Ethiopia

Well....we have been home for a week, and I am finally getting around to getting a new post up. We left for Ethiopia on October 1, 2008. It was definitely the best and one of the most emotional/difficult trips of my life. I thought I would quick share an outline of what our week looked like and a few highlights from each day

Wednesday......Left for Ethiopia.....flew a lot!!!

Thursday.....Arrived in Ethiopia around 9 pm, got luggage, met some of the other families who were also adopting, went to guest house....crashed into bed (we were very sleep deprived)his

Friday....This was going to be our first day of meeting Leah at the Care Center. We had some breakfast, got briefed by the staff at the CHSFS office in Ethiopia, and went to the care center. It was a little awkward meeting Leah for the first time. She didn't want to much to do with us, but by the end of the day, we were playing with her comfortably.

Saturday....We went back to the care center after breakfast. Again....Leah wasn't too impressed with us, but we played for the morning. She finally let me hold her by the end of the visit, although she was still pretty scared of Ryan. That afternoon we went shopping at some of the local markets and then out that night for a traditional Ethiopian meal. The food was very spicy (at least for someone who is 4 months pregnant) so I didn't eat too much of it. However, we also got to watch some traditional ethiopian dancing which was amazing.

Sunday....This was the day that everyone was going to meet their child's birth family. Ryan was able to meet Leah's birth mother. It was a wonderful meeting for both parties. We got a lot of questions answered, and it will be a great experience to share with Leah someday. I stayed back at the guesthouse. I was advised by my doctors to not go, so I used the day to rest. I definitely needed some extra sleep at that point. I was disappointed to miss that meeting, but no need in taking extra chances in an already stressful situation.

Monday....We got to bring our kids back to the guest house with us for 1/2 a day. Ryan and I were really nervous to bring Leah back since we hadn't had a great connection during our first visits. However, she came with us fairly easily. She seemed a little confused, but once we were at the guest house, we had a blast together. That afternoon was filled with some tours of the CHSFS facilities in Ethiopia. The agency has built a clinic and a school for the community, and are continuing to work to improve life in Ethiopia. I was quite impressed with all the work that they are doing.

Tuesday.....COURT DAY!!! This was the day that Leah was officially going to join our family. In the morning, the Care Center held a farwell ceremony for all the children being adopted. It was beautiful and very touching. The people at the care center and those involved with CHSFS Ethiopia love the children so much. They take such good care of these children, and the love between them is amazing. The ceremony was a great way to bring closure to everyone. After the ceremony, we took the kids back to the guest house for lunch and then we were off to the Embassy for our court hearings. These hearings were not very exciting. They ask a few questions, you give a few answers, and then they say "congratulations." It was very low stress and low pressure. After that, we spent the evening just being a family.

Wednesday.....NOTHING DAY!!! This was a day to just hang out at the guest house and get to know Leah more and more. Every day, she got more comfortable with us. She is such a loving, sweet, strong, and funny little girl. It is amazing how much attitude she has for only being 15 months old.

Thursday....this was our last day in Ethiopia. There were definite mixed emotions about coming home. We were anxious to see just how we would bring our family together. We were anxious to see how Reese and Leah would do together. We were anxious for the next 22 hours we were going to be travelling with a toddler. However, we were also very excited to get home.

We made the trip without too many bumps. Ryan got a little sick on the way home, but he recovered by the time we touched down in the USA. Leah did great on the plane. We were so happy to get home and to see Reese. She looked so different in just 10 days. It was finally time to become a family of 4......let the games begin.