Journey to Ethiopia

Meeting Meron at the House of Hope

One of Meron's nannies

House of Hope in Addis Ababa

Day 3

Tuesday, December 16

Around 11:30 Ethiopia time we arrive at the House of Hope, which is the transition home Meron had been staying at since her referral in October. When we arrived we met Tsegay, who is our in country representative. He represented us in court and handled all of our paperwork. We were brought into a sitting area and waited to meet Meron. Words cannot even express the excitement and anticipation we were feeling right then. After about fifteen minutes, one of Meron's nannies brought her in to meet us. She was so beautiful. We had studied her picture for months and couldn't believe we were actually looking at her face to face. Her nanny handed her to me and immediately she started wailing. I wanted to be able to comfort her but she had no idea who I was. After holding her for a couple of minutes I handed off to dad, and she continued to wail. Thank goodness we had prepared ourselves for this, and it was a small comfort at the time to remember that we were told that it was a good thing if she cried and didn't want anything to do with us at first because it showed that she was attached to her nannies and in time would be able to attach to and bond with us. Eventually we were able to distract her with toys and she would calm down a bit, until she looked at us then she would cry again.

A short while later, it was time for lunch. Although eating was the last thing on our minds right then. It is tradition to all sit down together and have lunch. Selay, the cook, prepared us a wonderful lunch of fried vegetables, beef with Ethiopian spices and injera (traditional Ethiopian flatbread). Throughout lunch, Meron would play with her toys then look at us and cry until we distracted her with a toy again. We had lunch with Tsegay and Amy and Jennifer. Amy had just met her daughter a couple of hours earlier, and Jennifer, her sister, came to Ethiopia with her. It was a little awkward at first because we had just met all of them and Meron would cry and we didn't know how to sooth her. It all was a little overwhelming, but everyone was so kind and throughout our time there we were able to spend a lot of time with Tsegay, Amy and Jennifer and create great friendships. After lunch, Tsegay took us to our room we would stay at for the week. We were very fortunate to be able to stay at the House of Hope because they can only accommodate two families at a time. Additional families have to stay at a hotel or guest house. The time we were able to spend with Meron experiencing her environment was priceless. It was also beneficial to her to be able to get used to us while still in her environment with people she knew. We were able to spend the afternoon in our guest room getting to know Meron and relaxing. By later that afternoon, dad was able to get her first smile.:) Meron transitioned to us very well over the next few days.

Journey to Ethiopia

We saw these cute boys near the House of Hope

Cattle in Addis Ababa Our driver, Ephrim

Day 3

Tuesday Dec. 16

As we fly into Addis Ababa we are able to look out the window and get our first glimpse of Ethiopia. It is beautiful. It is very mountainous, which I didn't anticipate. It reminded us a lot of when we fly out west. We were also able to see the Nile River. Sometime in the late morning we land in Addis Ababa. Wow! What a good feeling to be on the ground again. Although we are exhausted and a little homesick, we are filled with anticipation, because Meron is somewhere in this city! We just want to hurry up and go meet her, but we have to go through other steps first. After we get off the plane we make our way to the Visa office too get our temporary travel visas. This went relatively quickly, then we were off to exchange money. The lady who helped us was none too friendly or helpful, which didn't help, since we were already starting to feel a little overwhelmed and out of our element. Then we found our way to baggage claim, and much to our surprise and delight, all of our luggage was there. I forgot to mention that in D.C. we had to check all of our luggage, because Ethiopian air has tighter regulations on the size and weight of a carry-on than the other airlines. A couple who traveled a few weeks before us lost ALL of their luggage and spent their entire trip with just the clothes they were wearing. After we gathered our luggage we were shuffled toward the door. By now the language barrier is very evident and we were exhausted and feeling very overwhelmed and homesick, and that's when we saw a man with a bright beaming smile holding a picture of us. It was Ephrim, our driver, and who also ended up being our link to Ethiopia for the rest of the week. Immediately, we felt at ease with him. He had such a great spirit and was just so much fun to talk with. He shared with us a lot about Ethiopia while we drove through Addis Ababa on our way to the House of Hope where Meron was.

