view from our guest room
I arrived in Ethiopia last night after three plane rides totaling over 16 hours in flight. My flights were uneventful although I’m not going to lie, I was nervous to be flying out of country by myself! Once I got my visa in Ethiopia and went through customs, I immediately saw my hubby and that was a relief. It was nighttime when I arrived so I wasn’t able to see much during the car ride from the airport to the guest house we are staying at. I did notice, however, that there were countless people everywhere I looked. Some people were walking, others were standing by storefronts while others were huddled on the ground. All of the people walking as well as all of the crazy drivers made for an interesting drive to our guest house.
I slept really hard last night until waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of lots of dogs barking and people talking. I know that I have heard of other families who have visited Ethiopia who have heard donkeys in the middle of the night. I didn’t get to hear donkeys yet, but I did hear lots and lots of dogs barking and howling!
Baby T holding my hand while being fed
Today was an exciting day for us as we got to meet Baby T for the first time. The way it works is that with our agency, you can see your child at the orphanage twice a day – two hours in the morning and for two hours in the afternoon. We headed to the orphanage this morning around and it was great to see Ethiopia by day light. It is very green here. If you are envisioning a dry and sandy Africa, Ethiopia is more lush than that. We have yet to venture out to the countryside but hubby wants to before we leave.
So this morning we went to the orphanage with two other couples who are adopting. Because they had already met their children, they let us go first and meet Baby T first before their kiddos were brought out to them. Baby T was so cute as he was brought out to us. He was wide eyed and chubby with a capital C. We were given a bottle to feed him and he was very eager and ready to eat. We spent two hours with him just holding him. He was fighting falling asleep, but he never did give into sleep. I think that deep down I had a fear that he was going to wail and scream when we held him for the firs time. But there were no tears and he was very chill just taking it all in. This afternoon, we spent less time with him as we had to meet our agency’s lawyer.
We found out today that we DID pass last week’s preliminary MOWCYA court date. We are very excited about that. Tomorrow our lawyer is going to speak with the judge to ask if we can have a court date on Thursday or Friday. Please pray for this to happen! I am extremely uneasy having flown out to Ethiopia without having an official court date. The lawyer we met with today said that he can not promise us that we will have a court date this week, but he said he will do his best. I feel a little better knowing that we did pass MOWCYA but there is still unease for hubby and I. On Wednesday we should know if we have a court date. I will keep you posted.
Prayer requests for today: 1) that we can get a court date this Thursday or Friday (preferably Thursday) and 2) that the cold that Baby T has will go away. As you probably remember, our baby Kiya that we were adopting this past fall passed away from an upper respiratory infection. So colds make us very nervous.
A huge thanks to my team of gals who are helping keep Addicted to Saving running while we are gone as well as to our friends and family who are house sitting and dog sitting. 🙂
Thanks for coming to Addicted to Saving! Here’s a little bit about me so you can know who’s behind all these posts!
My name is Liza and I began my money-saving journey in the Spring of 2009 as a way to stretch a limited household income. I had lost my job and my hubby was self-employed. I launched Addicted to Saving in November of 2009 and it has grown by leaps and bounds. Since then, my hubby and I have struggled with the ups and downs of two failed adoptions and are now LOVING being parents to our little man Asher who we brought home from Ethiopia in August of 2013. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to help you save money. My goal is that you will have FUN and become empowered to save more and more money each week..
Prayers & God Bless You!!!!
I have been away from couponing for a while and decided to get back to business. (Your blog is my “go to” place for info.) I was so thrilled when I logged on today and saw that you were in Ethiopia to visit your baby. God bless your family. You will most certainly be in my prayers. I know when you go through the tough times it’s hard to see that there is possibility in your future. Wishing you the best!
What a sweet little hand! I can’t wait to meet (and hold) him!!!! We will continue praying for the three of you! Lots of love!
I’m praying for you. Have a great trip and be safe. I know all We can see from the picture is his hand but I bet he is beautiful. God bless
I first would like to say I’m very happy for you and your family. But I do want to caution you or really hope that you have been given the information that is out there about the adoption trade in Ethiopia. I certainly hope that this child does not have any family and that you will be this child’s new family (heart family or forever family). The US government and UNICEF and UNAIDS has said that many of the children that are said to be orphans especially Infants are not Orphaned that they have biological parents still alive in many case. That many of these children r being bought, defrauded, coerced, or kidnapped away from their birth families. I am not trying to take away the joy you have right now. Just please be sure. Please be careful and God be with and the child.
Living in Africa I understand what you wrote above and appreciate the fact that you have a concern. However, at this stage in the process a post like this will only serve one purpose and that is to bring doubt and feelings of insecurity to the minds of the adopting parents. Having experience living in Africa, you can do all of the research you want into adopting a child and still be taken for a ride. So, why bring that into their minds now? Just be confident that they did indeed do their research to the best they can, be happy for them and raise awareness for illegal adoptions somewhere else.
Prayers!
You are in my prayers.
Having been through the international adoption process myself, you’ll be in my prayers. Congrats!
So exciting! I hope & pray that everything goes perfect for you this time. You certainly deserve it. I love that picture, hopefully we can see the rest of him soon.
just awesome I wish you all the luck and patience to go through this
Best wishes and prayers to all of you, especially Baby T. Try not to worry!
Thanks for all you do for us, and I know God will do for you, praying for the court date and Baby T cold. Thanks again, and God bless you and husband for making a difference in this world.
That sweet hand holding yours brings tears to my eyes!!!! 🙂 We’re praying for you and Jeff….and Baby T!!!!
Sending prayers your way.
I’m so happy that you’ve met this precious child! Praying that all goes as you hope.
May God Bless you and your family. Seeing him hold your hand I know he holds your heart. Healing prayers for his cold and traveling Mercies for your trip.
My best wishes to you, your husband, and baby T. I will be saying a prayer for all of you. Put Baby T’s cold in God’s hand and let him take care of that.
Prayers for you!
Praying for you and Baby T, God has power over colds, and many other things that you just have to surrender to HIM, I have seen miracles in my children’s lives when I surrender them to HIM. Much love to your family. YOU are all in my prayers, Babette