Wednesday Morning

This is really lame. We have been home 5 weeks and I am just on Wednesday of our trip. Yep, really lame.

Oh well.

Wednesday is Embassy day if you are going with AAI, so that is what was planned for the afternoon. Gail came by the guest house early to finish paperwork, and we filled the morning with a trip to Opportunity House, which is AAI's new house for most of their special needs kids. Most of these kids were at Layla on my last trips, and I wanted to make sure we got over there to see them all.

The kids were of course wonderful, and we all had fun playing with them, praying for them, visiting and saying goodbye to friends, and visiting the house mothers.

Then we found the kitchen and I finally got to do what I have been wondering about for such a long time - making injera. The mothers in the kitchen were great, and let me watch/help. My try at pouring the batter turned out a little on the ugly side (pretty lumpy) but I am still proud.

We finished the morning with lunch at Layla, which is still my favorite thing to do - sharing a meal with all of those kids. Breaking injera together is what God intended for us, and it is so easy to see why.

Dear Dad

Yesterday we came home to a package of letters and disposable cameras from Terefu and Ashenafi's gift bags. Thank you Mary!

We got a letter from Tsion (who still needs a family - hint, hint), one from Freweyni, a letter for each of us from Terefu, and letters for Lisa and I from Ashenafi.

What a great way to end any day - reading I love you's from your kids who are just as anxious to be with you as you are to be with them.

Psa 68:4
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him.
Psa 68:5
A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
Psa 68:6
God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity;
But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Court Date

I just heard from AAI that our court date is set for August 1st. It looks like we will beat the court closure this year, rather than sit waiting until October like we had to do last year. God willing that is the day we become a family of 13. Then we will enter the ranks of what I called medium sized families in this post last year.

I can hardly believe that. Just 3 years ago this month we came home from China with our 3rd child, Joy. She is one of our twins, 7 year olds - Joy and Mary. They were just born on different continents, Joy from China and Mary from Ethiopia.

Thanks in advance if you will pray for a favorable outcome.

Group S

After a month of being computerless, my new Dell laptop came today and I can reenter life...I can't beleive how much of life involves a computer and the internet. Anyway, that and many other changes in life that I will have to tell about later have kept me from keeping this page up to speed on what we are doing.

I am happy to say though that we are in Group S, which means we will be going to court soon, and I think we will be in the last AAI group to go to court before it closes for 2 months. We should be travelling in September, God willing.

Lisa and I will both be travelling this time, and we are so excited. We haven't been away without kids for 17 years now, so our 2 days to get there and pick up kids alone will be unique for us. I am really excited to have her see Layla and AHOPE and Addis and meet so many people I have grown to love. I would have gone alone again, but this will be so much better.

Before sending our paperwork into court, we had to make a last minute decision. As I said before our paperwork was done for up to 4 kids. We wanted to make sure that we would be prepared for any unknown siblings that Terefu and Ashenafi might have. A couple weeks ago we got confirmation that there were none.

Well, with the changes in family size requirements being imposed by the Ethiopian government we figured this may be our last opportunity to bring home kids from there, so we were discussing what to do about our approval for 4 kids. Long story short is that we have added a second sibling set of 2 kids to our case, and hope to be bringing home 4 kids this fall instead of just 2.

We will be bringing home Terefu (13), Ashenafi (5), and hope to also bring home Freweyni (12) and her little brother Alemayehu (9). I know Freweyni from my 2 trips, and know who Alemayehu is but don't really know him. I spent lots of time with Freweyni though.

We aren't sure if the courts will let us adopt them all, but AAI is confident enough to try. They have been so good to us, and have supported all of our many special requests. Thanks Merrily.

When we were uncertain, and praying for God to make things clear for us, this is the scripture that He gave Lisa.

Psa 68:5
A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
Psa 68:6
God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity;
But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Until that point we weren't sure what God wanted us to do. We hadn't heard anything. My only direction came from a certain theology I have. I believe that in the absence of hearing clearly what God has for you to do at a certain time, while you are waiting, that there are constants that we are to always be living. Loving our neighbors, caring for widows and for ORPHANS. Little things like that. That was good enough for me, and then at the last minute God gave Lisa that scripture, and just confirmed what we had been discussing.

