Day 1 - Ethiopia

We flew from Rome to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia overnight, arriving in Addis at 7:45AM. Smooth trip aside for the 90+ minutes we waited for our luggage to be placed on the conveyor belt. And we thought our airport was quite slow! Oh well, all our luggage made it and for that we are grateful. We exited baggage claim to see someone waving a "Gladney" sign. It was Ryan (in country rep) and Tefessa, one of the driver's Gladney hires to tour us around. They took us straight to the Hilton where we raced through showers in anticipation of meeting Zane.


Driving to the Hilton the streets were jammed with cars and pedestrians. Donkeys and goats are a common site walking down the road. The poverty is everywhere and I know we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. The people we have met are very warm, soft spoken and gracious. We have felt quite welcome. Many of you asked about safety concerns. So far we have not felt uneasy at any time. We were told Addis Ababa is the safest capital throughout all of Africa. There is very little violent crime...mostly just petty crime like stealing car stereos.


The Gladney Foster Home is a special place south of Addis. They currently have about 20 babies there. Belay, Gladney's in country director lives on the same block and his mom lives next door to the foster home. The home is spotless and it's obvious the caretakers are in love with these babies. Evidently none of the babies sleep through the night because the caretakers insist on waking them to feed and change diapers.

When we arrived to the foster home, 3 other families were there. These families have already been in Addis a week and depart tomorrow. They were at the foster home to say goodbye to the caretakers and enjoy a traditional coffee ceremony. (They roast the beans right there, everyone enjoys the wafting aromas, and they crush the beans, add hot water and serve. VERY good coffee. Not the least bit bitter like we are used to.)


After a brief introduction it was time to meet Zane. I felt like my heart was in my throat from the moment we landed at the Bole Airport (Addis Ababa airport), and the intensity just grew walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor. A caretaker brought Zane out and placed him in my arms. Evidently they had interrupted his feeding so he came out with a grimace on his face. He sat there in my arms definitely checking us out, not sure what to think. But then the ice was broken when he proceeded to burp loudly and spit up all over me. He rewarded us with a smile and has been a champ ever since.



Zane seems very mellow and especially tender. Holding him, he just locks eyes with me and reaches up his little hand to hold it on my cheek. Every time we kiss him he smiles this lazy smile like he is just soaking it all in. It has been magical.


Right now we are back at our hotel, 10pm at night. Zane is fed and sleeping. We are about to crash ourselves. Tomorrow we will join a few other families and spend the afternoon at one of Gladney's homes for older orphans. We are very excited to meet these children.


It's surreal to be here. It's surreal to all of a sudden be holding this son of ours. We are richly blessed.

Bags Packed

Our bags are packed to the 50 lb weight limit/each. In some cases the scales might read 52 -53. We hope to guilt the person checking us in at the airport into letting us squeak by the extra pounds. We have our lines rehearsed, "Well, I guess we can remove the diapers and formula we are carrying to orphans in Ethiopia."

We first fly to Rome to enjoy a couple days together before arriving in Ethiopia Wednesday morning. By the time you awake Wednesday, Zane will already be in our arms.

I'm including this photo so that as we (hopefully) update our blog from Africa, we can have this sweet photo of L&C and their "Bear" as they call Heather's dad. Thanks to the Clopton's we have set up webcams and mics on our laptop and the grandparent's computer. Thank goodness for this technology that will allow us to keep in touch with the girls and show off Zane to them while we are so far away!

Please pray for smooth travel, for Zane's health and his ability to bond with us, for our safety/health, and that L&C have a wonderful time being spoiled by their grandparents, aunts, uncles and special friends!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Between loving on our girls, running last minute errands and loads of laundry, our bags are nearly packed. We even set up webcams and mics (thanks Clopton's!) on our laptop and the grandparent's computer so we can see and talk to L&C while traveling. It has been a long day and we are both ready to hurry up and leave. The build up to our departure has unfortunately ehightened the anxiety L&C are feeling about being apart from us. I think that anxiety goes both ways as we will miss them so much.

Joy

Although our travel dates are mere days away, Gladney was kind enough to provide us with an update on Zane. We were told “Zena is full of joy lately. He just doesn't stop grinning. He is very playful and interactive. " What fun news to hear, especially that he is joyful. Gladney also provided a weight/height update so we can pack clothes of the right size! Our little guy has put on 2.5lbs in the past 6 weeks and is up to 25 inches in length. Chris is already planning Zane's marathon training.

3 more days

With just days to go until we board an airplane that will take us to our son, we have so much going through our heads. There is the last minute "to do" list like putting a hold on our mail and mowing the lawn. There are our mixed emotions about leaving so soon - excited to hold Zane in our arms and very sad to be leaving L&C for so long. We are packing bags and weighing them to make sure we don't exceed the limits. We are printing copies of passports and adoption papers, confirming flights and hotels. The list goes on.

Sweet friends joined us this evening after L&C were tucked into bed. We shared dessert, wine and talked about this adoption experience to date and all the incredible ways God has made us see how real and how BIG and how good He is. We were reminded that it is God who has given us this intoxicating love for adoption and that we can't not do it. We can't imagine our life any other way and we feel so fortunate to build our family this way and experience the adoption of our children. It is truly an adventure! Mostly these friends came to sit and pray for us. For many years prayer simply felt like an evening ritual - like brushing my teeth. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm supposed to and it's good, etc. But not until these last few years have we both come to understand how real it is --- that we are coming before our Heavenly Father and that He longs for us to spend time with Him, to ask of Him, to praise Him, and to share with Him. AND that He hears and responds to us. We are richly blessed to have sweet friends that love us enough to pray for us. What peace we have in knowing as we travel that there are so many people praying for our family. Thank you.

ET Factoids

Counting down to our departure, thought we would share a few interesting Ethiopia facts with you:

• Ethiopia is the only African country never to have been colonized, although it was occupied by the Italians in the 1930s until 1941.
• It is located in eastern Africa, just west of Somalia.
• Ethiopia is slightly less than twice the size of Texas.
• Terrain consists of a high plateau with a central mountain range divided by the Great Rift Valley.
• Amharic is the primary language although 70 different languages are spoken in this country.
• Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. Addis holds about 2 million people. Ethiopia's total population is 76.5 million people.
• Life expectancy is about 45 years.
• Ethnic groups that make up the population: Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigre 32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali 6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2%, other 1%.
• Coffee, thought to have originated in Ethiopia, is the main export.

TREASU(RED)

The "RED" campaign is now making clothes for Baby Gap as well. I saw this and could not resist. You can click on the photo to enlarge. The text across the picture of Africa reads "Treasured" - so very true of our baby Zane!