Ethiopia Court Trip: Days 1 and 2

The morning we left for Ethiopia, we dropped Colson and Vienna off at Adam and Melanie's around 10:30. We stayed with them for about an hour, ate an early lunch, then said goodbye. I was worried they would cry when we left, but they did great! They were both really excited to be spending the next four days with their cousins. Oh my, but I knew I was going to miss them like crazy! It was hard to leave them, but at the same time we were so excited to be going to meet Y. It's a strange feeling having kids in two different countries! I just have to say a SUPER BIG thank you to my sister (who still needs to get with the program and start a blog) and brother-in-law who watched five kids, age six and under, for four days! They are seriously awesome!

We walked back to our apartment to grab our bags and meet our neighbor who was driving us to the airport. We got to the airport and had about 2 1/2 hours to kill before our flight to Istanbul, so we found our gate, and passed the time by talking excitedly about what meeting Y would be like and taking a bunch of pictures of ourselves. Hey, we were bored!

The flight was pretty uneventful and short although we were seated next to a really nice man that talked with Joel the entire time and played Sudoku with him. We found out that he lives about a 1/2 hour from us and he even invited us out to his summer home to go fishing. I'll tell ya, Turks are some of the nicest people! I was feeling a little sick by the time we started descending into Istanbul and was so happy when we finally landed and my stomach settled.

When we got to Istanbul we had to get our bags and then re-check them since we were flying on a different airline to Cairo. When it was time to check in, the guy behind the counter asked us if we had our visas for Ethiopia. Ummm, what? We told him that we were getting them at the airport in Addis Ababa and I nearly had a heart attack when he told us we needed to have them now because the immigration laws had changed. We told him we were sure we could get the visas at the airport, so he went to talk to another guy and sure enough everything was fine! Whew! But there for a few minutes I was totally freaking out. Joel, of course, was calm, cool and collective. He's awesome like that!

We made it to Cairo a little late so we had to rush through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Addis. We made it just in time as they started boarding the plane a few minutes after we got there. I spotted another couple that I just knew had to be an adoptive family, but didn't have a chance to talk to them right then. Sure enough, when we got to Addis we met them and found out they were adopting a little boy and were there for their court date too. By the time we got our bags and met our driver it was about 3:30am. We were exhausted and ready to crash! The streets were deserted as we drove through the city. When we got to the guest house we were shown to our room and we hit the sack!

We woke up around 9:30 and still felt really tired, but at least we got a few hours of sleep. We met some of the other AAI families who were staying at the Ritmo Guest House. They were all very sweet and it was fun to get to know them during our stay there. We ate a quick breakfast of pancakes although neither of us were feeling very hungry - this was the day we were going to meet our son! I was so nervous!

The guest house we stayed at.

After breakfast we walked over to Layla with another family. I.was.so.excited! We didn't think we'd be able to meet Y until after school and naptime, but they said we could interrupt school for a bit. One of the social workers led us to a small building where Y was having class. She stood in the doorway and called his name and he came out. And there he was! Finally, the moment we'd been thinking and praying about for so long, and there he was in person. No more staring at a picture, here was our son in real life! It was such a crazy moment. 

I gave him a hug and he hugged me back, a little unsure at first. Then I motioned I wanted to pick him and he climbed right into my arms and held on tight. It wasn't a stiff hug at all, no, he just kind of melted into me and was holding onto me as tightly as I was holding onto him. It was seriously the best feeling in the world! Here was my son, whom I had waited so long to meet! Here he finally was, in my arms! After a bit, I reluctantly passed him off to Joel and Y went eagerly into his arms too. The whole moment really did feel surreal. I just couldn't believe it was finally happening. I had thought about what this moment would be like for so long and it was better than I could have ever imagined (I do have a ton of pictures that I just can't wait to share!)

