Hike For Their Home

From For His Glory Adoption Outreach:
"We are pleased to announce the 2nd Annual "Hike for Their Home." On July 18th, at 3:30 am, a team from Cheyenne Mountain Resort is dedicating themselves to hike the 14,000 ft Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs, Colorado all in the name of the children and families of Maison des Enfant des Dieu orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Last year the group hiked and helped with the rent of the facility. This year they are even more excited to help with the purchase of land and the building project for the orphanage."

I am late on this post as the event that I am talking about actually happened last Saturday, BUT anyone can donate to the cause at any time by going here: http://www.forhisgloryoutreach.org/hike_for_their_home.

It is all about raising money to build on the land that has been purchased in the countryside so that the Maison des Enfants de Dieu orphanage in Haiti can have a new home. But not just any home, a faith filled community where the children who cannot be adopted can be raised in a setting where they will receive love, education and life skills in safe building structures outside of the city center. To hear the details as written by the orphanage director himself go to Pierre's blog at http://www.forhisgloryoutreach.org/pierre_s_blog

Here are pictures that we took of the current orphanage facility which they rent, the first shows the building which houses the infants and toddlers and the second is the building that has school rooms on top for the older children and sleeping rooms on the bottom:

Here is a bridge being rebuilt in the street just outside the door of the orphanage, the previous bridge fell below during the earthquake. On the other side of the bridge is piled of accumulated garbage since the earthquake.

Now here is the land that has been purchased to build the new community. There is much work to be done but it is promising and hopeful that with the help of many it can happen.

Saying Goodbye

(Boy in the country following our Tap Tap)

We arrived home safely to Colorado late last night after a long day of flights and airport layovers. Saying goodbye to the staff and children at the orphanage Monday was very difficult to say the least. It would be one thing if all I did was provide physical care while there, but I spent many hours hearing very personal stories from the nannies and spending time exploring deep emotions with the children. In that type of setting and under the circumstances relationships formed very quickly. When I said my goodbyes to the group of nannies who I worked the most extensively with, they prayed for me and my family and I said what little I could to try and solidify the skills that I had taught them. However when I said goodbye to the older group of girls that I worked with, one of them in particular started crying, a lot. She is not just any child, she is a miracle, a survivor and victim to a disability which could easily be corrected in the US. Both my husband and I were very moved by her strength, resilience and intelligence. Her crying completely took me off guard. Now it is never my goal in child therapy for my clients to become so attached to me that they cry when parting. In a orphanage this is a unfortunate consequence of the circumstances. I had to ask one of the male volunteers at the orphanage to hang out with the girls so that I could bolt before I myself broke down in tears in front of them. It was defiantly a somber night, a long day home, and I did not sleep well last night. My dreams were filled with the visions of the older children and nannies at the orphanage, as if they were calling to me, that there is still unfinished business and work to be done. For sure there is.

(Elaborately painted old school buses and covered trucks called Tap Taps are everywhere)

For now I need to come to terms with returning to a reality that no longer seems so real to me. This happens every time I come back from a poor country, when I returned from Ethiopia and Rwanda the things I saw haunted me. I look at my children and the things they have and the safe, warm beds that they sleep in and I imagine all the children who I have seen at orphanages and I had to leave them behind. Of course there is no other way, you cannot possibly adopt all of them and for this trip I knew what I was going there to do and I did the job the best that I could. Still it is a hard thing to reckon with and each trip that I take changes me, changes the way I see the world, the way I live and spend money and the way I want to raise my children. It changes the very center of my being.

(Sunset over houses in the hills as viewed from our hotel room)

Serving

We have been so busy working the last three days and I am so tired when we get back to the hotel at night that I have not had the energy when I sit down to put my thoughts into order. If you know where to look and are not afraid to jump in there is always something to be done here. There are babies who need cuddling, toddlers who need soothing, older children who need entertaining, special needs children who need physical therapy, and nannies who just simply need a break. And there is always work to be done with the building and grounds.

Survivors

The last two days of work at the orphanage have been extremely busy. I conducted counseling sessions with adults and children via an interpreter and when he had to leave I did what I could with non-verbal play therapy with the children. The women and girls who I have met are survivors in the strongest sense. These are the women and children who you do not see on the news. The faces and stories behind the chaos. They have survived being buried by rubble for days, losing everything they own, and the collapse of their city before their eyes. They are facing life head on despite grieving the deaths of their parents, siblings, spouses, children, and friends. In Haiti it is not considered culturally appropriate to talk about your feelings, especially to a stranger who is younger then you. And even if they did, there really is not anyone to talk to because everyone is grieving. It is also not easy for me to do counseling via an interpreter but we clicked in working together right away and despite his own cultural beliefs he seemed to easily “get it”. So truly what I am a part of here is a miracle. I have the privilege of sitting down with women who are willing to tell their story to a young white stranger. They told me that they felt that God was at work in their time with me and one said that she felt like she was being “mothered”. The interpreter seemed shocked that she would say this. I think she was describing to me that she was feeling for the first time like someone else really cared about caring for her. Most of these woman are the only one's working in their large families and they never get the chance to take care of themselves, let alone be taken care of.