So at this point it is up to Him. If they are all ours He will ensure we have favor in the courts and His will will be done. That is our prayer, and if you wish to join us in that we would covet your prayers.

Dad

This is what I see on the outside of one folded letter when I open the envelope from Terefu, and another that says Mom. They know!

We weren't to the point of letting them know, and AAI still had our gift bags in Port Angeles, but according to Terefu's letter Gail told them. Thank you Gail!!! It is so good to know that they know. They know they have a family - and in that instant so much of what they see as their identity changes. And in this case, they really know, because they know me already.

The letter to me went on to say "Habtamu, I know that you are my Dad. I am so happy. Thank you God for this. I tell Ashenafi and he jumps and jumps and says yes, yes!"

Since then AAI sent their gift bags over, and we have signed placement agreements and their paperwork has been sent to Ethiopia. So things are moving along, and we have a shot at beating the court closure although I am not holding my breath about that.

Thanks and blessings to the family who took the above picture.

Our Kids

I didn't get to know Ashenafi very well while I was there, but the time I did spend with him was wonderful. Very sweet and quiet. He spent most of our time together on my lap. I wish I knew he was mine while I was there, but that is the way it goes.

But I did spend lots of time with Terefu, and I love her dearly. She is very devout Orthodox, and Marta says she REALLY prays. Such a good fit for our family.

Terefu's last letter told me that Ashenafi likes to play soccer and swimming (which for Ethiopian kids at Layla usually means they like to get in the water, but can't swim at all), and she likes gymnastics (she is really good), basketball and swimming.

The rest is yet to come, and we can't wait to see what passions are just waiting to be discovered. One of my favorite things about adopting older kids is the constancy of "ah-ha" moments when they discover something new that we just take for granted. It is fun to see their innocent delight in our everyday things, and I wish we could find such joy in the everyday too.

Bring them home soon Lord. Layla is a wonderful place, but they need their family.

He is my family...

Wow! First post since April 15th! So much to say the whole time, so much of it couldn't be shared, and I had no desire to write a word. Burned out all around from constant change...but, today I feel like jumping back in, so here goes.

As I said before I have been writing letters to many of the older children since I came home with Meklit. Every few weeks I write a bunch of letters, include self-addressed and stamped return envelopes, and send them with a traveling family. I usually write to about 5 or 6 kids, with the one common letter in each bundle being a letter to my daughter and son. The fruit of this effort is the return letters from many different kids. Days when they come in the mail are the highlight of my weeks. Today was one of those days.

Five letters from 5 different kids, and one of them from my daughter. The letter opens like this (the spelling is hers, and remember that they do not know about us yet - very soon, but not yet):

Hi Habtamu (this is the name she gave me while I was there in March, and I proudly answer to it),

Think for your letter. I am so fine. Ashenafi is good. I tell him Habtamu say "Hi" and he loves you. Ashenafi answer is "oh my dad say this!" I excited for he answer. I say you don't have a family. He say I have a family. I say who is you family? He say Habtamu love me so he is my family.

A bunch of other stuff...and,

Love, Terefu and Ashenafi

He knows...soon they will both officially know, but for now he just knows. A child who hears God speaking truth to his heart.

So, now the cat is out of the bag, and for those of you who don't know, Terefu and Ashenafi are ours. Our dossier is in, and our new home study is done and being sent to AAI. Soon we can sign placement documents and send our gift bags so they will know for sure.

Here they are on my first day at Layla in March. The picture on my previous post is of Ashenafi and I, and the one later on in this post is of Terefu and I. She is 13, and he is 5.

Believe it or not, I just jumped over to see my blog to make sure the picture of Ashenafi is there, and realized what my last post was about.

The post is titled Let Them Know Lord, and ends with this ...So God, here is my prayer. Tell our kids who we are. Give them dreams, and visions, and insights into who we are, and give us the same insight. Give them (and us) eyes to see and ears to hear, so that our first meetings with them are like long awaited reunions. Not times of butterflies and nervousness, of wondering and questioning if we are right for them or they are right for us. Lord, let them KNOW without a doubt, and give them peace because they know.

