Journey to Ethiopia - Day Five

One year ago today: 

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sunday in Ethiopia was truly a day of rest for our family. Although it was very, very hard to be away from baby S the whole day, we knew that the Care Center closes on Sundays for good reason. And we hoped that the nannies and babies all had a peaceful, restful day with no visitors traipsing through.

In the lobby of the Union Hotel, ready to go to the resort

Mike, HA, Brenna, HW, and R

Dawit and Tamrat took our travel group on a wonderful day trip to a resort in the lovely countryside a few hours outside Addis Ababa. The drive was interesting, and was our only chance to see anything outside the city. We passed through many small towns and rural communities. We saw farmers working their fields, teff being threshed on hard-packed ground, and children working and playing near huts, shacks, and buildings. We saw many women and children carrying heavy packs, jugs, and loads. We went over small rivers and streams, and saw the mountains around us more clearly. It was nice to drive further away from the severe smog and pollution of Addis, but even so, the fumes from our our own van  kept our eyes stinging for most of the ride.

There were also hundreds of people walking along the road as we drove. We learned that Timkat was upon us, and rural Ethiopians were making the pilgrimage to the city for the celebration. It was astonishing to see how many people were walking miles through the dust and heat, just to gather for this celebration. Many carried small children, some were dressed in their best clothes, and some even wore ornate traditional religious garments. We had to stop often to allow for the foot traffic around us, and we all held our breath numerous times when the people sharing the streets seemed like they might be run over by our van as we inched through. The children were absolutely beautiful to watch outside our windows, and it made us miss our little S all the more.

The resort was a lovely place. Flowers bloomed along the paths, and the views across the lake were beautiful. The weather was absolutely perfect, and it was a restful and wonderful day. We also were treated to a great meal at the resort. We tried all kinds of dishes, including Nile River Perch!

The Nile Perch was perfectly cooked and delicious

At this point I just couldn't help but motion for them to come back. 

That was far enough!

HA and R in the blue, HW and Mike in the yellow

Juxtaposition

The beautiful resort shared the lake with Ethiopian villagers,

 so in the background of this photo

 you can see the women washing clothes, 

and cattle at their watering hole

(Click on any photo to enlarge it)

The kids enjoyed playing with Tamrat and Dawit. 

At one point HA pulled out his kid camera and snapped

 a picture of Mike, then added a silly pig nose to the digital display. 

When Dawit saw that picture he couldn't stop laughing. 

He called us, "Crazy Americans!"

 Then both boys got in on the action and put pirate hats

 and eye patches and clown noses 

on pictures of all us until we were exhausted from laughing. 

Mike, HA, HW, Brenna, Gram, DaddyDon, and R

Our full day of relaxation included a quick swim in the chilly pool, the delicious meal, a little kayaking, birdwatching, and visiting under the trees. Then we loaded back in the van to return to the Union. We really enjoyed visiting with Tamrat and Dawit on that ride, as we discussed Ethiopian and American politics, culture, history, and their families. They also shared their passion for the work that Holt does in Ethiopia, and we were so thankful at that moment that we are part of the Holt family and that we were able to see first hand the work there, and visit with the dedicated people who work for Holt Ethiopia.

We had another sobering moment on that ride. Tamrat obviously began to suffer terribly with a headache. We offered him some Advil and he asked, "What is it?" We explained, and he was eager to try it. We had him eat some crackers from our backpack first, then he took the pills. Within 30 minutes he was jubilant with the relief from those 2 little pills. And we had to thank the Lord for the many comforts we enjoy everyday~ even pain relievers are a blessing that many in the world never experience. It was our privilege to leave all of our over-the-counter medications with the Holt staff when we returned home. We wished we'd had even more to share, and I think of that experience often.

The ride back also brought even more pedestrians along the roads, and we truly began to appreciate that Timkat is a really big deal in Ethiopia. Little did we know, but tomorrow would bring an experience in Ethiopian culture that we would never, ever forget.

