Today we passed court and Jacob Jafar Mowen is officially our son. Here are some of our first pictures of him!!!
Monday, April 18, 2011
We Passed Court...Introducing Jacob Jafar
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Our Typical Day
Since we have been done with our travel package with AWAA we have been spending the whole day with Jacob! The sun rises at 6am and that is when people around here are up and moving. Out our window you can hear roosters crowing, people chanting, dogs barking, and guys walking around yelling trying to sell their mops. We will eat breakfast at the guest house and find something to do until our driver gets here. We usually arrive at the Transition House between 9:30-10am. We go and get Jacob from his room and hang out on the porch. There are 2 couches and 2 chairs that we all sit on. There are 2 other families staying until they are cleared to bring their kids home so we all hang out together. The Shelburn family has been submitted to embassy and will hopefully bring their 1 year old boy, Theo, back to Hawaii in the next week. The Knox family is still waiting to pass court for their 2 kiddos that are 3 and 5. Caylene Knox is staying until she is cleared to bring her kids back to Washington.
10am-pick up Jacob and play on the porch
11am-Jacob takes a nap in our arms
12pm-Jacob gets 7oz of formula (he usually only eats about 5oz), we eat PBJ sandwiches or granola bars and then he will play some more
1pm-Jacob takes another nap
2:30pm-more playing time
4:30pm-we have to leave the TH
We go back to our guest house and make something for dinner and try to play a game. We have decided games aren’t as fun with 2 people as they are with more friends. But we will try to play a game, read, or watch whatever is in English on TV.
About a week ago we changed guest houses to save some money. Yebsabi (where AWAA families stay) is nice and clean, but it’s expensive. Yebsabi was $82 per night and Polaris is only $30 per night. Polaris doesn’t have internet service, but we were able to get an internet stick and it costs us $6 per hour of internet time. Polaris also didn’t have a microwave, so we bought one. Most of the food we bought is microwavable, so we needed one to be able to make our dinners. We have seen a few roaches in the kitchen, but no one seems to think that’s a big deal. Thankfully we haven’t seen any in the rooms and we wash everything before we use it. Caylene Knox is also staying here so it’s nice to have a friend here! The staff is really nice here; they really take care of us. Tonight Brad was going to walk around the corner to get a phone card and some water and they said they wanted to do it for us. We are kind of getting spoiled here. We miss seeing other AWAA families and how clean Yebsai is. We will see how it works out here once we have Jacob. Yebsabi has a crib and baby bath tub that we can use and Polaris doesn’t have anything. So we will see how creative we get with some place for Jacob to sleep and bathe. We may end up back at Yebsabi later on, but now we are happy to be saving money!
10am-pick up Jacob and play on the porch
11am-Jacob takes a nap in our arms
12pm-Jacob gets 7oz of formula (he usually only eats about 5oz), we eat PBJ sandwiches or granola bars and then he will play some more
1pm-Jacob takes another nap
2:30pm-more playing time
4:30pm-we have to leave the TH
We go back to our guest house and make something for dinner and try to play a game. We have decided games aren’t as fun with 2 people as they are with more friends. But we will try to play a game, read, or watch whatever is in English on TV.
About a week ago we changed guest houses to save some money. Yebsabi (where AWAA families stay) is nice and clean, but it’s expensive. Yebsabi was $82 per night and Polaris is only $30 per night. Polaris doesn’t have internet service, but we were able to get an internet stick and it costs us $6 per hour of internet time. Polaris also didn’t have a microwave, so we bought one. Most of the food we bought is microwavable, so we needed one to be able to make our dinners. We have seen a few roaches in the kitchen, but no one seems to think that’s a big deal. Thankfully we haven’t seen any in the rooms and we wash everything before we use it. Caylene Knox is also staying here so it’s nice to have a friend here! The staff is really nice here; they really take care of us. Tonight Brad was going to walk around the corner to get a phone card and some water and they said they wanted to do it for us. We are kind of getting spoiled here. We miss seeing other AWAA families and how clean Yebsai is. We will see how it works out here once we have Jacob. Yebsabi has a crib and baby bath tub that we can use and Polaris doesn’t have anything. So we will see how creative we get with some place for Jacob to sleep and bathe. We may end up back at Yebsabi later on, but now we are happy to be saving money!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
About Jacob
For the first 2 weeks we only got to see Jacob for about 2 ½ -3 hours each day, it was either morning or afternoon. On Wednesday we got to spend the whole day with him at the Transition Home. It was so nice to just hang out all day as a family of 3! There were 2 other mamas hanging out with us on the porch all day too! We all have sons about the same age, so it’s been fun to get to know each other and have the boys play together. One of the families is from the Chicago-area so we hope the boys will get to see each other every once in a while! The other family is from Hawaii, I’d love to say we will visit them, but I doubt it.
Each day when we show up to the TH, we get to go to Jacob’s room and get him. He is in a room of 9 babies with 2 nannies. The nannies always give him a kiss before we take him to the porch. It’s so sweet to see the nannies love for these children! He started recognizing our voices on the 3rd or 4th day. When we come into the room and start talking, he just lights up and turns his head to find us. He melts my heart each day with his smiles!
