We’re Home!

After an exceedingly long journey we are home!  My little darling is safe in my arms and is busily making her demands known…Who am I kidding?  I have to fight to get her away from her Daddy!  Seriously, we arrived home at the airport and after many loving greetings she was in her Daddy’s arms and I was left to lug my own suitcase 🙂

She is so sweet and a very smiley and happy baby.  Well, maybe not so much last night (she’s still on Addis time) but overall she is amazing.  She has six teeth and takes great delight in using them.  So, if she’s nuzzling your face you had best be careful ’cause she isn’t giving kisses yet!  She loves to imitate and will clap her hands, blow raspberries and click her tongue.  We’ve been home 48 hours and things are still in adjustment at our house…I expect they will remain that way for quite some time.  Caden is torn; sometimes he likes her and sometimes he doesn’t which is very normal.  He sure looks sweet when he’s kissing the top of her head.

The trip home took about 30 hours and isn’t something I’m anxious to repeat soon.  I flew Emirates (very nice) which included a 16 hour flight from Dubai to LA.  OMG, I did not think the damn flight was ever going to end.  All total it was about 30 hours of travel time to get home.  Worth it?  Yes, but I don’t want to see another airplane anytime soon.

I feel more at peace now than I have in a long time.  I stopped posting because it seemed like I was repeating myself over and over “Where is my baby?  Why can’t I bring her home? Wah, wah, wah…”  I will post more about my journey later but for now here are a few pictures…

The Wait Goes On

So, today we learned that we are doomed to wait a little longer.  At our hearing today the judge decided that she was not happy with the wording of our new power of attorney and she wants it fixed.  Unfortunately, this means that we are delayed until we can get the new POA to Ethiopia.  While we are thrilled to see the back of our last attorney this is very disappointing consequence of that action.  Have I mentioned I’m tired of paperwork?  I’m also afraid this may push us into December embassy dates and increased airfares…Can’t a girl catch a break?  Anyone want to by some coffee?

Frustrated doesn’t really cover it at this point…

~Alisha

The News

October 8, 2010 (second court date)–POSTPONED until October 13th.

October 13, 2010 (second court date)–Oops, sorry I gave you the wrong                                                                               date…It’s actually the 15th.

October 15, 2010 (second court date)–POSTPONED until October 18th.

The courts are back logged due to being closed.  While I may logically understand this it still frustrates the hell out of me.  Come on people, I want to bring my girl home!

~Alisha

Time for School

The Big Boy

My baby is growing up.  Caden started preschool today and it is a bittersweet feeling.  On the one hand it is exciting to see him growing up and on the other hand it makes me feel very melancholy.  I also know that the time is coming where I won’t be able to protect him anymore.  I won’t be able to fix things with a kiss and hug.  Where did the years go?  I chose not to start him last year because:  1) I think it’s more important for him to be with me at this point in his life and 2) Coordinating preschool with my work schedule is a large pain in the butt.

We had the opportunity to go to an orientation day last week and I felt better after watching him in the classroom.  It’s hilarious how egocentric kids are at this age.  His teacher has been teaching preschool for 17 years and seems like she pretty much has it all together.  My biggest worry was his inability to sit still but it looks like they’ll do a good job keeping his attention.  My other fear was that he would be the biggest kid there but that fear seems unfounded as well.

I used my time to pick up a few items (alone!) at the store and even found a few things for his birthday and Christmas.  I’m a little sad but I guess I’m going to have to adjust to having a big boy.  As I walked out of the classroom today I heard the teacher saying “It’s not time for that.  Sit down on your bottom please.”  I knew exactly who she was talking to.

~Alisha

In Transit

I am sitting on a plane and it is now an hour and fifteen minutes past our scheduled departure time and we have missed our connecting flight…I am really not a pessimist but this is not a good start.  The plan was Redmond to Portland to Amsterdam to Istanbul with an overnight in Istanbul.  From there I booked a separate flight from Istanbul to Addis.  I am getting the feeling this may be a bumpy trip.  This feeling has been reinforced by the difficulty we’ve had making reservations and the fact that we are sitting in the very back of the plane and one of the in-seat screens does not work.  Send good thoughts our way that we can get this rebooked.

For the first time in my life I feel reluctant to travel.  I should be over the moon excited to go meet my daughter; instead all I can focus on is that we will be coming home without her.  Yes, I know she will come home but that will be at least four months from now.  If we can swing it we are still planning on going and staying in Addis prior to our embassy date but how long we will be able to do this is uncertain.  The airfare was just so expensive for this trip.

