Trip 1 - Day 2

So sweet to wake up knowing that that we get to go right to Hannah's Hope to play with our girl! We only got to go to Hannah's Hope in the morning this day because we had some other things planned for the afternoon. Like every morning, we found R outside with the babies playing in the sun! She became more and more responsive through the week and it was awesome to watch her become aware of us. Hannah's Hope works like a clock - the kids wake up every morning about 6:30, eat, rest, play inside a little, then they are outside by about 9 to sun. At around 10:30 all the toys and babies are packed up and taken inside to the baby room. I spent a lot of time in the baby room rocking and feeding R. It was pretty intimidating to care for her in the midst of the special mothers who care for her all the time. With the language barrier it is almost impossible to ask questions or talk to them about her. It was interesting to watch the special mother's response to me as well. Their caution of me at first, then becoming more and more comfortable with me as they saw that ,"oh, maybe she does know something about what she is doing!". There were several times toward the end, when Matthew was holding our R (so my arms were free) and another baby was crying that they would point to me and then to the crying baby telling me to go help with that one. They often have a baby in their arms drinking their bottle, one foot bouncing a child in a bouncy seat, and another toddler snuggled into their side. I was more than happy to love on the other kids when I could. So they feed the babies and then lay them down for a nap, the toddlers know to come in, lay down on the rug, they cover up their heads with a blanket, and they go to sleep - amazing! This is a picture of the baby/toddler room:

While the kids are napping, they clean. To go into the the baby house, you take your shoes off and put on a pair of crocs or flip flops - these are scrubbed every day. The toys are cleaned, the blankets washed, the floors are swept and mopped, the courtyard swept - it is very clean.

Typically by around 3:30, all the kids are upstairs, getting baths, playing, having bottles and getting ready for bed which starts around 6:30. R is in the ladybug room with about 6 other kids.

We went back to our hotel for lunch and to rest before our Ethiopian cultural dinner that night. Since this was really the only day that we had a large amount of free time, we decided to see some of the city. Addis is pretty hectic! There are tons of people, and lots of cars and they drive like crazy. There are no stop lights or traffic signs so even at a major intersection, people just sort of bust their way through. Pedestrians have no right of way so there are people running across the road everywhere trying not to get hit, all this coupled with the donkeys, horses, cows, and goats that just walk around or lay in the road, riding in a car in Addis was quiet an experience. So we hired a taxi and went to the National Museum and St. George Orthodox Cathedral.

We got back to the hotel just in time to be picked up by Wass and taken to the Ethiopian Cultural dinner. Wass is the primary driver, tourist guide extraordinaire, and special father at Hannah's Hope. He is a very willing conversationist and we loved asking him questions. Some interesting things we learned from Wass is that Ethiopians love American Country Music, Ethiopian Protestants only listen to spiritual music and they do not drink or dance, to tell a girl you like her you would throw a lemon at her chest and if she like you back she will pick it up and kiss it, and that Beyonce learned how to shake her booty from Ethiopians who are the best booty shakers around! He knows a ton about the different regions of Ethiopia so we also learned a lot about the Afar, which is where R is from.

The cultural dinner was amazing. They bring you warm water and soap before and after you eat to clean your hands and after dinner you have a coffee ceremony. Ethiopian food is yummy - you eat it by tearing off a piece of Injera (a flatbread) and picking up the food so you really need your hands cleaned in the end!

Trip 1 - Day 1

We left Knoxville at 6am on 12/10. Don't really think I slept at all that night! Our donations were all packed and we were ready to go - that big box is a rocking chair and we had a tote and 2 duffle bags packed full of diapers, wipes, formula, etc. So thankful for all the things that people gave to take over with us.

We went from Knoxville to DC, and then boarded our plane that went straight to Addis Ababa - a 13 hour flight.

Watching the screen the entire way - pretty sure I didn't sleep for that 13 hours either!

We landed in Addis at about 7:45am (about midnight our time) and after we stood in line forever to get our visa, go through immigration, find our luggage, customs, etc. we found our ride and got to our hotel at about 9:30. We were given our itinerary and saw that we were being picked up in 45 minutes to go to Hannah's Hope to meet R! Can't even explain that feeling - to know that I was finally going to get to hold my little girl. This is us riding in the van to go to Hannah's Hope.

Finally we saw them - the black gates that I had seen so many times in other people's pictures - the gates that lead you into Hannah's Hope.

We were greeted by the older kids will shouts and hugs - so precious to be greeted by these sweet little faces. Tears are already rolling down my face and these aren't even my children, but they are kids that I pray for daily. Then our driver D told us that our little one was over at the baby house. The special mothers take the babies and toddlers outside every morning to "sun" and play. R's special mother was holding her when we got there. Finally, the moment of holding her in my arms had come. She was so tiny, even more tiny than I thought she would be. But so perfect. She fit perfectly in my arms.

It always amazes my how my body doesn't forget the feel of a baby in my arms, or the swaying my body automatically started when I held her. It remembers what to do. We spent about 4 hours that day holding her, giving her a bottle, and getting to know her.

