Ethiopia - 1st Trip - Day 4

Today was supposed to be a "sleep in" day; our first since we arrived. John and I had both gotten a good 9 hours sleep when the phone rang at 8 am. It was a call from an Adoptive Mom telling us that she just bumped into Almaz in the lobby and that Wass would be picking us up a 9 am to take us to HH. How delightful, seeing as how we weren't schedule to visit until late afternoon.

At 9 am Wass picked us up and we headed off to HH. John and I went up to Eva's room and all of the babies were awake.....except Eva. She was still asleep, wrapped up in the crocheted blanket I made for her laying on her huggybuddy stuffed animal that we had given her on the very first visit.

The Special Mothers rotate shifts every Monday, so there were 2 different mothers that we met. Special Mother Bette takes care of Eva.

As Eva was sleeping, the Special Mothers were taking the other babies outside for their "sun time". I thought Bette was either going to stay in the room with Eva while she slept or take her downstairs herself. But instead she had ME wake up Eva and carry her downstairs. Oh boy!! Here goes something! My girl was not happy at all to be woken up out of a sound sleep, much less by this lady who makes her cry every time she appears. She had a rough morning. I was not able to console her and she refused to eat. She wouldn't let me or her Special Mother feed her.She finally had to get her temperature checked. It turned out she had a low-grade fever and the doctor gave her some medicine. It looked like she was cutting a new tooth but we don't know for sure.

After Eva got her medicine, I let the Special Mother take care of her. I didn't want to stress Eva out any more that she already was. John and I just loved on all the other kids and played with them. Every once in a while we would go get a kiss. Bette was real good about always pointing out that we are Mommy & Daddy. I learned today that my daughter needs movement and music or being sung to in order to settle down.

At 11:30 we left HH and went into the middle of Addis Ababa to Mekush, an Italian restaurant. The food was wonderful and there is also an art gallery there. We were able to find a painting that is specific to the region where Eva is from. What a blessing! It's absolutely perfect.

After lunch we went shopping and had fun, fun, fun!! I should have had a list or something to work off of because I was so excited to see all of the African/Ethiopian stuff. Thankfully we didn't blow our budget :-)

We found out from the other families that there was a whole slew of shops down another street that we could have shopped at. I can't wait for trip #2! We spent about 90 minutes shopping and then Wass brought us back to the hotel for the night.

I hope Eva is feeling better.

Court day tomorrow!! 

Ethiopia - 1st Trip - Day 3

Our day started early because we had to meet Almaz at HH to fill out some paperwork for the embassy, pay the fees for Eva's visa documents, and to go over what will happen at Court. We tried to say hello to Eva (the babies were still in the courtyard when we arrived) but she just cried, so we left her alone and went to our meeting. After our meeting, we went to see Eva, but she was already taking a nap,wrapped up in the crocheted blanket that I made for her and snuggled up next to her puppy huggybuddy stuffed animal.

Having been at HH for a few days at this point, we (us & the other families) realized that we hadn't been anywhere else in HH other than our kids' room since we got here, so Almaz took us on a tour. Hannah's Hope consists of 3 buildings on the same property. So colorful and beautiful!

Famous black gates (seen from the inside)

These stairs lead to the babies' rooms

Front office where Almaz & her amazing staff work their miracles!

When we were finished with the tour, John & I went to see the Special Mothers and ask them questions about Eva's routine, products that she used to bathe her, lotion her, etc., what kind of formula, how much, how often, what kinds of food she likes and what her favorite toys are.

Soon after Danny (our HH driver for the day) told us that we had to go but that we would be back for a 2nd visit. We didn't expect that...what a nice surprise!!

We got back to HH just 90 minutes later, at 2:30 pm, and we went straight to Eva's room; however she wasn't in her crib or the room, so John and I started loving on the other babies and playing with them.  We had already decided that we were going to play with the other babies and let Eva warm up to us that way. A couple of minutes later I was led into the bathroom that connects with the room where one of the Special Mothers was giving Eva a bath. Eva's back was to me but the second that she heard my voice she started crying and thrashing to get out of the baby tub. It took both of us to keep her slippery body from crawling out. She is so strong-willed...what a fighter! :-) I was able to wash her hair and help rinse her off. I wrapped her up in a towel and took her to the changing table where I dried her off, lotioned & diapered her and put her pjs on. She squirmed and cried, cried, cried the whole time, almost falling off the changing table.

I was able to settle her down and the Special Mothers let me feed her. She did really well for a while (as long as she didn't have to look at me) and then she heard her Special Mother and started bending her neck around, spitting out her food. I got her to settle down again and just held her in my lap and rocked her. She nuzzled her head in my chest and every once in a while she would whimper or cry. At one point, I had a couple of tissues in my hand as I was wiping tears and snot. She scooted on the floor in between my legs and started playing with the tissue, tearing it up and putting the pieces in my hand. I could have done that for the rest of the day. I was sooo excited. John didn't see a whole lot because he was really focusing on the other babies in the room. He was playing with them and really engaging them. That really got Eva to warm up to him and just before we left she started rolling a ball to him.  She was crying as she did it, but at least she did it.