I really hadn't remembered, and here is this letter from Terefu with the answer to my prayer. Even when we don't remember, He does. He is the faithful one, and He listens, and He answers - even when we don't remember that we asked. Thanks God.

Let Them Know, Lord

I closed my last post with the comment about "my daughter, who doesn't know she is my daughter, or does she? Maybe God put me on her heart too? Who knows." And then I promptly picked up an old copy of Citizen magazine from Focus On Then Family, which we used to get but it never got read so we dropped our subscription.

To be honest I wanted a little bathroom reading material, so I flipped through the issue and settled on an article about a US Army officer from Wisconsin who was stationed in Iraq. To help deal with the reality of the daily carnage he and his men saw there, he and a group from his unit started spending time in an orphanage. The short version is that he fell in love with a little boy who had cerebral palsy, and he knew that the little boy wouldn't survive childhood if he stayed in Iraq, so he adopted the boy and brought him home.

Now I can't find the magazine to make sure I get all my facts straight, so bear with me. Life in a larger family means not being able to find things some times, so here we are. I think that the little boy told his new Grandma after he had been home a little while and had picked up some English, that he knew that her son was his dad from their first meeting. God had revealed it to him, and he knew that he was his son.

Now I know God speaks to us, and much of our family's story is based around this fact. I guess I just haven't ever really spent much time thinking about it from the other perspective of our children knowing who we are before we know about them. It is of course just as likely or even more so since children don't have all of the interference to hear that we have. And He does have a particular fondness for them, doesn't He.

So God, here is my prayer. Tell our kids who we are. Give them dreams, and visions, and insights into who we are, and give us the same insight. Give them (and us) eyes to see and ears to hear, so that our first meetings with them are like long awaited reunions. Not times of butterflies and nervousness, of wondering and questioning if we are right for them or they are right for us. Lord, let them KNOW without a doubt, and give them peace because they know.

Who's Next?

We got home Thursday night, and on Saturday we had a meeting with our social worker for Marta's 2nd post-placement visit, so Meklit got #1 out of the way too. And, we were able to get a new home study visit out of the way too! Very efficient - home 2 days and having a new home study being worked on - I like it.

Meklit was settling in very well, so the visit went great. She said she would talk to AAI to see what they said about starting another adoption now or later.

On Sunday I wrote a VERY long email to Merrily to spell out just how I thought we needed to have the 6 month wait rule between adoptions waived - surely she has never heard these arguments before;)

On Monday we heard back from AAI saying the we would have to wait the 6 months, and then could start the process again. I wasn't disappointed though, because this wasn't from Merrily, just AAI staff quoting the rules. Also I know that if they are our kids, then God has this all taken care of, so no worries.

Then on Wednesday I heard back from Merrily, and just as I had prayed, she said that we could skip the wait, and begin when we were ready. She must have forgotten that I had told her in Addis on the way to the airport that we were ready, so off we go again.

And now I am SO tempted to tell all about who our kids are, but feel like I should wait. What I can say is that Denise was right, and the older girl and her little brother she asked me about are the ones who stole my heart and we are paperchasing to bring home.

Since coming home I have sent about 15 letters, pictures and scotch tape (to hang things on their shelves), and Marta sent 18 letters too, with a couple people who were headed over to get their kids. I have written letters to many of the kids, and sent them all pictures of themselves with their friends - they all love their pictures. And to my delight, I have gotten 4 letters back from the kids at Layla. And while all of them make my day, the one I have read over, and over and over is of course from my daughter, who doesn't know she is my daughter, or does she? Maybe God put me on her heart too? Who knows.

Maybe I can ask her soon...

Goodbye, or Warning, Layla House Is A Dangerous Place

Oh boy.

When I went to Addis this time, I had an ulterior motive, an agenda beyond bringing home Meklit. As I was preparing to leave I had 2 questions posed to me. The first, from Julie Hehn, was "who is next?"

We had some interest in some of the older girls who are still there, and I went with the intent of getting to know them a little bit better, and to see if God would speak to me about whether or not any of these kids were ours. We know that God knows who our kids are, and always has. It is just a matter of listening to Him to find out who they are, then simply bringing them home. No pros and cons, no sweating finances or space in the house for more kids, just hear and do.

