A year ago today…

Was one heck of an emotional day.

I started off pretty homesick. We were in a nice little “groove” with Ben and he was still doing unbelievably well (we had adopted older kids before and were prepared for what things could be like, but he just was this easy-going, sweet and happy kid from almost the very beginning).

Since I was feeling homesick and missing my kids something awful, it was SO nice to get a phone call from my best friend that morning and hear her voice and hear how the kids were doing. It definitely... more

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That night we went to a big traditional dinner and dance show at the Crowne Hotel with some of the agency staff and the other families. Ben was super-well behaved and loved picking what he wanted from the buffet. Josh and I ate our fill again, while Dan stuck to white rice and bread.

The music was fun and the dancers were amazing, and even though it was late and we were really tired, it was a great night. On that ride back to the hotel, two note-worthy things happened. One was that Benjamin got his first taste of chocolate thanks to a packet of mini-M&M’s from the other family. He has been hooked ever since! (this is the kid that later told the social worker at... more

We walked back to our rooms after breakfast and got our things together and then T. came to pick us up for another visit at the care center and to meet the other families so we could go to our Embassy appointment.

T. spoke to Ben in Amharic, asking him how he was doing, how his night was, if we were good parents, etc. and Ben smiled and answered him (and gave us good marks!). When we got back to the center he took off to find his friends and find out what he had been missing, but he stuck much closer to us than he had the day before. We played with the kids and took lots of picture and video.

After lunch it was time to head to the Embassy and we piled into the van along with... more

A year ago today…

Was Embassy Day!!

After a full night’s sleep, Benjamin woke up happy. He gave us smiles and hugs and jumped right back into coloring (after checking that all of his treasures were still in his back pack).

I had him choose some clothes to wear (and had to remove some choices after realizing he was MUCH smaller than a lot of the stuff I had brought), and I decided we would try a bath. I didn’t know if he was used to taking a bath, or how bashful he would be, but I figured I would wing it.

While he colored and played I got everything ready and filled the tub with warm water. I called him in and he came in smiling, and it quickly became apparent... more

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Ben was up from his nap while most of the others were still sleeping, and we got to spend some time with just him, which was really nice. I had brought some play dough, magnet games and coloring books, all of which he loved. He started to relax with us and show his hilarious little personality. His smile could melt butter and my heart all at the same time.

We went into one of the buildings to color and to give a few of the other kids their care packages from their adoptive families. One of the workers asked us if we would be taking Benjamin with us that night or if we would leave him there and come back to visit again tomorrow. I was thinking we would let him stay... more

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First we went to Center A (where the offices and babies were located), and we met the director and his wife. We got a tour of the building and got to see all of the beautiful babies. It was VERY DIFFICULT to get Josh out of there. :) I kept trying to move him along so we could get to Ben, and he took his time with each and every baby. We were very impressed with the cleanliness of the building and how well equipped they seemed to be. It was also very obvious that the nannies loved the babies greatly.

After a short meeting where we discussed our children and how we would spend the week, etc, we got back in the van and went a very short way to the care center B,... more

A year ago today…

We met our son, Benjamin.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to sleep with all of the excitement and jet lag, but good old exhaustion took over and I slept soundly until somewhere around 5 a.m. I heard the unmistakable (and very, very loud) call to prayer. Definitely a vivid reminder that we weren’t at home anymore!

At that point I had slept for about 8 hours, and as much as a few more hours would have done me good, excitement and jet lag took over and I was wide awake. I took another shower, got ready for the day, packed and repacked my back pack for Benjamin and willed the time to go by more quickly.

Josh finally got up and got ready, and at... more

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I felt like a little kid looking out the window of the van as we drove through the streets of Addis Ababa…I wanted to see everything and felt a huge variety of emotions with all that I saw. The traffic was unreal...death-defying almost (and this coming from a girl from New York!!!)Even though it was late and dark, the streets were full of people, animals, cars, bikes...it was like I had pictured it in my mind, but so much MORE so.

T., our driver extraordinare, made us feel welcome right away, and we had a lot of fun talking with him and listening to him point out the sites.

When we got dropped off at the hotel, Josh, Dan and I had our... more

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We landed and deboarded, and it felt SO good to be using my legs again. We followed the crowds to the immigration area and found the line for foreigners with visas already in hand. I also noticed the bank teller window, and sent Josh and Dan to get some Birr. On line we befriended a Dad that was traveling alone to get his daughter through the same program we were getting our son. There was also a couple and their five year old daughter traveling with us. We loved them right away and were super impressed with how well their daughter did on the trip over. It was fun to have friends!

We made it through uneventfully and went over to wait for our... more

A year ago today…

We were STILL on the plane. If you’ve never tried to sit in the same seat for 15 hours (or more) at a time, I really don’t recommend it unless it is an absolute must! I had broken my tailbone ice skating with my girls just a few weeks earlier, so needless to say I was doing lots of “shifting” in my seat.

I am usually a huge reader…I devour books and cherish quiet time to read. I had been looking forward to the long flight and being able to get lots of reading done, but despite being in the middle of an awesome book (the Sign and the Seal…about Ethiopia’s claim to have the Arc of the Covenant…really, really good) my brain just couldn’t focus. I think it was... more