Update 2 from Ethiopia

Update 2 from Ethiopia

We are still doing well. Mary, Ciara, and I have had some minor stomach issues. None of us think that it is related to the food. Sean’s been completely fine the whole time. Isaac continues to bond with us. He has a special closeness with Ciara and visa versa. They laugh and talk a great deal. We had a few tough moments with Ciara getting tired, but she has been an amazing trooper and we are so thankful that she is here to experience God building our family again.

Here is a breakdown of our days. Some of it may be repetitive, but I want to get it all down. We have to come to the Hilton for internet service and you pay by the minute, so I’m not reading over our blog to see what I have already covered.

Monday—arrived, got settled, received Isaac, and chilled out for the night. Sean, Mary, and Ciara picked us up some pizza from Hill Bottom restaurant (near where we are staying). We went to bed around 7:30pm and woke up the next morning around 7. Isaac slept through the night. When they say rainy season, they mean it. It poured like a hurricane and hailed. We are staying at the Wadel guesthouse, and Mr. Wadel came in to tell me it was “snowing.” Isaac seemed terrified the first day.

Tuesday—got up, got showers (low water pressure, but hot water), and went to Beer Garden Inn for lunch with Gladney’s in country representatives. Picked up a few groceries. Restaurants are very cheap, but the groceries are more than at home since almost everything is imported. Tip: if you are adopting an infant, bring your own baby food if you want to feed your child baby food over table food. We’re giving Isaac a mix of each. A small jar of baby food runs around $1.90 (USD). Children really don’t eat baby food here. Isaac has eaten injera, shiro wat, noodles (spaghetti, Chinese, etc.) and anything he can get. The boy is serious about food. We learned that early. The rest of the day we just spend bonding and relaxing.

Wednesday—We were able to visit the Gladney foster homes for infants. We waited for our driver who was late, until someone informed us that the foster homes were right behind where we were staying. So, we enjoyed a nice stroll with several cows and goats to the homes. Isaac’s caregivers were so excited to see him. One gave him a traditional Ethiopian outfit. They were all eager to get their picture taken with him. We plan to send them letters and photos in the future. We also hope to be able to back and talk with them again to learn more about his first 10 months. We then went to lunch with Belay at the East Dragon Chinese restaurant and then to our Embassy appointment.

Thursday—Ciara needed some mommy time on Thursday morning, so she and I stayed at the Wadel house while Sean, Mary, and Isaac went to tour a historic church where former emperor Halle Salasse (butchering the spelling) is buried, with the rest of the Gladney group. Thursday evening we attended the Ethiopian cultural dinner. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant now, but it was amazing. The atmosphere was incredible. The ceiling was beautifully painted, there was a tree growing through the ceiling and the architecture was just neat. We had shiro wat (chickpeas stew), doro wat (chicken stew), greens, kitfo (spicy cooked ground beef—normally served raw, but they cooked it for us), and lamb tibs (chunks of meat). The food was better than back home but not as spicy, which surprised us. The restaurant featured traditional Ethiopian dances. Several in our group joined in the fun. It was hilarious.

Friday—I was out of commission for the morning. Sean, Ciara, Mary, and Isaac went to visit three state run orphanages: the orphanage for younger children, Kechane (older girls’ orphanage) and Kolfe (the older boys’ orphanage). Sean said that Kolfe was his favorite. He got especially close to two boys who took him on a tour. He was amazed that none of the kids asked for anything. They were very interested in asking Sean questions about America, his education, job, grades, etc. They very much want to excel and are quite impressive. They did embarrass Sean by challenging him to a game of ping pong. They told him that he wasn’t too good. They were very polite. Ciara has a great time playing with the children. Dinner was from Hill Bottom again. It is very convenient as we can walk there and the food is not bad.

Saturday—We slept in and then went shopping at the souvenir shops. We bought a few baskets, a musical instrument for Ciara, a salt/pepper/sugar/toothpick holder made out of olive wood, some hand painted plates, an Ethiopian dress for Ciara, and a few other things for only $85. I can get used to this kind of shopping. We then dropped off our things and rode with another family (staying at the Ayat house two doors down from us) to dinner at Dreamland Resort. The restaurant overlooks a volcanic crater filled with water. The sunset was amazing. When we got ready to leave, Belay presented us with a quilt from the girls at the Kechane orphanage. It has Hussen’s (Isaac’s) name in English and Amharic embroidered on it. We will always cherish it. We got in a huge traffic jam on the way back when a truck began leaking fluid. It was total chaos, but I was never scared—just in awe. If we had been driving, we would have wound up in the ditch or worse. The drivers assigned to the adoptive families are really amazing. They all love children and are so helpful. Each one of them would do well in NASCAR. Driving is truly structured chaos over here, but everyone is used to it. So far, we have only seen one wreck, which is good since none of the vehicles have seatbelts. Some roads are paved and some are rock/puddles. Belay informed us that everything had been updated with the National Visa Center and that our new appointment with the US Embassy here is for 9am on Tuesday. We should (note I said should) receive Isaac’s passport and other documents on Thursday (the day we are scheduled to fly out). If they are not ready, we have already made the decision that Mary, Ciara, and I will go ahead and fly home and Sean and Isaac will stay until everything is ready. We really don’t think this will be a problem, but please be praying about this situation. With the issues we have encountered with our adoption, we don’t really have any expectations of problem free steps. We do know that God is in control and we’re pretty relaxed about things.

Sunday—We had a nice surprise call from my mom. A great start to our morning. The power was out, so we had to go with the flow and we didn’t look our best for church, but it didn’t matter. We attended the English service at the International Evangelical Church. The church has had as many as 39 nations represented. It was amazing to see so much diversity in a church of about 200-300 people. We felt very welcome. The service had many songs that we were familiar with and a beautiful Amharic song. After church, went to lunch with another Gladney family at the Paradise Garden. The food wasn’t as good as some of the other places that we have eaten at. The atmosphere was nice, but we thought it was a bit pricey compared to the other places (around $8/person, which is expensive here). We then stopped at a market to pick up some berbere and other things and then returned home. Sean and Ciara went back to Hill Bottom to pick up supper (pizza and lentil sambusas) and Ciara played with about 20 of the local children on the playground. The rest of the night we just chilled out.

Monday plans: Update blog at Hilton, exchange money, lunch at the East Dragon (I’m telling you this place it awesome), shopping at the souvenir shops and then to the Leprosy hospital and a few other stores.

About Wadel House: Mr. Wadel is rather like a grandfather to all of us. His family has been very welcoming. Wadel House is a great place to stay. They will do your laundry and love to take the kids into the courtyard to watch the birds. We have felt completely safe and are so thankful that we chose a guesthouse rather than a hotel. Being here for almost 2 weeks and having two kids, it has been great to have the gated courtyard to play in and plenty of room in the house. By the way, if you are wondering how the laundry is, it is much better than when I do it. They worked all day on it though—hand washing it, hanging it to dry, and then they ironed it (even our underwear—so bring good ones J). The only downside is that while they have a kitchen, it is lacking a stove. We have managed just fine. We would definitely stay at the Wadel house again, but we would pack a little hot plate. They will make the beds (even when we already had), change the linens (we told them the sheets were fine), wash the dishes or whatever you need. We have tried to keep their efforts as minimal as possible, but they just go out of their way to make us feel at home and to make our stay as comfortable and restful as possible.

We do have tons of pictures, but there are no card readers on the computers here at the Hilton and since I am not able to use my laptop, I’m stuck. I will post pictures as soon as possible when we get back. We know that many of you are praying for us and we truly appreciate it. We can’t wait to see everyone.