More Mira

A quick tidbit from Randy (Dad):

Today, the women all went shopping one more time. Mirabelle is napping before lunch; she's been great so far. Slept well last night, from about 10pm to 5am, then finally drank a good bottle. She's still very babbly and talkative. She seems to be recognizing our voices a bit. Today is 60s and overcast.

This morning when we left our compound to go to the other guesthouse for breakfast we saw quite a sight. There's a guard who lives in a small house in the courtyard, very nice, he and I like to play with his two dogs, Jack and Lily, who live here. He was very excited to show us that one of the stray dogs, who lives in sort of a rock pile/den right outside our compound door, had had puppies in the night. He motioned over and said, "Look! Puppies! Three boys two girls!"

Jules and I couldn't help being a bit taken aback by what else the new mom had, a full goat, freshly killed, right outside her den. Apparently someone had brought her the meal this morning. It looked like something right out of National Geographic.

Pictures of Mirabelle

Here are a few pictures of Mirabelle taken at the guesthouse with her mom!

Trip to Hosanna

We went to Hosanna this morning. Randy said he didn’t know what was weirder, the fact that we are in Africa across the world from our home, or the fact that I was up and moving at 5 am. We had to leave at 6 on the 4-hour bumpy bus drive. We went through Addis and headed out of town in the dark. Surprisingly, it was rainy last night and this morning, which is not the normal for Ethiopia when not in the rainy season. Almost right away we began to see the round, thatched huts that are so common in more rural areas. There are also dilapidated shacks near the road. Corrugated sheet metal seems to be used everywhere in Addis and the smaller cities we went through. Even once you’re well out of the city, there are people continually walking along the road, as well as goats, mules and cattle. As in Addis, there is literally poverty everywhere you look.

There were people outside everywhere. We saw children herding goats and cattle, carrying water, straw or other children, peeing and playing. The scenery was beautiful. There are rolling hills and low mountains, flowering and acacia trees everywhere. Randy took about 300 pictures – seriously.

We arrived at the orphanage office in Hosanna late morning to meet with birth parents if possible, or with the people who found children abandoned. Most of those people traveled a long way to get to Hosanna to share their stories of our kids’ beginnings, and to meet the people who would parent these children. Almost as soon as we stepped off the bus the meetings began, which caught us a little off guard. Each group (the adoptive parents and the Ethiopian person) met privately in a small room with a social worker and translator. We were able to ask questions and share a little about ourselves, our families, what it’s like where we live, etc. When our meeting was over, we went outside with the person we met with to have a photo taken together. After all the meetings were finished, there was an entrustment ceremony. The entire ceremony was moving and unique. The birth parents and those who had found abandoned children stood in a line across from us, and they all said a prayer in Amharic. Next they lit candles one by one and walked over and handed them to the respective adoptive parents. Then all of us adoptive parents said a prayer together. I won’t go into too much detail here, except to say that every single one of us was crying, women and men, Americans and Ethiopians. You cannot imagine what it’s like to see a birth parent hand a candle over to an adoptive mother, with tears streaming down both of their faces. It’s clear that these children would never be relinquished or abandoned if not for the abject poverty.

I will share more about our meeting with Tekle with family when we get home.

We were all completely drained after the entrustment ceremony. Before we left Hosanna we enjoyed a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. In one corner was a woman in traditional dress roasting beans for coffee, next to a smoking bowl of incense that filled the window-lit room with aromatic smoke. The coffee was excellent. Then we visited the orphanage. There were a lot of cheerful, begging children flocking around us. They enjoyed showing off for the video camera. We had brought a bag of suckers, which they all enjoyed.

On the way back from Hosanna we had the opportunity to stop at one of the thatched huts and go inside it. Wow. You can’t believe how small, dark and earthen they are. The entire house was smaller than our living room. The people who live there keep their cattle inside because there are hyenas in the area, so two or three cattle share that space with the entire family. It’s really dark because there is only one small window. The floor is smooth, swept dirt and a fire inside fills the hut with smoke which slowly seeps out the thatched roof (driving by, they look like they are on fire.) Outside the house that we visited they were growing collard greens and false banana plants, which are common to the area. This is almost certainly the kind of house Mirabelle would have grown up in.

Tonight I had a bout of homesickness. I miss the kids terribly, miss being able to eat anything without taking Pepto first or having a “funky tummy” afterward, miss being able to wash my hands with soap and non-contaminated water! I feel guilty or wimpy complaining, because let me tell you, looking in any direction in Ethiopia quickly reminds one of how minor those little inconveniences are. Indoor plumbing is a luxury most don’t have, and I’m griping about having to use hand sanitizer! I’m sure the emotion of the day, poor sleep last night, early morning schedule and massive head cold are all conspiring to make me miss home and the kids.

