Our Adoption Story
At the end of this video we thank Naomi's Fund for their support of our adoption. You can find out more about this awesome ministry at www.naomisfund.com
Our Adoption Story
At the end of this video we thank Naomi's Fund for their support of our adoption. You can find out more about this awesome ministry at www.naomisfund.com
I'm in a vortex. Not really sure what day it is. This jet lag is killer and Little J has a double ear infection, so sleep is hard to find. Thanks to our wonderful family & friends we are A) eating delicious catered meals B) having visits from the laundry fairy and C) other miscellaneous errands magically happening without our involvement.
Also, did I mention, we are deliriously happy. Just over-the-moon. Sometimes I look at him and think I am in the twilight zone - a photo has become a reality and there he is sleeping sweetly in his own little crib in our house. Unreal.
However, there are two things I did not account for in all of my type A, firstborn planning.
1. Jet Lag
2. The "Little S" factor (sharing toys, space, parents is all very new)
We are doing our best to protect his bonding process with us by limiting visitors, not leaving the house, and trying to show him through a consistent presence that we four are a family and not just workers in a new orphanage.
This has been wonderful, especially when he reaches out for me or calls to "Dada" and we know it is all worth it.
But I have to admit that the extrovert in me is reminding myself the temporal nature of this situation - we will be out "amongst the people", as I like to say, in no time.
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There is so much to say about our trip, it's hard to fit in my head given the total exhaustion...but the basic story about Wednesday is this:
We arrived for our embassy appointment at 1PM, no thought in our mind that there could be trouble, as we've never heard of that happening to anyone. Blissfully unaware, we went through all checkpoints at the embassy and waited with another friend who had an appointment at the same time. Our agency then came and informed us that they were sorry to tell us that neither of our cases would be heard that day because of some problems with the paperwork. We were told the best course of action was to leave the embassy and figure things out with the US office. Phone calls were made by our Ethiopian agency which activated a round-the-world prayer chain, unbeknownst to us. Outside of the embassy, our amazing driver reminded us of our rights as American citizen to approach the consulate ourselves. "I know my rights!" he exclaimed. S conferred with our agency to get permission to go in without them. There just so happened to be a man standing on the street where we were who worked for another agency and knew exactly where to go inside the embassy and offered to escort us inside. All three of us (Me, S & our friend) went back inside. It was 3:30Pm and the embassy closed at 4. S waited to speak to the consulate. The consulate told him 6 times there was "NO WAY" we would be getting Little J's visa that day because of the paperwork problem. I did nothing but sit and pray, unknowing that hundreds of other people around the world had heard our plight and were praying with me. And then the consulate had a supernatural change of heart. There is no way to explain it but a miracle of God. He told S to go sit down and 10 minutes later we were given the visa. He then went through and showed us all the problems, which illustrated that he had every right to deny our case. It was 3:45PM. S asked if he could take one more minute to talk to our friend. He said "I know that one and there is absolutely no way I can help her out." S asked if he would just talk to her. He agreed and after 30 minutes, she was also cleared and the embassy had been kept open 30 minutes late just so that we two could be helped. It was a true miracle. We were all in tears.
Our friend is still in Ethiopia, so please continue to pray for her as she waits for a special waiver to bring her sick son home. We are so confident in God's power and were truly blessed to see it at work first-hand.
July 5th, 2009
Wow. Just wow.
I don't really know where to start but first to just say thank you to everyone who prayed for us this week. Miracle after miracle. We saw God move in a mighty powerful way. There is just no way to explain it but God's divine grace bringing us home, reuniting our family for a fresh start - all part of his amazing plan.
And, boy, I have never been so sick in my life. I mean, really really sick. This is my main excuse for dropping off the blogosphere - I was hugging a toilet instead. That's a pretty good excuse, right? Also, there was a teensy power issue at our guesthouse. They had none. No power. Except from 6pm - 10pm each night by a generator. But, man, did I miss you guys! Thank you for all the emails, prayers, text messages and the amazing airport greeting. We have no doubt of your love for us & for little J.
Did I mention that I have an amazing husband? From Wednesday night to our departure on Friday, he took total care of me and little J, packed our suitcases and made all arrangements and errands for medicine & more diapers. Not to mention that he basically saved our adoption, but more on that later.
It was a beautiful, trying, and emotional week. But in the end, we have a precious baby son who is sleeping right now, all snuggled up, safe and secure in our family. His forever family.
The luckiest family in the world.
MIRACLE(s)!!!
This is Dad (S), Mom (C) is a bit sick and in bed! I am not a blogger so I will save the blog entry for Carree. I am not good at the encrypting thing either so I hope you understood the first sentence.
Thank you for your prayers. They were felt in our time of pain (about 2:30pm) when we were told that we were not going to have an Embassy Appointment and later at our time of joy (4:00pm), when we passed and officially received his clearance for his visa.
We go tomorrow at 1:00pm to pickup the visa and will be leaving on Friday.
I am not a person who speaks of miracles often, but today we witnessed miracle after miracle.
Thank you to all of you who laced our day with prayer. Little J thanks you too!
The story is too long for me to type or maybe even for Carree to blog, though I am sure she will try. In the end it can all be summed up in, Little J, Mom & Dad will be coming home July 4th!
We love each of you.
Thanks,
Stephen
Oh my. I'm in love.
He's 11 months old, and as far as I can tell, not a single person has ever put him down. So I am the proud mother of a little snuggle bear and loving every second of it!
