I think that visiting Addis Abbaba was a good experience, and I guess I'm too comfortable with my privileged life here because most of the time I was more interested in how long until I could "get back home" than in what I could do to help . I hope that some of what I saw sticks with me when I'm about to make my next spending decision and maybe there is a way that I can help.
I guess the problem is that it's so overwhelming. People can talk about it, but unless you experience it, it's not really comprehensible. No words could have expressed any of what I experienced - both in the sheer scale of poverty in Addis, and in the process of picking up children you have never met before and being told that they are your kids.
We arrived Sunday night, and picked up the kids on Monday. We went to the embassy on Tuesday (very long wait) and then out to dinner with the other families in Addis and the CWA staff. On Wednesday, we waited for our kids visas and then on Thursday and Friday we went out shopping with one of my co-worker's brothers, and met a couple other members of their family. Saturday was spent at the care center, and Sunday we went to a local (English speaking) church and then flew out.
Unfortunately, I spent most of the trip feeling a bit sick (I have a weak stomach in the best of conditions, and eating unfamiliar food in unfamiliar circumstances isn't my "cup of tea".) I hope the kids can be gracious once they see me "in my element" and realize that I'm not always like that :) Two of the kids have pretty bad coughs and I managed to get a pretty bad sore throat yesterday that hit me just as we were trying to board, and isn't much better. Lack of sleep is probably the main cause for it not getting better.
I'm sure the kids are jet-lagged. The plane ride back was almost entirely dark and there was a horrid head wind - 150 mph almost the entire way across the Atlantic until we hit the Gulf of Maine. I'm pretty dead here too, and think I'm going to take a nap.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Back in the USA!
Lots to say, but anyway, we're back!
We've decided that Micah just doesn't work for Fasil, and Selamawit doesn't seem that amenable to a name change at this point :) Anyway, here's a couple pictures I took.
At the care center:
Shopping (not their favorite thing to do):
We've decided that Micah just doesn't work for Fasil, and Selamawit doesn't seem that amenable to a name change at this point :) Anyway, here's a couple pictures I took.
At the care center:
Shopping (not their favorite thing to do):
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Ready to Fly!
It's hard to believe that we're about to drive to the airport, sit in a plane for 16 hours and end up in a place we've never been, and the next morning, be given custody of "our kids" whom we've never met.
The bags are mostly packed - hopefully we'll have enough room to bring back everything in our van with the kids in it. We have extra bags packed for souvenirs, etc, and we'll be bringing some stuff back for a co-worker whose family lives in Addis.
Had to run to the store this morning to get a new suitcase since we couldn't fit everything in the 4 biggest ones we had. Not knowing exactly what size the kids are complicates things, so we've probably over packed on their clothing.
Trips to visit family will be infinitely more interesting from now on :)
The bags are mostly packed - hopefully we'll have enough room to bring back everything in our van with the kids in it. We have extra bags packed for souvenirs, etc, and we'll be bringing some stuff back for a co-worker whose family lives in Addis.
Had to run to the store this morning to get a new suitcase since we couldn't fit everything in the 4 biggest ones we had. Not knowing exactly what size the kids are complicates things, so we've probably over packed on their clothing.
Trips to visit family will be infinitely more interesting from now on :)
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Pictures
Here are some pictures :) Since there are other people's kids in the new pictures, we cropped them out so only our kids are visible. :)
For comparison purposes, I've included an older picture of each kid. The old picture is the one on the left, and you've probably all seen them before.
You'll have to scroll down - I don't know why
Here's Alee, looking a bit unhappy: | |
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Here's Beth, looking happy and with slightly better hair: | |
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Here's Micah, looking skinny: | |
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Friday, January 12, 2007
Saving Money
Alee's birth certificate has her only 11, not over 12, as originally thought, which is great because she now qualifies for child air-fare! I expressed her ticket back to the agent yesterday and got it reissued. It cost me $30ish to send it (had to use Fed-Ex because it was the only carrier who hadn't picked up, and with Monday being a holiday, waiting to send it today would have been risky), but I saved about $250, so it was worth it :)
I talked to an Ethiopian friend at work today - ok, I talk to her several times a week, but today's conversation specifically is that she is going to see what she can find me to do in Addis with our kids, and where good places to shop would be. She hasn't lived there for a few years, so she asked her family to think about it and she'll give me info next week. She recommends bringing home lots of Teff, since it's hard to find here, and expensive when you do find it. Hopefully they won't have a problem with that. She also said to buy un-roasted coffee, not roasted to bring home. I was already planning on getting 40 lbs or so of coffee, since I certainly won't be able to beat the price!