Tomorrow we go to the care center and bring the babies back to the guesthouse for the morning and lunch. Finally we can take some pictures of M! They don’t allow photography at the care center to protect the privacy of all the children. I guess we’ll see tomorrow what we remember about baby care!

I have to say again… the poverty everywhere is mind-boggling. When you are out in public in Addis there is literally no escaping it, nowhere you could look to avoid it, unless you were at one of the few very wealthy hotels on the other side of town. In the rural areas it is as bad or worse.

Four more days. I hope they fly by.

News from Addis Ababa

Our first full day in Addis is done. We went to the care center twice to see the kids. Both times Mirabelle was reserved with us. She enjoys being held and cuddled and is curious about us, but she wasn't smiley. However, her face lit up when her nannies interacted with her, and she smiled at them. We were happy to see that. Tomorrow we will see the children in the morning again. On Sunday we take our trip to Hosanna, and then Monday the kids come to the guesthouse for half of the day. Tuesday we take them into our care 24/7. I have to say, even though we've spent a few hours with her now, it doesn't seem real that she's coming home with us yet - that she's our daughter. Pretty much everyone else in the group has expressed similar feelings, so I guess it's not abnormal!

We take a bus from the guest house to the care center (and anywhere else we are going). The driving is crazy and cutthroat, with no stoplights or stop signs at all and seemingly no traffic rules. Add diesel fumes and tons of pedestrians and goats to the mix and that's Addis transportation.

Honestly, the city seems even poorer or third world than I expected. Beggers knocked on the windows of the van on the way from the airport every time it slowed, and there are tiny, falling down corrogated metal shacks all over the place. You see ragged people sitting on the streets everywhere. Where there are "nice" neighborhoods, such as the one where the guesthouse is located, every home without exception is a compound, with high concrete walls surrounding them. There is razor wire at the top of every wall, even at the guest house. Some homes have broken bottle glass embedded in the concrete at the top of the wall to deter thieves.

We slept hard last night, but, like many others in our group, we are definitely fighting jet lag. It's 7:15 pm and I feel ready for bed.

I love seeing Addis, and despite the poverty, everywhere you look provides an amazing visual. These dilapidated shacks are framed by vibrant bouganvilla and hollyhocks, with palm trees and mountains in the backgound. Randy is taking tons of pictures. But we are tired, too, and feel run down. Everyone seems to be dealing with some level of stomach issues, headaches, colds or fatigue. So far we've been lucky, although I do think I might be getting that head cold the girls had. We are taking tons of Airborne, Zicam and Pepto (preventatively). So that's a bit stressful.

We're retiring early (it's about 8pm here) but tomorrow we see the kids again in the morning along with some meetings, then some shopping, money exchange, tour type things in the afternoon.

In less than a week - Is that possible?

One week from today we will have held Mirabelle. I cannot wrap my brain around that! It’s been such a long wait – we can’t be this close, can we? But finally we are!

I try to imagine what she will be like, but the truth is I really can’t. I am merely picturing her face from the few photos we have of her. But in this way, she is similar to her three siblings. I never could imagine what they would be like, either, until I actually held them.

We are so excited, as well as nervous, about this tremendous change. We can't wait to bring Mirabelle home forever! We also expect that the road might be a little rocky at times, as other adoptive families have shared with us their challenges during the transition home. Of course, no matter what their challenges, they all say, “I can’t even imagine life without (him or her) now!”

We did imagine life without her, when we did some serious soul-searching several years ago before we started the adoption process. We both felt strongly that someone was missing from our family. That’s how we knew that moving ahead with adoption was right for us.

We leave in 5 days, and most of my mental energy is still devoted to preparations for the trip – my perpetual to-do list! – as it has been for the last two weeks. But more and more, as the day grows closer, my "to-do" thoughts are constantly punctuated with anticipation of meeting Mirabelle.

This is your brain ... This is your brain on lottery balls

My "to do" list is defeating me. I am suffering a constant barrage of unrelated "to-do" items ping-ponging around my brain. It feels like this:
with each ball representing a different task.