We also met with Johannes (our family coordinator) to exchange money (100 birr = ~$6 USD) and to place our coffee orders.

Fell into a very happy sleep that night - looking forward to the next day!

In 24 hours...

we will be on a plane to go and meet our sweet little girl!

We have been so amazingly blessed by phone calls, prayers, tons of donations, little gifts to take with us. The Lord continues to bless us with the fellowship of His people around us. Can't wait to share her with all of you :-)

Thoughts during Advent

Advent is always a special time in our family. We get back into the routine (which we often lose during the hustle of getting back into the groove of school) of nightly family worship. The lighting of the Advent candles, the readings printed out, the hymnal open, the Jesse Tree starting to fill out, our favorite little Advent Calendar set up - we have many little family rituals we tend to each day to remind us of where our focus should be.

This year these things seem so magnified. It began with our first night of Advent. My husband had us all sit in darkness for a short time (our 3 year old doesn't sit anywhere for very long), then he lit our first Advent Candle. It was so very real. The longing for the lights to come back on. The waiting for the light...then the one candle lit. It made the darkness go away. Not fully, not yet, but a light in that dark room. While the dark has been penetrated by the light, we still wait, with longing, for it to be gone completely.

I think it all seems so much more real this year because I have been in a state of waiting, of longing. If I am honest with myself, I will admit that there have been few times in my life I have really had to wait for anything. Maybe a week, or a month, or a year. But to really WAIT? Probably not. Let me note here also, that I do not do waiting well, it is not pretty. I am an instant gratification person. So this wait has been really hard.

There is the waiting, yes, but there is also this AMAZING story of adoption. God has gone to such impossible lengths to adopt us, to rescue us. This year I have been overwhelmed with the OT prophetic stories of the coming of the Christ child. The plan that God had for us. His voice, the light that was brought forth out of the void of nothingness in Creation. The amazing Shoot that will branch out of the stump of Jesse. The sacrifice that God provided Abraham in place of Isaac. All those OT stories point us to the story of our adoption, an adoption that will change the course of our life.

During this time of waiting for our child, the love of God has been so present and so real for me. I want so much more of Him. The longing has pointed me to Him over and over. As I have longed and waited for our sweet Ethiopian daughter, I have had to cling to my Father who has adopted me. Knowing that His love for her, for all my children, for me, is so much more that I can comprehend. Knowing that He longs for her adoption as well (not just into an earthly family).

Now we prepare for our first journey to meet her. My heart is all over the place, as are my hormones! I am crying at everything, laughing and sobbing at the same time in amazement that God has called me to this period of longing in my life, and that at the end of this waiting, there will be a sweet little light as our prayers are finally answered and she will be united to our family. The darkness won't be gone, the pain of her story will still be there, there will be hard days for all of us as we walk our journey out, but it will make us LONG even more for the day when all darkness will be cast out, and we will walk in Pure Light and Joy again.

I can't wait to get her in my arms. To touch her and kiss her sweet face. The longing.

Paperwork, and Plane Tickets, and Praise OH MY!!!

WE ARE GOING TO ETHIOPIA!!! Yep, that's right - we got a court date! After our referral on 10/10, I really thought that we were done with such amazing news for this month. They prepare you that it could take more than 6 weeks to gather all the paperwork, get it to the Ethiopian Courts and then wait for them to issue you a court date. We got a court date in 2.5 weeks. To say that I was shocked...would be an understatement.

So, WE GET TO GO AND MEET OUR GIRL! I am so excited. I think I cried more over the court date phone call than the referral call. The fact that I am going to see her, going to get to hold her, going to go before a judge to declare my intent to make her my own, makes her seem so real to me. Even more so than seeing her picture for the first time. I can't wait to hold that little girl in my arms.

So, we have plane tickets purchased and are starting to make our plans to travel. There are lots of phone calls, planning, purchasing, etc. that needs to happen before we travel, as well as making a plan for my sweet little kids that I am leaving in the hands of dear friends here. Really my list goes on and on, but I am daily giving it the Lord's hand, and asking him to please work out all the details. He has been so faithful to do so thus far, and I trust that He will continue to do so.

So, what will it look like when we get there? We have an itinerary for each day that includes such things as cultural dinners, shopping in the market place, etc., but the majority of our time will be spent just loving on and cherishing the moments that we get to go to Hannah's Hope to hold our baby, and love on and play with all the other kids there. Oh, my heart aches at the thought of it. We will have a day of court where we go before the judge to answer questions about ourselves and declare officially our desire to adopt R.

and then...we have to leave her. I know this will break my heart, I know that I probably will be a wreck until I get to go back to her, I know that I will carry my phone around like crazy waiting for the news that we get to go back. I also know that she is in good hands at the Transition Home in Ethiopia - those special mothers really do care for those little ones well, and I know and trust that she is in the even better and tender hands of her Heavenly Father, whose timing will be perfect and whose care for her will be much better than even mine.