Journey to Ethiopia - Day Four

One year ago today: 

Saturday, January 17, 2009

(I'm having trouble loading pix, so I'll add them in later.)

We touched down at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia very late on Friday night. The packed flight took a while to unload, and we were some of the last to deboard. We had not received our little cards to fill out for our visa until just before we landed, so those were not completed yet. We'd been told that Bole was a modern airport, but our first impressions were bad ones. We unloaded into a very dirty basement area, and then crowded with dozens of other people around two small tables to try to fill our cards. To fill them out we had to access every passport and copy the tiny numbers onto the cards for all the adults and each child. It seemed to take forever. Other people rushed through and got in line for their visas, and we finally finished our big stack of cards. We were just about the last people in a long line that disappeared into a doorway. So, we waited there with our big stack of carry-ons and our very tired kids. At one point the children just had to go to the restroom, so we searched around and found an outhouse type of bathroom (hole in the floor, etc.) Not at all what I was expecting, and later we found out that the rest of the airport is a lovely, modern facility. We just hadn't made it that far into the airport, yet. The line crept along, and after 20 minutes we could tell this was going nowhere fast. We found a bench nearby and I took the kids to lie down on our pile of jackets, while Mike kept us moving as the line moved. Finally, it was our turn to be duly stamped and certified to visit Ethiopia, and we were on our way to get our luggage.

Baggage claim was astonishing. There were several carousels, but only one was being used just then. We were amazed to see hundreds and hundreds of unclaimed bags stacked 20 ft high against a wall on one side. We snagged several of our bags, but soon discovered that 2 were missing. We waited some more, we sifted through the stacked luggage in case it had been shoved aside, then we went to the window to report it missing. That seemed to take forever, as more paperwork was filled out. We were told to check back in a few days for the lost bags. By this time the kids were absolutely exhausted, and we were all getting cranky fast. We'd been milling around Bole for more than 2 hours, and we were ready to find a bed.

We finally were able to walk outside to meet our Holt driver, Dawit. He was waiting in the chilly outdoors for us, and had unfortunately been there for several hours. He was kind and gracious and helped us navigate the men who were hanging around the parking lot hoping to be hired by us to carry our luggage. We got tucked safely into our vans and we enjoyed visiting with Dawit as he drove through the quiet streets in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I have to admit that the drive was sobering. The poverty you see in Addis is quite disturbing, and our hearts went out to the people who struggle every day in this large city.

The very best thing about the Union Hotel was its location. It sits close enough to the Holt Care Center that I could almost feel my sweet baby S sleeping nearby when we unloaded and climbed the stairs to our rooms. Our rooms were clean and we had plenty of space to spread out. Mike and I and the boys shared a suite with a bedroom, and R and Gram and DDon shared the room next door. We could see that the staff had taken great care to get everything ready for our stay, and we all fell into bed after a good washing up, and we slept hard - until the prayers began. Then we woke up, rolled over, and tried to sleep some more. Public prayers are broadcast over an extremely loud speaker, and it sounds like it is right outside the window. Unfortunately, they start chanting the prayers in the middle of the night and continue for hours on end. There were also lots of barking dogs and traffic sounds to keep things interesting. We live in the country, so we aren't used to sleeping with the sounds of the city! But we managed fine, and the kids used a white noise machine that we brought, since the noises were much louder in their room. Overall, we did very well and we felt well cared-for during our stay at the Union Hotel.

We had arranged to meet baby S first thing Saturday morning. So, after a few hours of sleep we grabbed some breakfast from the restaurant on the hotel ground floor. They served oatmeal, thin pancakes (sort of like a crepe and very tasty), syrup, and fruit. (Our children, who love fruit and veggies, were under strict instructions not to eat any produce or juices while on our trip. We know that many people are much more adventurous than we were, when it comes to food, but we decided early on that we would take absolutely no chances since the children were traveling with us. So fresh fruits were strictly off-limits. And boy, was that hard! We all sorely missed our fresh fruits and veggies.) The restaurant loved to please us, and the chef and staff doted on the children. We had several delicious meals there, and on many occasions we were so thankful to have good, hot food available just downstairs. Sometimes our order was what we expected, and sometimes it was something else entirely. Sometimes the power would go off and the generator would have a hard time catching up, so the food would be hours late. But the staff always worked very hard to please, and we appreciated their kindness and commitment to us during our stay.

