Day 5: Dhera Part 1

Tuesday, December 5

This is a day that I will NEVER forget.  I have put off blogging about this because it was a very personal journey for me. One that is etched in my heart and mind, forever.  The images, the people...beauty and sadness wrapped up into one.

We were greeted, by Abinet, first thing in the morning.  Such a sweet way to wake up.  We got up, got dressed and headed down to breakfast.  Abinet had another drs appt, for his physical...the day prior was just for his TB skin test.  We knew he would be gone, all day, so we didn't hesitate to say yes to Betty in taking us to Dhera.

These are some of the landscape pictures on the way to Dhera.

There were a boat load of these little contraptions.....I must say, I want one in bright yellow!

Dhera is about 2 hrs away from Addis, but the drive wasn't too bad.  The weather was gorgeous and the traffic was lighter than usual.  The people, who had come for George W was now gone (praise God).  The scenery, along the trip was amazing.  In the fields, you could see people laying down, some people were working, but there were people peppered everywhere.  In lieu of other drivers, there were masses of cattle. Just standing the road.  Some sheep herds and herders, a few donkeys and a couple of horses.  This has been the most livestock we had seen. 

This lovely man wanted his picture made in lieu of a pack of crackers.

As we were driving down the road to Dhera...Aschu pulled over and there were Baboons on the side of the road...just sitting there, minding their own business.  Baboons!  Like, not in the zoo!  It was fantastic!

This is another way to haul sheep.  There were wooden bars across the bed of the truck and the sheep were straddling the bars.

There were several horse and "buggies" hauling everything from tons of people, to bails of hay to water bottles.

This is the market at Dhera

Betty works for an organization called Hope Arising (please visit their site at http://www.hopearising.org for information on how you can provide for one person 2 meals a day for a whole month for only $20).  Anyway, Betty wanted us to see what these families have accomplished through the help of Hope Arising. 

The first family, was of 2 beautiful girls, 14 & 10.  They lived alone because their father had died.  Hope Arising came in and built them a room (made of mud) off the back of their little shanty house.  The girls didn't feel safe with sleeping so close to the main road where anyone could come in.  Now, they can rest easy.  These pretty girls make coffee mats for the coffee ceremonies.

These girls touched my heart.  They are the same age as 2 of my girls.  I look at my kids and I try and put them in the same situation as these sweet beauties.  It saddens my heart to know that they are all alone, in this world.  They have no family to depend on, no one but each other.  One girl could possibly be placed for adoption, but the adoption of older kids is very very difficult.  Everyone wants a baby or "youngest as possible".  I've never been that person.  Maybe it is because God blessed us with biological children, I don't know.  I just know that these girls would thrive and be a joy to any family willing to step out of their comfort zone and choose the blessing of adoption of older children.

This is their bedroom...completely with girly-girl comfortable and pictures of boys LOL

Is she not beautiful!  For $20 a day, you can make sure she eats 2 meals every day for a month!

This is the other girl and a neighbor boy...he was EDIBLE!

This is the "alley" where you get to the girls room.

Remember, go to http://www.hopearising.org and see how you can help these girls or other people in the same situation as these precious beauties!  If you are interested in adoption, please email me at bart.brandi@mchsi.com and I will be more than thrilled to talk with you.  Give hope to a child/ren.  

If you are a believer, you were adopted into the family of Jesus.  Adoption is talked about in Scripture.  It isn't for everyone.  Believe me, I know that too.  You may not be called to adopt, but you are commanded to do something.  Don't eat out one day a week, save that money and then use it to feed children and families who have nothing.  $20/mth will feed one person 2 meals a day!  Please prayerfully consider what you can do to further the Kingdom of Christ.

Day 3 & Day 4

Sunday, December 3 


This day was spent playing with the kids, holding precious babies, eating delicious food, napping and getting to know our sweet sweet son.
Other than just being with my son, the highlight was seeing Betty, Dagim, Yodahe, Hermon and Balem....missed Betty so very badly was thrilled to see her and the children.  She was Abinet's mommy for 13 mths and Dagim came and played with him, often.  I am forever grateful for them and for their love.


Monday, December 4


EMBASSY DAY!

Today is the day.  We come down to breakfast and find Abinet peaking in the door.  Woudneh is there, as well.  We had to leave early because Embassy is on the other side of the city and with the 10,000 extra people, traffic was horrible.