• Arrange ride to confirmation for Ethan on the 28th
• Find long skirts to wear in Ethiopia
• Vacuum disgusting van before anyone else drives it
• Get form DS-1981 notarized
• Look for extra battery for video camera
• Document every detail of morning schedule so Gracie actually makes the bus when we're gone
• Find outfits to bring for Mirabelle that consist of separate pants and shirts, so if she blows out her diaper we won't have to pull the onsie off over her head
• Schedule eye exam because of course, conveniently, I am on my last pair of contacts and can't order new ones without the exam

Every 2.5 seconds, a new "to-do ball" pops into my conscious thought flow - and then a different one replaces it. Maddening. And I feel very distracted. I suspect that I'm simply drifting off mentally in the middle of conversations, although so far no one has called me on it (my friends are sympathetic and my family is accustomed to my usual level of scatterbrained-ness).

I am hoping that when more of the tasks on our list are accomplished, the lottery balls will go away and my brain can return to its less vigorous activity schedule. Once we're packed and done with paperwork I'll regain a small bit of my sanity!

Travel plans

Yesterday we got our travel date. We are leaving on Wednesday, January 21, arriving in Addis Ababa late on Thursday night the 22nd. After my last rather panicky post, I had gotten excited about the idea of traveling as early as January 15th. But now that we are starting the final whirlwind of preparations, I have to confess that I'm glad we have that extra week. There's so much to do!

The plane ride
The first leg of our trip is to Amsterdam, about 8 1/2 hours. We have a 4-hour layover before departing for Sudan (6-1/2 hour flight). We're in Sudan for about an hour and then we head to Ethiopia. We are scheduled to land in Addis a little after 10 pm. If there's one certainty about this part of trip, it's that I'll be completely fried by the time we land.

Our week in Ethiopia
Here's an idea of what our itinerary might look like:

Thursday evening
- Arrive in Addis Ababa and go to the guesthouse

Friday
- Attend an orientation and meet then Mirabelle!

Saturday
- Spend the morning at the care center observing and learning Mirabelle's routine
- Exchange money and shop in the afternoon
- Attend an evening dinner show at the Crown Hotel

Sunday
- Hosanna trip south all day (see below). Return early evening to the guesthouse for dinner

Monday
- Spend the morning at the care center
- Visit museums and city sights in the afternoon. Visit AHOPE (see link) and tour CHSFS Ethiopia facilities

Tuesday
- Attend a special going-away celebration in the morning for the children at the care center
- Return to the guesthouse for lunch, taking Mirabelle into our care after the going-away celebration
- Travel to the US embassy for our afternoon visa interview
- Free time in the evening

Wednesday
- Spend the day with our daughter
- Hairbraiding class at the guesthouse in the afternoon

Thursday
- Ethiopian cooking class in the morning
- Spend the rest of the day packing and taking care of last-minute items
- Leave the guesthouse for airport transfer/hellish journey home

The trip back is similar to the trip there, except for a 5-hour layover in Amsterdam, and the fact that we'll be making it with a 6-month-old, who will no doubt impress us with one of the following talents:

A. Her ability to blow out her diaper during the plane ride - maybe more than once
B. Her volume when displeased
C. Her amazing demonstration of "good traveler" skills

Sure, it will be the last one, letter "C"!

Here are a few more details about our stay and activities:

The guesthouse
There are actually two CHSFS guesthouses, which families describe as very comfortable and cheerful. Three meals per day, snacks and bottled water are all included in our stay. Most bedrooms have one double bed, some with private bath. As in other parts of Addis Ababa, power outages are a common occurrence and the water supply for showers and toilets is sometimes limited. Limited Internet access is available.

Hosanna
Hosanna is about three to four hours south of Addis. Transportation is by bus. Hosanna is the capital of the Hadiya zone. It is a bustling city with a population of around 60,000 people. The roads are unpaved and the city is dusty.

Hosanna is where the Mussie orphanage is located. Many of the Ethiopian children who are matched with families through CHSFS are originally from the area around Hosanna. They are first brought into care at the Mussie orphanage.

This trip to Hosanna will give us a unique opportunity to see the Ethiopian countryside, near our daughter's birthplace. In addition, it may possibly allow us to meet the person or people who first cared for Mirabelle and gave her her Ethiopian name, Tsegayenesh, which means "you are my grace."

Hairbraiding class
Really, no one wants to end up with this look:


Our mental state
The truth is, right now we are both feeling mostly nervous about many aspects of the trip, from the preparation to the potentially challenging journey home - not to mention that our baby may completely freak out and reject us the first time we hold her (of course, our other kids freak out at us all the time, so we should be able to handle that one). We'll see where we're at in 20 days!