We usually hang out with Jacob on the couches on the porch or on a blanket on the ground. He loves tummy time and playing with toys. When we first met Jacob, he couldn’t/wouldn’t put any weight on his legs. Today he was going crazy pushing up on his legs. He thinks it’s so funny if you pull him all the way up so he is standing. He is teething and chews on everything he can get into his mouth. He also has strengthened his stomach muscles a little bit. Two weeks ago if we tried to sit him up in our laps, his head would fall onto his feet. But the last couple of days he has started to hold himself up a little bit and his head doesn’t touch his feet anymore! He continues to smile and laugh every day, which is such a joy to hear!! He has been able to roll over from front to back and back to front since we met him and he continues to do that each day. We put some leave-in conditioner in his hair and it curls up into a faux-mohawk, so cute!! The back of his hair needs to come in a little more, but it’s really cute from the front!
Brad is really afraid of, or disgusted by, baby spit up. He has really been hoping that Jacob won’t spit up much. He really didn’t spit up much at all, until we spent the last 2 full days with him. He has been spitting up a lot these last 2 days. Yesterday he got Brad for the first time. I ran to get my camera before I got a rag! J
We just love every second we have with him and can’t wait for the day that we bring him home with us!
Each day when we show up to the TH, we get to go to Jacob’s room and get him. He is in a room of 9 babies with 2 nannies. The nannies always give him a kiss before we take him to the porch. It’s so sweet to see the nannies love for these children! He started recognizing our voices on the 3rd or 4th day. When we come into the room and start talking, he just lights up and turns his head to find us. He melts my heart each day with his smiles!
We usually hang out with Jacob on the couches on the porch or on a blanket on the ground. He loves tummy time and playing with toys. When we first met Jacob, he couldn’t/wouldn’t put any weight on his legs. Today he was going crazy pushing up on his legs. He thinks it’s so funny if you pull him all the way up so he is standing. He is teething and chews on everything he can get into his mouth. He also has strengthened his stomach muscles a little bit. Two weeks ago if we tried to sit him up in our laps, his head would fall onto his feet. But the last couple of days he has started to hold himself up a little bit and his head doesn’t touch his feet anymore! He continues to smile and laugh every day, which is such a joy to hear!! He has been able to roll over from front to back and back to front since we met him and he continues to do that each day. We put some leave-in conditioner in his hair and it curls up into a faux-mohawk, so cute!! The back of his hair needs to come in a little more, but it’s really cute from the front!
Brad is really afraid of, or disgusted by, baby spit up. He has really been hoping that Jacob won’t spit up much. He really didn’t spit up much at all, until we spent the last 2 full days with him. He has been spitting up a lot these last 2 days. Yesterday he got Brad for the first time. I ran to get my camera before I got a rag! J
We just love every second we have with him and can’t wait for the day that we bring him home with us!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Trip to Awassa and Shone- Days 8 and 9
We wanted to see some of the countryside of Ethiopia and meet our sponsor child, so on Friday morning we headed south. What we saw was exactly like all the pictures of Africa that you see back home. There were mud huts and people and animals everywhere. I expected to see a few little villages here and there, but there was village after village the whole 6 hours we drove south. I couldn’t believe the amount of people we saw walking or riding on carts led by donkeys. Our guide told us that everyone was heading to market. But there was seriously not a time that we didn’t see people out walking. There were children that were 5 or 6 years old that were shepherds in charge of their cows, goats, or donkeys. There were so many young children around 4-6 that were in charge of the babies too. The babies didn’t have any diapers or pants on, and the children were just carrying them around. There were many rivers and lakes we passed by and saw many people bathing and washing their clothes in the water. We got to see some people farming their land also, it was also just like we have seen on TV, everything done by hand. These people were some of the hardest workers we have ever seen. We wouldn’t even consider doing half of what they do everyday. Some people were walking miles upon miles to the big city where the market was. The women carried the biggest loads of wood or large baskets on their backs and walked and walked and walked. We took tons of pictures because we were so amazed by what we saw. Another reminder to be very thankful for our life in Illinois. But you know these people were so nice and smiled and waved at us as we drove by, they didn’t look upset or bitter, they just kept on going.
We drove for about 4 hours and stopped in Shashemene to eat lunch. I had to go to the bathroom so bad, but there is nowhere to stop. I was very thankful to stop for lunch. We stopped at a very nice little resort and we ate pasta and fish. I was glad to see some soft bread (a lot of the bread has been hard so far), with my upset stomach I needed something bland to fill me up. It was yummy bread, I hope we can find some like it at the store in Addis! After lunch we were heading to Shone to meet our sponsor child. On the way we found out she didn’t have 2 brothers, but she has two sisters. So we stopped to get two girl outfits. Then we continued on to Shone, another 2 hours down the road. So far we had a paved smooth road, until we got a little bit out of Shashemene then it was a bumping and curvy road.
Once we got to what looked like a tiny little village of Shone (we later found out there were 20,000 people) we went to the office of Look Development Ethiopia (the sponsorship office). There was an office worker and social worker that met us there and showed us around their office. They also went to the store for us before we got their so we could give the family some food. We saw some children playing outside and they thought us white people were funny. We were the talk of the community. Everyone wanted to come and see the white people. It was funny to see them look at us like we were aliens. I’m guessing not many white people go all the way out to this village. Next we got the food and 2 goats that we bought for the family and went to their house. They were all waiting for us. Many relatives came to meet us too. The sponsor child is a 5 year old girl named, Tedeke. She lives with her father, mother, two sisters and grandma. Tedeke was very shy but came and sat on Mary and I’s lap. The grandma kept saying “God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.” They were so grateful we would make the trip to meet them. We were so grateful they let us come and see their home and village. We spent about 45 minutes there, we gave them the food and gifts. We went in their house and the first room we went into was a decent size room (for a mud hut) with lots of chairs in it. We all sat down and talked through the translators. We also were able to buy 2 goats for their family. Right before we left their house the grandma wanted to pray for us. We have no idea what she said, but it was a sweet prayer to our Lord. What a neat experience! I was humbled by her prayer. Just knowing she was thanking God for us and our visit, when we were the ones honored to be helping them. What a blessing!