Sweet "Coincidence"

This adoption process is hard - all the emotions involved in it can really wear me out! Enough paperwork to tile my floors with, enough money for a salary, waiting and waiting for a referral, then the sweetness of getting to see our little girls face for the first time but knowing that it could still be months before I can hold her...then come the doubts.

Doubt - why am I really doing this? can I do this? i have three kids already and I am already so busy. do i have the energy for one more? did you really say to go down this road Lord - did you really say it or did i make it up? do I even want to do this? life is calming down a little now that Micah is 3 and in preschool 2 mornings a week and now I am adding another little body to our mix? plagued with doubt...

Today felt especially hard. By 9:15 I had everyone dropped at their schools, I was starting a new volunteer thing in Kate's class and had to be there at noon so I had a couple of hours that was going to be "down time" (whatever that is). I was totally exhausted from not sleeping last night and my plan was to come home and go back to bed. But...I really needed some new shoes, and I had a coupon that was about to expire, and this morning was my only chance this week to do it. So, I went home for a bit, then trudged back out to my car to go to the store. I almost turned around several times thinking, who cares if I save $10, I am so tired, I just want to take a nap. But...I kept going.

A little back story. FB is not all bad. In fact, I have reconnected with people who I probably would never have had the opportunity to. When we first started fundraising last fall, I posted it on my FB page. Not long after I got a message from a sweet girl that I went to high school with. I did not know her well, she was several years younger than me, but in a small town, you know everybody some. She has a huge heart and she wanted to donate toward our adoption funds. Those totally out of the blue people totally blow me away! The people who really have no "personal" interest in our lives, but want to support us and this process that we are in. Like the older couple who instead of giving us $10 for the junk that they bought at our yard sale, gave us $100.

So today, filled with doubt, exhausted from lack of sleep, with coupon in hand, in my few kid free hours of the week, I drove to JC Penney to "buy shoes" or so I thought. Shopping around, I hear my name. It is my friend, my sweet, tenderhearted friend who after years of not seeing her, blessed me with a donation to our adoption. With tears in her eyes, she told me about how she has been praying for us and for our little girl. She told me how she had been blessed to read my blog (which is so poorly written and rambling I can't imagine anyone reading it). She told me of her heart for orphans, and how as a young girl that she took her $20 a month allowance and sponsored a child. I could see the love pouring from her eyes and her faithfulness in our Lord coming from her words. I can not tell you how much the Lord knew that I needed that. How much I needed the sweet reminder that I am not in this alone, and that He has raised up an army to pray for us and for our little girl. Sometimes that army is invisible to me, but at those moments that I am being bombarded with doubt, He is ever faithful to make it visible. He is ever faithful to remind me, if I will listen.

Donations for Hannah's Hope

Our Agency's transition home in Ethiopia is called Hannah's Hope. Below is a list of running needs that they have there. I will be taking several large totes of donations and will gladly add more if you have something you would like to donate. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! These donations help them care for our kids when we aren't there to care for them, and we are so grateful for that!

For babies:

1. Diapers
2. Pull-ups
3. Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo
4. Lotions, baby oils and baby wash
5. Diaper rash cream—the staff is most familiar with Desitin, however all kids are helpful.
6. Baby Wipes
7. Bottles- specifically Avent bottles—both 4 oz. and 9 oz. sizes
8. Multivitamins for babies—liquid drops
9. Organic flax seed oil (not capsules)
10. Vegetable or Soy based formula
11. Dairy based formula

Things for older children:

1. Shampoos and conditioners that are fortified for curly hair
2. Dandruff shampoos
3. Body soap
4. Body lotions—especially for dryer or ashy skin
5. Clothing for boys and girls between 4 and 13 years old and especially need pants and pajamas
6. Shoes including sneakers (these are especially good for the older boys to play soccer in), for 4 through 13 years old children
7. Powdered Milk

Other things:

1. Air freshener (any kind that is safe to use in children/babies rooms and bathrooms)
2. Regular size towels (both blue and pink).
3. Braun Thermometer Covers
4. Deodorant for men and women
5. “Boppies” for infants (‘C’ shaped pillow)

6. External hard drive

7. 10-20 black three-ring binders (2 inch)

8. Camera and memory cards, 1-4 GB

9. 36. Rechargeable camping lanterns (for when electricity is out)

Medications:

3. Cold medications for older children and adults

4. Amoxicillin

5. Vitamin C drops

6. Zinc drops

7. Antihistamine syrup

8. Amoxicillin syrup, 125, 250 and 400 mg. doses-antibiotic

9. Co-Trimoxazole-antibiotic

10. Gentamicin drops-for thrush

12. Metrendazol syrup-antibiotic used to treat parasites

13. TTC eye ointment

14. Salbutamol Ventol-for asthma, I think

15. Azithromycin (Zithroxmax, Zmax) syrup-used to treat infections caused by bacteria

16. Ceftriaxone, IM and IV for injection, 250 mg, 500 mg and 1000 mg (Rocephin)-antibiotic

17. Gentamicin eye drops