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We made it to Amsterdam and found out that we were rebooked on a flight to Istanbul later that night.  So, with a nine hour layover we started to figure out how to kill time.  After getting our new tickets and meal voucher we found out the hotel had a Yotel Motel.  I had read about this a few years ago and got a chance to try it out.  The Yotel is a series of small rooms with a convertible bed, shower, bathroom, and tv that you can rent.  The minimum number of hours is four but you can add on more hours if you want.  Unfortunately, it was a bit spendy so we just went with the four hours.  It was lovely to get horizontal for a few hours.

Yotel Motel

Shower

Ahh....the bed.

Jeff sat next to an American working in Istanbul and had a great time chatting with him on the flight from Amsterdam to Istanbul.  He had experienced a similar delay to ours while bringing his son back to Istanbul.  He was kind enough to give us a lift to our hotel.  We were both grateful since it was 1am by the time we got out of the airport.  Starting to feel like things are looking up (maybe I’m just less hormonal!)

~Alisha

Off to Ethiopia!

Just a quick post for anyone who still reads my sporadic entries.  We are leaving for Ethiopia Friday July 30th.  We got an email about 5 pm last Friday that said we had a court date of August 5th.  We’re going to go meet our little girl and take a peek at Addis abeba.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the chance of our passing court and getting approval from MOWA is very slim.  Sigh.  What this means is that we will have to make an additional trip to Ethiopia later this year.  The rest of the bad news is that the cost for two tickets to Ethiopia with less than a weeks notice was astronomical!  Please don’t talk to me about waiting for a travel agent to book an adoption fare.  If I would have gone ahead and booked them I would have saved beaucoup ( a lot!) bucks.  Oh, well I am slowly letting that one go.  I have so many emotions flickering through me right now and wish I could settle on one.  My biggest worry right now is leaving my boy for 2 weeks.  Working on that.

~Alisha

Waiting

My heart is sore, as the time clicks by it looks less and less likely that we will travel before courts close.  I keep getting told to have faith but the truth is that particular commodity is in short supply right now.  My husband the proverbial pessimist has already given up hope on traveling before court closures.  Not traveling means that it will probably be October before we hold our daughter for the first time.  Caden keeps asking me when we are going to go get Baby Sissy and I keep trying to explain to him that we have to wait until they tell us we can.  Obviously, he just doesn’t understand this and sometimes neither do I.  His latest thing is telling me to call “them” so we can go get her.  Oh boy, the little guy is tenacious…Hmm, wonder where he gets that one.

We have slowly trying to get the house in order for the new arrivals.  Not only are we getting ready for Baby Sissy but Big Sissy as well.  My oldest stepdaughter is moving up with us to go to school at PCC this fall.  At this point we’ve given up on putting the mythical room in the garage and have settled for working with the space we have available.  This has meant going through a lot of crap and bed swapping.  Caden has been moved from the crib/toddler bed to the girl’s bunk beds.  Dad is in the process of making this into a castle bed and I’ll post a picture when he finishes it.  Ash will now have a daybed (much more grown-up) with a trundle for when her sister comes up.  The crib is being relocated to our (extremely large) bedroom.   I wish I could say I was done but I’m still not there yet.  I think I need a deadline to perform more effectively.

I’m tired of feeling so emotional…Tired of jumping when the phone rings…Tired of thinking of our little girl in an orphanage for two extra months.

~Alisha

The Sweetest Things

We received an update on our little peanut about a week ago and I’ve been showing off the pictures like crazy.  Today I had the photos sitting on the kitchen table when Caden came in and saw them.  He carefully picked up a picture and then said, “I love her.”  So sweet, it’s one of those Mommy mushy moments.  Later, we were playing at the park and he took off for the edge of the playground.  When I asked him what he was doing he said, “Picking flowers for you.”  Wow, two mushy mommy  moments in one day.

We are hoping to hear something this week about our court date.  I think that this particular waiting period is one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced.  It’s like being a little kid right before Christmas but someone keeps changing when the packages are going to be opened.  There are so many variable up in the air and so many things that can’t be done until I know when we are going.  We have started packing and collecting donations but still have a ways to go.  I’ve been having problems with insomnia because my brain will not shut down at night—It just keeps chattering away about all I need to do.  Arrgh!  Getting the update just made the anticipation worse.  Anymore, I’m not sure whether to pray we get the call or pray that it holds off a little longer so that I can get a few more things checked off my to do list.