After leaving the family’s home we went to the Look Development Care Center. They have 20 children that they take care of there. They are in need of several items to function. If you want to give to a nonprofit, I would encourage you to look them up. They had nothing for these children except for beds and food. There were zero toys or equipment. The kids just sat there the whole time we were there. They waiting for government approval to turn the care center into an orphanage and possibly start letting these children be adopted. I was so thankful to see the company functioning that we have been sponsoring. It was such a blessing to meet the little girl that we have been praying for and see her family in their home.
Next we left Shone and went to Awassa, so back in the car for about 2 hours. It was only about 100km away, but you have to stop for all the cows, donkeys, and goats that are constantly in the road so driving takes a long time. We got to Awassa and checked into our hotel. It was really nice and only about $30 per room. We were all so exhausted from the busy and long day. The guys took a nap before dinner. We went downstairs and had dinner then went to bed early. Life in Ethiopia starts early in the day, like by 6am everyone is up and going, 6am our time is 1 Ethiopian time. The streets are busy and people are up going. Since we were out of the city of Addis we had to worry a little bit about the mosquitos and malaria. It isn’t the really bad time of year, but still a little concern. So we slept with a bug net around us at night. It reminded me of Girl Scout camp many years ago. It was also hotter in Awassa and I had a hard time falling asleep.
On Saturday morning, Brad and I both woke up and we were ready to head back to Addis and see Jacob. We planned on going out on the lake in Awassa to see the hippos, but we were missing Jacob and we all decided to just head back. The guide took us to see two beautiful resorts that were on the lake. He told us they were too expensive to stay at, so we’d just go look. They were gorgeous! We asked how much it would cost to stay there and it was only $50-60 per night. Wow! They would have been well over $200 per night back home. One of them even had private villas. If we didn’t have to worry about the malaria, we would head back down there to stay. It’s cheaper there than in Addis. So we left Awassa around 8:30am and made it back to Addis a little after 1pm. We had the driver take us over to the TH to see Jacob! We couldn’t wait to get our hands on him again!! It was so sweet to see his smile again!! We spent the afternoon with Jacob and got to see 5 families meet their children. Such a special day!! Our friends from Burlington made it here today and got to meet their sweet 4 year old daughter. She was sick today, so it took her awhile to come out of her shell, but once she got her medicine, she was the same sweet child we have seen all week. We have to leave the TH at 4:30pm each day. So we came back to Yebsabi and had a very full house for dinner! Last week there were usually about 6-8 people each night at dinner. Last night there had to be close to 30! We all visited for a while downstairs then turned in. We have been going to bed around 9pm most nights since we are all up by 6am!
What a wonderful first week in Ethiopia! God’s blessings are everywhere!! Thank you for all the prayers as we continue to wait to pass court, we really appreciate them!!
We drove for about 4 hours and stopped in Shashemene to eat lunch. I had to go to the bathroom so bad, but there is nowhere to stop. I was very thankful to stop for lunch. We stopped at a very nice little resort and we ate pasta and fish. I was glad to see some soft bread (a lot of the bread has been hard so far), with my upset stomach I needed something bland to fill me up. It was yummy bread, I hope we can find some like it at the store in Addis! After lunch we were heading to Shone to meet our sponsor child. On the way we found out she didn’t have 2 brothers, but she has two sisters. So we stopped to get two girl outfits. Then we continued on to Shone, another 2 hours down the road. So far we had a paved smooth road, until we got a little bit out of Shashemene then it was a bumping and curvy road.
Once we got to what looked like a tiny little village of Shone (we later found out there were 20,000 people) we went to the office of Look Development Ethiopia (the sponsorship office). There was an office worker and social worker that met us there and showed us around their office. They also went to the store for us before we got their so we could give the family some food. We saw some children playing outside and they thought us white people were funny. We were the talk of the community. Everyone wanted to come and see the white people. It was funny to see them look at us like we were aliens. I’m guessing not many white people go all the way out to this village. Next we got the food and 2 goats that we bought for the family and went to their house. They were all waiting for us. Many relatives came to meet us too. The sponsor child is a 5 year old girl named, Tedeke. She lives with her father, mother, two sisters and grandma. Tedeke was very shy but came and sat on Mary and I’s lap. The grandma kept saying “God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.” They were so grateful we would make the trip to meet them. We were so grateful they let us come and see their home and village. We spent about 45 minutes there, we gave them the food and gifts. We went in their house and the first room we went into was a decent size room (for a mud hut) with lots of chairs in it. We all sat down and talked through the translators. We also were able to buy 2 goats for their family. Right before we left their house the grandma wanted to pray for us. We have no idea what she said, but it was a sweet prayer to our Lord. What a neat experience! I was humbled by her prayer. Just knowing she was thanking God for us and our visit, when we were the ones honored to be helping them. What a blessing!
