My Life. My Story. My Chaos.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Ethiopia: Day 3: Part 2

Finally, we turn the corner and head down an alley way. People were lying in the rocks, sleeping....malnourished dogs walking up and down. The road was rough, then we look to the side and see beautiful paintings on the outside of the wall. We realize that we have arrived.....my heart is in my throat and I have a hard time containing my emotions.

We see these iron doors and then they open....we hear squeals and screams of delight and as I looked out the door.....children are EVERYWHERE! They are screaming, laughing, jumping up and down....trying to get their hand to touch mine through the window of the van. I climb out, only to be surrounded by 30 little people clamoring to touch us and to be hugged and held....I look up and there he is, Abinet........my heart is now out of my chest beating a mile a minute. I look at Bart and I say........"there he is, there is our son!" We walk over and he clearly isn't feeling well. We sit on the ground and just stare. All the busyness just fades away and it is like it is just me, Bart and Abinet in the world. I long for my other kids to be here, to savor this moment with me. I couldn't speak, I didn't want to frighten him and grab him and hug him. So, there we sat.

Soon, he warmed up to us...we were already to grab him and jaunt back to the US. Since, that wasn't an option, we opted on playing soccer with our little man. Bart played with him for the longest time, while I just sat in aah of God's glorious provisions and answered prayers. Then, it was my turn to play. I'm clearly not a soccer player and my son clearly is LOL. He doesn't speak any English, so we are doing great with sign language. He loved it when I threw the ball and he'd bounce it off his chest or off his head. He began to get very good at sign language since our communication was not a whole lot to be desired :)

The nannies were amazing and they love the children oh, so much. They were kind and caring of each child. They did their best with what they are given. There are a lot of kids there and there are so many needs. We fell in love with all of the children there, but Abinet stole our hearts...........as did the beautiful country of Ethiopia.

When we had to go, we were picked up and then headed to the Zebra Grill. It was a colorful restaurant with very good food. They also had toilet paper, which was a huge plus. The view from the restaurant was gorgeous...you could see so much of the city. This is where we had our first taste of injera....it was...interesting....a spongy type of bread that had a vinegary taste to it. I didn't know you were supposed to dip it in something...I ate it, just by picking on it. Blech, bad idea. The funny part was, as we were sitting there, we starting hearing Dolly Parton, Randy Travis and Shania Twain LOL. We travel 1/2 way across the world to hear country music played at the Zebra Grill.

After we left there, we fought traffic to make it to Woudneh's office. We needed to fill out more paperwork. His office was in a big building with lots of other small businesses. It was a busy place. Woudneh was clearly having an issue with something, so he worked on his business and we worked on paperwork. One of our fellow peeps, discovered that there was no toilet paper in the bathroom.....LOL....I'll just leave at that. We also learned that toilet paper is a prized possession and that you brought it with you and took it back with you got down with your business LOL...

We met a lovely man, Solomon (a foolish Solomon, not the wise one). He helped with our paperwork and he informed us that he was creating a life history of our kids, complete with DVD of where our kiddoes lived. Wow, fantastic! I've got to remember to send him a video...need to do that. Once we got done with that, we headed back to the Crown. We all sat in the teapot room and had the best coffee, ever..along with popcorn :) The floor was covered with fragrant grass and the coffee was hand ground and then heated up over open coals. The young lady was a beauty and very funny. She informed me that she was married and had been for 13 yrs. She seemed so young to be married for that long. She also has and 8 yr. old child. We sat, talked and laughed. She took me outside to show me the "just grass" that smelled so good. Then I happened to look up and saw a beautiful yellow flower. I asked about and she gently looked at me and said "I give you flower if you take my child to America. You adopt her." My heart sank as she looked so hopeful. I explained that I couldn't do that....it was so hard...so sad.

We all were tired and so we all headed to bed.............Day 4 coming soon to a blog near you :)

RAD Moment

Taking time out of my Ethiopian moment to have a reality check of the horrors of RAD (reactive attachment disorder).

Can I just say....it SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry if you are reading this, mom, I know how terribly you hate that word).

The lies.............the ongoing lies that NEVER SEEM TO STOP!

Lie #1...."Who wrote on the wall?" The 5 not me's all hollered at the same time. Well, in a process of elimination, I could knock out Bug, Peach and Catfish. There stood Boo and G. I looked and the writing was too good to be Boo's, so he was eliminated and there she stood. "I didn't do it! I didn't do it! I would NEVER write on the walls! I might have done it, but I don't remember writing on the walls. I know I didn't do it. Really, I promise, I'm not lying!" So, knowing that she did do it, I told her to go to the living room and wait for her discipline. Before that ensued, she confessed.

