Warning: Super Long post…but want to make sure that we have a journal of what an amazing adventure we had bringing our son Eli home!
What an adventure this adoption has been…and we are grateful for every moment of it! We found out on Wednesday, April 30 that we would probably be headed back to Ethiopia the first week of May to officially bring our son home. We were super excited and immediately sent back our preferences for our Embassy Appointment…#1 Monday, #2 Tuesday, #3 Wednesday…you get the point. We were hoping to have our appointment and travel plans finalized on Thursday, but alas, it was Labor Day in Ethiopia and everything was closed due to the National Holiday. We found out around 5am Friday morning that we were clear for our Embassy appointment on Tuesday, May 6th. We booked our travel to fly out early Saturday morning. Not the cheapest tickets available, but we were willing to pay whatever it took to bring Eli home. Clint and I were excited for sure…Emma was absolutely giddy! When we told her that we were heading to Ethiopia, she immediately burst into tears, jumped up in my arms, and said “Mommy, I am so excited!” What a precious treasure it is to see the way that God has been working in Emma’s heart these past three and a half years during the adoption process.
We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends that helped us put all the details together very quickly. We left our house at 2:30am Eastern time on Saturday morning for a 5:40am flight from Atlanta to DC. The flight was pretty uneventful and we arrived in DC with about 3 hours before our 14 hour flight to Ethiopia. The DC airport was pretty entertaining for Emma. It also entertained her parents as they have free wifi.
The flight to Ethiopia went very well. We were super proud of Emma…she definitely made the flight go by faster since she watched Frozen about 6 times on the way over. She was such a trooper…she loved all the snacks and meals for sure! We landed in Ethiopia at 6:30am Ethiopia time which was about 11:30pm Atlanta time. A long day of traveling, but everything was very smooth. We waited in the visa line with another couple from the US that was traveling for adoption and they were on their first trip. We were glad for the opportunity to share with them some of the cool things that we learned on our first trip and they seemed glad for the tips.
Our bags came through just fine and then we met our driver who was taking us to the hotel and another family to the guesthouse we stayed at last time. We were so blessed to be able to stay at a hotel this time so that there are plenty of things for Emma and Eli to do. The guesthouse was nice and the people were very sweet, but the hotel was an extra special blessing on this trip.
When we arrived at the hotel, we unpacked and then we all laid down for a few hours to try to overcome the jet lag. We ate a late lunch and then headed to the pool for a while. After some time cleaning up and relaxing the room, we ended up having pizza at the wood oven pizza place downstairs. Lots of good conversation with Emma talking about meeting Eli for the first time.
Originally we were told that we couldn’t see Eli until we picked him up for good on Tuesday morning before the Embassy visit, but we were pleasantly surprised that they arranged some time for us to visit him on Monday even though it was another national holiday (Patriots Day). We spent Monday morning hanging out at the hotel and enjoying the pool. Our driver picked us up and drove us to Hilawe Children’s Home to see Eli. Emma got to meet him for the first time and I will never forget that moment. Clint and I were just about to bust with excitement to see the two of them together. Even though it has been a month since we saw Eli last, he definitely remembered us and came right to us. We took our first family photo as the Strange Party of Four and then just enjoyed playing. Emma and Eli had a blast playing Hide and Seek around the room at the Children’s Home. You have to love games that transcend language and cultural barriers!
After a while, we had to leave Eli with the promise that we would be back in the morning. We met a friend of Clint’s for dinner. This was a guy that Clint rowed with at Tech. Jonathan’s wife Christen joined us along with their friend Joe and another friend Ge. We had a great time at Rodeo Addis. The theme was Texas and all of the Ethiopians who worked there wore big cowboy hats. Now imagine all of the country music hits of the past 25 years and then you have a good picture of this place. The food was great and the conversation was a blast. It was very interesting to hear how expats live in Ethiopia. This is a beautiful country and we were so happy to learn more about it.
When we arrived back at the hotel and jumped on wifi, it was a blast to send out our pictures from the day. We received a ton of emails, Facebook messages, tweets, and texts that were all so encouraging. Our family and friends have been such amazing prayer warriors. We can’t way to introduce Eli to all of them very soon!
We woke up early Tuesday morning and were all super excited about going to pick up Eli. Tuesday, May 6, 2014 was Eli’s official GOTCHA DAY! When we arrived at the Hilawe Children’s home, you could definitely tell that it was a big day. There was a film crew and a photographer taking pictures of us exiting the van and they continued videoing and shooting photos the entire time we were there. The farewell ceremony at the children’s home was truly a treasure. The people at Hilawe were so happy for Eli and they pulled out all the stops for the celebration. One of the social workers was so thoughtful to video the whole thing with our camera so we will be able to show Eli what a special ceremony this was.
They started by having a time of prayer over all of us. The director of the children’s home prayed in Amaric and then Clint prayed in English. They put some fingerprint on Eli’s right hand to make a handprint so that people at the children’s home could remember him and pray for him. After that, they presented us a huge loaf of bread for us to cut together. It was similar to cutting a wedding cake and everyone was served a piece. The next item was a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony complete with popcorn. They also served us cokes and brought little chocolates…which totally thrilled Emma! Emma was wonderful throughout the ceremony as she realized this was a very special time for her brother. She kept herself busy giving Eli kisses and making sure he was having a good time.