I am definitely feeling the extreme responsibility that I take on when I sit down with each individual. When I arrived this morning there were women lined up to see me. We conducted sessions back to back, some with women coping fairly well, others very depressed. After being told that I am a Doctor, a few have come to me wanting medicine but my interpreter has been doing an excellent job of explaining what it is that a psychologist does. They still choose to speak and it does not take long for them to talk about the fear, anxiety, and depression underneath the surface. I remembered that in the US, a large proportion of medical office visits for pain are actually due to mental illness. I think it is the same here, that reporting physical pain to others is an easy excuse to request “my psychology time” (as the nannies are passionately telling my interpreter). The symptoms reported are amazingly similar. Most every adult describes the experience of headaches, rapid heartbeat, physical weakness, memory problems, reoccurring memories from the earthquake, sleep problems, fear and grief. Some of the children still can’t talk about it and cry uncontrollably when the subject comes up at the orphanage. Today when I met with a group of 7 girls ages 5-9 and I asked them to draw a picture of what makes them sad they eventually all drew pictures of houses. Something that should be a source of comfort and security to a child has become the deliverer of death in this country. In the grand scheme of things, what I am doing here feels so simple but so profound.

The Reality

Here begins my Haiti travel log. I need to put this in writing. Not only so that I never forget, which of course I never will, but also to help me cope. I also feel that I need to spread this message. The world has seen the pictures of Haiti and has responded but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done. Tonight there was a news station from New York filming right outside our hotel door, no kidding. They are here because Clinton is in Haiti as well as some big group to train the Haitians in disaster response. I have mixed feelings about that when basic needs are still not being met and things are ending up in the wrong hands. After arriving to our hotel yesterday we promptly left our bags in our room and loaded back into the car for a tour of downtown Port au Prince and the adjacent slum area. I really can’t properly put into words the devastation that is here. We have visited (what used to be) the poorest country in the world and honestly the state of this city looks worse. There is garbage piled up everywhere on the sides of the street and in the drainage ditches. The poorer area of town was not as impacted by the earthquake as the housing structures are primarily made out of tin and wood but the disorganization, crime and poverty is extreme. Prostitution is common here and this is the part of town where most of the children at the orphanage come from.

Within the city center the buildings are either completely crumbled, partially standing or some intact but leaning to the side. People are still working and mingling among these structures. There are no fenced off areas to keep people away from unstable structures and no construction equipment. There are growing piles of rubble on the sides of the street often blocking one lane. Haitians were told to pile their rubble along the street and that crews would come pick it up. It is an excruciatingly slow process and happening by hand. The scene in downtown Port au Prince looks like something from a movie, it is truly unbelievable. Among the rubble there are people everywhere. They are selling their goods on the side of the road, pushing and pulling carts by hand, women carrying huge loads on their heads, and children playing. What fragile infrastructure that was in place in Port au Prince prior to the earthquake has been torn apart after. Many of the government and school buildings including the college were destroyed. This also means that many of the leaders, educated professionals, and university students were killed in the earthquake.

Of course most obvious also are the huge tent villages all over the city. We are on the second floor at our hotel and from our balcony we can see a hillside of destroyed homes and an adjacent large tent city. The noise and music from the tent city goes on all night. There are children and entire families living in these makeshift homes. I really can’t imagine how anyone gets any sleep. And now there is the rain, both days it has started in the afternoon and rains pretty heavily for a short time. I can’t imagine how these little tents sitting so close together on the dirt are going to withstand the rainy season. I worry about the most vulnerable people; the children, the elderly, the disabled, how will they survive the conditions and the disease that may result? Maybe moving large groups of people out of the city is the solution, but then the adults need a place to work, the children need a place to go to school, and there needs to be accessible medical care and transportation. It is going to take a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of resources and some intervention from above to get this country repaired.

* All pictures copyrighted (2010)

We Are Here

We arrived to Port au Prince on time yesterday afternoon. All is well but we are already busy this morning getting ready to go work with the children. I will try to update and post pictures this evening as I would definately like to maintain a travel log for everyone who has supported us.

On Our Way!

