Saturday, February 6, 2010
Family Blog
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Quick Update
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Ethiopia Trip Day Eight (Saturday)
Then we were home!!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Ethiopia Day Seven (Friday)
As we previously posted, we did not make it out of Ethiopia on Thursday as we had expected. We ended up spending a lot more time in this airport than anticipated. We got to bed around 3:30 in the morning after not getting on the plane Thursday night. We were both still sick and at this point completely exhasted. We decided that it would be a good idea to head to the airport to check in really early to ensure we would be able to leave and wouldn't have any further visa problems. We got to the airport around 3pm and no one from Lufthansa was there to check us in. They are only in their office from 11:30 at night to 2am every other day when the flights leave Ethiopia. Wes, our driver and translator, was able to find a phone number for the Lufthansa office in Addis Ababa and called to verify if they would let us on the plane flying through Germany. She said no. We would need a visa. The German embassy was already closed and wouldn't be open again until Monday. Almaz called them as well and talked her into agreeing that we should be let on the plane but told us it would be up to whoever was at the ticket counter that night.
We both just felt we HAD to get home that day. The trip had been hard and getting stuck there was just that much harder. We decided we were just going to buy new tickets on a direct flight through Ethiopian airlines for $2,500 and fight for a refund from our travel agent when we got back. We were in line with our card ready to pay when Wes ran up and said the director of Lufthansa called him back and said we could get on the plane and that he would leave a note with the ticket counter. We decided to trust the director and had Wes take us back to our hotel. We arrived back at the airport at 11:30 pm and had no problem getting on our flight. The woman at the ticket counter had our name and put us on the flight.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ethiopia Trip Day Six (Thursday)
Day Six – We go home today! John woke up with whatever I had yesterday and stayed in bed while I took one last trip to Hannah’s Hope to give out the stickers and candy we had brought with us. Tibebu got one last chance to say goodbye to his special mothers and I got to spend some more time with the older children. Hannah’s Hope is an amazing place. I really have nothing but great things to say about anything I saw while at Hannah's Hope. The special mothers give one on one attention to each child and jump to their every need. I can not imagine how difficult their jobs are for them. They are dealing with constant transition and children coming from all different backgrounds and languages. They do it with the ultimate grace. The new orphanage was clean and brightly decorated. Almaz, the orphanage director, was everything everyone said she would be. She is a beautiful no nonsense Ethiopian woman that has a heart of gold for these children. She knew them all by name along with descriptions of their particular situations. We all felt truly blessed to have had our children so well cared for prior to coming home.
Front of Hannah's Hope
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Tibebu's Crib while at Hannah's Hope
One of Tibebu's Special Mothers
Infant Boys room at Hannah's Hope
View from upstairs balcony at Hannah's Hope
Downstairs Play room at Hannah's Hope
Middle Courtyard
Another special mother of Tibebu's
Older girls room
Almaz
Johannes and Wes with Tibebu. They are on staff with Hannah's Hope as well and were so great during our trip.
Tibebu's first bath with Mommy
Ethiopia Trip Day Five (Wednesday)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Ethiopia Trip Day Four (Tuesday)
This morning we woke up at 7 and got ready to go do some shopping. The plan was to drop the kids off at the orphanage as the government urges families of adoptive children to not take them out in public while in Ethiopia. I think this is mostly due to the potential of some bad press.
We dropped off Tibebu and took the ride through the city to a market where we power shopped for an hour and a half, trying to find whatever we could that we thought might be important to him later in life. The market was very similar to markets I had been to in other countries with many similar items.
We did our shopping then ate at an Italian restaurant. This was clearly a very fancy upscale restaurant for Addis Ababa.
By this point we had gotten to know our travel group pretty well so it was fun to have a day out without the kids to get to know eachother better and swap stories. Came to find out, day three was a hard day for most of us. Transition is hard. Taking care of a baby is hard. Transitioning and taking care of a baby in a foreign country is really hard. All of us ladies had had breakdowns on day three and four. Whether it is the lack of sleep or the strange food or the lack of comforts, these days in Ethiopia have been difficult.
This morning, I sat on the bed crying to John that I didn’t feel well and Tibebu was snotting, couphing, drooling, ect. John looked at me, coughing, drooling, snotting and said, “Well what do you think he thinks of you?” I am having a hard time distinquishing between being in this foreign place as being hard or adopting a child as being hard. It is probably a little bit of both. So many emotions are swirling around in my head and this is the day they decided to come tumbling out. It was a good day for a break from the kids. We are so thankful to be with a group of parents going through the same things as we are.
We got back to Hannah’s Hope to pick up Tibebu and found him freshly bathed, eating his bottle and falling asleep for his nap. He is very loved among the special mothers and their faces just light up when we come into the room with him. He had no problem coming back with us and seemed happy to see his strange white parents again.
We got back to the hotel, played a bit then John and Tibebu went to bed and I met some of the other ladies in our group for drinks and French fries (the only thing on the menu that I could stomach at this point). It was great to hear more about their lives and their children.
I went to bed feeling like a cold was coming on and woke up with a high temperature.