When we left Hilawe, we went out to eat at the Abbu Garden Bakery to have pizza on the way to our Embassy appointment. As we pulled up at the US Embassy, we could see a huge line of people outside waiting to get in. Fortunately we were the only ones in the US Citizen line and we had an appointment, so they showed us right in. They met with us after only a few minutes and asked us a few questions. Eli’s paperwork would be ready 48 hours from our appointment just in time for us to pick those documents up on our way out of town. We were very impressed with the US Embassy in Ethiopia and feel grateful to know that they are helping families adopt children. Most of the other people that were at the Embassy were Ethiopian nationals that were applying for visas to travel or work in the US.
After the Embassy we headed back to the hotel and got ready for naps. Emma insisted on climbing in the crib to sleep by Eli so he wouldn’t be scared. We got some precious pictures of the two of them snuggling together. We pray that they will always be very close and that Emma will always look out for her baby brother. Once naps were over, we played on the playground at the hotel and then ate dinner at the gazebo restaurant by the pool. Eli ate a ton of rice and some chicken. He is a great eater and did a great job at dinner! Emma could hardly eat anything she was so excited to finally have her brother!
Once we got up to the room, the kids played for a bit and then it was time for bed. Eli went down pretty easily and to our delight…slept almost 12 hours! We all woke up Wednesday morning excited about a full day of just playing and getting to know each other. Each morning at the hotel we ate at the breakfast buffet. We had somewhat taken that for granted until we went with Eli and realized he has never had that much food readily available to him. He must have tried everything in the place…and ate most of it! After breakfast, everyone changed into bathing suits and we hit the pool. Emma was so excited to help Eli enjoy the pool. Fortunately Eli took to the water pretty quickly, so we are excited about a summer ahead full of swimming pools and the lake. He is one cool cat in his trunks and shades…and he knows it!
We headed back to the room for baths and naps and enjoyed a nice quiet afternoon. After everyone woke up, we went back to the playground for a little while and then ate at a pizza place at the hotel. Eli once again was a great eater and really enjoyed everything he tried. Several of the hotel workers were so sweet to make sure he had everything he needed. They were all very sweet to our family! Once again Eli turned in pretty easily around 8:30pm and slept all night. Emma is learning that there are privileges to being a big sister and that sometimes you even get to stay up a little bit later than baby brother!
Thursday morning started our last day in Ethiopia. We woke up early so as not to miss a thing. Our family ate at the breakfast buffet one last time and then headed for a few hours at the pool. After the pool, we took baths, ate a quick lunch, let the kids take short naps, and finished up packing. Mengay (from Bethany) picked us up at 2pm to head to the Bethany offices. While we were at the office, we took care of some necessary paperwork and met with the pediatrician that has been seeing Eli the past several months for checkups. She was a very nice lady and gave us great info about our healthy and happy boy. After we played at the office for a bit, we loaded up and headed out to the Morning Coffee Guesthouse to visit with Birtukan and her family and to pick up the Timmer family that was riding to the airport with us.
We were bummed to find out that Birtukan wasn’t at home when we arrived, but we still enjoyed a really nice dinner with the Timmers and another family that was in the process of adopting two older boys. The other family had been at the guest house for almost 20 days only to find out that their handsome boys had to have some medical testing due to their age that would delay their homecoming for 8 weeks. Such a hard bit of news for them, but they were such a sweet family and had a great attitude about it.
After dinner we loaded up the van and drove about an hour to the Bole International Airport to begin the long trek home. We had an amazing week in Ethiopia and it was crazy to think that after 3 1/2 long years of praying…it was finally time to take Eli home! Only a 16 hour flight to Washington, DC followed by a 2 hour flight to Atlanta stood in our way. And…we were a bit nervous…that’s a long time on the plane with a 5 1/2 year old and a 17 month old…but God is good, and we knew we would just figure it out somehow.
Eli did pretty well on the flight to DC. He slept for about 6 hours of it. When he cried, he only wanted Clint to hold him and he didn’t want Clint to sit down. Clint crossed a good bit of the Atlanta Ocean in the plane walking up and down the aisles, but that’s just the kind of guy he is…definitely an awesome daddy! Emma on the other hand had no problem snoozing at all. She also enjoyed watching the Lego movie a few times through.
Once we landed in DC, we were so excited because that was the moment that Eli became a US citizen! Right when we went through Customs, he became a naturalized US citizen thanks to some complicated details of the Hague convention that you are welcome to Google if you are curious. We will still have to do some kind of paperwork in the county we live in, but he became a US citizen on Friday, May 9, 2014. God Bless America!
We ate lunch in the DC airport and then boarded a quick flight back to Atlanta. Eli won’t remember much of that because he slept the whole way…and so did his dad and his sister. When we landed in Atlanta, we were greeted at the airport by my mom, my sister Katie, my niece Nora, and our good friends The Bitners. What an awesome Homecoming celebration! Over the course of the weekend, we had a great time introducing Eli to more family and friends and we even took him to Cedarcrest Church for the first time. We are so grateful for the smooth travel and smooth transition home.
God had a special plan for our family and for our precious son when he planted this vision of adoption in our hearts and minds several years ago. Everything about this has been in God’s most perfect timing. Whenever we have hoped to rush things, He has reminded us that His ways are always better than our ways and that His grace is sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