Tamrat (the administrator of the Care Center) and Dawit met us in the lobby to take us over to meet S. We were so excited! Finally, all those months of paperwork, months of waiting and months of praying to bring this baby home were ending. We were finally going to hold our baby girl, and the kids were going to kiss their little sister. It was a wonderful moment.

We got our cameras ready and trooped through the Hotel gates with big grins on our faces, nodding our hellos to the kind gatekeeper, across a broken sidewalk, and into the gate of Holt's Care Center. Up the giant outer staircase we went, where we shucked our shoes and stepped into slippers we'd brought. ( I just love the nannies for that rule! We have a no-shoe policy in our house, too, and I appreciate their efforts to keep the grime off the streets from tracking in where the children play.) We stepped through the big doors into a bright, cheerful, immaculately clean house ~ completely empty of children. The big playroom in front of us was empty, and everything seemed quiet. We were lead upstairs by a nanny, dressed neatly in a blue uniform with her hair pulled back in a scarf. The spiral staircase took us to a landing, and then the nanny pointed to a door. By the twinkle in her eyes, it was obvious that our little S was behind that door. My tears started flowing before the door even opened.

I stepped through first and saw a neat, but crowded room, full of little tray-beds, cribs, and playpens, all with mosquito nets tucked above them. There were several nannies smiling at us, and the one who came forward to meet me said in English, "Find her!" They obviously enjoyed this part of the process, as all of them watched me, smiling. I turned to the first little bed on my left and there was a precious little cherub looking up at the ceiling. But our last photo update of baby S showed she had little soft curls, and this sweet girlie was bald! Plus, this baby was so chubby and was smiling. That didn't really match our paperwork, either. Then I glanced at the card above her bed and saw the name ~ Agegnehush. It was our baby S! I leaned over her face and when she saw me she smiled a huge smile and squealed and laughed!! Wow. What a moment! I asked permission to pick her up, and they laughed at me as if to say, "Of course!" I scooped her up and held her close. She was absolutely perfect. Perfect little toes, and sweet little fingers, and smooth, chubby cheeks. She was so, so beautiful and amazing and precious and adorable.

I looked her over closely. Yes, there were the same pretty eyes, and the same beautifully-shaped head. But she looked so much better than any of her photos, it was such a huge blessing to see how far God had brought her already. She smiled and coo-ed and looked us all over for several minutes. I passed her to her Daddy, and he snuggled her and cried on her, too. Big sister R planted several kisses on her head, then Mike stooped down so the boys could get a look at their baby sister. As soon as baby S saw her brother she laughed out loud! (And to this day, they still have that effect on her.) Then each family member had a turn at holding our new, sweet baby. It was so wonderful to finally be all together in one place. I asked the nannies what happened to her curls, and they assured me "It will grow back." I found out later that the children are often shaved to keep down the spread of ringworm and lice and other scalp problems.

The nannies just loved S so much, and you could tell they were enjoying watching us getting to know each other. One, in particular, stayed with us while the others buzzed around the room clucking and talking to babies, soothing and feeding, and passing around toys. Soon, S had a dirty diaper and her special nanny motioned for me to follow her to the changing room next door. We went in and I talked to S while her nanny adeptly cleaned her up, then motioned and said with her lovely accent, "wash." We went into the bathroom, where a large bathtub held several 5-gallon buckets of water. The nanny turned on the tap to a trickle of cold water, grabbed a bar of soap, and lathered up baby S's bottom. Then she rinsed her bottom, and took her back out to the changing table for a clean diaper. My heart ached to think that sweet baby S had never had a real bath, where she could splash and play with toys and soak and get clean from head to toe in nice, clean, warm water. At that moment, I couldn't wait to get her home to give her a good bathtub bath.

