stood outside of the door waiting for the other adoptive families to arrive. The waiting room was crowded and even after the others arrived we all just stood in the hallway until a very convincing guard insisted we move into the waiting room. We huddled in the middle of the room, looking nervously at each other and saying many prayers. The judge summoned 2-3 families at a time into her chamber. Yes, a female judge…she was beautiful! She asked us all the same 5-6 questions, really stressed the importance of the Ethiopian culture and how the country hopes we all educate our children on their birth country. We all agreed and that was it. We were parents..for a third time! We all huddled again in the waiting room until the last families had seen the judge then we herded out of the room and out of the building. What didn’t go without noticing was right as we were all leaving a large group of Ethiopian citizens stood up and walked out in front of us. One of them, a very kind man with a genuine smile stopped and shook my hand and the hand of others around me. It was at that moment that I realized that group of people might be our children’s birth family representatives. I asked, and it was confirmed. What a moment of excitement! We were then told that we would have a chance to speak with our child’s birth family as soon as we left the court house. We met at the agency's guest house. The birth families were already there when we arrived.
Seated quietly without much expression were the birth families. The adoptive families stood on the other side of the court yard, quiet and contemplative. You could see that we all were trying to take a peek at each other, without staring..wondering if our children looked like one of them and they were curious which of us had promised to love and care for their child. It was awkward to say the least. With only one translator the wait was long, each family taking about 15 minutes with the translator to get as much important information regarding their child, the family history and any extras we might stumble upon. In an effort to move things along, a younger man who was with the birth families and could translate at best broken English stepped forward and began saying the names of our children. He was the first to introduce us to Tamirat’s uncle Yishak. He was a tall, lean, friendly man who greeted us first with a handshake and after introductions we shared a hug. As we waited for our agency’s translator to assist us we decided to give Yishak the letter we had prepare for him. With the assistance of our friend Dawit we had written a letter to Tamirat’s family and he had translated it into Amharic, the main Ethiopian language. He began to read it, out loud. After each couple of sentences he would look at us and say something. The young translator would then tell us “he is happy” “he says thank you” “his heart is happy” “He loves you”. As he read on his voice became softer and his words became more slurred, we knew he was becoming emotional and we were too. At the end of the letter we had included a scripture:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding,
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your steps.” Proverbs 3: 5-6
Yishak read it and with wide eyes asked if we were Christians. We nodded and claimed we were. He raised his hand to his chest and indicated that he was too. He told us his family are Christians and he was so happy to know that we were too. It was a perfect ending to our initial introduction. Soon after we were able to sit down with the agency’s translator and ask a few questions. Yishak graciously answered all that he could. He was soft spoken and at times I wondered if I had asked too much. It was at these times he would offer a smile or make eye contact, as if he knew I needed encouragement. After our time together we took pictures together. We had given him pictures of Tamirat and he quickly looked through them. After we were done he sat down with the other birth family members and looked at the pictures again, and others looked on. He also shared the letter with them. Just as we had become intimately connected with the group of adoptive parents in our journey to unite with our children, these birth families had traveled hours, some days, and they too had created a bond with each other. They shared their photos with each other and it was apparent that they truly offered comfort to each other in a way only they could. We were not so different from each other..and our children were the ties that bound us together. What a beautiful experience.
After our meeting, the birth families traveled to the transition home for one last visit with their children. I can only imagine what this visit meant to them and how very difficult it must have been. I pray that our meeting helped relieve the burden of the visit and allowed them time to rejoice in their children and their futures. After lunch we headed to the transition home, the birth parents were gone, and had our last 3 hours with our children. In all of the stress, the emotion, the confusion, the excitement, the heart break…as soon as they opened those gates, the motion of it pushed another chapter open in our lives. There were tears of happiness. Ty was asleep (go figure!), but soon he was brought to me. It was obvious his belly was upset, as we had 2 diaper changes and a change of clothes in the first hour. That morning I had prayed that God help us to connect with Ty, I was really needing to see a smile .. something to show me he was happy to have us as his parents. I have to admit that as much as I loved him laying against me and sleeping in my arms over the last 2 day, I would have done anything for a happy Ty. As God has done so many times in our journey, He did not disappoint. Our last 15 minutes was spent with a baby who laughed and smiled..he has dimples!! Unlike most parents, we left there with joy in our hearts. Our happiness was so consuming we couldn’t find the sadness in leaving him. Again, we gave thanks.
Our evening ended with a coffee ceremony celebrating our wonderful day, shared with our precious new friends! We left for the airport at 8:30 and caught an 11:30 flight to Frankfurt, Germany.