After leaving the family’s home we went to the Look Development Care Center. They have 20 children that they take care of there. They are in need of several items to function. If you want to give to a nonprofit, I would encourage you to look them up. They had nothing for these children except for beds and food. There were zero toys or equipment. The kids just sat there the whole time we were there. They waiting for government approval to turn the care center into an orphanage and possibly start letting these children be adopted. I was so thankful to see the company functioning that we have been sponsoring. It was such a blessing to meet the little girl that we have been praying for and see her family in their home.
Next we left Shone and went to Awassa, so back in the car for about 2 hours. It was only about 100km away, but you have to stop for all the cows, donkeys, and goats that are constantly in the road so driving takes a long time. We got to Awassa and checked into our hotel. It was really nice and only about $30 per room. We were all so exhausted from the busy and long day. The guys took a nap before dinner. We went downstairs and had dinner then went to bed early. Life in Ethiopia starts early in the day, like by 6am everyone is up and going, 6am our time is 1 Ethiopian time. The streets are busy and people are up going. Since we were out of the city of Addis we had to worry a little bit about the mosquitos and malaria. It isn’t the really bad time of year, but still a little concern. So we slept with a bug net around us at night. It reminded me of Girl Scout camp many years ago. It was also hotter in Awassa and I had a hard time falling asleep.
On Saturday morning, Brad and I both woke up and we were ready to head back to Addis and see Jacob. We planned on going out on the lake in Awassa to see the hippos, but we were missing Jacob and we all decided to just head back. The guide took us to see two beautiful resorts that were on the lake. He told us they were too expensive to stay at, so we’d just go look. They were gorgeous! We asked how much it would cost to stay there and it was only $50-60 per night. Wow! They would have been well over $200 per night back home. One of them even had private villas. If we didn’t have to worry about the malaria, we would head back down there to stay. It’s cheaper there than in Addis. So we left Awassa around 8:30am and made it back to Addis a little after 1pm. We had the driver take us over to the TH to see Jacob! We couldn’t wait to get our hands on him again!! It was so sweet to see his smile again!! We spent the afternoon with Jacob and got to see 5 families meet their children. Such a special day!! Our friends from Burlington made it here today and got to meet their sweet 4 year old daughter. She was sick today, so it took her awhile to come out of her shell, but once she got her medicine, she was the same sweet child we have seen all week. We have to leave the TH at 4:30pm each day. So we came back to Yebsabi and had a very full house for dinner! Last week there were usually about 6-8 people each night at dinner. Last night there had to be close to 30! We all visited for a while downstairs then turned in. We have been going to bed around 9pm most nights since we are all up by 6am!
What a wonderful first week in Ethiopia! God’s blessings are everywhere!! Thank you for all the prayers as we continue to wait to pass court, we really appreciate them!!
Days 6 and 7
Wednesday morning we spent the morning with Jacob. He was as sweet as always and smiling from the moment we picked him up. I think he is starting to recognize our voices a little more. He will turn his head looking for Brad or I if we are talking to someone other than him. We got to see the Knox family meet their little ones (2 and 5) today! Such a sweet moment! In the afternoon we visited the Ethnological Ethiopian Museum. It was interesting to see the different parts of Ethiopia and things from each of the parts. We got to see some beautiful baskets made by people in Harrar. I wish it wasn’t so far, we would love to go and see Harrar, but I’m not sure its going to work out for us. We got to walk around and read about the different things which we nice because I didn’t have to listen extra to hear through the thick accents. A lot of people know a little English here, but some have such heavy accents it makes it hard to understand sometimes. We learned from one of our guides that they start to learn English in grade school here. Then their high school is completely in English.
Thursday morning we had our court appointment. We waited downstairs at the guest house until they called us to come to court. It’s not very far away, and this avoids you from sitting in a crowded room. They called us to come pretty close to 9am. We went in and sat down in a large room. We found out right before we went in that our MOWA letter was there yet, so I was prepared to not pass that day. I wrote a previous post about not passing, but it all happened really fast. The blessing of the day was finding out that Jacob was in two orphanages before coming to AWAA, and one of them is in Addis. We got to talk with one of the ladies who helped take care of him and made plans to go visit that orphanage next week! She also said she had a photo of him, I can’t wait to talk to her and see the photo. We treasure any information about Jacob’s first few months of his life!!
We got to spend the afternoon at the TH with Jacob again. Another wonderful day!! He was extra cuddly today and fell asleep at the end of our time there. He still only eats about ½ the bottle with us. They give him 7oz 7 times a day. With us, he only finishes about 4 oz. The nannies say that he usually finishes the whole bottle, but they sometimes have to finish while he is sleeping. The lady from the orphanage came over to AWAA to get a paper form to fax to the Harrar police and she came to say hi to Jacob. It was sweet seeing her and a nurse light up when they saw him!! We got some pictures too! We got to see another Meetcha day, the Murray family from Chicago came to meet their little guy. It was a sweet union!!
Thursday morning we had our court appointment. We waited downstairs at the guest house until they called us to come to court. It’s not very far away, and this avoids you from sitting in a crowded room. They called us to come pretty close to 9am. We went in and sat down in a large room. We found out right before we went in that our MOWA letter was there yet, so I was prepared to not pass that day. I wrote a previous post about not passing, but it all happened really fast. The blessing of the day was finding out that Jacob was in two orphanages before coming to AWAA, and one of them is in Addis. We got to talk with one of the ladies who helped take care of him and made plans to go visit that orphanage next week! She also said she had a photo of him, I can’t wait to talk to her and see the photo. We treasure any information about Jacob’s first few months of his life!!