Journey to Ethiopia

Day 2
Monday Dec. 15

We wake early filled with anticipation. In less than 24 hours we will be holding Meron in our arms! We have studied her picture and wondered about her for months now and we are so close to finally meeting her. We have a six o'clock flight to D.C., with a couple of hour layover then off to Ethiopia. The flight to D.C. was quick and uneventful. When we get to D.C. we headed to Ethiopian Air to check in for our flight. It was kind of exciting to finally get a glimpse of some Ethiopian people. A couple of older women were dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing, which are like long dresses with several layers of shawls draped over them. It was also interesting to listen to them speak the language. We also got our first taste of the pace of their culture. All along this process our agency has stressed over and over that the Ethiopian pace of doing things is not at all like here in the U.S. They are very laid back and move at a much slower pace. They don't show urgency in anything, what is the hurry, things will eventually get done. So we were told to prepare ourselves to be patient and move at their pace while in their country. Which we did, so it was no surprise at how things were in the airport. Their system of checking people in, didn't seem to be a system at all, and there certainly was no urgency to get us all on the plane in any timely manner. Once the plane was boarded and we took off, it was a couple of hours later than scheduled. I don't say this out of disrespect, it was just interesting to see how differently they ran things, and I am glad that we were forewarned and prepared to take things as they came. No matter how slowly they came. :) Once we were in the air we settled in for the LONG flight. It was a fourteen hour flight from D.C. to Addis Ababa. We had an hour layover in Rome for refueling, but we didn't get to leave the plane. Plus it was 2 a.m. and pitch black outside, so we were in Rome but have no idea what it looks like. After nine hours on the plane we were hoping to catch a glimpse of some mountains or something. No such luck. So we were off again. It was hard to get settled in for another five hours, especially after watching the little t.v. screen show the plane creep across the Atlantic at an unbelievably slow pace for the last nine hours. But we were within five hours of finally being in Meron's country! We were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and getting excited again.

Journey to Ethiopia

Day 1, Sunday Dec. 14

What an overwhelming an exciting day. This was the day before we flew to Ethiopia. We started the day going to church together with the kids, which was such a comforting thing with all of the uncertainties we had of the week ahead. Then we came home to pack, yes we are one of those families that does everything at the last minute. :) No matter how many times I tell myself I'm going to prepare ahead of time it just doesn't seem to happen. So, we pack and unpack about five times trying to eliminate anything we don't really need. We were trying to keep it to three suitcases, one large one of donations for the orphanages and two small carry-ons with our clothing and Meron's things. I didn't think it would be possible, but we made it. They were busting at the seems, but we were finally packed. Our biggest concern was our paperwork. We were terrified of forgetting one of our documents. We thought it wouldn't go well to show up at our Embassy appointment and realize we left the paperwork on the kitchen counter!
Around six that evening we loaded up the van and prepared to head to Indy to spend the night because we had a six a.m. flight. This was probably the single most difficult moment of this entire journey for us. To have to kiss the kids goodbye and know that in 24 hours we would be halfway across the world from them was one of the hardest things we've done. But we knew that God was watching over all of us and that everything would be o.k. So, we said goodbye and with tears in our eyes drove out of the neighborhood and headed to Indy. It's amazing how your whole heart can be in two places at once. On the one hand we couldn't bear to leave our children here, but on the other hand we knew our other precious child was waiting for us to bring her home. We truly relied on God's strength to keep us sane through all of this. Later that night we checked into our hotel and tried to get a good night's sleep for the long day ahead of us.

Journey to Ethiopia

Wow, it's hard to believe we've been home for over a month now. Time really flies when you get back into the swing of things. Meron has adjusted better than we could have ever hoped for. She is so happy and has such a bubbly personality. Ty, Lane and Shelby adore her and she's taken to them so well. It seems like she has always been a part of our family.

I've wanted to share our trip and some photos, but it seems overwhelming to do it all at once so I'll break it down by days and post a little at a time.