I am pleased to say that after several attempts at packing the 100 pounds worth of donations over the weekend I finally got all the essentials crammed into the bags and within the weight limit! We survived a midnight flight from Denver, CO to Charlotte, NC where we connected to Fort Lauderdale, FL. We flew a US Airways for the first time and was not totally impressed but at least we got where we needed to be safely and on time. We now have a 4 hour layover and then we will have a short 2 hour flight on American Airlines, arriving in Port au Prince at 3pm. We will be met at the airport by the very nice young missionary (Check out her wonderful blog at http://www.mission82.blogspot.com/) who is working at the orphanage this summer and then after going to the hotel we may take a drive through downtown Haiti to get a sense of where the children are coming from. No worries about safety as we will have a driver and translators with us throughout our stay.

We want to thank everyone who ordered a T-shirt for our "Haiti in Our Hearts" fundraiser and especially a huge Thank You to all the very generous family and friends who opened their hearts for the orphans of Haiti and did not even want a shirt! We are hoping that the internet will be up and running at our hotel to stay posted for updates as we are able.

I Miss the Green

We are buried in snow here in CO and I really miss the green of Rwanda! I think I have mentioned before, that despite growing up in North Dakota, I really do not like the snow or the cold. So right now, I LOVE this picture, it is very zen. It did not even catch my eye the first few times I went through our pics. It was taken at Akagera National Park. So simple and so beautiful.

Ethiopia Pics: Return to Addis Ababa!

Tensae after getting her hair braided (and extensions put in!) in the shopping district by our guesthouse. Check out the donkeys in the background.


A ancient eucalyptus tree planted by Emperor Menelik II at his palace in Mountain Entoto. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Entoto I LOVE this picture!

Family pic on the roof of our guesthouse (Yebsabi, http://www.yebsabi.com/index.php) at sunset.
Ethiopian coffee ceromony at the Hilton hotel.

Holy Trinity Cathedral (http://wapedia.mobi/en/Holy_Trinity_Cathedral_(Addis_Ababa)

Rwanda Pictures: Around Kigali

Mom and Leo in the courtyard at Chez Lando Hotel
Monkey enjoying somone's banana after they went back to the buffet at "Afrika Bytes". At the same lunch a hawk swooped in and grabbed food off somone's plate as they were walking to their table. You just can't beat that kind of entertainment at lunch!


Pretending we are Gorilla watching at the Rwanda Natural History Museum at the Kandt House (http://www.museum.gov.rw/2_museums/kigali/kandt_house/pages_html/intro/page_intro.htm
View from the backyard at the Kandt House (only reason to go there, the museum is small and no text in English). Kandt was a explorer who was credited for discovering the source of the Nile. His home would have (and still really is compared to what is around it) been a mansion at the time.
Kigali airport, you can see my two little tourists taking one last picture before leaving Rwanda. Little did we know that we would spend 6 hours waiting at the airport to leave!

Rwanda Pics: Mini Safari at Akagera

Visiting the Akagera National Park was a highlight of our time in Rwanda. I wish that we could have spent more time there and that we would have arranged to take a vehicle that you can stand up in and look out of. It is safe to get out of the car around the giraffes but since they were standing right by the water buffalo getting out of the van was not a option. I still need to crop and edit the pics but here is a preview since who knows when I will have time to edit all my pictures!

Home Coming!

After another delayed flight from Frankfurt to Denver we are happy to report that we arrived home late last night. We flew Luftshansa from Addis to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Denver. Contrary to popylar belief we had no visa issues for Leo at the Frankfurt airport. Transit visas are not required for Rwandan citizens and even if he had required it we never went through a check point or were asked. Once you exit the plane you do not pass through immigration unless you try to exit the airport at Frankfurt. We were bummed that the cafe with the great German pastries did not take visa so we ended up eating at the McDonalds in the airport. Kids were totally fine with that though! All was well untill the arrival of our plane was delayed by one hour due to bad weather and then we ended up sitting on the plane for over 2 hours while they de-iced it two times because the pilot was not happy with the first de-icing job. He actually referred to the whole de-icing process on the intercome as despicable and unprofessional. Good thing is that once in the air Lufsthansa airlines include free alcoholic beverages. Now of course we are not big drinkers and were well aware that we had to keep a eye on 3 kids but I definately enjoyed a glass of red wine to calm the nerves while my husband opted for a cold Baileys and Creme. If only every airline realized that it is that easy to help people forget about a 3 hour flight delay! The media system was awesome to so I am defintately happy with our airline choose this time around. We were blessed to be picked up at the airport by a new wonderful friend who had also surprised us by buying and setting up a fresh Christmas tree in our living room. I guess the pine tree plant that I had decorated was pretty tiny looking! As if that was not enough she also brought a huge pot of Kneopfla soap! And we actually know what that is and love it since I am also from North Dakota and make it often. Leo did well with checking out his new home. He did start to tear up and cry at one point when my husband was unloading the van and I think he was afraid that daddy was not staying here with us. Once settled he enjoyed getting into everything he could in the house. He will be sharing a room with big sister which she is actually really excited about. We did some unpacking, started laundry, gave all the kids baths and enjoyed the warm soup then piled everyone up in our big bed for story time. We were so tired that all 5 of us fell asleep squashed together. We will keep Leo in our bed for the first week as he adjusts to us. He is sleeping all night in bed with us wheras I know he would be waking up and afraid in his own bed. This morning I woke up first and watched him, he then woke up, looked at his sleeping dad and kissed him on the cheek and then layed his head in me. He is very content with us and seems to understand that this is home. Lots to do today, we have a ton of laundry to wash, need to call to make a doctor's appointment, go to the grocery store since the fridge is empty, and pick up the dogs. It is still not really feeling like Christmas but I am sure that once we decorated the beautiful Christmas tree and make some cookies this week that we will all get in the mood.