We got to spend the afternoon at the TH with Jacob again. Another wonderful day!! He was extra cuddly today and fell asleep at the end of our time there. He still only eats about ½ the bottle with us. They give him 7oz 7 times a day. With us, he only finishes about 4 oz. The nannies say that he usually finishes the whole bottle, but they sometimes have to finish while he is sleeping. The lady from the orphanage came over to AWAA to get a paper form to fax to the Harrar police and she came to say hi to Jacob. It was sweet seeing her and a nurse light up when they saw him!! We got some pictures too! We got to see another Meetcha day, the Murray family from Chicago came to meet their little guy. It was a sweet union!!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Days 4 and 5
On Monday we spent the morning with Jacob! He is more active in the mornings, so we got to play with him. Each day we go to the Transition Home, we spend 2 ½-3 hours playing with him on the porch or in the little grassy area. They have 2 couches on the porch and we have our own blanket to sit on too. We spend lots of time holding him and playing with the toys we brought. We try to get him some tummy time too! He really likes when we let him spread out and reach for things. His bed is a very small space, so I don’t think he spends much time sprawled out. Each day I get to feed him a bottle too! The first day we met Jacob he didn’t fall asleep, but he has slept in my arms every day since. It’s so sweet to watch him sleeping! He is so happy! He is constantly smiling and laughing!! His smiles just melt my heart!! I can’t wait to be a full time mama to this precious boy!! This morning we also got to deliver care packages for 4 families waiting to come meet their children and take photos to email home to 8 families!! These kids are so cute!! I can’t wait for their families to come and meet them!! Thankfully the internet worked well enough one night, Brad helped me email these precious photos to the waiting families. Receiving pictures of Jacob while we waited for a court date was such a gift, I was so glad that I could do this for these families!
In the afternoon we visited two orphanages in Addis. I have heard horror stories, but both Kids Care and KVI were clean and the kids all had diapers on. Many families in the US have been working hard at getting cloth diapers over here so these babies can have diapers, and I was so happy to see tons of cloth diapers on the clothes lines and all the babies covered!! The big kids were at school so we didn’t get to see them, but at Kid’s Care we were able to play with a ball and some of the 5-8 year olds. The workers at Kid’s Care had a coffee ceremony for us too! It was so kind of them to show their love this way. Brad took a cup, but I don’t think he drank any, and Randy (Brad’s dad) wasn’t too interested. I tried mine and it was REALLY strong. I did the best I could with an already upset stomach. Mary (Brad’s mom) did the best, she finished it all!!
On Tuesday morning we visited a coffee factory. There is a drought right now, so we didn’t get to see a lot, but they showed us around. There are usually hundreds of women who sit and sort coffee beans, but with the shortage of beans there were only 3 women working today. I forget the exact amount, but I think I’ve heard that the women work all day long and make less than $1. It’s amazing the hard workers here that get paid next to nothing. Just heartbreaking to think about some of the hard work they do, most of us wouldn’t even consider doing, especially without good pay. Each day I am constantly reminded how thankful I am for a good paying job and my house that is starting to look larger and larger each day that I am here.
In the afternoon we visited two orphanages in Addis. I have heard horror stories, but both Kids Care and KVI were clean and the kids all had diapers on. Many families in the US have been working hard at getting cloth diapers over here so these babies can have diapers, and I was so happy to see tons of cloth diapers on the clothes lines and all the babies covered!! The big kids were at school so we didn’t get to see them, but at Kid’s Care we were able to play with a ball and some of the 5-8 year olds. The workers at Kid’s Care had a coffee ceremony for us too! It was so kind of them to show their love this way. Brad took a cup, but I don’t think he drank any, and Randy (Brad’s dad) wasn’t too interested. I tried mine and it was REALLY strong. I did the best I could with an already upset stomach. Mary (Brad’s mom) did the best, she finished it all!!
On Tuesday morning we visited a coffee factory. There is a drought right now, so we didn’t get to see a lot, but they showed us around. There are usually hundreds of women who sit and sort coffee beans, but with the shortage of beans there were only 3 women working today. I forget the exact amount, but I think I’ve heard that the women work all day long and make less than $1. It’s amazing the hard workers here that get paid next to nothing. Just heartbreaking to think about some of the hard work they do, most of us wouldn’t even consider doing, especially without good pay. Each day I am constantly reminded how thankful I am for a good paying job and my house that is starting to look larger and larger each day that I am here.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Missing letters
God's timing is ALWAYS perfect!!
We did not pass court today. We found out right before we walked in that our MOWA letter was not there, so we knew we wouldn't pass today. But some of the people have been getting their MOWA letters within a few days, so I was OK with that. The whole court process was about 2 minutes. We walked in and the judge asked us a few questions, then she said a few things in amharic to a AWAA representative and we all walked out. Once in the hallway we asked what happened and they said they needed a police clearance letter and the MOWA letter was missing. The judge gave us another court date of 18 days, we think. Later in the day we found out that there is a chance the letter from the police could be in by Monday (praying hard for that!!) and then we would wait on MOWA which hopefully will be written soon! I'm pretty sure that the judge said she would review the file when the letters were there and we won't have to wait until the next court date. We know that God's timing is Perfect and we will cling to that as we wait for Jacob to legally be our son. I really wanted to cry after hearing about the missing police letter and it taking 3 weeks, but I didn't. Then I got back to the guest house tonight and read all the prayers and encouraging words from many friends and family and I had a good cry!! The love and support from all of you is amazing!! Thank you for coming along this journey with us!! It's awesome to see God at work in all of our lives!!!
