Journey to Ethiopia - Day Seven

One year ago today: 

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Today was the day for our appointment at the U.S. Embassy. Having dined on pizza for supper the previous night at the Addis Ababa Golf Club, we were fueled up and ready to go.

After a morning visit with baby S, the Holt staff prepared us for the visit to the embassy. Grace, a sweet, pretty young lady who works in Holt's office,  told us what we could expect including the strict security and the sort of questions we might be asked at our interview with the consulate. We were so excited, because today was the day we would officially take custody of our precious baby!

After a rest and lunch, we walked over to the Holt office where a taxicab was waiting for us. Holt's trusty driver Dawit was ill and would not be able to escort us. We brought Baby S with us, and Grace coached us along the way to prepare us for the interview questions. She explained that the questions were usually very simple, but that nervous parents sometimes panicked and forgot the answers. After a very thorough security check in a very tiny room where I even had to remove my hair barrette, we were ushered into a downstairs waiting room.

Watching  Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on the waiting room television was surreal. It occurred to us, that we were temporarily on U.S. Soil in a foreign land as we watched our new president take office. Mike remarked to Grace, " Many people in America are very happy today because we have our first black president." Her response? - "It doesn't matter what color he is. What matters is, whether he can do the best job for America." We couldn't have agreed more!

Finally our names were called and Grace led us upstairs. We stood in front of a young man who looked to be a recent college graduate. He was situated in a booth that resembled a movie ticket window. He spoke to us from behind glass and passed official documents to us through a sliding metal tray. He was courteous as he asked about the baby including when we first met her. "Oh no!" Panic set in! Our brains locked up, because we couldn't remember the answer. To be honest, so much had happened in the last few days we weren't really sure we could have answered correctly if he had asked, "What day is it today?" After an excruciating mental scramble to recall the correct answer, Grace whispered a reminder in our direction, "Saturday."


"We met her on Saturday" we proclaimed with relief. College boy began pounding papers with his official rubber stamp and we were done. Our sweet girl had been an absolutely angel the entire morning.

Relieved and happy, we left for the hotel and a well-deserved rest with our family. We thanked God for getting us this far and prayed His blessing on the rest of our life-changing adventure.

R relaxes with baby S in our hotel room

A crib for Baby S. lovingly crafted from our air mattress and suitcases