Letters to Leo: Adjustments

Dear Leo,

So much has happened since I last wrote. While still in Rwanda last week you seemed to be feeling insecure as you adjusted to having a new family. You were not fearful of us, but fearful of loosing us, especially your new daddy. For a few difficult days you only wanted dad to hold you. I understand the reason why, after all it was only women who have cared for you the last two years and you are so happy now to have a dad in your life. Of course having you scream at me when I held you was a gut wrenching experience for me. I have spent over a year planning for you, dreaming of you, and completing mounds of paperwork to bring you home. I knew though that the transition would sometimes be difficult and of course you only understand what you feel right now. We were able to do some more sightseeing in Rwanda before leaving for Ethiopia. On Thursday we did some souvenir shopping (things are actually really expensive in Rwanda!) then we went to the Dancing Pots pottery studio to pick up some pottery made by the Batwa then onto a small history museum in Kigali which is located at the renovated home of a explorer (discovered the source of the Nile). The museum was not much but it was nice to see a different part of the city and the view of the city from the top of the hill was amazing. Friday brought on a stressful morning. We were at risk of being delayed in Rwanda if the passport office was not willing to issue our passport early that morning. I went by myself and thanks to them making a exception for another adoptive family they did issue your passport to me after I sat there for two hours. We then went to the US Consulate in Rwanda to submit your US immigration paperwork. Again we went in alone and thankfully I was able to complete the form because I had obtained a example from another family. The head individual at the consulate was very nice to us and even helped me to translate some information that I needed from your court documents (they were in French). So getting all that done Friday morning was a enormous relief! We then rested in the afternoon and went out to dinner with another adoptive family in the evening. It has been nice to connect with other adoptive families while in Rwanda and Ethiopia. While everyone's experiences are different there is definitely a common bond that occurs. We had a great day on Saturday when we went on a mini safari into Akagara National Park and saw water buffalo, giraffes, gazelle, zebras, hippos, African peacocks, storks, and many others birds. Sunday we stayed at the hotel to pack up and unfortunately when we arrived to the Kigali airport our plane was late. Six hours later we were finally on a plane to Ethiopia. We arrived at the Addis Ababa airport at 12:30am with three sleeping kids. The first immigration officer at the on-site visa processing line sent me to speak to the officer in charge because typically a Rwandan citizen would require a advance visa to enter Ethiopia. He looked at all our documents called someone and left us waiting nearly a hour. I explained that your sister was from Ethiopia and we choose Ethiopia over Kenya so that she could see her birth country again. He finally agreed to issue you a visa after we told him the meaning of your sister's name. So one more hurdle jumped, we just then needed to gather up all our luggage. Your big brother woke up and was very helpful in pushing one of the luggage carts. We finally arrived at the guest house and all went to bed at 3am on Sunday! It is now Friday in Ethiopia and things have been going well here. Your medical examination went fine and your TB screening test was negative. We were therefore able to have our interview with the US Embassy yesterday and this morning we received your visa packet and stamped Rwandan passport so that you can enter the US. YEAH! There will of course be more paperwork to do in the US to re finalize your adoption in CO and to make you a US citizen but for now I am enjoying a break from worrying about paperwork. While here you have been adjusting well. We have had some tanturms here and there but that is definitely expected for a 2 year old boy! You are now laying right down with us to go to sleep and you sleep all night. You still have a bit of a preference for dad but it is lessening every day as you feel more secure. While in Ethiopia we have enjoyed eating wonderful and inexpensive food at the many restaurants (steak for US $5) who know how to cook for Muzungas! Of course I love Ethiopian food so I keep making that request to the driver. We took your brother and sister to see the Ethiopian Museum of Natural History, went to see the endangered Abyssinian Lions, visited a little amusement park, went swimming at the Hilton in their pool which is heated by a natural spring (like a giant warm bathtub), and last night enjoyed a Ethiopian buffet with a music and ethnic dance performance. This afternoon we are driving into the country to see the Emperor's Palace and the mountainside. I hear it is beautiful!