A bright spot of today was meeting a woman from the orphanage where Jacob was before the AWAA transition house. She remembered him and has pictures of him from when he first got there. We are going to visit the orphanage and the woman said she will give us those pictures!! So grateful for that!! We will be going there next week and we are looking forward to that!! God is good in all things!!!
We did not pass court today. We found out right before we walked in that our MOWA letter was not there, so we knew we wouldn't pass today. But some of the people have been getting their MOWA letters within a few days, so I was OK with that. The whole court process was about 2 minutes. We walked in and the judge asked us a few questions, then she said a few things in amharic to a AWAA representative and we all walked out. Once in the hallway we asked what happened and they said they needed a police clearance letter and the MOWA letter was missing. The judge gave us another court date of 18 days, we think. Later in the day we found out that there is a chance the letter from the police could be in by Monday (praying hard for that!!) and then we would wait on MOWA which hopefully will be written soon! I'm pretty sure that the judge said she would review the file when the letters were there and we won't have to wait until the next court date. We know that God's timing is Perfect and we will cling to that as we wait for Jacob to legally be our son. I really wanted to cry after hearing about the missing police letter and it taking 3 weeks, but I didn't. Then I got back to the guest house tonight and read all the prayers and encouraging words from many friends and family and I had a good cry!! The love and support from all of you is amazing!! Thank you for coming along this journey with us!! It's awesome to see God at work in all of our lives!!!
A bright spot of today was meeting a woman from the orphanage where Jacob was before the AWAA transition house. She remembered him and has pictures of him from when he first got there. We are going to visit the orphanage and the woman said she will give us those pictures!! So grateful for that!! We will be going there next week and we are looking forward to that!! God is good in all things!!!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Court tomorrow
As you go to sleep tonight, we will be getting ready to attend court. We need all the papers in place to pass. This isn't to see if they think we are fit to be parents, we have already been approved for that. We need all of the papers to be signed and at the court office before our appointment. Then the judge will ask us a few questions. Only about 1/2 of adoptive families pass court the first time, usually what stops people from passing is the MOWYCA letter. After all the confusion from the last couple of weeks, it looks like they are trying to get caught up on letters missing from cases the past couple weeks or months. So we have been told to be prepared not to pass. Hopefully they will get caught up with the letter writing soon. If we don't pass tomorrow, then hopefully it will be VERY soon! As soon as we pass court, we can keep Jacob with us at the guest house. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT DAY!!!
Thank you for all your continued prayers!! And as you go to sleep tonight, please pray for MOWYCA to get as many letters written today as possible, not only for our family, but for all the waiting families!!
Thank you for all your continued prayers!! And as you go to sleep tonight, please pray for MOWYCA to get as many letters written today as possible, not only for our family, but for all the waiting families!!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Days 2 and 3
On Saturday we visited Holy Trinity Cathedral and a little museum in the morning. The church was beautiful, it was the biggest Christian church in Addis until recently. The paintings on the ceiling and the stain glass windows were beautiful. Then we ate lunch at Blue Tops, we ate chicken again J. After lunch we got to spend more time with Jacob. He is very cuddly in the afternoons. He fell asleep in my arms! It was so nice to have the cuddle time with him. We get to spend about 2 ½-3 hours each day with him. I wish it was more, but I understand why they don’t want people hanging around the Transition Home all day, every day. Jacob is such a joy to be around! He just laughs and smiles all the time! It’s amazing how much we can love a little boy that we just met!!
Sunday morning we started the day out at an International Evangelical Church. The pastor said there were people from over 50 countries. It was awesome that we all came together to worship the same God! They sang songs we knew, and the pastor was originally from North Carolina, but he has been in Ethiopia for the last 15 years or so. After lunch at Island Restaurant (spicy Mexican), we got to go back to the Transition Home for more time with Jacob. He was sleeping when we showed up, but they told me to pick him up. He started to try to go back to sleep until he heard voices. He likes to look at what is going on around him. He also started to recognize our voices today. Jacob loves to see what’s going on and turns his head to see who is talking all the time. So he was up for a while and played and laughed. Then he took a quick little nap on me! But he woke up when the nanny came to change his diaper. I have gotten to feed him a bottle everyday. They give him about 6 oz every 3 hours. He has yet to finish a bottle. I don’t know if its too loud and too much going on around him or if he’s just not that hungry. He gained another 1 ½ lbs this past month, so I know he’s growing!
We have been eating lunches out with AWAA families and staff, then dinner is on our own. We have been eating most nights at our guest house. The food here hasn’t been agreeing with me lately, I’m really hoping that changes soon! This will be a long stay if I get sick everyday. It is worth it though if I get to see Jacob everyday!!!
