As many of you know, Dennis, Trevor and I flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia the day after Thanksgiving to meet the newest addition to our family, Meheret. We could not update the blog from there, but I'll try to briefly recap and post a few pictures if I can figure that part out:)
Saturday, Nov. 26th- Emma's birthday, which we had to miss, but she was loved on by family and friends for us:) We arrived in Addis after 30 hours of travel, at 9pm. We went straight to bed:)
Sunday, Nov. 27th- Organized all our luggage (Six 50 lb bags, Three 20 lb bags, and 3 back packs:) Went out to lunch with our travel group. There were 6 other families, and we all had a great time getting to know one another which sharing in this incredible journey of meeting all our children. I think we will be friends for life now! After lunch, we got to go to the transition home and meet our daughter:) It was such a great meeting. They bring each families child/ren out one at a time, so that it is special for each family, while other families take pictures/video for you. It was such a surreal moment, we had started this process 22 months before this moment. I couldn't believe it was really happening:) When the nanny brought Meheret out, she reached right for me! I loved on her for a few seconds, then she looked up to Dennis and said "hi" and waved. Kind of like, "finally, I've been waiting for you!" It was so awesome! We then took her to the famous "porch" where all infant familes go after meeting their child and loved on her for a while, shared a little with Trevor, then loved on her some more. Every day around 4:30pm we need to leave so they can keep with their nap/dinner routine... We were the only one in our entire traveling party who was adopting an infant. All other six families were adopting older children, but they would all come down from the older transition home every day to play and go to school. I think there were about 60 kids that came down to the yard every day:)
Sunday night we got a driver to bring us out to my friend Debelle's house. Debelle was our Ethiopian guide when our church went to Addis with Life In Abundance, Intl. 2 years ago. When we stayed at the LIA guest house then, Gette was our cook, and what a cook she was:) So, when we went to Debelle's house for dinner, he surprised us with tons of Gette's cooking:) I especially loved her chicken pot pie and sweet bread:) It was the only time all week I ate a full meal:) It was great to see Debelle again and meet his wife and kids! They were so awesome and we really had a great time hanging out with them.
Monday morning we got to go see baby cakes again:) until noon, then we left for lunch and then some shopping at the street markets. Monday night we went out to eat at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant, complete with loud music and Ethiopian dancers. I don't know how they move their necks that way?? :)
Tuesday morning we say Meheret again, went out to lunch, then got to go back to the th (transition home) in the afternoon again to hang out with her some more! Time goes so fast!!
Wednesday morning we had our court date, so we just sat in the lobby of the court house for about an hour and a half until they called our names, then we went in the judge's office. It's very casual. She asked a few questions we answered as a group, then said 2 families passed, 2 families didn't, need more family info. THE END. We walked out, I'm crying, what just happened. We were so hoping that the women's organization that has to write a letter for every adoption had reversed our negative letter from the week before. They didn't know we had already looked for 2 months for the birth father, they didn't see that piece of paper... So, we didn't pass. (We DID pass just 2 days ago now, so it doesn't seem as devastating right now as it did then). We had lunch, then hung out with baby for the afternoon. Wednesday night Debelle came by our guest house and had a little microwaveable Healthy Choice Chicken and noodles:) He didn't seem to care for it:) He also brought us 2 Amharic Bibles I had asked him to purchase for us to give to Meheret's birth mom and our compassion child's birth mom. It was good to see Debelle again!
Thursday was a BUSY day for us. It started off at 8:30am with breakfast with our compassion child, also named Mihiret:), her mother, and 2 compassion translators. It was a great breakfast and we were able to give her a back pack full of toys and gifts, and give the mother some sheets, towels, and the bible. This 5 year old Mihiret only had eyes for the 2 barbie dolls:) Loved them! It was such a great meeting. Only 1% of sponsors ever get to meet their child, and we were so privileged to be among that small percentage. God just worked everything out so perfectly with being able to meet them! So, then on we went to the th to see our Meheret again:)
We had a meeting with the doctor, where we found out some health issues we weren't aware of, but overall was what we expected. She has valgus deformity in both her feet, we were only aware of the left, but it's just worse in her left foot. The ped. ortho surgeon in ET said she needed surgery, but to have it here in the US when we get her home. I already have an aptmt for her in Jan, so we'll see if the timing proves to be good. The doctor then said they are writing a medical expedition letter so that we can try to get through the Embassy quicker to bring her home for the surgery that she really needed months ago. She turned 17 months last week, and can't walk until the surgery is complete, then she'll have castings... There were a few other things she'll just have to have checked out with specials here (4 specialists so far:) but they schedule her for an echo for the next day, and it came back normal before we left!! Praise God!
Then, on to meet with our agencies director to see about getting that positive letter. She was encouraging and we left with hopes of passing before we left ET.
Then, Meheret's birth mom arrived to meet with us. We went back to the directors office to use her desk and we were able to video tape the meeting and ask Meheret's mom some questions that maybe Meheret will want to know later. It was difficult to put ourselves in Meheret's shoes to know what to ask, but we asked questions about the pregnancy, delivery, her mom's religious views, likes/dislikes, etc. Her mom was very quiet and shy, but did answer all our questions. I wanted her to know we'll take care of Meheret, love her and teach her about Jesus, and I was able to tell her those things, one mother to another. Her mother is married now she said, and it pregnant again. I pray she'll be able to take care and provide for this baby. It is Meheret's brother or sister... We were able to get pictures of Meheret and her birth mom, and of all of us together. I'll bring those picturs back with us when we go for Embassy. We were able to give her a small photo album, with some pictures we had gotten from others of Meheret, and we gave her the Amharic bible also.
Then... we went to lunch, whew, lots before lunch. I was emotionally exhausted, but God just orchestrated the timing of all the meetings and when everyone was available just perfectly. It could have been a disaster morning, but we were able to relax and focus on each meeting before we were told about the next. After lunch we got to go back and see Meheret some more. Then at 4:30pm all the women left and the van was coming back for the guys. This is the time that Meheret chose to poo all down Dennis:) He went in to get help from the nannies. They took Meheret to get her cleaned up, took off his shirt, tried to take off his pant:) When he said no, 3 of them gloved up and scrubbed his pants while he was shirtless holding his hands up in the air innocently:) He had to ask many times for his shirt back. LOVE this story! But, no man crossed the male bonding line to take any pictures for me, drat!
Friday morning, we went to see Meheret again, had lunch, then went back again. It was so hard to leave her for the last time! When I brought her back to her room at the end of the day, I said "say goodby to mommy, she has to leave for a while." She looked at all the nannies and said "bye" and waved bye to them, like she was leaving with me. They all laughed at her and I had to give her over to the nanny, explaining I'd be back for her as soon as I could, trying not to sob in front of them all. She screamed and cried and was throwing a huge fit. I just had to run out of the room to the bathroom to compose myself. Oh, it was hard to leave her. She is truly ours. I love her with everything in me, just like my other kids. Hard to imagine and so much greater than I anticipated! God is good...