Lie #2...."Why did you constantly throw your jacket off the back of the hayride?" ... G "I didn't do it, it just fell...who told you I did that...I promise I didn't do it." Ms. XXX saw you do it, is she lying? "Yes, can I talk to her because I know that I didn't do it. I swear. I'm not lying." Today, as she is being disciplined (again) for another lie...I ask this same question again....her response "yes, I lied, yes, I threw it off again and again because I wanted to see what would happen."

Lie #3...Bug walks into the dining room WITH MY CABINET DOOR IN HER HAND. Me "What happened", Bug "I don't know, it was laying in the floor." I call G in the dining room, "what happened?" G..."I don't know, I wasn't even in there (bear in mind that she had been cleaning the kitchen for the last 2 hrs, so yes, she was in the kitchen). I could eliminate Boo and Catfish, they were outside. Peach was in the living room and Bug was in the bathroom...only other person left is me and G. "I didn't do it, I swear. I wasn't even in there. It wasn't me...I'm not lying!!!!!!!!!!!" So, I ask her again. She confesses. Her intentions (in summation of her long drawn out confession) was to sit it back up, let someone else take "break it" and then let them take the blame.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This crap NEVER ENDS! I'm raising a pathological liar who cares about no one else. She just wants the world to revolve around her.

I'm tired, irritated, wondering what I have done wrong, why can't I fix this.....will it ever get better, will she end up in jail because of her lying ways.

I'm simply tired..........completely and utterly tired of this constant CRAP!

***now, back to the regularly scheduled blog posts on my trip to Africa***

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ethiopia: Day 3: Part 1

This is a view from our hotel window. The TeaPot room was where we had the BEST cup of coffee!

This is where the bar is, the "American" food restaurant and the "Cultural" restaurant. We had breakfast and supper here every night with our friends.

This is the inside of the American restaurant.

Views on the way to the orphanage.

Views on the way to the orphanage.

HERE HE IS!!!!!!!!!

Look at that sweet face!

Loving on mommy...we were looking at his picture book.

He *loves* to be held.

Giving daddy a hug :)

First family picture....keeping the other 5 kiddoes in our hearts! Wishing they were there.

Kalab (a sweet little 8 yr. old boy) was helping Abinet to figure out who was who.

Resting with mommy.

He took his own picture :)

This was the view from the Zebra Grill, where we ate lunch on the second day.

The Zebra Grill was VERY colorful. The food was wonderful and there was toilet paper!

The homeless that were sleeping in the median of the road.

Some of the school children, in their uniforms.

New construction building and yes, the scaffolding was made out of wood :/

Traffic Laws? NONE. We saw one stoplight and one stop sign. Other than that, it was a game of chicken.

Denise and Eric Veal :) Their daughter is at the same orphanage as our son.

Woudneh...could you not just eat him up! Such a precious man and has a love and a passion for what he does.

This sweet young lady made our coffee in the Teapot Room.

The lady, above, gave me this flower in exchange for me taking our child to America and adopting her :(

Today was the day...they day that dreams are made of. The day that I've held in my heart, since I was a child. The day that we meet our son. WOW! We all met in the restaurant, upstairs and ate breakfast (they do make fabulous omelets). The conversation was light, the nerves and emotions were on the surface of all of us.

Here comes Woudneh, ready to take us on our trip. The Monks' left with their trusted driver. They had anticipated spending the night in Nazret, where their boys are, but due to some unforeseen issues, they were not able to spend the night, but they did stay all day long and enjoy the company of those sweet boys. Yonas, our rockstar driver, loaded the rest of us up and off we went. He spoke very little english, but he has such kind eyes and a sweet sweet smile. He was an excellent driver!

We all tried to remain calm, not knowing how long our trip would be. We tried to take pictures of what we saw and video, but we were all so uncertain of this crazy traffic, that it was quite mesmerizing. 2 lane roads turned into 3 or 4 lane roads....I could touch the people in the vehicles next to me. The cheap gas, that was used, caused a lot of exhaust and the fumes made for very dry lips, mouth and lungs...we were all coughing and snotting throughout this whole trip.

