We Arrived in Ethiopia--Tuesday, May 24, 2011

We are a family!
The boys are leaving the
Transition House with us!
(click to enlarge)

Our Ethiopian Airlines flight touched down in Addis Ababa about 8:35 a.m. this morning. It was about 13 ½ hours, and it went as well as a really long flight can go, I think. Once we landed, the Lord really blessed us in that we were seated near the front of the airplane and we were able to get onto the shuttle bus (you do not disembark into the airport, but rather land on the tarmac and they put stairs up next to the plane, and then you hop onto a shuttle bus that takes you to the terminal) and get into the visa line quickly. The funny part about the shuttle bus is that after we loaded up it drove us from one side of the big Boeing 777 to the other and parked next to the terminal entrance. Had we walked we would have arrived faster by just walking the 50 yards to the terminal door. Once inside we were only in that line about 15 minutes, while others we met up with later waited over an hour. Next, Scott exchanged some American money for Ethiopian Birr while I waited for our bags. Another praise….every bag showed up this time, unlike on our last trip. We had our bags and were seated inside the America World van by 9:45 a.m. Sweet! Our driver dropped us off at the Guest House where we were able to get settled into our room (on the fourth floor at 8000 feet….huff,huff,puff,puff… no elevator!) One of the guides, Job, met up with us and took us to the shopping district, as we had emailed we wanted to get some shopping done quickly before we picked up the boys. Navigating the busy streets and bartering has to be easier without nervous 3 and 5 year olds with you, right? We found what we needed very quickly (well, after we left the first store who wanted to charge us about 5-6 times more for everything than what we paid last time. “What? You pay less several weeks ago? Prices change from then! They needed a bubble over their heads that read, “Gullible white people…charge excessively!). We returned to a shop we had been pleased with last time and the same sweet gal gave us a good deal on what we wanted.

Did I mention that the streets of Ethiopia are JAM PACKED right now? I thought it was craziness last time we were here (and it was), but right now there is some important African Nations meeting taking place here in Addis, and our guide was telling us that the streets have been super congested. So, we inched and jolted our way back to the Guest House where we picked up another family (who had been stuck in that long line at the airport!), and we all went to lunch and met up with other families at the Mushuki Restaurant and Art Gallery. We were able to eat and find a neat Ethiopian painting while we waited for our food – hopefully something that will show the boys a small bit of what their home country was like.  It was fun to meet up with the Sorenson family, who received a referral around the same time we did and then their daughter’s case got caught up in the same Southern Sidama issue our boys’ case did, but their case did not resolve until about 7 weeks ago, and they were here to meet their daughter. I was able to film for them at the Transition House and experience their joy as they were finally introduced to their precious little 18 month old daughter.

All  piled into the van and ready
to head to the Guest House.

As soon as our van pulled into the Transition Home driveway and the gate swung open we saw Yishak staring at the van and he began to hurry over to it. He saw our faces through the window and smiled…hurray! No time to grab the camera or video camera and capture the moment… Scott opened up the door and Yishak rushed up to him and held his arms out to be picked up. I climbed right out and just about fell over Gezahegn, whom I almost didn’t recognize as his head was shaved and he was looking over at Scott and Yishak. I gave him a big hug and we walked over to Scott. Scott then grabbed his other son and lifted him up for a big hug also, and I DID get that shot….proud Daddy with his new sons. It was an awesome, surreal moment. Both boys were clutching all their worldly possessions in two gallon size Ziploc bags – all the little photo albums we have sent them, a few pictures their sisters drew and sent, and a few left-over toys from some of our care packages.   A little while later the four of us piled into the van and waved goodbye to the other families, and we were driven back to the guest house. I keep feeling as if this can’t really be happening after all this time. Surely the “adoption police” will tell us tomorrow that some other piece of paperwork is not in order and the whole thing is on hold again. It felt so strange to drive away with both boys. The boys were both eager to get into the van and they had big smiles on their faces. I held Gezahegn on my lap and he seemed to enjoy watching the hustle and bustle of the big city. Yishak quickly fell asleep curled up next to Scott and slept all the way back to the Guest House. Once we got to our room, we showed the boys around and showed them their two twin size beds they would sleep on. Ethan Gezahegn just flopped down on it after I gestured to him it was for him and smiled and giggled, rubbing it all over.  We had the boys take off the Transition Home clothes and climb in the shower for a thorough cleansing, which neither of them seemed to mind at all. We then got out the new clothes we brought along and let each boy choose if he wanted to wear new tennis shoes or sandals. Ethan Gezahegn was stoked about his new tennis shoes and grabbed those things out of the bag without wasting a second. That is about when we realized we forgot to pack socks for the boys! :o)  No worries, though, as Scott said he would run out to the main street and buy some from one of the gazillion little shops. He left and was back in about seven minutes, but that was still too much for Yishak, who burst into tears and was so sad Scott left.  He snuggled up with me while Scott was gone but was very happy to see him just a few minutes later. We played with a few toys we brought and then Skyped the girls. The internet connection here is too slow to use video, but we were able to hear one another, and when Ethan Gezahegn heard his sisters saying hello and talking to him, he grew happy and silly. He had been wondering where the girls were, and this helped him understand. Loren was able to turn on their video for just a minute or two, so Ethan Gezahegn could see the girls waving at him. It was awesome!  Poor Yishak had begun crying just a few minutes earlier, and as Scott sat snuggling him he went back to sleep. I wish there was some way we could communicate to him that he is safe now and that we love him and he is going to be fine, but of course there is not. The guides try to tell both Yishak and Gezahegn, but at ages 3 and 5 and not having grown up knowing Amharic, there is only so much you can tell them.  Scott and I know the boys are going to be happy and loving their new life a few months from now, but we also know the next few months are going to be so difficult for them, and everything familiar to them in their lives is about to change, which makes my heart break for them.

Cute boys try to squirm
their heads under the guard
rails on the ceiling patio to see
what the view is like down below.

We ate dinner at the Guest House and Gezahegn ate his meal, but Yishak only ate one bite of rice and refused the rest. He had a few snacks in our room earlier, but hopefully he will feel like eating a little something tomorrow. I know how my stomach gets nervous with big changes, and I can only imagine his little tummy doing big ol’ belly flops. Once we returned to our room we put the boys in their new jammies (and took pictures, of course. What is cuter than adorable kids in PJs?) , brushed their teeth and put them in their beds. Scott and I sang a goodnight song to them, which had them both smiling and laughing. We said prayers and hugged and kissed them, and they were both sound asleep a while later, and have slept all night. It was precious to see the boys snuggle their blankets we brought them and just thoroughly enjoy getting into their clean, comfortable beds. Those are without a doubt the nicest, fanciest, most comfortable beds they have ever seen or slept in, and you could see how they enjoyed that, especially Ethan Gezahegn who just buried himself in the sheets, laughed, snuggled down to the bottom and back to the top, and just really enjoyed the moment.

Right now it is Wednesday morning at 4:15 and Scott and I have been awake for about four hours now. Darn our lack of a good sleep gene!  We were hopeful that our new travel prescription of Ambien would have helped more but apparently not. That’s okay, though, as it has been a quiet time to just doze, pray, and pray some more. I have prayed for every aspect of the rest of this week, for the boys, for our girls at home, for the Alldrins who are watching our girls at home (peace and patience, peace and patience!) and for Scott and I. Thank all of YOU for your prayers…I truly feel that is the strongest “weapon " that you all have helped equip us with…your loving intercession.  We’re off to our Embassy appointment at 8:30 this morning. Hugs and love….Alison