So...while Meklit and I were there we spent nearly all of our time, from before breakfast, through lunch and past dinner with the kids at Layla – mostly with the older girls, Marta's friends, to see if one of them was actually a sister.

As I have said countless times before, these kids are nothing short of amazing to me. They have lived difficult lives that we can't even get our heads around, and to come out on the other side with these sweet, loving, nurturing spirits blows my mind. It speaks to me of the mysterious grace of God's love.

The other question before I left came from Denise Baker, wondering if I had met a certain girl and her brother on my last visit. She thought that they would be a good fit for our family, but I couldn't remember meeting the kids, just vague pictures of the girl. So, they went on my list of kids to get to know better.

As I said before, we spent nearly all of our 3 days with the older girls. We had a great time with them, and with a couple of hours left before I knew we had to get back to the guest house to get packed, I was really starting to get choked up. When it came time for us to say good-bye, I started to say to the girls that we had to go now, and... I lost it. Total meltdown - a sobbing, snotting mess of tears. To make it worse, about 1/2 second into my meltdown they all lost it too, and we were all a mess. It just broke my heart to have to leave them behind, and to not take them all with me. They are all so wonderful, and they would be such great kids to have in our family.

Finally we all got it together so Meklit and I could leave. We went out towards the gate and found Ted with a bunch of kids and of course the skateboard. He asked me how I was doing and I lost it again. After a few minutes I explained to him that it broke my heart to leave the kids, and while I could hope and pray for them to get families, there were 2 kids that I couldn't hope or pray that for. I went asking for God to reveal our kids to me, and Lisa and Marta were at home praying for Him to open my heart to our next kids. Well, He does answer prayers, and I was heartbroken to have to leave 2 of our kids behind. It felt to me that I was leaving them there for someone else to adopt, and I just couldn't handle that thought.

Meklit and I got in one last round of hugs and kisses at the gate, promised to keep in touch, and went to the guest house so I could pack really quickly before Nate picked us up to go to the airport. I was a mess again at the guest house, and went through a bunch of tissue while packing. When I was done I figured we had a ½ hour to spare, so we called Nate to pick us up at Layla, and went back for that last few minutes of visiting.

I love being there in the mornings when things are just coming to life, and in the evening when the day is winding down. We joined the kids for their evening prayer time, which is led by the older kids. I love to see the older ones going to gather their younger siblings for prayer, and I got to sit there with Ashenafi on my lap.

Then it was really time to go, and it went much better this time around. Not surprising to me due to the providence of God, Merrily rode to the airport with us. She and I both live in Washington State, and the only 2 times I have ever seen or spoken to her have been in Addis. I asked her how long we would have to wait until we started the process again, and she told me there is a 6 month wait to begin the process again, and of course asked why. I told her I was leaving 2 of my kids behind, and that we needed to bring them home as quickly as possible. She said after she got back she would check into their status, and we would talk.

Needless to say, I now had something to occupy my time for the next 36 hours of travel, and I read Psalms and prayed most of the way home.

God has used times like this with me 4 times, all related to our children, when He reduced me to a messy puddle and in the process transformed my heart. The first time was when Jeff was born, then during the process of adopting Joy, again during the process with Marta, and now at Layla - each time using my broken state to radically change my heart. Really it is more of a new alignment of my heart, a tuning if you will. On the plane home these scriptures gave me peace.

Isaiah 25
9 In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

Psalms 5
7 But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple.

It isn’t something I even pretend to fully understand, and I know it isn’t just about kids. What I do know is that it is about right alignment to the throne of God, and faith in the mystery of His sovereign ways.

Our flight home was uneventful, other than a minor glitch of Meklit being ticketed for Seattle and me for Portland, but a few $$$ and a little time in DC took care of that. She did incredible, ate (and still does) everything put before her, and slept a ton. The staff on Ethiopian Airlines helps you so much with things like the bathroom, and asking what they would like to drink, etc. With a language barrier and being shy, their help was much appreciated.

After our layover in DC, we flew to San Francisco, and then on to Portland. By leaving at ~11 pm from Addis after a long day, the trip is really long considering it is another 36 hours to get home.