We made so much progress today. I was so happy and amazed. I had resigned myself to the fact that Eva would cry and reject us the entire visit, but God, once again, gave me the desire of my heart. Today was a good day!

Thank you Jesus!

Ethiopia - 1st Trip - Day 2

These are the 1st pictures that I took on our descent to Addis Ababa. It was around 7 o'clock in the morning.

We landed at 7:30 in the morning. The weather was gorgeous; sunshine, cool breeze, but warm.

We made our way towards baggage claim and stood in line to get our Enter Visa. Then we got our luggage and stood in line to get our luggage x-rayed.

There were 2 other AGCI families on the flight with us and we were all picked up by a driver from the Riviera Hotel, where we stayed.

Once we got to the hotel we were given our itinieraries for the week. That's when we learned that we were going to see our kids at Hannah's Hope. We had just enough time to get our bags up to the room, freshen up, put clean clothes on and head back downstairs to the lobby to wait for our AGCI driver, Wass.

Wass picked us up at exactly 10:30 and took us to Hannah's Hope. After just 5 minutes we turned down a road and came upon the famous black gates of HH.

As we walked through the gates I wondered if I would recognize Eva when I saw her. Would she look totally different in a month's time? All the kids were outside. The babies were out getting "sunning time" and the older kids were outside playing. As I scanned the courtyard of all the babies, my eyes landed on Eva; she was in the arms of a Special Mother. I told John "I think I see her" and walked over to her. I said her name and then confirmed that it was her with the Special Mother.

It was a bit awkward because I didn't want to take Eva out of her arms, but she also was not trying to pass her to me. After a minute or so, the doctor came and took Eva from the Special Mother and had me follow her. She helped me receive Eva.

Eva cried the whole time, which we expected. The doctor took her back until she settled down and was almost asleep and then handed her back to me. I was able to hold her for quite a long time until it was time to go back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel, Wass told us he would pick us up again at 2:30. We were so excited to be able to get a second visit! We went up to the room and slept for 2 hours.

On the 2nd visit, we went up to Eva's room. She was sitting on the floor and as soon as I came into the room she started crying. My child does not have a problem with stranger anxiety, that's for sure! She cried and whined for her Special Mother, so we played with the other babies for a while.

Eva finally let me hold her and soothe her even though she whined a bit. Her Special Mother let me feed Eva but she would not cooperate. She turned her face, spit out her food, and would not look at me. Finally we had to sit Eva on her Special Mother's lap while she distracted her by singing and playing with a toy while I fed her. SUCCESS!!

Eva let me hold her again and even started playing with me for about 5 - 10 minutes. Shortly after, we had to say our goodbyes for the day and head back to the hotel. We got a couple more hours of sleep and then all the families were picked up by Wass and taken to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. We had such a great time and the food was wonderful. There was singing and dancing the entire time. I can't wait to go back again!

Ethiopia - 1st Trip - Day 1

Our day started very early in the morning, 2:30 am, to be exact, when we were woken up by 3 alarm clocks. We showered and were out the door by 3:45 am. Our flight left on time at 6:15 am and we landed promptly at Dulles at 7:30 am.

Our plane arrived at the same gate that Ethiopian Airlines was supposed to depart from. But for some reason, when we got to D23, our gate was changed to B41. We got to our correct gate and were standing in line to get checked in by 8:05 am. The line behind us grew quickly. Fortunately we were able to get all checked in by 8:30 for our 11:00 flight.

About 15 minutes before we started boarding, we met the Hight and Voight families, also AGCI families. And thank God we did. Jen informed us that our return flight on Feb. 2nd was cancelled and pushed to the 3rd. We had no idea and didn't even have the travel agent's phone number. Luckily Jen did and I was able to call her. Just as our section was starting to board, I was able to reconfirm our return flight with the ticket agent. All it meant was that we get to spend an extra day with our beautiful girl. God is good!

I think I've been on a Boeing-777 one other time in my life. It was snowing like crazy in D.C., but 20 minutes after takeoff it was nothing but sunshine high above the clouds! The flight was wonderful. I don't think I've seen a more beautiful-looking flight crew. And so pleasant and patient. Always smiling. The food was yummy too.

Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of the east coast, so meals were based on Ethiopia's time. At 1:00 pm EST we had dinner. At 5:00 EST we were given a sandwich. We received nice, hot wet towels to refresh ourselves with and shortly after we had breakfast at 8:30 pm EST.