Love, Mom

Letters to Leo: The Hard Stuff

Dear Leo,
Today was a emotional journey. We started out by going back to the orphanage so that you could say good bye to your friends and so that we could tour the entire facility. As we drove down the bumpy dirt road we saw a long line of people waiting outside the brick wall. Apparently Wednesday is the day that those in extreme need come to the Home of Hope Orphanage to ask for any small food donation that they may receive. The line consisted of mostly the elderly and women with small children and babies. We drove through the gate and then began the ritual of coming to terms with this reality that was yours. We walked through the long hallway that passes the baby room (not able to enter that room) and then saw the room where you slept with the other older toddlers. We were able to see your bed, it was one of at least thirty metal toddler type beds in a long narrow room. We then passed by more rooms, one devoted to the care of disabled infants and toddlers and another the older baby room. Outside we visited the children who have been your friends and family during your stay at the orphanage. We put you down on the ground to see what you would do and you ran up and hugged one of your caregivers, which was so nice to see. It is obvious that you were loved and able to form attachments to your caregivers. You did not interact a whole lot with your friends, more so you almost seemed to be showing off to them a bit. You then ran back to us to be picked up and while dad was holding you and the kids where grabbing at your shoes you told them no and shook your finger at them. This went on for awhile, you getting down to interact and then coming back to us to be held or touched. I think this was a really good sign that you were able to make the transition from them to us and to have the change to say goodbye. Seeing the kids was hard on me, there are SO MANY toddlers and preschool aged children. Again it is clear that the nuns love them very much and it was nice to see that there were three recent college graduates here from the US volunterring for the week at the orphanage. There are just so many children and not enough adults. Lots of runny noses, running around, broken toys, and disjointed play going on. Toddler will be toddlers, especially in large numbers. I started to say to your big brother "See this is why I am always telling you how good you have it at home" and I had to stop because I started to choke up and he interrupted me with "I know, don't talk about it" indicating to me that he very clearly now understood. We then walked down to the part of the orphanage that houses the elderly and disabled adults. It is clear that they are so fortunate to be there and there are few places in Rwanda for the disabled and elderly if their family is unable or unwilling to care for them. The hardest part of the visit for me was seeing the disabled children and young adults. As a school psychologist I know just how valuable intervention and therapy is in helping individuals with disabilities. Especially those children with disabilities that render their bodies with little control but maintain their cognition in tact. This is where I just had to set my profession aside and take this all in as a mother for now. After leaving the orphanage we took a break to see a local art shop and then to grab lunch. We were joined by the girls who we had met who were volunteering at the orphanage so it made for a interesting lunch. They are young and adventerous and full of passion. Everything I wish I had been 15 years ago. One of them said that she was considering joining the Peace Corp and I openly encouraged her to do it with no reservations!

As if that was not enough for the day we then toured the Genocide Memorial. Most of the written information on the displays your dad and I had already read in many books about the genocide. It was so much more real though to see the pictures next to the text, to watch the video clips, to read about specific people who were survivors and those who took the risk to stand up to the opposition and saved lives. It was difficult seeing the actual pictures of those lost, brought in by their surviving loved ones for the memorial. Most difficult however was the children's display, the large blown up pictures of children who were ruthlessly tortured and murdered during the genocide. The descriptions of how they were killed were horrific. Small innocent children painfully killed by what could only be pure evil itself. From that room it leads outside to the memorial gardens, a beautiful, incredibly peaceful place. At the lower back of the gardens are the tombs that hold the remains of approximately 250,000 people. This number is overwhelming when you consider that it represents only a small proportion of the possible 1 million who were lost in the genocide. The world cannot forget, that what happened in your country was a holocaust and it can never happen again, not here, not anywhere. Yet I fear that it is all to easy for people to forget and to turn their heads when it happens on the continent of Africa. Someday when you are old enough I will teach you about all of these things as they are as much a part of your history as your life with us will be.

