And now, more from my husband...
Read Part 1 here
7/13/09 8:36pm
Slept like crap last night. Woke up around 2am and lay there awake till about 5:30. Alarm went off a 6:40. We made plans with our driver to be here at 8am to take us to the orphanage to see the kids and drop off our donations. We ate breakfast here at Yeka...eggs with mushrooms and onions, toast, fruit, pancakes, and good, black coffee.
Our driver got here and we loaded all 6 bins on the top of his little van and headed out on the crazy streets for the orphanage. I wish I could describe the driving experience. I can't, so I won't.
We got there and the guard opened the gate so we could drive in....he was a thin old man who didn't look like my idea of a guard. Somebody named Ashenafi, who appeared to be running the place, met us and along with Getachew, another driver, and we all stood around talking with another couple who was there to also meet with Rahel about their paperwork.
Rahel and Ashenafi called me into the office and Ashenafi started to explain something to me in English that I couldn't understand very well. While he was talking Rahel got on the phone and then handed it across the desk to me and said that S******* (agency director) wants to speak with me.
He began to tell me what I thought Ashenafi was trying to say...that we were not supposed to be in Ethiopia, our embassy date was not set for July 15th but for July the 29th. He said that somehow G****( agency personnel) had “screwed it up.”
He kept apologizing for what happened while saying he didn't know anything about our travel plans. He offered to cover our hotel costs for the extra 2 weeks we would be required to stay and to pay the cost of changing the tickets, or to fly two of us back for the 29th if we chose to go home on the 17th as originally planned.
He said they had emailed told G**** (agency personnel) who had Embassy appointments on the 15th and that we were not on that list.
Needless to say, I AM TICKED!
I don't know what to do. Do I really feel like fly 32+ hours home only to turn around in about 10 days and do it all again? Do I really want to risk staying here and risking them not getting an Embassy appointment on the 29th? (the kids aren't embassy ready because they are still waiting for the results of their medical tests).
Moving on....After that bit of disappointing news we went into the house to see the Kidus and Birkut. It was the infant house. We hung out for more than an hour holding the babies, taking pictures and talking to staff. We left one bin of donations with them and then got in the van to drive over to the toddler house, which was located somewhere our driver didn't know.
We followed the D*****'s, who were riding with their friend Sherry, who also didn't quite know where the house was. We drove for 30 minutes or more through the craziest streets and wildest traffic I have ever seen. After stopping and asking directions about 3 times we finally pulled up at the gate that was opened by one of the workers. We drove in and parked and went into the house. We were met by a very nice lady who appeared to be running the place and spoke decent English.
She set out some chairs and then proceeded to bring out the D*****'s two kids.
We all stood around and watched them hug and give some small gifts and suckers to them.
Then she asked who my kids where and she brought out Kidus and Biruk.
I took them both up on my lap and held them....they were completely emotionless and just sat there looking around. Caleb and Damian each gave one of them a sucker and they sat there sucking away and looking around. I couldn't remember, nor could Caleb and Damian, which one was which.
I asked the caregiver and she told us....I still don't remember who is who though. I felt the bumps on Kidus, or whichever one it is, neck. They appear to be smaller than they looked in the pictures we saw. We then went upstairs to their room to meet all their friends and passed out suckers up there too. We hung out with them for awhile then checked out all the other rooms and kids.
Oh yeah, I got to meet the little Down Syndrome girl that Jenni mistakenly believes is destined by God to be her 3rd daughter. She hated me. Cried when I got close to her. Cried when I held her. And cried when, after letting her settle down for 30 minutes, I gave her her gift from Jenni. Its a sign from God. See, I can use that phrase too.
We passed out some of the gifts there to the kids and left the rest of them for the staff to pass out. From there our driver took us to an Ethiopian restaurant for some incredibly good food. His name is Elijah...a nice guy even though he charged us too much money for the day. $90 for 9 hours. Didn't think they make that much money over here.
After eating we drove over to Fekadu's office at the Drop Center where he takes in street kids. We toured his small place and met all of the 15 kids living there and dropped off 3 of the bins of donations there. We even got to meet Marion (sp?), a girl that Jenni had told me about, she wanted to pose with Caleb and Damian for a picture.
From there we drove out to the land that Fekadu bought where 32 kids live. It was a great drive out there...way out of Addis in the county. It is beautiful out there...farming county with lots of livestock and some crops. We got back to Yeka at 5pm. When I came in the receptionist gave me the cell phone that I had requested yesterday. I am hoping that with that Jenni will be able to call so we can work out the details of this new dilemma that we are facing. The internet here at Yeka is extremely slow and the power goes off at inconvenient times. Tonight I was sending Jenni an email and the connection timed out three times while I was waiting to hit the send button. Maddening. I guess tomorrow our driver is picking us up at 9:30 to take us back to the orphanage to deliver another tub that we forgot today. Maybe do some shopping or sightseeing too. Its 9:30 now and I am ready for bed.
Our driver got here and we loaded all 6 bins on the top of his little van and headed out on the crazy streets for the orphanage. I wish I could describe the driving experience. I can't, so I won't.
We got there and the guard opened the gate so we could drive in....he was a thin old man who didn't look like my idea of a guard. Somebody named Ashenafi, who appeared to be running the place, met us and along with Getachew, another driver, and we all stood around talking with another couple who was there to also meet with Rahel about their paperwork.