The people lying in the median of the street....homeless...barely clothed...no food...no shelter. It was humbling beyond belief. If we stopped, for some reason, women with babies, children and elderly would come up to the window begging for food or money. We weren't allowed to give them anything due to the strict laws forbidding it. It was almost more than I could bear, having to turn them away. At one point, not sure what day it was, I was looking out one side of the van, only to not notice this 8 yr. old boy, his mom and her baby standing outside of my window...politely waiting. I turned and their appearance surprised me and I let out a bit of a squeal. It scared them and me :) I quickly apologized for frightening them, they were laughing at the mishap. I couldn't let them go without food...I was picturing Boo looking to someone else for food and my heart was captured. I gave them crackers, all I had, and before I knew it there was a flood of beggars surrounding the van. It was so sad. I just wanted to bring them all home and feed them all.

Those images will be forever etched in my mind.................

Friday, October 29, 2010

Day 1& Day 2 - Ethiopia Bound!

At the airport in N-ville.

Vince and Kelli Monks...they are also with our agency. We were blessed to seriously bond with them and the Veals. What a blessed trip!

This is the airport at Rome. B was excited because he took a picture of a "real Italian" LOL

Airport at Rome

The Mediterrean Sea

Coast of Africa

Overview of the African plains

This was our handy dandy map that we watched.every.single.moment.of.the.17.hr.plane.ride. :)

Stunning African sunset.

Our HUGE bed at the Crown Royal Hotel

The sitting area of our room.

Our flush was a push button and our toilet paper was the hose :/ There was no toilet paper. They did bring us about 1/4 of a roll....boy, did we make that last!


Our very own hot water heater that was placed above the tub.

We were blessed to have our neighbors take us to N-ville. We certainly didn't want to drive and pay for parking, but that is minor. They were sweet enough to haul us down there. What a fun trip :)

In the N-ville airport, we had no problems getting in and through security. We ended up sitting for 3 hrs LOL....we wanted to make sure we got there, in time, with no snafus! We succeeded. The first plane was a cracker jack plane, but we made it safely to DC, in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

We got through DC's security in no time, and again, we sat...for four.long.hours. We were blessed to meet the Monks, not too long into our layover. We introduced ourselves and had a lovely chat before our long flight.

The big plane was, big....but it was so scrunched. B and I were really really close, during our trip. I mean REALLY close! I took some meds and rested for part of the trip, but in true nature of the Ethiopian culture, the flight attendants were very attentive...even when we were sleeping. We'd feel the SMACK SMACK SMACK...wake up, there they are...giving you food, drink or a hot cloth.

We watched 2 movies FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP.....The "New" Karate Kid and Grownups (you can only watch those 2 movies so much before you start to go a bit crazy). B tried to read and sleep. I tried to work some puzzle books and sleep...to little avail.

I finally decided to break down and go to the bathroom...sat in the shoebox on the plane and then I flushed the toilet...I wasn't prepared for the WHHHHOOOSSSSHHHHHHHHH and the force in which it flushes. I squealed, peed a bit more and then opened the door, only to come face to face with an old man (that would be my introduction to Eric Veal LOL). I know that he thought I was insane and my squealing at the flush of a toilet. That's one way to be introduced to the other family that we were to be staying with, on our trip. OOPS.

The Ethiopian airport was a bit overwhelming. It was dark, I was tired, there were people and lines everywhere.....once we all got our ducks in a row, found our luggage...we shot out the door and there he was, Mr. Ethiopia himself, Woudneh. His eyes could light up the darkest room and his smile is contagious. He immediately put us at ease. Off we all went, us, the Veals and the Monks'.....our adventure was beginning.

Woudneh took us straight to the hotel, which was lovely. We settled in our room and then B and I decided to go to the "traditional" restaurant. There was live music and the most stunning dancing I've ever seen. The food was spicy, so we didn't eat alot of it. We were simply mesmerized at the dancing. Finally, we decided to head to our room and we slept...oh did we sleep....

.....to be continued......

Pre-Ethiopia

Cooking cooking and more cooking. A mess of pancakes, enough lunches to last and 7 suppers. Getting it all ready!

I love having the chalkboard painted on my kitchen wall. Makes for easy message making.


Got the kids meds all lined out, with notes attached to everything!

Can I just say, I had the best caregivers EVER while we were gone. My kids were never alone, never wanting attention or love and they got all their schoolwork done, which is a feat, in itself :) No one missed a beat. We didn't have a busy schedule planned, while we were gone, but there were still things like therapy and church that had to be attended too. I was so at ease, even with lack of phone communication, with the children. The Lord saw fit to allow everything to come together smoothly. I was pleased to have some internet access and text messaging to get me through the "I miss my kids" moments :) A humble THANK YOU to all who helped whether physically, spiritually or any other way! My family thanks you, from the bottom of our hearts.