Love, Mom

Letters to Leo: Transitions and Paperwork

Dear Leo,

We had a wonderful day with you on Monday, you laughed, smiled, slept and it all was very natural to everyone in the family. We were told in the morning that we needed to leave right away because they were waiting for us at the Minister's office. We went to get you and while waiting picked up our four suitcases which had now been emptied of the donations. In the room was a enormous pile of all the stuff that we had brought. It struck me how large a pile it was, 200 pounds of clothes, toys, medicines, and shoes but really I wish I could do so much more. We then went and had your passort picture taken and then went to apply to receive your Rwanda passport. Unfortunately they told us that we could not received it untill Friday which will be very close to the deadline that we must meet to turn in your immigration paperwork at the US Consulate on Friday. We then were dissapointed to hear that in fact the Minister had not been able to sign our travel letter and so we would have to bring you back to the orphanage. Back at the hotel, we went for a walk to buy some food at the grocery across the street from the hotel and dad carried you on his back in the Ergo carrier. The men here seemed to think it was the most ridiculous thing they had every seen since in Rwanda it is the women who carry babies on their backs. You however were very content and fell right to sleep. Everyone took a long much needed nap and then we unfortunately had to take you back to the orphanage for the night. We spent the evening at a nice restaraunt specializing in more authentic African food. It smelled great and was really good. The boiled and fried bananas were wonderful. This morning we experienced some concern as we waited at our hotel unable to reach our POA. When she arrived it turned out that she was able to confirm that our travel letter had been signed so we went to pick you up and you were already fast asleep at the orphanage so we had to explain the reason for interrupting what would have been your 3 hour afternoon nap! We changed your clothes and headed to the Minister's office. We received our travel letter and were able to meet the woman who oversees the adoption paperwork. She held you and asked us about you and was very kind. It is clear that she is very busy in her position there. We then had a nice lunch of pizza and pasta and headed back to the hotel as a FOREVER FAMILY. You had a blast wrestling with your brother and getting lots of love from everyone. You definately love being carried in the sling or Ergo on mom and dad. Tonight we met two new families who have recently arrived to conduct their adoptions. We had dinner with one of the families so it was really nice to talk with another family in person about all of our experiences in adoption (you slept through dinner in the sling since you have been going to bed at 5pm at the orphanage). You are now cuddled up in bed beside your sister and between mom and dad. I wonder what you will think when you wake up in the morning? I am guessing that you will meet us with that adorable little smile of yours.

Love, Mom

Letters to Leo: In Our Arms

Dear Leo,

Today we met you for the first time. We arrived to Rwanda on Saturday night after spending 3 hours on a flight to DC, 7.5 hours on a flight to Brussels and another 7.5 hours on a flight into Kigali. Your brother and sister did so well on the long flights and really enjoyed eating on the plane! Our POA met us at the airport and our massive pile of luggage was transported to the hotel. There was some mix up at the hotel and our room only has one king size bed. We were so tired that mom, dad, big brother and sister all slept well despite the crowded room. Turns out that there are no rooms with double beds so our POA negotiated with the hotel and they set up a single bed in a larger room that has a king size bed in it. We woke up early this morning and enjoyed the breakfast buffet (included in the price of the room) and met the other families who are ending their trip in Rwanda to adopt their little ones. After breakfast we loaded up our suitcases with donations and headed to the orphanage. We tried to pay attention to as much as possible on the way and took pictures to remember all of this for you. At the orphanage there was some confusion and we were taken down and out to the area where you and all your friends were running around. We were immediately met by tons of toddlers, some coming straight to me wanting to be held. Our POA then arrived and we were shuffled back out to the entrance area where after waiting a few minutes a nun brought you out to us. You were so brave! You looked worried but you did not cry. I was amazed at how small you looked compared to your picture. We held you for a bit, took some pictures, and played with some toys that we brought with for you. This seemed to relax you. We then loaded back up into the van and you held on tight to me and fell asleep on the way to the hotel. We spent the day relaxing and playing. Within a few hours with us you were smiling and laughing! Your 2T pants fit and while your 3T shirt was a bit big it was o.k. Since we could not obtain our travel letter from the Ministry's office on a Sunday we had to take you back the orphanage at 5pm. You fell asleep again on the way there and looked worried when we handed you back to the nun but you did not cry. We then went straight to a coffee shop/cafe that had great coffee. The other two families who are here from our agency were there (one family flew out to Ethiopia this afternoon) and we were also joined by the CEO of the adoption agency. I actually did not realize who he was at first but we had some good conversation about international adoption issues and ethics. We headed back to the hotel with the other families so that your brother and sister could go to bed early and dad walked across the street to a little super market to buy us some bottled water. Tommorrow morning we will come pick you up again and will work on some paperwork to start the process to obtain your passport. I am hoping we can also stop by the Minister's office and check in on obtaining your travel letter but that may not happen untill Tuesday. If so it will be very difficult to bring you back to the orphanage again tommorrow, especially after you adjusted so well today.