I talked to an Ethiopian friend at work today - ok, I talk to her several times a week, but today's conversation specifically is that she is going to see what she can find me to do in Addis with our kids, and where good places to shop would be. She hasn't lived there for a few years, so she asked her family to think about it and she'll give me info next week. She recommends bringing home lots of Teff, since it's hard to find here, and expensive when you do find it. Hopefully they won't have a problem with that. She also said to buy un-roasted coffee, not roasted to bring home. I was already planning on getting 40 lbs or so of coffee, since I certainly won't be able to beat the price!
Monday, January 8, 2007
News
Ok, heard today that 23rd really is our embassy date, as predicted. We were already preparing, but it feels a bit more frenzied now - only 1 1/2 weeks left until we leave!
Sunday, January 7, 2007
No new news yet
Ok, so you ask "why bother posting to tell us nothing?" Well, lots of people ask "have you heard anything else yet?", so this is my corporate way of saying "nope!".
Based on the info we have about people who had court dates close to ours, we still think that our embassy date will be the 23rd, and because we had to make a decision for travel, we've purchased and paid for our tickets. What an ordeal finding a credit card that had enough credit limit to pay for 2 round trip and 3 one way tickets to / from Ethiopia! - took about 3 tries and a couple calls to my bank... had the money in my checking account, but they won't authorize over $1000 at a time. I found another card we hadn't used for a while - it still had our old address - and it seems that they raised our credit limit since we last used it, and it was high enough to pay for the tickets. Praise God that got taken care of before we lost them!
We're still coming back 2 days late since the flight we wanted was booked, but we're wait listed, and may possibly get in for the earlier return date. They were able to get 3 seats, but the way the tickets are booked, we can't split up the parents, so 1 parent taking 1 or 2 of the kids home separately from the other(s) wasn't an option.
Anyway, I didn't update this sooner because I have been pretty sick since Wednesday on the drive home from work with major sinus congestion / dizzyness (missing 2 days of work in a row - which is something I can't recall ever happening in the past 7 years). I get these sinus infections almost every year, but last year was horrible and I went on 3 bouts of antibiotics, including 1 prescribed by a specialist. However, I've read up on it, and antibiotics are fairly ineffective in curing sinus congestion. The specialist last year said it was not going away because I was under too much stress - can't imagine why... ;) And although it's different, this year's not much better in the stress area. I need a couple of years without major life-changing events to let my body recover.
I started feeling a bit better Friday afternoon, and managed to get a lot of house work done this weekend. Hopefully mommy will get enough done this week that a consolidated effort next weekend will complete it - but next weekend's it (unless we hear otherwise).
I really want to make sure that when the kids come home, it's to a clean house, because I think that if they came to a messy house, it would stay that messy for the foreseeable future. Also, I'm tired of having a messy house. We've lived here 9 months now and for some reason it just hasn't been able to get clean yet. We can get all but 1 room done, which was OK when we had an unused bedroom, but now we actually need all the rooms in the house :)
Based on the info we have about people who had court dates close to ours, we still think that our embassy date will be the 23rd, and because we had to make a decision for travel, we've purchased and paid for our tickets. What an ordeal finding a credit card that had enough credit limit to pay for 2 round trip and 3 one way tickets to / from Ethiopia! - took about 3 tries and a couple calls to my bank... had the money in my checking account, but they won't authorize over $1000 at a time. I found another card we hadn't used for a while - it still had our old address - and it seems that they raised our credit limit since we last used it, and it was high enough to pay for the tickets. Praise God that got taken care of before we lost them!
We're still coming back 2 days late since the flight we wanted was booked, but we're wait listed, and may possibly get in for the earlier return date. They were able to get 3 seats, but the way the tickets are booked, we can't split up the parents, so 1 parent taking 1 or 2 of the kids home separately from the other(s) wasn't an option.
Anyway, I didn't update this sooner because I have been pretty sick since Wednesday on the drive home from work with major sinus congestion / dizzyness (missing 2 days of work in a row - which is something I can't recall ever happening in the past 7 years). I get these sinus infections almost every year, but last year was horrible and I went on 3 bouts of antibiotics, including 1 prescribed by a specialist. However, I've read up on it, and antibiotics are fairly ineffective in curing sinus congestion. The specialist last year said it was not going away because I was under too much stress - can't imagine why... ;) And although it's different, this year's not much better in the stress area. I need a couple of years without major life-changing events to let my body recover.
I started feeling a bit better Friday afternoon, and managed to get a lot of house work done this weekend. Hopefully mommy will get enough done this week that a consolidated effort next weekend will complete it - but next weekend's it (unless we hear otherwise).
I really want to make sure that when the kids come home, it's to a clean house, because I think that if they came to a messy house, it would stay that messy for the foreseeable future. Also, I'm tired of having a messy house. We've lived here 9 months now and for some reason it just hasn't been able to get clean yet. We can get all but 1 room done, which was OK when we had an unused bedroom, but now we actually need all the rooms in the house :)
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