Before we traveled we tried our best to learn some Amharic words and phrases so we could talk to S in her language. We did our best, but I asked her nanny if I was pronouncing one term correctly. I wanted to say, "You are my baby," to let S know that she belonged with us, and she finally had a family.  I tried my best to pronounce it, and asked, "Is this right? Yah nay lij?" The nanny nodded, then added with a big smile, "Yah nay lij ME!" She put her hand on her chest to show me that the "ME" is what made the baby MY baby. She was so pleased that I was trying to talk to baby S, and she obviously approved of the phrase I'd chosen to begin with. So, I repeated it over and over to Sarah, along with "Eh wah di shaloh", which means I love you. All the nannies were thrilled we'd tried to learn words, and I'm sure they were pretty tickled when our Texas accents came through loud and clear.  I cherish those special moments and conversations with the kind women who had loved and held and cared for S while I was not able to. I especially appreciate baby S's special, dear nanny. Her love for baby S was so apparent, and she was so very happy to see S in my arms. It was very, very touching. That very special lady is forever in my heart.

We all passed S around for over an hour, then it was time to go downstairs for playtime. We held our breath as we carefully carried her down that giant, slippery, marble spiral staircase, with nannies behind us carrying two kids at a time. We went into the cheery playroom below, and our children had so much fun playing with the toddlers and older children. HA and HW passed out toys that they had picked out and purchased back home especially for the children. We all took more turns holding baby S, while the nurse filled me in on the baby's daily habits and likes and dislikes. It was soon snack time, and a nanny brought baby S a big stainless steel cup of thick, green liquid. I politely asked what it was and the nurse replied, "Mashed avocado and orange juice." And I thought I started babies young on veggies! She drank it down and whined for more. They laughed and brought her another cupful. She drank some then fell asleep in my arms. I tried hard to think of all the questions I should ask, and I was so grateful to have that one-on-one time with baby S's nurse.

We had noticed that S had some yucky drainage from her nose and eyes. I asked if she had been ill and they nurse said no. But, it was obvious to us that she had a bad sinus infection, at least. I couldn't wait to take custody so we could begin treating her. It was hard to think of how many days, or weeks, baby S had had a miserable cold, or an earache, or a sore throat, or an aching head. It broke my heart to think about S, and all the other children, needing medicine or treatment and not being able to get it. Although the Care Center staff does a wonderful job of caring for the children with what they have, they are limited in what they can do. A chronic sinus infection was some of the least of the problems that children experience in Ethiopia, and the nurse made it clear that medicines are just not available for those kinds of "minor" conditions. Another sobering moment, and a time to pray for all those babies and children who live every day with conditions we never have to tolerate here in the U.S. We are so very blessed to be able to care for our children and keep them healthy and comfortable. Again, I couldn't wait to get her home.

Far too soon it was the babies' naptime, so we had to go back to the hotel. We met the other nice family who had come to bring home their precious daughter. We all rested a while, ordered room service for lunch, and then had another visit at the care center with baby S, while the other traveling family met their sweet baby girl. When we arrived after naptime, baby S was striking this precious pose.

We enjoyed every minute just snuggling sweet baby S!

Sweet Baby S with her Daddy

It was so much fun playing with all the children, rocking and holding babies, and tickling toddlers. We have some wonderful memories of those other special, precious children who were waiting for their forever families. R especially loved holding several preemie and malnourished babies. She was so loving and sweet with them, and they really responded to her extra attention. Though we became attached to all the sweet children, it made it a little easier to leave them at the end of our trip, knowing that in the coming months most of them would be coming home to their forever families, too.

That evening Dawit, Tamrat, and Tamrat's sister took us to the Crown Hotel for an evening of traditional Ethiopian food and music. It was fun, delicious, loud, and exciting.