Sunday morning we started the day out at an International Evangelical Church. The pastor said there were people from over 50 countries. It was awesome that we all came together to worship the same God! They sang songs we knew, and the pastor was originally from North Carolina, but he has been in Ethiopia for the last 15 years or so. After lunch at Island Restaurant (spicy Mexican), we got to go back to the Transition Home for more time with Jacob. He was sleeping when we showed up, but they told me to pick him up. He started to try to go back to sleep until he heard voices. He likes to look at what is going on around him. He also started to recognize our voices today. Jacob loves to see what’s going on and turns his head to see who is talking all the time. So he was up for a while and played and laughed. Then he took a quick little nap on me! But he woke up when the nanny came to change his diaper. I have gotten to feed him a bottle everyday. They give him about 6 oz every 3 hours. He has yet to finish a bottle. I don’t know if its too loud and too much going on around him or if he’s just not that hungry. He gained another 1 ½ lbs this past month, so I know he’s growing!
We have been eating lunches out with AWAA families and staff, then dinner is on our own. We have been eating most nights at our guest house. The food here hasn’t been agreeing with me lately, I’m really hoping that changes soon! This will be a long stay if I get sick everyday. It is worth it though if I get to see Jacob everyday!!!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Our first few days
am going to go back to recap the first few day of our trip for you….
We left home around 9am on Wednesday. We arrive at the airport at 10am. As we start to unload the van, my Dad and Cathy show up to surprise us and send us off. We visit for a bit, then unload everything and get all checked in. We head to secruirty and they tell us that our flight has been CANCELED. I thought they were kidding because we just told them we are going to Ethiopia to adopt our son. They weren’t kidding. Two minutes after we checked in and they processed all 9 suitcases, they canceled our flight. We turned around and went back to the ticket counter and of course there was a REALLY.LONG.LINE. When I saw the line I lost it. Yes, I was having a minor meltdown at the airport. They other passengers were annoyed, I was upset. Now, I knew God had this under control, but I couldn’t help myself. Getting ready for the trip was a little stressful, I thought I had gotten through the waiting and bumps. I was wrong. We get up to the counter about an hour later. They pretty much tell us there is nothing they can do that day. Maybe 2 of us (Brads parents came with us for the first 2 weeks) could fly out from St. Louis (about 4 hours away) the next day, or we could try the same flight to Minneapolis the next day. BUT then we would have to spend 24 hours in Amsterdam because no flights leave there on Friday, ugh. Seriously, taking 13 suitcases someone in Amsterdam and just find a place to stay, I don’t think so. Also that would mean we wouldn’t show up in Ethiopia until late on Saturday. Finally we got ahold of our travel agent, actually our travel agents fill-in. Our travel agent was actually in Ethiopia attending court to adopt her daughter. So the travel agent was wonderful and told us there was a flight out of Chicago if we could get there in 4 ½ hours. It usually take a little over 3 hours to get to Chicago and it was going to be close to rush hour, so it could be longer. Thankfully we were able to get all 13 suitcases back to the van and drive to Chicago and still had about 30 mins to sit at the gate. Praise the Lord!!! We were then able to catch the same flight from Amsterdam to Ethiopia and arrived at the same planned time.
Since our flights were so crazy and we rushed around all day Wednesday, we didn’t really eat anything. We planned to eat at the airport, but we didn’t have any time with the flight canceling, etc. So we started this medicine without much food in our stomachs. Brad got really sick. He threw up many times especially when landing and taking off. Thankfully he didn’t throw up anymore since we got off the plane!
So Thursday night we arrived at 10pm Ethiopia time (2pm IL time) and two AWAA employees picked us up and took us to the guest house. We got checked in and tried to get settled a little bit. It was well after 1am ET time when the others went to bed. I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited. Finally I slept from about 3am-4am. Then I was up and ready to go meet Jacob!!
Friday morning they came and got us around 9:30am to take us to meet Jacob. It is about a 25 minute bumpy ride. There were 3 other families that rode with us, they all met their children before. So they offered to take pictures for us. That was awesome!!! So thankful for them!! Read my last post about meeting Jacob. It was simply AMAZING!!! Its still a little surreal that we are here and we have held him in our arms and kissed his sweet face! We had to leave the Transition House around 12:15pm to get some lunch at Lucy’s. We all had chicken, it was good! Then he went shopping in the Post Office District. Not sure why it’s called that but its just a bunch of shops set up along the side of the road. We were able to get a few things for Jacob! We wanted him to have some things from his birth country. They sell a lot of wooden animals, wooden spoons, drums, scarfs, coffee pots, etc. After shopping we went back to our guest house. Brad and Randy took a nap. Mary and I uploaded pictures and tried to email and update facebook! We ate dinner downstairs at the guest house and then tried to go to bed early.
Its hard to sleep because its not quiet here. There is always dogs barking, people chanting, kids playing, and in the morning roosters crowing. I can’t believe how early everyone is up and going here. It was about 6am when I started to hear people everywhere. All the kids were up playing and people were walking all over.
I was a little sick Friday morning, but somehow as soon I saw Jacob I was feeling much better!! So everyone is now feeling better and we are ready for a great Saturday!!