We ate breakfast and gave Abinet some juice and some toast.  Woudneh wanted to know if we had confirmation from Embassy and we didn't.  All we had was their intention to see us, not a solidified time :/  Woudneh made some calls and he said that it should be okay, if it isn't, then to have them call Woudneh.  Panic.  We didn't have confirmation and Woudneh would not be going with us.  He was sending one of his workers...whom we had never met :/  


To ease my nerves, sweet Betty came.  I just love her. We piled up in the van with Ashu, a wonderful driver (I'm sure I butchered the spelling of his name).  Betty asked if we had bags, in case of vomit.  Uhm, my thought was heck no....I don't do vomit.  Panic, again.  She got us a couple of bags and sent us on our way.  Abinet was not thrilled about the seatbelt and the I was thrilled about the knowledge that he hadn't been in a vehicle in over a year and had just eaten.  Traffic was beyond horrible and the fumes are hard.  I kept the window open and eventually.  He kept pulling at his seatbelt and looking at me to save him.  I told Big Daddy that I felt he was fixing to puke and before we could get the bag open, projectile.....out and all over him.  We stopped, to pick up Abenezer, just as I was dry heaving to myself.  I kept my head turned and tried to pull out my supply of wipes and toilet paper.  *note to self:  toilet paper sticks to vomity clothes, don't do that again.*  We set off again, and luckily, the embassy wasn't too far from Woudneh's office.  I was kicking myself at A)not holding the bag tight enough and B) not bringing him some extra clothes.  Ashu said not to worry, that he would clean it all up.  He was amazing.  


We got to the embassy and wiped off the chunks.  The wind was blowing, a bit, so I know that Abinet was cool.  We got in, no trouble and waiting for our number to be called.  It was number 400.  The sign was on number 143 :/  Big Daddy took Abinet to the bathroom and to attempt to clean him up.  We weren't sure where our interview would be held...at the window or behind closed doors.  We sat by a play area and Abinet was perked up enough to go and play.  Abenezer was called up to the front and when he came back he said their was a problem...that Abinet's medical had expired and that they could not issue his visa until that was done.  


They finally called us up, explained the situation and said that we needed to get him into the office, today.  He had to have a TB skin test and that takes 48-72 hrs to process and we were leaving on Thursday.  She asked us a few questions and then she shared what the interview contained with Abinet's birth mom, Tadelech.  It hurts my heart.  Her sacrifice and where she and the other children might be today.  We are shown his passport and then told that we couldn't have anything else until after his medical.


We head out, feeling anxious and relieved, all at the same time.  We stopped, on the side of the road, and a lovely woman came up to take Abinet to the office, with Abenezer and they were heading to the clinic.  We couldn't go with him, so Ashu took us back to the transition house.  We took pictures of our room:

and then we took a nap.  We ate lunch, loved on the other children and attempted to skype and email.  We didn't leave the transition house other than for Big Daddy and the Bambricks who walked down to a market to get some bottled water.


Abinet didn't return until about 4:30p, so he had had a long long day.  We immediately took him upstairs and cleaned him up and changed his pants.  Let's just say, he didn't want to wear the puke pants (understandably) and he didn't want to wear the pants that he had on, from the transition house.  He wanted a new clean pair of pants.  Big Daddy wasn't back, yet, so I had to deal with a serious meltdown over these pants.  I didn't have enough for the rest of the week and the pants that he had had on were clean.  He fought me, he threw himself in the floor.  He walked around with his pants half on and half off.  He is a strong little sucker and he was not happy. Lots and lots of big tears.  He was exhausted and it showed.

This was of him trying to get his pants off.  He wouldn't let me take any other pics...he kept turning his head. Finally, Big Daddy got back and I informed him that "his son" was having a moment and he needed to deal with it.  This is how that played out:

A tickle fest, ensued and all was well, in the world.  There wasn't much left, at the end of the day.  Supper for little man, bath (which consists of the kids sitting on the sidewalk and a nanny coming with a bucket, water and soap.   They washed their arms, legs and face..then lotioned them up).  Then bed.  It was a long day.  

Day 2

Saturday, December 3


We began circling Bole, ET.  My heart rate was up and nerves were kicking in.  Would he remember me?  Would he be frightened?  What was I walking into?  The not so nice seat lady was trying to be encouraging.


We got off the plane and we blew through immigration and found our bags.  So thankful that they made it...relief.  We move through the crowd of people waiting for their loved ones and we realize that our Woudneh, wasn't there.  We couldn't find him.  Panic didn't even have a chance to ensue because when we looked up, there he was!  So very excited to see our friend.  He looked wonderful and his smile is that of a happy man, who loves his job.