Dawit, our wonderful guide, driver, and friend

Amazing entertainers at the Crown Hotel

We tasted all kinds of traditional foods, had our first taste of that wonderful Ethiopian coffee and popcorn, and saw traditional dances and clothing representing the different tribes in Ethiopia. We came back to the hotel very late, exhausted, and so very happy that so many wonderful things had happened in one packed, amazing day. And we slept well, in spite of the noise, because we knew our precious, happy daughter was just next door.

Journey to Ethiopia - Day Three

One year ago today: 

Friday, January 16, 2009

Our adventure in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) began with a very affordable driving tour provided by the City of Sultans Travel Agency. Our guide shuttled us through the streets in a comfortable Mercedes coach/van with plush seats and lots of room. As we drove, he narrated the history of this amazing city  situated on the Straits of Bosporus - the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Our first stop was a nice, clean restroom, and then our walking tour began. From then on it was like speed walking through Istanbul, trying to cram centuries of history into a few hours. It was beautiful and interesting, and I'm so glad Mike had the foresight to schedule the tour. I would have hated to have spent that long layover lying around the airport, wondering what it looked like outside.

Although we were dragging a bit from our 3 flights, we managed to squeeze in visits to ancient church- turned-mosque Hagia Sophia, the stunning Blue Mosque, and the ancient Hippodrome where emperors and sultans enjoyed chariot races.

at Hagia Sophia, now a museum

Stunning architecture of the Blue Mosque

Muslim worshippers (in background) come and go throughout the day

Our guide describes some of the monuments at the Hippodrome

 including an obelisk (in background) brought to Constantinople

 by Roman Emperor Theodosius in 390 A.D. 

This pillar was built in Egypt in 1450 B.C. by Pharaoh Tutmose.

Istanbul is a fascinating and confusing blend of Christian and Muslim culture and history.  It was amazing to realize we were in the middle of so many places where the apostle Paul traveled on his missionary journeys.

Our next two stops were at shops owned by local master craftsmen. We enjoyed piping hot apple cider (a popular hospitality drink),  and R was coached by a master potter as she tried her hand at "throwing" a beautiful clay pot. We were encouraged to buy something from the store, and chose an inexpensive, but beautiful little saucer.

Our guide then drove us a Turkish rug dealer. We thought we would be watching a rug making demonstration, but instead, we were shown rugs that were for sale for at least half an hour. Again, we were given hot cider and coffee. The owner would clap his hands loudly and his staff would unfurl the most gorgeous hand made rugs we had ever seen. Some of them had taken the rugmaker an entire year to complete. When we had seen 15 or 20 rugs, with prices ranging from $7,000 to $38,000, we realized that this salesman was not going to let up, and it was time to leave. 

We were all pretty exhausted and the kids were really tired of walking, so we asked our guide to cut the tour short and take us back to the airport. We had thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sights, but wanted to save some strength for the flight that would finally get us to the horn of Africa.


We unloaded our bags, thanked our tour guide, and he wished us well in our journey to bring baby S home (of course, we had shared photos and told him all about her!) We walked around the airport, ate a very overpriced Burger King meal for supper, and finally were ready to fly out. We then went through airport security in Turkey~ which is far more complicated and intimidating than airport security in the states. There were multiple passes through multiple checkpoints, with lots of very serious and scary security personnel pawing through our things.

As we clambered aboard a packed airplane for the 4^th flight of this long journey, we had the sense that this leg of the trip would go by in no time. We'd made it most of the way to Africa~ we were now only a 5 hour flight away from the same city where our sweet baby S was waiting for us in Holt's Care Center. Just 5 hours! Or so we thought.

Journey to Ethiopia - Day Two

One year ago today: 

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Our long flight from Chicago to Istanbul on Turkish Air was lightly loaded, we had lots of room to spread out, and the crew was friendly. We relaxed, and the children all slept like children are able to ~ anywhere, any time, in any position. 