Love, Mom

Ethiopia Travel Log: Arrival Home!

FRIDAY March 7th,

So the last thing that anyone wants to do after finishing a 16 hour plane ride is to arrive at a confusing airport, stand around in more lines, and get back on another plane. But this is of course exactly what we had to do. When you arrive on an international flight in Washington, DC you go straight through to immigration, I did not even see a bathroom. So we stood around in line, went through a checkpoint, had to collect our luggage, which was spread out all over the place and mixed in with other luggage tossed on the floor. Again, thank goodness for free luggage carts. Then we slowly moved our way to the real officials who opened Tensae’s sealed envelope of immigration paperwork (prepared by the adoption agency in Ethiopia) and again no problems so we moved on to another checkpoint and then maneuvered our way to a elevator and all the way through the airport to re-check our luggage onto our United airlines flight. At this point we find out that our seats were not assigned by our travel agent and we have three separate seats, thankfully 2 of them are only separated by one other person and the third seat is a window seat. So they tell us very nicely that we have good seats to negotiate and we should ask someone to switch with us. We then head to the bathroom to change clothes and clean up as much as possible. Despite all our efforts we still look like we have not showered in days! We had just enough time to pick up a snack, finding out that Tensae likes French fries and a vanilla shake. When we get in line to board, the plane early we are shocked when the unfriendly airline person tells us that on United airlines young children are not considered a handicap and cannot board early! We were both irate, as if it was not obvious that we were exhausted and had a very unhappy child. Thankfully the other people on the plane were rather understanding, a nice young man switched seats, a few asked us about the adoption and I apologized in advance for any crying and screaming. This time I did not even buckle her in I just put her in the sling and held her until she fell asleep (after more crying of course).

So, at around 2pm we landed at DIA in Colorado. We were very excited to see Ethan so it was really nice of Tony’s parents to drive both cars so that he could be there. We took some quick pictures, gathered our giant pile of luggage and headed to the cars. I prepared myself for another tantrum when we buckled her into the car seat but amazingly, she did great. I think it helped her to see Ethan sitting in a booster and seatbelt. She and I fell asleep on the drive home and then she woke up and explored the house. I was surprised with how well she was doing but of course after dinner and a bath we finally had another major tantrum. I would say that this was the worst that we have experienced so far and hopefully the last of that degree. Given however the plane ride, time change, new environment and language barrier I think, she had every rite to throw an enormous, completely out of her mind, fit. I went ahead and put her in bed with us when she fell asleep and we all slept 10 hours.

Ethiopia Travel Log: Day 8

Thursday March 6th,

This morning we had a treat for breakfast, fresh cinnamon rolls. They were excellent! I am going to miss having a personal cook! Today we had a Ethiopian cooking class at the guest house which really consisted more of them showing us what the food looks like while it is cooking and then seeing how the injera is made. The whole injera thing is so unique to Ethiopia and really not that hard to make once you get the hang of it. The catch is you need Teft flour which is grown primarily in Ethiopia so we did manage to buy a pound to bring back to the US. Now when I will find the time to grow yeast (that needs to sit for three days) and cook up Injera we will see! We also got the treat of witnessing another coffee ceremony right in the living room of the guest house. The coffee ceremony basically involves roasting freshly dried coffee beans over hot coals, then simmering the beans and brewing the coffee right there. It really is the best coffee you will ever taste! The rest of the morning I spent packing, packing, and more packing. We were able to pack the empty suitcases (which brought over the donations) with all the stuff we had bought. Tensae was a little “off” today, but so were all the kids. I think they knew that something was going on with all the suitcases piled up all over the guesthouse living room. We received her original documents and passport with visa today as well as a completed “lifebook” and two c.d.’s; one showing her stay at the care center and the other showing her where she is from. It will be really nice to have this information for her when the time comes.