KVI sent a car to get us from the Amanya guesthouse this morning. Little J's nurse, and Abel Ness accompanied us anxious parents. Thank goodness for Abel's fascination with my camera and artistic ability, or I'm pretty sure we would have forgotten photos all together! On the way, Little J's nurse told us two important things: Little J is not on soy formula like we thought (but not to worry, there is a thriving orphanage bartering system where I can trade my 3 cans of soy for 3 "Good Start Supreme", no problem.) Also, by the way, he is on solids and they are ramen noodles, chicken flavor...sounds like college! So the second important thing is that Little J is allergic to diapers. What???? Are you kidding? I had an extended moment of adoptive mom panic and sorting through my mind all the handtowels and washcloths we brought which could double for a diaper. I quickly put this to the back of my mind when we rounded the street where KVI sits. Abel said "Only 1/2 Kilometer!" He was as excited as we were (Nikki you have a very special boy!).
We drove through the metal gate and were happily swarmed by a bevy of children, one little stinker actually jumped into the van and started petting me! (I love Menelik Ems!) We got out of the van, and walked in a haze, knowing at any moment the long awaited sight of our son in real life would pop into view. Little J's nurse led us to the back of the first building and towards a dark hallway, where I saw the sillhouette of a pink-clad baby boy clutching his nanny. I turned back and shouted "Get out the camera"! I turned around and there he was. I tenderly took him in my arms, and began crooning in his ear how much we loved him as Stephen captured the moment on film. At first he looked at me with curiosity, but quickly scowled and turned towards his nanny letting out a loud cry. He turned to me in slight terror. I knew this might happen, and it was actually the answer to my prayers as I had prayed he would bond with his care giver. So, as the nanny came back towards to rescue, I did what every mother bear would...I turned slightly away and distracted him with crazy fun sounds and clapping. He quickly forgot his turmoil as I began walking with him towards the room ahead.
It so happens this room was the toddler room, full of fastly moving, and sucker-loving two year olds. Lo and behold, the first sweet face I saw was Bereket Hanel. He looked up at me as I patted his head and told him how much his mommy loved him. I turned around and there was Melat, sitting on a small chair next to another small girl. They looked like they were enjoying their time on the fray of the toddler ruckus. I patted her face and crouched down with Little J as all the toddlers began crowding around. I got out a few bags that I had and as I turned around I saw the Bitner kids, including Meseret, who was helping one of the twins get on his shoes. I'm telling you it was like stepping into a photo album!
Little J's nurse then took us to the baby room where we saw Zestifanos & Liya. Liya was awake and playful....definitely not camera shy. Zestifanos was sleeping but the nanny woke him up (I did not ask her to, but she knew I was friends with their mom). I then got to see Little J's crib, and some charts with all of the baby names, weights, etc. I traded Little J's favorite bunny for a clean new pink fuzzy pig I had brought which was quickly placed by happy Liya. I then investigated the formula situation (Good Start Supreme for all) and solids (something called "mother's choice" you can buy when you are here that looks like rice cereal to me). The older ones get the ramen noodles. Z & L are starting solids in three days, or just three days ago - that's what the nurse told me.
We then met Eyob who gave us an official tour and back to the toddler room for some time with Little J and his friends. We then had a coffee ceremony, and were joined by Mary & Nahom Clark, and Hannah. We all went to lunch at the Backyard in the late afternoon and then Stephen & I went to Hope to finalize our paperwork.
When we got back to the hotel, we weren't sure how Little J would do. The entire day, he pretty much clung to me, and slept on me. He would go to Stephen, and sometimes lunge for other women, which I deflected by laughing and turning.
So when we got back to the hotel, Little J would not let me five feet out of his sight. This was my radius. And he let me know it. So we set up a little station on the bed and just played with him while our cameras charged. It was bliss. I stripped him down to his diaper and he became even more joyous. (By the way, that little diaper scare was just about the Ethiopian type - he does fine on pampers). After a couple of hours of complete fascination and awe over the stacking cups set (flashing, noise-making toys scare him, by the way) he let out a big yawn. We put on his "daddy's helper" sleeper, snapped some more shots and then laid him in his crib with a bottle and his favorite bunny from the orphanage. Easy as pie (if you don't count the 5 minutes of screaming it took to figure out he gets a bottle at bedtime.) He rolled on his back, sucked away, and within mere seconds was out like a light. We tiptoed into the adjoining living room and snickered with joy over our bedtime ease. I guess time will tell if he gets up at 3am! The nanny told us he sleeps til 7.
I just snuck up to check on Stephen, and now he is out like a light too, at 9:45 pm local time.
What a day!
Praise God for our beautiful son!
June 29, 2009 3:00 p.m. EDT
Hi everyone. We are on pins and needles waiting for our driver to come get us and take us to Little J! I've written two really nice long blog entries that I will upload tonight, due to power issues I can only send this short email right now- the hotel owner let us borrow her computer. We are doing very well. Best sleep in a long time - more on the blog about that - but suffice it to say we are the only guests at this hotel, so the service is great and it's very quiet. We were reminded last night as we flew in over the mountains and again this morning waking to the splendid sunrise how truly beautiful this country is and what a heritage Little J has.
Love to you all and kiss Little S for us!
Emily I can't wait to hug and kiss Isaac for you. Will get lots of photos for all the families.
with love from Carree and Stephen
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