HA stripped his shirt and got really comfy with his special blanket

R and HA thought the headphones and screens were pretty cool

Cartoons brought lots of laughs from HW and burned several hours over the Atlantic

The food was unique. It was more interesting than any I've ever seen on a plane, and some of it was quite delicious to us adults. It seemed like it might be considered gourmet Turkish cuisine. The kids were all pretty adventurous during the whole trip, but the strong yogurty smells that came with each meal made it a little tough for them to enjoy (notice HA's expression). They did their best, and the snacks we packed took care of the rest. 

We adults, on the other hand, didn't really manage much sleep, but we did rest and enjoyed ourselves as much as anyone can enjoy an 11 hour flight. We didn't look or feel nearly as perky as the kids did by that point~ we'd been stuffed into airplanes and running through airports for more than 2 days, and it showed. We were all glad to finally see land again and to feel that plane touching down in Turkey, where we had a layover before our next leg. It was Friday morning there, and Mike had us scheduled to take a tour of Istanbul during our 8 hour layover.

In the airport we found out, to our dismay, that because of all those flight delays back in the states, we had to take our luggage with us when we left the airport (!), and recheck our luggage, again, when we boarded our next flight. It was beyond frustrating to be stuck with hauling around this gigantic mound of bags every time we got to an airport, and it was all but impossible for us to even tote that much baggage around very far, since our two little boys couldn't exactly pull heavily loaded bags that were as tall as they were. We snagged carts when we were able, but still had a lot to deal with. We managed to struggle to the doors with all of it, stepped out into Turkey, and met our smiling tour guide. He was so nice and accommodating. He and his assistant somehow managed to get all that luggage jammed into the back of his big van for safe keeping while we toured the city. And boy, were we in for some surprises in Istanbul. 

Journey to Ethiopia - Day One

One year ago today: 

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The weeks leading up to our travel to bring S home were crazy. Due to the Christmas holidays combined with power failures in Addis Ababa, where our baby S waited, we were given only 10 days to plan our trip, book our flights, and pack this family up. We went to the doctor multiple times to make sure the kids' colds and allergies were under control, but our normally healthy children just kept on with the running noses and coughs. And even though we had all been vaccinated to the gills for everything from Yellow Fever to Typhoid, we still had to put together a medical supplies kit that would help us treat any eventuality in a developing country. We needed adult and children's doses of everything, and some of us can swallow pills and some can't. Plus, we needed to be prepared to treat baby S to help her start healing from whatever infections and issues she might have. We had it all covered. Diarrhea? Check. Cough and cold? Check. Fevers? Check. Cuts? Check. Scabies, lice, ear infection, fungus? Check, check, check, and check.  The list went on and on, and the bundle of medicines we ended up taking was impressive. Fortunately, we knew that if God blessed us with health on our travels, every bit of that medicine could be donated to the Care Center for the children there.

We spent 2 days and 2 long nights trying to fit mounds of orphanage donations (including vitamins, baby clothes, shoes, toys, and medicines), snack foods for our kids, and all our medications in with the clothes we needed~ all according to the combined baggage size and weight regulations of the 3 different airlines we would fly. In addition, we were advised to make sure that each bag had some items for each person in it, because we would likely lose some of our luggage along the way. We also tried to pack as much as possible in our carryons, so that if our luggage was lost we would still have some things to get us through. We went around and around, but finally figured out a packing system so that certain bags could be assigned to each person on check in, in order to avoid those dreaded oversize and overweight baggage fees. The packing alone was exhausting, and the trip hadn't even begun. But, the exhaustion of getting a whole family ready to cross the Atlantic was masked by the electric excitement we all felt. We were going to get baby S and bring her home!

Our journey began just as we begin every other family trip, with Mike's heartfelt prayer in the driveway for God's protection and blessing for our family. Then we drove just a few minutes and arrived at our local regional airport before 5 am to check in for an early commuter flight to DFW. Uncle B and cousin T came with us that morning, to help with all our bags and to bring our vehicles home and see us off on the first leg of our journey. We were all pumped and ready for this big adventure, and more than ready to finally meet our baby S ~ our travel group included me, Mike, R (our eldest daughter, age 11), HA (our elder son, age 6), HW (our younger son, age 6), and Gram and DaddyDon (Brenna's parents). Seven in all. That's a lot of luggage, people.