We left home around 9am on Wednesday. We arrive at the airport at 10am. As we start to unload the van, my Dad and Cathy show up to surprise us and send us off. We visit for a bit, then unload everything and get all checked in. We head to secruirty and they tell us that our flight has been CANCELED. I thought they were kidding because we just told them we are going to Ethiopia to adopt our son. They weren’t kidding. Two minutes after we checked in and they processed all 9 suitcases, they canceled our flight. We turned around and went back to the ticket counter and of course there was a REALLY.LONG.LINE. When I saw the line I lost it. Yes, I was having a minor meltdown at the airport. They other passengers were annoyed, I was upset. Now, I knew God had this under control, but I couldn’t help myself. Getting ready for the trip was a little stressful, I thought I had gotten through the waiting and bumps. I was wrong. We get up to the counter about an hour later. They pretty much tell us there is nothing they can do that day. Maybe 2 of us (Brads parents came with us for the first 2 weeks) could fly out from St. Louis (about 4 hours away) the next day, or we could try the same flight to Minneapolis the next day. BUT then we would have to spend 24 hours in Amsterdam because no flights leave there on Friday, ugh. Seriously, taking 13 suitcases someone in Amsterdam and just find a place to stay, I don’t think so. Also that would mean we wouldn’t show up in Ethiopia until late on Saturday. Finally we got ahold of our travel agent, actually our travel agents fill-in. Our travel agent was actually in Ethiopia attending court to adopt her daughter. So the travel agent was wonderful and told us there was a flight out of Chicago if we could get there in 4 ½ hours. It usually take a little over 3 hours to get to Chicago and it was going to be close to rush hour, so it could be longer. Thankfully we were able to get all 13 suitcases back to the van and drive to Chicago and still had about 30 mins to sit at the gate. Praise the Lord!!! We were then able to catch the same flight from Amsterdam to Ethiopia and arrived at the same planned time.
Since our flights were so crazy and we rushed around all day Wednesday, we didn’t really eat anything. We planned to eat at the airport, but we didn’t have any time with the flight canceling, etc. So we started this medicine without much food in our stomachs. Brad got really sick. He threw up many times especially when landing and taking off. Thankfully he didn’t throw up anymore since we got off the plane!
So Thursday night we arrived at 10pm Ethiopia time (2pm IL time) and two AWAA employees picked us up and took us to the guest house. We got checked in and tried to get settled a little bit. It was well after 1am ET time when the others went to bed. I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited. Finally I slept from about 3am-4am. Then I was up and ready to go meet Jacob!!
Friday morning they came and got us around 9:30am to take us to meet Jacob. It is about a 25 minute bumpy ride. There were 3 other families that rode with us, they all met their children before. So they offered to take pictures for us. That was awesome!!! So thankful for them!! Read my last post about meeting Jacob. It was simply AMAZING!!! Its still a little surreal that we are here and we have held him in our arms and kissed his sweet face! We had to leave the Transition House around 12:15pm to get some lunch at Lucy’s. We all had chicken, it was good! Then he went shopping in the Post Office District. Not sure why it’s called that but its just a bunch of shops set up along the side of the road. We were able to get a few things for Jacob! We wanted him to have some things from his birth country. They sell a lot of wooden animals, wooden spoons, drums, scarfs, coffee pots, etc. After shopping we went back to our guest house. Brad and Randy took a nap. Mary and I uploaded pictures and tried to email and update facebook! We ate dinner downstairs at the guest house and then tried to go to bed early.
Its hard to sleep because its not quiet here. There is always dogs barking, people chanting, kids playing, and in the morning roosters crowing. I can’t believe how early everyone is up and going here. It was about 6am when I started to hear people everywhere. All the kids were up playing and people were walking all over.
I was a little sick Friday morning, but somehow as soon I saw Jacob I was feeling much better!! So everyone is now feeling better and we are ready for a great Saturday!!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Our MEETCHA Day
Today was AMAZING!!! Meeting Jacob was such a special moment!! AWAA has you stand on the porch and they bring him out to you while people stand and take video and pictures of you!! Thankfully Brad’s parents and 3 other families were all there to take LOTS of pictures and video for us. I love that we have this special moment captured on video and in pictures. We watched the video tonight and we all cried, again. They were thankful and amazed tears!!
Jacob is the sweetest little boy, so happy and content. He came right to us and was all smiles from the beginning!! He even gave us some belly laughs. He also rolled over!! We have video of it all!! We LOVE him so much and can't wait to go back to play with him again. He liked to spread out on the blanket and be on his tummy. He can hold his head up pretty well on his stomach. He likes to move around a lot in our arms. I got to feed him a bottle today, he is a messy eater.
The nannies love the kids there so much. I have heard that from other adopting families, but it was so nice to see it myself!! As I kept holding him in my arms, I kept thinking how lucky we were that God choose us to be Jacob’s parents!! God has truly blessed us on this adoption journey!! I can truly say that the waiting was so worth it, and I can’t even remember how hard it was at times anymore. So for all you waiting families- know that the hard waiting time will pass, and once you get that child in your arms, it is SO WORTH IT!!!!
Our MEETCHA day couldn't have been any better!! Praise God!!
Jacob is the sweetest little boy, so happy and content. He came right to us and was all smiles from the beginning!! He even gave us some belly laughs. He also rolled over!! We have video of it all!! We LOVE him so much and can't wait to go back to play with him again. He liked to spread out on the blanket and be on his tummy. He can hold his head up pretty well on his stomach. He likes to move around a lot in our arms. I got to feed him a bottle today, he is a messy eater.
The nannies love the kids there so much. I have heard that from other adopting families, but it was so nice to see it myself!! As I kept holding him in my arms, I kept thinking how lucky we were that God choose us to be Jacob’s parents!! God has truly blessed us on this adoption journey!! I can truly say that the waiting was so worth it, and I can’t even remember how hard it was at times anymore. So for all you waiting families- know that the hard waiting time will pass, and once you get that child in your arms, it is SO WORTH IT!!!!
Our MEETCHA day couldn't have been any better!! Praise God!!
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