I did fine until I saw Lisa, and then I felt the emotions surge through me again. Everyone was so excited to meet Meklit, and Marta was a welcome sight to her I am sure. Josiah held her hand as we walked down to find our luggage. I couldn’t even talk, and when we got down the baggage claim area Lisa asked me what had happened, and in an instant I lost it. What an amazing wife God has blessed me with. I told her through sobs that I had to leave 2 of our kids behind, and her only response was that we had better get to work on the paperwork to bring them home. She didn’t even know their names.

The Last Day

It seemed like I had just got there and really I had. Day three and I was needing to pack us up to leave that night. I packed up all of the things I had brought to donate at Layla, and Meklit, Ted and I headed over for breakfast.

By now when we walk in the kids swarm us, and we are hugged and kissed all over again. What a great start to the day. Meklit is taken by Tsion, and she will again spend much of the day with she, Rahel and Tigist, as Marta’s friends continue to show us love as if we were family.

Ted heads off with a throng of boys in tow to skateboard, and I started to make my rounds greeting with a touch, hug and/or kiss every little face that I could find. I have always struggled to know what I want to do when I grow up, and now I know. I want to be the head of hug therapy at Layla House – that is my dream job. Merrily, if you ever read this, let me know what you think.

Breakfast today was the pancakes Marta had been describing to me. They are very big around, so you get slices like you would of a NY pizza. They are big wedges of pancake that look more like injera than our pancakes, but are denser, thicker and don’t have the sour taste. They are cooked on the injera mitads, and just like injera are not flipped, so the top is the bubbles just like injera.

They are smothered in VERY sweet syrup, and of course there is very sweet tea too. Breakfast is when these guys get their sugar fix for the day, and the dense, sweet slice filled me up.

I let Terefu have my camera for the day after showing her how to use it, and she took ~200 pictures throughout the day.

I spent 2 periods of class time with the 2 groups of combined 4/5 kids in Ku Ku’s music class. He played the guitar, I played the djembe I left last time, and we all sang worship songs that Ku Ku has learned by ear, and taught the kids. We had a great time, and I now have an obligation to get him some music to read.

I also played soccer for 2 periods, and if you are uncertain if the elevation will affect you, play soccer. Wow! I was one tired, hot ferenge.

Lunch was shiro and alecha cabbage and potatoes that was awesome. I could eat like that every day. So good.
After that it was hot so we spent most of our time hanging out in different bedrooms (the kids call them classes, like “J” class, or “H” class, which are really just the room numbers).

Terefu was taking pictures like crazy of everyone, and they were having fun posing for her. I brought my laptop over and loaded them all so they could see a slide show and watch the movies we took too. There is a great one of all of Marta’s friends being silly and saying hi to her, saying goofy things in Amharic that I still don’t understand, and singing songs for her.
While we were there that afternoon there was a film crew capturing Tigist and her siblings getting their family gift bags. What an exciting time for so many kids, to see what they will someday receive. But it must be a scary time for them too - a time when they feel doubtful about it all as well. I want so badly for them all to get homes soon.

If you have ever felt your heart tug towards adopting these older children, you won't regret it. I would take ALL of them home with us if we could.

Going Away

Tuesday evening we went to Meklit's orphanage for her going away party. I was hoping it would be with all of the kids - both young and old, but it was such short notice that they could only have the younger kids and a few of Meklit's older friends.

It was still really good. Lots of singing and praying by the kids, and snacks and my first and only (so far) coffee ceremony.
It was obvious that the house mothers really love these kids, and it is a mixed bag of emotion when they are leaving. Like Denise told me a few weeks ago, it is so wonderful to see them doing well at home, but also hard to see them leave.

This is Hanna clapping with the white wrap on her head, and she is amazing. Such love for the kids, and this fun, playful, affectionate relationship with each of them. She got really emotional when it was time for us to go, and I said I would be back to visit her again. Last time I was there and she was taking a number of kid's temps with an under the arm thermometer I told her I would try to bring her something quicker. I took her a digital one that goes in the ear and she and the nurse were delighted.
The highlight for me was one of Meklit's friends praying over her. I have it on video as well as a number of the songs, so I don't know what she said, but it was so sweet.