We got our checked bags through the line and then we took our carryons and went to the airport restaurant to wait until our flight was called. You know those sharply dressed business people you see in airports pulling their slim, wheeled carryons behind them, weaving through the crowds gracefully? That was so not us. Our carryons included bags of activities for the kids that weighed the maximum amount allowed, a big, vital bag of paperwork required to get our baby home, tons of snacks for the kids, seven jackets (we didn't need them in Texas, but we knew that would change when we landed in Chicago), my bulging purse, loaded with every kind of medicine we might need in-flight and bottles of hand sanitizer, and one very important blankie for one unnamed child who still needs it when he goes to sleep. Graceful doesn't describe our group in any form or fashion. 

We got coffee and the kids chose drinks. Suddenly R turned to me and whispered, "I think I'm gonna be sick!"

I hurried her through the empty airport to the bathroom. We made it in the nick of time. It didn't bode well that we already had a vomiting child before we were even in the air, but I said an extra prayer for her, chocked it up to all the nervous energy we all felt and hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come. We barely had time to get her put back together before it was time to go through security. The small-town airport security check that first time was sort of fun ~ all of us looked so silly with our shoes and boots in the plastic tubs, walking sock-footed to the end of the line where we put our belts back on and passed around wallets and purses. The kids giggled and we joked, and we didn't mind it at all. We had a good time going through airport security that very first time ~ the 7^th time or so, not so much.

We were jubilant on that first leg to DFW, and it was a very short trip. We barely settled into our seats before we the plane was setting down and we were gathering our things to get off.

In the DFW airport we found out our next leg of the trip was delayed by a big ice storm in the mid-west. Chicago was all backed up, so there we sat for several hours, trying our best to entertain the kids and catch a few winks in the terribly uncomfortable airport chairs. That delay gave us a few minutes to think about what we might have forgotten, and we phoned Mike's mom for a last minute pharmacy run. She arrived at DFW with a package of dental repair paste  in case of a broken tooth ( I told you we were prepared for anything), and a watch for Mike, who realized that since he wouldn't have his cell phone in Ethiopia, we would never know what time it was. At one point during our wait I jumped on a computer and posted a quick update to the blog. It would be our last real connection for the rest of trip.

After several hours of delays we were finally back on track and hoped to still make our connection in Chicago. When we arrived in Chicago we found out our bags had to be rechecked through, because our plane was late and the plane we were flying out on had already been loaded. So, we retrieved our pile of luggage from baggage claim, lugged them around again and checked them in again, and finally flew out aboard Turkish Air, bound for the city that joins two continents: Istanbul. 

Series - Journey to Ethiopia

Join us as we relive our journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!

Exactly one year ago today,

we embarked on our amazing trip

 to bring baby S home!

I'm Gonna Miss It

Eldest has always had this thing about lip balm. She can't stand it. She can't stand to put it on, and can't stand the feel of it on her lips. So, a few years ago I figured out that whenever her lips were chapped I could just wait until she fell asleep that night, sneak in her room, and smooth some on while she slept. She's a light sleeper, so this takes great skill from Mama.

For years she never knew about my little trick. She'd just wake up the next morning and say, "Wow. My lips feel much better this morning." 

I'd reply, "Good, dear," and smile to myself.

A while back, I let her in on my little secret. She thought it was hilarious that I would sneak around in the dark like that for her for all those years, just to fix her dry lips.

Now, when her lips feel chapped she'll ask, "Mom, will you fix my chapped lips tonight after I go to sleep?"

"Sure, honey. I'll be glad to." So, when she falls asleep I, once again, stumble over the jumble of dolls and sports gear and books to get to her bed in the dark and smooth on some balm.

I guess one day she'll make herself put on her own lip balm, and then she won't need to ask me to do it anymore. And I'm gonna miss it.