(Continued from here)

Wednesday, 16 June 2004

Today was a day with some pretty big emotional swings. It started off with the Sheraton refusing to let me withdraw cash on Greg's credit card. They said it was a mistake that someone let me do it on Monday. I still hadn't heard from Greg and had tried probably a dozen times to get a call to go through with no luck.

Aaron is still sick and was at the hotel when I came back to get cash to pay for the blood tests (another 800 birr). I got $300, but it was out of our visa “stash”, so now I don't have enough for the visas. Sigh. We went to the Embassy without changing the dollars to birr and after waiting, oh, almost... more

(Continued from here)

Wednesday, 16 June 2004

After spending all morning just to draw a little blood, we went back to the hotel and got Aaron to go to lunch. We went to the Habasha restaurant, but the food didn't taste good to me today and Aaron has no appetite. The other kids ate fine though. We dropped Aaron back off, then went to try and get that last signature on the contract of adoption. We did that, then went over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the authentication. It was another 324 birr just for a simple rubber stamp with a signature.

We then had some free time, so I got to check email and Greg had posted several times, including that the visa... more

(continued from here)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 (cont)

Greg didn't call but he did make it home. My friend who was watching the kids called me about 11 pm Utah time to see if I knew where Greg was! He was supposed to be home at 8! She said his flight was delayed, but according to airline personnel, it had landed an hour late and they were on the flight but Dave couldn't find them anywhere. She called me shortly thereafter to tell me they had come on a different flight and had just landed. I knew something funky had happened, or Greg would have called them to let them know they had been delayed.

He said later that they made it to Newark, then waited around all day... more

(Continued from here)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

After we picked up the children's new passports, we went to the Dr's office where they had their Embassy physicals. The baby is about 7 ½ pounds and 52 cm long, or 20 ½ inches long at 2 months old. He told me she was malnourished. Yup, I coulda told you that. Remember, she was the one who seemed to be the sicker of the two babies – then the other one died. I just want to get her home and get her healthy.

Anyway, Beti seems to either have problems with her eyes or she just couldn't understand what they were wanting her to do with the eye chart. She basically missed everything. Because of her skin condition – vitaligo... more

(Continued from here)

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

We were on the go all day today. I left a little before nine and didn't get back until 7. We started by going to MOLSA and getting the other two letters we needed – one to get passports and one for the US Embassy. From there, we went to the orphanage and got the kids. As always, they had to give the baby a bath and it took ½ hour or so. From there, we went to the “Immigration” office to apply for passports. It was a madhouse, especially outside. Even Z said he didn't like that area – too many people begging. I saw three guys in a real knock-'em-out fight for a pineapple – they run around 3 birr a piece - pennies.... more

(Continued from here)

Monday, June 14

We picked up the court decisions and got all the stamps on them, plus got our translation (just of the court decree). We dropped things off at MOLSA and returned around 2:30. They gave me the papers I needed to get the birth certificates done. We will get the US Embassy letter and the one for the passports first thing in the morning. We had to figure out where to go for the birth certificates, but finally got there and started the paperwork to apply for them.

Interestingly enough, you are required to fill out the information in both Amharic and English, even if you are Ethiopian. I did fine on my part, but Zelalem did not... more

(Continued from here)

Sunday, June 14, 2004

After church, we went back to the orphanage, where we had our party with gift bags for all. I thought we'd have extra, but we didn't. We had the kiddos from about age 2 on up and there were just enough left over to give to the workers. They were all delighted, but boy, it was noisy! And messy. :) We gave out over 100 gift bags.

We got the baby and brought her down after the bulk of the party was over, but it was still so noisy I could barely think – she, on the other hand, fell asleep. She should have no problem sleeping at home... more

(Continued from here)

After lunch, we went to the orphanage, but as we got there, the skies really opened up. We don't get rain like that in Utah. I think they call it a “gully washer”. Greg says you see 'em like that in Missouri though. It came down SOO hard the rain gutters were overflowing! We waited under the tin-roofed carport until it slowed down enough for us to go inside – at least ½ hour. Aaron tried to hold Ashenafe in the rain and we told him to knock it off. Aaron (age 17) finally went off by himself and when I went to talk to him, he just started bawling. It's just... more

When I last left off on our Ethiopian adoption adventures, we had just had court and had been able to adopt four child.

Greg, Michael and Ashenafe leave tomorrow night. The rest of us hope to follow in a week. If Ethiopian Airlines has their way, though, we'll never get home. They are just OUTRAGEOUS!! Every time we talk to them, the story gets worse!! The latest is, they won't issue any tickets for the kids until they see their visas AND they want me to fly separately from the children (as if) AND they can't get us on any flights from New York or Newark to Salt Lake AND they won't “allow” us to fly... more

June 11, 2004

Court is over. They approved the "contract of adoption" which means they said yes. :) :) :) It has been hard, but it's also been great. We have had so many people praying for us and especially for the children, many of whom don't even know us. It renews my faith that there are people out there who actually care about the kids, really and truly. We have had all kinds of people helping us for absolutely zero compensation. One is the woman we met first at the court who thought... more