After the party we went to see the big kids at the other compound.
They too are a delight, and their singing was beautiful.
The staff person who was with us and took us back to the guest house was very sweet, and very committed to teaching the kids.
She led the songs that she has taught them, and then led prayers for Meklit and our family that were so full of passion and faith. Wow!

Day 2 - Back to Layla

After yet another bad night of sleep in Addis (for me that is, Meklit slept like a baby), Ted, Meklit and I headed to Layla for breakfast again. This morning it was bread with peanut butter and sweet, hot tea. The food is good, but the company is better than can be imagined.

When I had picked up Meklit, Gail recommended that I take her to a hair salon to get her ready for her going away party, and then for the trip home. What Gail hasn't seemed to figure out yet is that she has the best salon in town. I went to Tigist after breakfast and asked if she would braid Meklit's hair for her. She, Tsion and some of the other girls washed, combed out and then braided her hair beautifully. Have I said I adore these girls yet?

They had fun doing what they do best, gabbing, giggling and braiding hair - such a social event for them, and I got to hang out and play with the kids. I got in some b-ball time with some of the younger boys which was lots of fun.

I even sat through an Ethiopian History class with one of the Group 4/5 classes. Julie Hehn is the director of the Layla school, and she has done a wonderful job as have the teachers, and the work these kids do is tough. Not an easy task to teach a group of kids, some of whom will be there a while, and others a very short time. They are doing a great job.

My class time was rewarded by being invited to join the teachers for tea and cookies during break. I can see why this was one of Denise's fun times of the day.

Lunch was sega wat, green beans and more delightful injera. It is so funny to see these kids who do not want to eat ANYTHING green. I think it is universal. Marta is that way, and a bunch of the other older girls too. I thought they were great, and they were not impressed at all. There was one older kitchen mother who was really getting after the kids and making them all take a scoop of beans. Then the other kids who liked them would come later and help the now sad kids by taking them off their plate when grumpy kitchen mother wasn't looking.

We stayed and played through the afternoon, and then got a ride to Meklit's orphanage for her going away party.

First Day In Addis

***Again, this post was written on the trip, just not posted until now with pictures added.***

Without the jitters of meeting Meklit for the first time I thought I would do better, but as soon as I woke up the first time (at 4:30) I was done. My mind started racing about all the other kids I would meet or be reunited with, and there was nothing to do but get up.

I jumped in the shower, met Ted Burton, grabbed a cup of coffee (thanks Salina – she couldn’t sleep either) and then Ted and I headed for Layla. As I told Salina I had already met my kid, so I didn’t have to wait for Gail to come and take me somewhere, so Ted and I went to have breakfast with the kids at Layla.

That is my new favorite place ever to eat breakfast. I finally found out about the bread Marta had been trying to describe, and learned why she likes her tea 2/3 tea 1/3 sugar, which is the way they serve it at breakfast. Or you can have hot milk with lots of sugar some days.

I love to share meals with the kids. It is such a social time, and they are all there, and every meal I sit with a new group so you get a chance to talk to some kids you wouldn’t otherwise. I never want to eat breakfast in Ethiopia anywhere else.

After breakfast I played soccer with some kids, and Ted showed them how to ride his wave board. Think skateboard with only 2 wheels that freespin in any direction and the board has a pivot point in the middle so it twists and turns too. From a non-skater/skier type like me it looks impossible and like many trips to the ER waiting to happen. Needless to say he was a huge hit with the boys.

I was at Layla for ~2 ½ hours before Gail came to bring Salina to meet her little guy, and I rode back to the guest house with them and then on to pick up Meklit from her orphanage. My travel was such short notice that they had their wires crossed, so she had gone to school that day and had to be driven back to meet me. Poor thing had not much time to get ready for me, but she did great.

I met her van and she smiled at me when I called her name, then I swooped her up and smooched both cheeks like I was doing at the end of our last visit. Her smile and giggle told me she didn’t forget either. She changed out of her uniform (rabbit trail here – all the school kids in Ethiopia wear uniforms which are provided by the parents or in this case the orphanage, so why can’t we seem to pull this off in the US?!) and we were off to the guest house to start getting warmed up again.