He told us that George W was in town and that there were about 10,000 extra people, so the motels were booked, restaurants were booked, traffic was way worse, police were everywhere, as well as, military people.  He was right.  We saw more police officers than ever.  I think, last trip, we saw 1 officer.  There were a few military people surrounding the local park.  This time, they were everywhere.  They were carrying big guns.  The traffic was atrocious.  That part, I totally didn't miss.  


Woudneh said that Abinet was excited, but that he was still unsure if Woudneh was telling the truth.  He told us to be sure and give us our cameras, so he could take pictures/video.


West Sands Transition house isn't that far from Bole.  We turned the corner and the gates opened.  There as a the guest house and behind was were the kids stay. There were no children...anywhere.  Quite different from the orphanage where they are everywhere and climbing all over you, as soon as you pull in.  

I look to my right and see the nannies walking out of a room in the transition house. They had Abinet, in hand, walking with them.  He was wearing white pants, shoes, oxford and pull over vest.  He was carrying a bouquet of fresh flowers.  His smile was all over his face and I heard Woudneh say "don't get out yet".  I heard him, but didn't listen :)  I jumped out and sat on the ground.  Abinet ran to my arms and the joy..I can't even express the joy that I felt.  I thanked the nurses/nannies but I couldn't keep my eyes off of him.  He was beautiful.




We, eventually, went into the transition and explored the items that we brought.  He was so tickled to see the toys and the coloring book, but his favorite was the zhu zhu pet.  He really liked that.  We sat down to eat breakfast, which was delicious.  It was a veggie omelet, toast and fresh bread.  He thoroughly enjoyed trying on every.single.item of clothing and then having us try on our clothes LOL


We went outside and commenced to playing.  Lots of playing.  He played football with his friend Meron, while I took pictures.  I also had the pleasure of loving on Habtamu, Meseka and Selam.  They are a group of 3 yr olds.  So stinkin' cute.  We also met another family, the Bambrick's.  They have adopted 2 9 mth old kids, a boy and a girl and were awaiting clearance to travel home from the embassy.  They were beginning their second week in ET.  It was nice to get to know them and their children.


We helped the kiddoes get ready for lunch and sat with them while eating their injera and red sauce.  Meron (12) was a HUGE help with Selam (the nanny).  Abinet said the prayer and it was precious.  I have no idea what he said, but he did and it blessed my heart to know that they are teaching the children about the love of God and how to be thankful, for even the smallest things.  Our lunch was amazingly good.  Such good cooks, at the transition house.  After lunch, is nap....which Big Daddy and I indulged in, as well.  Ear plugs and ambien make for a lovely nap.


After nap, was more play time and getting to know our son.  We are blessed to have a comedian, sportsman and an eater LOL  We enjoyed meeting the nannies, holding some babies and playing with our son.  The only thing that could've made this day better, was if my other 5 kiddoes could've been there.

Day 1

Friday, December 2


Filled with anticipation, excitement, a bit o vomit and some diarrhea. 


Got our bags packed, checked and rechecked.  Everything ready.  Still, no firm confirmation for our appt with Embassy.


I had a list of things for Big Daddy to do.  He didn't do most of what was on my list, but he did manage to go to Walmart, so for that, I was thankful.


About 12, my friend came to pick up my 3 Littles.  I had asked her to stay, for a while, because my sanity was at risk, therefore the children were at risk, as was Big Daddy's person.  I think I had hit an all time psychotic moment when she got here.  My saving grace, at the moment.  Luckily, she didn't mind staying and when Big Daddy called for the 413th time, he was pleased to hear that she was able to stick around and wait for him.


He finally gets home and my only request was for the downstairs toilet to be fixed.  I didn't want to have to worry about it and I didn't want our house guests to not be able to flush.  He said that he had it covered and that a friend would fix it.  Uhm, that doesn't fly with me. I don't want to depend on others to fix something I had asked him to fix.  My stress level must've been really evident because he said that it shouldn't take long and he'll get it done.  Praise God.


While he was trying to hurry with that, our ride pulled up.  So, friend here to get Littles, big girls still here because other friend wasn't home for them to go to her house, ride was here, toilet was screwed up, phone was ringing...head was pounding.


"Ride" friend was gracious enough to help with the toilet.  Littles left with girl friend.  Big girls helped haul stuff downstairs and had talked to other friend about when she would be home.  We were ready.  Car was loaded up....goodbyes were said.  Tears were shed.


Off we go.  We stopped at Clarksville, at the Hobby Lobby to pick up the one request that my Betty had asked for us to bring to ET.  We had time, Steve was willing to stop, we completed that task.  We were headed off, again, to the N-ville.  It was a completely uneventful trip.  We got to the airport and got in and out of security with no problems (other than the fingernail polish remover that got confiscated).