Before we boarded in Dulles, I took a sleep aid. I knew that once we landed in Addis, it would be the beginning of the day there and I wanted to be rested up for it. I slept the majority of the flight. I brought 3 great books, thinking I would really make a dent in them and never cracked one of them open.

My poor husband. He was awake practically the whole flight, watching movies, playing cards, playing soduku. At 9:15 pm EST I finally had to tell him to shut everything off and just relax so he could sleep.

It's Time to Go!!

Well folks, tomorrow is the big day. What a great husband I have. He put up with my anxiety and indecisiveness last night. You would think that I had never gone ANYWHERE with the way I was acting last night. However, the issue was that I was having to think about ALL the little things that we had to pack that we don't normally need to think about: adapters, converters, snack foods, toilet paper, wash cloths, etc.

I picked up a couple of donation items to bring for this trip. We have decided that once we get to HH we will talk to Almaz & find out what their needs are and concentrate on getting those items for our 2nd trip. So this all the luggage we are taking: 2 carry-ons and 2 pieces of luggage. I'll let you in on a little secret though: Inside the blue suitcase is a smaller suitcase that we packed. That way when we bring items, souvenirs, etc home with us, we will have another piece of luggage to carry it in. 

I don't have any plans to blog or get on the listserv while we're there but I will be documenting everything so that when I do blog, I can add pics and all that good stuff. Oh boy.....it's finally here....Baby E. here we come!!

It's Finished!

Several  months ago I mentioned two referral projects that I would finally be able to tackle. You can read more about that here.   Well...I finally finished it...TODAY!!

It's actually not as big as I wanted it to be, but as I said in the last post, I couldn't find any more yarn. I'm so excited to be able to give this to Baby E. I know she won't know what it is because she's too young, but I know that when we leave it with her and return to finally bring her home, she will have it. I'm hoping this will be a comfort to her on the plane ride home :-) 

Pampered!

Last week was a fabulous week of pampering. My beautiful mother flew into town so that we could get pampered. It was such a great girls' week. We shopped, talked, laughed...just enjoyed each other & each other's company! The first day started with a manicure and pedicure. The last time I got a mani-pedi was around the time of my wedding (7 1/2 years ago)! I'd forgotten how relaxing they were. It was great!

After the mani-pedi, we got home just in time for John & I to receive our "Travel Phone Call" from AGCI. That lasted for about 30 minutes and when we finished, Mom and I went out shopping.....shopping for Ethiopia, shopping for my baby shower (in February). We finished the evening off with a wonderful dinner and a yummy glass of wine!

The next day I got my scruffy eyebrows taken care of. My Eyebrow Girl is so good. What she does with my eyebrows is like magic!

After, we went and had lunch. Later that afternoon I had a hair appointment....no pics though!! That was the evening when we got about 4 inches of snow. I was driving home in it during rush hour...EEEKK!

The last day of pampering was the best.....MASSAGES! Mom didn't tell me what kind of massages we were getting. She just said that it was her favorite kind of massage. I knew which kind I wanted to get, but I'm always willing to be surprised...in a good way :-)

The masseuse called my name and off I went. As we were walking into the room she asks me "Have you ever had a hot stone massage before?" I started giggling "No. Is that what I'm getting? I didn't know. My mom wanted to surprise me. Yay! I'm so excited!"

I don't remember the last time I felt more relaxed. A couple of times while I was on my belly I caught myself in mid-snore and I think I actually fell asleep with my mouth open. Thank goodness I didn't drool. That would have been embarassing!

Needless to say it was a heavenly 50 minutes of pure relaxation.

After our massages, I took Mom to my G-School  and saw my Girls. We spent a good deal of time there and then it was off to do more shopping...shopping for my baby shower outfit, which I found and I love :-)

Saturday turned out be another day of running errands and getting more stuff for the Ethiopia trip. We stopped at the bookstore and got some reading for the LLLOONNGGG flight. Then we went to Jo-Ann to try to find more yarn so I could finish Baby E's blanket (no success but I did finish the blanket....that's the next post). Next was lunch, the grocery store, one more errand and then home.

Sunday we spent all day cooking. My mom helped me cook recipes that I remember as a little girl. Such great smells! Comfort food is the best!

What a great week with my Mom! It was just what I needed right before our trip to Ethiopia. I am all the more ready to meet our little girl. It won't be long now!!

Cleaning? Nesting?

Two weeks ago I started cleaning the house, just like I always do. The superficial things: laundry, dishes, dusting, vaccuuming. It usually takes me about 2 days to clean the entire house. Not this time. This time it took me 4 days. I used every hand tool that comes with the vacuum. I rearranged furniture in just about every room. I even had my hubby moving furniture from one room to another for me. I was even in the basement for 4 hours rearranging STUFF, cleaning, sucking up cobwebs.