We were going to go out for lunch, but the guest house cook had the place smelling so good that I couldn’t pass on her mesir wat, potatoes and injera. If you sign up she will make you lunch and/or dinner, and your bill at the end of your stay reflects the meals you eat as well as drinks, etc. Last time I didn’t eat at the guest house at all, but we were so tired and it smelled so good, and she had made enough for all of us, so we stayed in. So good. Nice chewy sour injera. Mmmm…

In the afternoon we hired Dawit to drive us to the Hilton’s Ethiopian Air office to verify our return tickets. If you don’t, chances are your tickets will be cancelled and you will have to buy them for a later flight. Crazy as it sounds, it is Ethiopia. Then we went shopping at 2 different stores, had everything we needed for the trip done, and went back and napped, ate dinner, and went to bed. I was so tired, and Meklit must have been too because she slept for 2 hours in the late afternoon and then slept all night.

The highlights of the day were many. First of all was getting Meklit. She is so shy, and literally won’t say a word to me. She spoke 4 words to me that I remember on my last trip, and I was so shocked that I don’t have the slightest idea what her voice sounds like. I know she understands some English, but she isn’t about to prove it to me.

Then there was meeting the kids I grew to love in December. While all of the kids are wonderful and fun, I really got to know the older ones, mostly the girls who were Marta’s friends and classmates. They were all shocked to see me, and it was fun to see their different reactions. Some were quiet and shy, while others literally jumped into my arms and hugged me for all they were worth.

Also it is always fun to get to know the other families at the guest house, and hear their stories about how we came to be sharing a roof in the middle of Ethiopia. I really hit it off with Ted, and through our conversations of the day we figured out that our stories of building our families through adoption are very similar. His daughter who came home last summer is Meklit’s close friend, and he is here visiting a very sweet 12 year old who is Marta’s friend and will come home soon. Since we live close to each other the girls will have the opportunity to remain close while growing up, and our families will certainly grow closer too. What great people.

Off Again

***This post was written on the trip, just not posted until now, so things are a little out of order - oh well.***

This trip to Addis seems almost surreal. Getting the news on Wednesday, leaving town Friday for an early Saturday flight, there hasn’t really been time to process it all. It seems odd. Part of it must be that this trip is different though. There are no butterflies about meeting Meklit for the first time, because I have already done that. No jitters of the unknown-ness of going to Addis for the first time - been there. I know the guest house, the airport, the restaurants, how to get around, so none of those things need to be worried about.

It felt so strange that I had to send a last minute email to Erin just to make sure that the ticket, passport and money I have with me are really the only things I need. No paperwork, no appointments, nothing. Just pick her up, hang out for a couple days and fly home. I think the only thing scheduled will be her going away party.

I am sitting in the airport in Washington DC waiting another 3 hours for the flight from here to Addis to leave. I have a fresh outlook on flight lengths, so the trip here from Portland seems like a hop rather than a long flight. Maybe it is all perspective because my rear end didn’t even get sore. If only I could say that after this next flight.

I sat next to a Dr. from a Christian medical relief agency on the way here from Portland. His wife is Ethiopian, from Addis. The regularity that these connections happen doesn’t even surprise me anymore. We had a great conversation once we got over the American habit of not talking to the people sitting next to you. I hate that and regularly practice it at the same time.

Another cool connection is that Ted Burton will be staying at the guest house at the same time I will be there. He is going to be spending time with an older girl at Layla that his family is adopting, but the cool connection is that he is the dad of Meklit’s close friend who went home last summer. They live near Portland, so we can get the girls together, and now they are adopting one of Marta’s friends too, so it will be fun to get to know him.

Last night we drove over to Portland so that this morning’s 5 am trip to the airport didn’t have to start at 3, and everyone has so much fun playing in the pool. Playing hard is a good way to start a week away from Lisa and the kids. Protect them while I am gone Lord.

Home With Meklit

Meklit and I got home late last night. What ever you do, if you can avoid a 3 day stay in Addis do it. The trip there, 3 long days to try and do what you want, followed by the trip home is just about enough to kill you.