So, we sit, we make phone calls, send texts and wait.  The plane ride was straight through, no stopping in Rome.  We sat in the center of the plane, next to a strange woman, who wasn't the friendliest person, ever.  She did, however, get more friendly when I offered her an Ambien to help her sleep :)  I slept some, not a lot.  It is hard to sleep when there is nothing to rest your head on. Big Daddy stayed awake the whole time. Bless his heart.


A really good thing was the fact that we had a large selection of movies (adults and kids) and games on a front screen.   That helped tremendously.  It was quite warm, on the plane, but the food was decent.

Blogging from Ethiopia

We made it!  A long, smelly flight....fumes.....traffic jams......then.....perfection.  We pulled into the transition home, there was no one in sight.  I looked up and here comes my boy.  Dressed in his finest, holding the hand of a beloved nanny and in the other hand a bouquet of flowers.  

My heart.

The only way it could've been better was if the rest of the children were here.  In time, we will all be together and our new normal will begin.

He walked up to me with this grin across his face that, I swear, was brighter than the sun.  Thanks to the Son for making this all happen.  To Him be all the glory and the praise.  We loved, I cried, we hugged, then he noticed Big Daddy and went to him.  It was beautiful.  Woudneh got it all on the camcorder and took pictures of us.  I have been told by many nannies that they will be so sad to see him go, but are so thankful that we have come for him. He has been a stable here, in the Transition home...he was the first child to "break in" the new place.

We have played, hard. We have tried EVERYTHING on in our suitcase.  Lotion exploded, that brought him joy and he lotioned himself up.  We've played with toys and for now, the zhu zhu is the favorite.

Embassy went...well...I'll blog about that  later....for now, I will go love on the kids that are here and wait for my boy to get back from the doctor.

Vicki...totally blogged...be proud of me!

Love to all my kids holding down the fort and all my family and friends who are helping and praying for us.

Blessings to you all!

Ack and Blessings

Really?  This isn't the time to be feeling sick :/  I do believe, I'm getting a cold, but I refuse to acknowledge that with verbal words.  I woke up this morning with a terrible sore throat, but chalked that up to a fan blowing in my face and being a mouth breather.  I opted for a coke, at 8:30 and at almost 10:30...I still haven't finished it.  


I have this sinking feeling of sheer exhaustion.  I'm so tired.  The ending of this journey is here.  The tension that has peppered my life for the last 2 yrs is finally taking its toll.  I feel like I could cry, like a big huge ugly cry.  Yet no one to cry too.  I suppose I'll stick my face in my pillow and let 'er rip LOL  


I have prayed, I have doubted, I have struggled.  I have had highs and many many lows.  God has revealed so much to me.  In that moment, all I could say was 'Jesus' and I didn't see what He was doing.  Now, that I'm forced to sit and reflect. I can see His hand moving.  He has restored many things.  He has restored my faith, in Him.  He has made me aware that I can be angry with Him and that is okay.  I just need to verbalize that anger and then forgive, though He needs no forgiveness.  His ways are perfect, His timing is perfect.  I am in awe how He has provided for our family beginning with money for our referral.  


I was struggling, deeply, with family issues.  I was blessed to "get away" from the troubles because a dear friend offered to send me to California and see her, after 2 yrs...meet her daughter and her sweet husband.  What a gift.  What a needed respite from the chaos that surrounded me.  It gave me time to be around people who loved me, supported me and prayed, at that time, for me and my family.  The prayers that ensued gave me a peace that surpassed all understanding and it gave me clarity as to what my next step would be.  Her family surrounded me with nerdy love and acceptance.  I was never questioned, I was supported by people I had just met.  In that time, she and her husband blessed us beyond comprehension by providing the money we needed to see a picture of our son.  I was in awe of their continued gift and the fact that they oohed and ahhed over my boy :)  I will be forever grateful to Jeni and Teemu for their prayers, love and donation to officially begin my love journey to my son.  To Linda, Tim and Mike.......love you all and thank you all for your support and understanding during such a hard time.  For giving me a place to stay and for allowing me to be 'adopted' into your beautiful family.


My story continues, but right now, my boy wants to snuggle and watch a movie.  That is taking precedence over wanting to squall uncontrollably.


To be continued......from the gorgeous country of Ethiopia.


Blessings.

This time tomorrow

I WILL BE IN THE AIR HEADING TO GET MY SON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!