After a little we went and sat down on the steps at the edge of the soccer field with him. I held Y some more and we asked him a few questions and the social worker translated for us. Y was pretty shy at first and didn't talk much, but he had a huge smile on his face the whole time. The social worker gave us a tour around the orphanage and I carried Y around the whole time. We saw where he had class and met some of his classmates. They were writing out the letters of the alphabet. Y sat down and started doing his work too. He did his work very seriously and was very focused. I was so impressed by how nicely he wrote. When he was done, he gave the paper to his teacher and then we went to see the room he sleeps in. He is in a room with about a dozen other boys. He proudly showed us where his bed was; he sleeps on the top bunk. We asked him if he likes the top bunk and he said yes. We told him he'll get to sleep on the top bunk when he comes to live with us. We continued our tour and we took turns carrying him. He loved it, I don't think he wanted to be put down, but I was getting tired by the end of tour - our son has got some weight to him!

This is what you first see when you walk through the blue gates into the orphanage.

After our tour, we went to the soccer field and Joel and Y kicked a soccer ball around for awhile. This boy has got some serious skillz :) He was showing us some tricks with the ball and I was cheering him on from the sidelines. After Joel got tired we went and sat down on the ground and gave Y some water. He had a cold; his nose was running and he had a pretty nasty cough. I noticed later that most of the kids at the orphanage had the same cough. We pulled out our camera and showed him all the pictures we took. He would point to Joel's picture and I said, "Daddy." Then he would point to my picture and I said, "Mommy." He repeated us then and it was just the cutest thing ever hearing him say "Mommy" and "Daddy." It was getting close to lunchtime then so we went and found the social worker and had her tell Y that we would be back to visit him after lunch and his nap. He gave us both really big hugs and kisses and then I very reluctantly put him down and we left Layla. 

We were hungry too, so we walked to restaurant close by and got some pizza. It was pretty good and sooo cheap! Then we walked back to the guest house to rest for a little before we went back to see Y. Around 3:30 we went back to Layla and walked into a small building where the kids his age were watching a Thomas the train movie. When Y saw us, he ran to hug us. Then we sat down with him and got out the picture that Colson had colored for him, which also happened to be Thomas train. His face lit up when he saw Thomas and he held the paper very carefully and looked over every detail. All the other kids wanted to see the picture and Y very willingly shared with them, but always kept it in his sight to make sure it came back to him. It was so sweet. It was time for snack then and the nannies passed out bananas to all the children and Y sat in my lap and ate his banana. 

Then I left Joel and Y together so I could go and take some pictures of the children who had families waiting for them. I took my job very seriously and tried to take lots of pictures and a video of each child. I know how much it means to get pictures of your child while you're waiting to bring them home. Then I went back and found Joel and Y who were sitting together watching the movie. After the movie the kids were getting a little crazy. They surrounded me and wanted to touch my hair (one little girl kept kissing it) and push buttons on my watch. They were all so cute! Then we went outside and sat down with Y. One of the social workers brought out the welcome bag we had sent him and Y pulled out the photo album and carefully looked at each picture and would point at me and Joel when he came to a picture of us. Then he pulled out the red shirt we had sent him and motioned that he wanted to put it on so Joel helped him. Next he got out the little wind-up truck and I motioned for him to play with me. We had fun sitting on the ground and driving the truck back and forth for all of 5 seconds before the other boys saw and wanted to play too. So we sat in a big circle and played with the truck while Joel was making origami for some of the kids. I loved seeing more of Y's personality shine through as he was interacting with his friends. He is such a sweet little boy!


After awhile Y wanted to go swing, so Joel took him over to the swingset. He was getting more comfortable with us and started opening up and talking a lot more. Of course, we had no idea what he was saying, but it was so darn cute! We got by with lots of hand motions. We stayed at Layla until early evening. I was not ready to say goodbye, I wanted to spend more time with Y, but it was time to go. We gave him hugs and told him we'd be back the next day and he seemed okay that we were leaving.

We walked back to the guest house and hung out with the other adoptive families that were staying there, all really awesome families like this one. For dinner we went out with a group to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant which was a lot of fun. The food will have to grow on me, but I definitely want to learn how to make some dishes for Y. 

There were dancers that were doing traditional Ethiopian dances and they were amazing! Seriously, I don't know how people can move their bodies like these guys were! It was a really fun night, then we headed back to the guest house and went to bed, excited to see Y again the next day!


Days 3 and 4 to come soon :)