This is a picture of 2 of Marta's close friends, Tsion and Rahel, and Meklit, a newer girl Maria and I in "J" class hanging out. Then picture of Meklit and Rahel. These older girls are just so amazing, and really adore Meklit. They took her everywhere with them while we were at Layla.

We had a great time, spent almost all of our time at Layla with the kids, and had a completely awful, emotional time leaving. I was a wreck and wanted to take so many home with us, but couldn't this time. I did tell them that I would be back though...

Exhale...

Finally able to breath out (as in I have been holding my breath for a long time now) we can happily say that Meklit's waiver is done, and we can now bring her home. There are no appointments or forms or fees or hoops to jump through, just come get her. So, I leave this Saturday the 10th, will have her on Monday, and we fly back out on Wed the 15th returning to Portland on the evening of the 16th. It makes it only a 3 day stay in Addis, which is about a year less than I would prefer, but with work and the ability to get on planes it was either now or the end of the month, so here we go again.

Now to the packing.

Our Sweet Girl

It has been nearly 2 months since we left Meklit, and I am thinking that in the next couple weeks we will get word that I can go and bring her home.

That is the very glass is half full side of me talking, but it sounds really good to me. We were thinking all along that it would be about 2 months, and have been praying it would be no more than that, so we are ready God - just have them give us a call...

One Year Ago

Last year at this time my son Jeff, our friend Jan and I had just returned from China with Song.

We were there for 2 weeks, spending time in Nanjing, a visit to Suzhou (his city), and in Guangzhou.

Our last full day in Guangzhou was my birthday, and we ate dim sum to celebrate, played on the playground and drank our last hot ginger cokes.

The day before we received Song's US Visa, which was a happy day. (If you couldn't tell.)

The morning of the 27th we got up early for checkout and the customary red sofa pictures, and began our long journey home.

It was a long fever filled trip for Song, but the greeting of Mom and family made it all worth while. We had known about Song and first tried to begin the process of adopting him 27 months earlier, so Lisa's smile was well earned.

He has been home a year now, and has made such progress. When we met him his only English words were "hello" and "good morning" which we heard maybe a thousand times while there, and now he talks non-stop in English, with very little accent.

He is learning braille, rides a bike, swims, and so many other things. The new things and wonders of parenting are different with adopted kids, but no less joyful or amazing.

Meklit

The purpose of my first trip to Addis was to bring Marta home. The other purpose was to get to know Meklit so that my second trip to bring her home, alone, would be a success. Everything else I did and experienced was gravy.

Meklit. First thing was pronounciation. Meh-kleet, as in baseball cleat is how you say it. Early on we thought it was Mary, but it is obvious from Marta that she has never been called Mary, and they don't even know where it came from. So Meklit it is.

I don't think she was expecting me, and my first moments with her were right after school (she gets back at ~4pm) and she was just changing out of her school uniform. All I can say is overwhelming. This picture is from a different day, but the super shy, bashfull, doe eyed, I'm not going to speak to you look is all I got that day I think.

By Wednesday I think, and definitely by Thursday she was warmed up to me and would sit on my lap, let me cuddle and tickle and play games with her, and there were even a couple times when she came to me rather than Marta. I feel so much better about going back alone to bring her home.

I wasn't too sure what to expect personality wise. I had heard plenty of talk about princess, and pistol, and center of the universe, atleast in her eyes, and didn't really see any of that. Not that I don't think it is all true, I just didn't see it myself.

What I did see was an adorable, shy little girl, with a very sweet smile, who is probably trying to figure out what is going on. She doesn't have the experience of Marta, or the exposure to a steady flow of families coming to bring kids home, so I can understand what she is uncertain of. Soon though her perspective will change.

She did get to spend a couple nights at the guest house with us that we didn't expect, so that won't be new to her when it is her turn. The big change will be no Marta, and I don't know how much English she knows, and then the ordeal of the plane trip.

Above is Hanna getting her ready for school, and then saying goodbye to us on Friday morning when we took her back in the morning so she could get off to school. I didn't get a chance to talk to Hanna very much, but she is so good with the kids, and I know they all adore her. She takes Meklit and 2 others to public school each day as they are the oldest.