I felt like a cleaning machine. I don't know if there was ever a time when I cleaned my house like that. Every time I thought I cleaned every possible area of a room, I found one more nook and cranny that I missed. And intermittently I would think "I can't bring my baby into this house with all this dust and stuff. I gotta get it clean." Well.....it's clean now!

So what do you think.....cleaning or nesting?

Bermuda!

One of my favorite places to be in the world. I haven't been to that many places in the world (Ethiopia will be the farthest to date) but even so, still one of my favorite places. Not just because of the beauty, peace and serenity that it embodies, but because that is where my family is. My mom was born and raised in Bermuda (aka Bermie, aka The Rock). She left at 17 years old to attend University and has been here in America since.

Every year since I was about 4 or 5 years old, I have been going to Bermuda to see my family: aunts, uncles & tons of cousins. Unfortunately I never got to know my grandfather or grandmother. I only get to go once a year though. It wasn't long after John and I met before I started prepping him to go to Bermuda, enticing him, luring him. Now, after almost 10 years, he doesn't feel right if we haven't gone to Bermuda to see our peoples. It is truly our second home.

Years ago, when we thought we could have biological children, we took a trip to Babies R Us to see what was new & hip. We came across the Bermuda Collection. We were both so excited that we got the Travel System, Pack-N-Play, and Swing!

For the last almost 4 years, this baby stuff has been in the boxes, sitting in the basement....until.....LAST NIGHT!! I brought the boxes upstairs and my wonderful husband spent the rest of the evening putting everything together...except the swing. Baby E will be too big for it, so it's still in the box in the basement. Here's how it all looks:

Now we just need Baby E and everything will be ALL good :-)

11 months....24 days

Yesterday I realized what today was and I made a mental note of it. This morning, hubby & I had a couple pieces of business to attend to. Right before we left, I asked John "Do you know what today is...I mean what this day really means?" And he said "Oh, you mean that our little girl is 11 months old today?"

These 2 months have gone by so quickly since the referral. We are so grateful to Amber & Jenn who have been able to snap some shots of our little one while they were in Ethiopia. Just 24 more days before we get to meet Baby E!

Each day brings a little more excitement and just a tad more anxiety for all the things that have to get completed before we get on that plane. But I know that everything will fall into place. Happy 11-months My Precious Girl! 

Gifts...Gifts....Gifts for Baby E!

My last day at work (a couple of weeks ago) was such a fun day, a relaxing day. I had spent that week giving my kiddos a goody bag of treats and on that Friday a lot of kiddos gave both me and Baby E gifts. The gifts were so thoughtful. Here's what Baby E received:

This was given to me by the entire class. They all signed their names to it!

Here's what it reads:

All I Really Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

Most of what I really need to know about how to live

And what to do and how to be

I learned in Kindergarten.

Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain,

But there in the sandpile of Sunday school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything, play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat. Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some.

Draw and paint and sing and dance

And play and work everyday some. Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic.

Hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

A few days later my husband brings home a cute little gift bag and says that it's from our next-door neighbors...the neighbors that have been so kind  to us by notarizing all of our paperwork. This is what was inside the gift bag:

The cutest little HuggyBuddy and travel pillow I've ever seen. John and I have been taking turns sleeping with the HuggyBuddy so we can get our scent on it. We plan on taking it to Ethiopia and leaving it with Baby E until we can go back for the Embassy appointment.

Then on Christmas Eve, my stepdaughter came over bearing a huge wrapped box (gift). John & I had just seen her and our granddaughter K the day before, so we were very surprised to be receiving anything. I asked her if what was inside the box was going to make me cry and she replied "No, I don't think so." I had been very emotional those last several days and I just wanted to prepare myself (no haps!) I sat down and opened this box and this is what was inside:

A picture frame and the cutest, softest Pillow Pet!

The Pillow Pet is a dolphin and goes with everything in the baby's nursery. The theme of her room is Sea Life. The frame says "Sweet Baby - The moment we saw you, we fell in love." Needless to say, I was a pile of goo. The only thing going through my brain was how we felt that first time when we saw the referral pictures. It was a good day!

It is so wonderful to see how friends and family have started loving and welcoming Baby E before she even gets here. I pray that she always knows just how much she's loved here and in Ethiopia.

It's Definitely a Happy New Year!

John and I made plans to do nothing New Year's Eve and that's just what we did! We actually stayed awake long enough to see the ball drop, celebrated with a glass of wine and then went to sleep shortly thereafter.

As of the 1st day of this new year, there are exactly 27 days until we get on a plane to Ethiopia and 28 days until we meet our precious Baby E!

We are getting  more excited as each day passes but there is still so much that we have to do before it's time to go. Every day I add just a few more things to my to-do list, but fortunately I'm crossing off a couple of things.

Happy New Year Everyone!!