Rahel and Ashenafi called me into the office and Ashenafi started to explain something to me in English that I couldn't understand very well. While he was talking Rahel got on the phone and then handed it across the desk to me and said that S******* (agency director) wants to speak with me.
He began to tell me what I thought Ashenafi was trying to say...that we were not supposed to be in Ethiopia, our embassy date was not set for July 15th but for July the 29th. He said that somehow G****( agency personnel) had “screwed it up.”
He kept apologizing for what happened while saying he didn't know anything about our travel plans. He offered to cover our hotel costs for the extra 2 weeks we would be required to stay and to pay the cost of changing the tickets, or to fly two of us back for the 29th if we chose to go home on the 17th as originally planned.
He said they had emailed told G**** (agency personnel) who had Embassy appointments on the 15th and that we were not on that list.
Needless to say, I AM TICKED!
I don't know what to do. Do I really feel like fly 32+ hours home only to turn around in about 10 days and do it all again? Do I really want to risk staying here and risking them not getting an Embassy appointment on the 29th? (the kids aren't embassy ready because they are still waiting for the results of their medical tests).
Moving on....After that bit of disappointing news we went into the house to see the Kidus and Birkut. It was the infant house. We hung out for more than an hour holding the babies, taking pictures and talking to staff. We left one bin of donations with them and then got in the van to drive over to the toddler house, which was located somewhere our driver didn't know.
We followed the D*****'s, who were riding with their friend Sherry, who also didn't quite know where the house was. We drove for 30 minutes or more through the craziest streets and wildest traffic I have ever seen. After stopping and asking directions about 3 times we finally pulled up at the gate that was opened by one of the workers. We drove in and parked and went into the house. We were met by a very nice lady who appeared to be running the place and spoke decent English.
She set out some chairs and then proceeded to bring out the D*****'s two kids.
We all stood around and watched them hug and give some small gifts and suckers to them.
Then she asked who my kids where and she brought out Kidus and Biruk.
I took them both up on my lap and held them....they were completely emotionless and just sat there looking around. Caleb and Damian each gave one of them a sucker and they sat there sucking away and looking around. I couldn't remember, nor could Caleb and Damian, which one was which.
I asked the caregiver and she told us....I still don't remember who is who though. I felt the bumps on Kidus, or whichever one it is, neck. They appear to be smaller than they looked in the pictures we saw. We then went upstairs to their room to meet all their friends and passed out suckers up there too. We hung out with them for awhile then checked out all the other rooms and kids.
Oh yeah, I got to meet the little Down Syndrome girl that Jenni mistakenly believes is destined by God to be her 3rd daughter. She hated me. Cried when I got close to her. Cried when I held her. And cried when, after letting her settle down for 30 minutes, I gave her her gift from Jenni. Its a sign from God. See, I can use that phrase too.
We passed out some of the gifts there to the kids and left the rest of them for the staff to pass out. From there our driver took us to an Ethiopian restaurant for some incredibly good food. His name is Elijah...a nice guy even though he charged us too much money for the day. $90 for 9 hours. Didn't think they make that much money over here.
After eating we drove over to Fekadu's office at the Drop Center where he takes in street kids. We toured his small place and met all of the 15 kids living there and dropped off 3 of the bins of donations there. We even got to meet Marion (sp?), a girl that Jenni had told me about, she wanted to pose with Caleb and Damian for a picture.
From there we drove out to the land that Fekadu bought where 32 kids live. It was a great drive out there...way out of Addis in the county. It is beautiful out there...farming county with lots of livestock and some crops. We got back to Yeka at 5pm. When I came in the receptionist gave me the cell phone that I had requested yesterday. I am hoping that with that Jenni will be able to call so we can work out the details of this new dilemma that we are facing. The internet here at Yeka is extremely slow and the power goes off at inconvenient times. Tonight I was sending Jenni an email and the connection timed out three times while I was waiting to hit the send button. Maddening. I guess tomorrow our driver is picking us up at 9:30 to take us back to the orphanage to deliver another tub that we forgot today. Maybe do some shopping or sightseeing too. Its 9:30 now and I am ready for bed.
6 comments:
I can feel his frustration. Our boys were emotionless too the first day. I am sure having your boys there will help them warm up. Take care - we continue to pray for you guys.
Your husband is soooo funny. He sounds exactly like my husband, especially the part about the daughter that you think is destined to be yours. That could have been my husband writing that, exactly something he would say about the sign from God. Hang in there, I'm sure they will get to have some wonderful experiences over the next couple of weeks. Deanne
I'm so sorry your embassy appt. has been delayed. I'm sure you must be very frustrated.
We are waiting for a court date right now for our 5 and 8 year old children we are adopting from Ethiopia.
I hope all goes well from now on.
Blessings,
Julie
How frustrating to have to wait for a later appointment and for having to possibly be apart for that long!
Our little girl screamed at the top of her lungs when they woke her up to be with us. By the end of the next day she was playing and interacting. It's a tough transition, but so worth it! Our little girl is the sunshine in our family of seven...so worth all the hurdles. Praying God makes your path smooth and all of this gets worked out quickly!
I cracked UP at Jerry's comments about your Down Syndrome daughter to be--great to have a smile in the midst of frustrating news. Keeping you all in prayer. Love, sj
I love reading about the trip. I am oh so hoping to see photos of our baby girl, when your hubby returns.. He is in great spirits considering....
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