So after supper all 10 families and children were packed up, and suitcases out in the courtyard, and we are all wondering how the heck they are going to get us all to the airport in two vans! Thankfully they had an additional driver come and an extra car so the impossible was achieved. The ride to the airport was somewhat treacherous. Picture me with a little girl sitting on my lap and another other mother with a baby on her lap and no seatbelts or car seats and tons of traffic on a poorly paved road with people running across the road at any time. And oh yeah there are no traffic lights at the intersections either. The most stressful part of the day however, was still to come. Once we arrived at the Ethiopian airport all the luggage was set out in the parking lot. One suitcase belonging to another family mysteriously disappeared. Most likely in all the chaos someone walking by grabbed it. Tony managed to find a luggage cart and piled up all 6 suitcases plus the mesab (large basket) table onto it while I carried Tensae in the sling. We then pushed it all through the parking lot, showed our passports before entering the building, put everything through a security checkpoint upon entering the building, loaded it all up again and then stood in a REALLY LONG line to check into the Ethiopian airlines flight. While Tony was in line I ran to the table with the Mesab and had is shrink wrapped to get ready to get it ready to check it on as one of our bags. I think it cost a $1 or $2 in US, so well worth it. Finally we checked in, went through another carry on luggage checkpoint, went though immigration (thankfully with no problems) then got into the airport and found out we had to go through security again and then after that stand in line to AGAIN show our passports and tickets to the flight attendant before finally boarding the airplane. Ugg! Once on the plan we experienced what we were thankfully partly prepared for. Let’s just say that children in Ethiopia have no experience with seatbelts so when we strapped her in we experienced the full array of extreme toddler behavior which included screaming, crying, hitting, kicking, pinching, and finally biting Tony. Thank goodness, she eventually cried her exhausted and confused self to sleep and slept for the next 7 hours. At around that point we refueled in Rome (nope we did not get to get off the airplane) and then spent the 9 hours with an awake and not happy toddler on a crammed airplane. Thank goodness there were at least 10 other adoptive families on the same plane so we were not the only exhausted looking parents with a unhappy and noisy kid. A word on Ethiopian airlines the food is great, they feed you three large meals plus snack and drinks but the entertainment system is less then desirable. There are only a few t.v.’s hooked to the roof of the airplane in the aisles and they literally put in VHS tapes to watch so there is no selection. In addition, after 16 hours the bathroom was last place you want to go. I was extremely impressed that our resilient little girl did not have one single wetting accident on the entire plane ride. We were able to keep her somewhat busy with coloring books, sticker books, listening to music on the headphones, and small toys like her toy cell phone.

Ethiopia Travel Log: Day 7

Wednesday march 5th

All in all we did well last night for our first overnight together. The nannies told us that
Tensae is difficult to put to sleep but that once she is asleep she usually sleeps all night. This would pretty much describe our first night. She was crabby and did not want to lay down so I put her in the sling and walked around the guest house until she finally crashed. Then I got to do that thing that all parents know about where you move and stop, move and stop in order to get her in bed without waking her up. She did seem to have some nightmares as she whimpered in her sleep every now and then but never fully woke up. She was happy when she woke up and seemed to recognize us right away. We all had fresh pancakes for breakfast and then played outside in the courtyard. She loves riding the tricycles and playing ball. We are amazed with her motor skills (she can make a perfect running kick with a soccer ball and has an excellent overhand throw) and are pretty sure that she will excel in sports. We later walked over to the other guesthouse where they have a dog. We had heard that many Ethiopian children are afraid of dogs so we thought it would be good to introduce her. She was cautious but did pet the dogs tail while sitting on Tony’s lap. None of the other kids would go near the scruffy thing. Afterwards we walked up the block to visit Home Depot, yes they have their own version of Home Depot in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. She thought everything in the store was amazing, especially the big tv’s and bathtubs. I am guessing however that not many people there can afford them. On the way home we stopped at a little shanty store in front of someone’s house and bought soccer balls for $2 US which say Ethiopian Millennium on them (since their calendar is 7 years behind, they just celebrated the millennium this year). Some others in our travel group went there later to buy more, I am pretty sure we made that kids day. Oh, a little tip on how to blow up a soccer ball in Ethiopia. Put the needle in the ball, place your mouth on the needle and blow! The rest of the day was pretty similar, play, sleep, eat except that we did take a short trip with some of the older kids to do more shopping. I put Tensae in the sling again and she seemed to enjoy window shopping with mom. It is evident that she already has some opinions about what clothes she likes and does not like.

Ethiopia Travel Log: Day 6

Tuesday March 4th,

Today went very well. We started this morning with a goodbye ceremony at the care center for the children being adopted. Tensae handled it very well, as she had to say goodbye to her friends and nannies. They were dressed in traditional Ethiopian dresses, the older kids sang, the whole group said a prayer and the children put their handprints on the wall with paint. We then were allowed to finally take our children for good! So we came back to the guesthouse and Tensae had fun playing, she was so excited when the van pulled up to the guesthouse she almost jumped out the door before we had stopped moving. We were able to give her a shower and let her pick out one of her new outfits. Then this afternoon we went to the US embassy and spent a lot time waiting but we were prepared with toys and activities for Tensae. Once again she was a sweet heart. When we got back this evening we had dinner and played. Tensae is proving to be a very smart little girl, she likes mimicking what we say and so far has been able to communicate her wants and needs successfully. She also likes smiling a lot and seems to simply enjoy life. We feel very privileged to have such special daughter.