We did receive our travel vaccinations and opted to get the typhoid, yellow fever and adult polio vaccinations.  Since we are planning for a long stay we decided it would be better to cover all our bases.  The nurse at the travel clinic told us the most injections she’d given to someone at one sitting was eleven.  Ouch!  Luckily we’ve all had the Hepatitis A and B series.  She also offered us the rabies vaccination series for $600.  We decided to pass on that one.  Caden was a trooper and held very still for his shots and only got a little teary eyed.  For some odd reason the child has been asking to get a shot for the past couple of weeks.  Hmm…don’t think he’ll be asking again anytime soon.

Here’s hoping for long and pleasant dreams.

~Alisha

Can I Do A Little Planning Please?

I am a planner.  I think part of this is an inherent trait and over time has been helped along by my environment:  working rotating weekends, having stepchildren on alternating weekends, etc.  Get the picture?  I have to plan my life or chaos slowly starts to erode what little order there is.  Now I have the adoption to contend with.  Okay, I knew when I went into this that most of it was going to be out of my control (Okay, confession #2 I like to have a little control over my life.  I’m not all control freaky but I like steering…a little.)  I knew that certain areas would be more challenging for me.  I procrastinated my way through paperwork and then waited PATIENTLY for my referral.  Yes, I said patiently.  I was actually surprised that the call came as soon as it did.  I had just started to get a little antsy.  The night before we got our referral I was going to post on one of my groups asking who was waiting and when they had submitted their dossier.  It was late, I was tired and decided to wait; the very next day we received our referral!  Coincidence or cosmic intervention?

This current wait is driving me freaking nuts!  What wait?  Why the wait to find out about when our court date is.  With the policy changes we are trying to go and stay in Ethiopia for 6-8 weeks—this makes life a little complicated.  The most I’ve been able to get out of our adoption agent is that you usually hear about the court date 6-8 weeks after accepting your referral.  Okay, we have to be in Ethiopia 6-8 weeks or we hear about a court date in 6-8 weeks???  He wouldn’t answer that question.  Then to complicate matters further there is the minor matter of elections occurring in Ethiopia.   All I want is to be able to line up a pet sitter but it’s really hard when you’re talking in maybes….Sigh.  I’d also be able to book the accommodations I’ve researched and book airline tickets.  Rant over.

What about the baby you ask?  Well, I’d really like to hold her too…

~Alisha

The Call…or not

May 6, 2010 a day that will live in my memory.

It was an average day and I was rushing around trying to get myself and my son out the door so that I would get to work on time.  I heard the phone ring but didn’t think much of it and let it go to voicemail.  We had recently changed our home phone to a cell number and I hadn’t gotten around to programming in all my numbers…not even the special adoption number!  Right before I left I noticed that I had a message on there and listened to it.  Well, the message was from Radu saying that he had tried to send me an email but it had come back as undeliverable so he had sent it to my husband (Now I ask you, why would you do this?)  At this point I thought hmmm could this be the call?  With the longer referral times I didn’t think it was likely.  I called my husband and of course got his voicemail…Urgh!  I left a message asking him to check his email and explained that this could be THE CALL but I thought it was early.  I decided to take Caden to daycare and get to work on time.

I tried Jeff again once but got no response…Why do we have cell phones???  I got to work and checked my email and my husband had forwarded the email–OUR REFERRAL!  I immediately called Jeff again and got no answer.  Knowing that if he had sent the email to me he had looked already I opened it up.  At this point I was mentally cursing the fact that I had gone to work as I stood there and blathered that I had gotten our referral.  Jeff called me back a few minutes later and I asked him if he’d looked at the pictures.  Of course, the boy really can’t wait for anything!  We looked at the pictures and read the information together.  At this point I was getting misty eyed and said something like it’s real now we have a daughter.  It’s amazing the mix of emotions that race through you–joy, anticipation, shock, etc.  At this point I had been on the phone about 10-15 minutes and was told there was a body fluid that needed my attention.  Really, now???  I tried to explain about the referral and eventually said “I just had a baby!”  There was a lot of laughter at this, while everyone was very nice they just really don’t understand.  You don’t have the baby in your arms therefore it’s not immediate and real.

I somehow made it through the rest of the evening although I was very ditzy!  I also took the opportunity to show everyone who crossed my path the picture of my daughter.  My tiny little daughter who weighed only 3.75 lbs on admission to the orphanage.  She is growing and healthy and we are anxiously awaiting word of a court date!  So, now we are in the midst of planning:  airplane tickets, packing, pet sitting, etc.  Here’s a little prayer that things move quickly!

~Alisha