Usually when I fly I introduce myself to the person next to me so it's not too awkward when you start talking in your sleep or need to get up to go to the bathroom for the 247th time. But on this trip I was not too keen on talking. What if they asked me where I was going and why, and I burst into tears? I finally broke down and met the girl next to me. She was heading to Dubai to teach and was sad about leaving her family and fiancé. I told her about our situation and so we decided we would cry together when the plane took off! I didn't cry when the plane took off but later that night I did cry myself to sleep and for the first time ever, fell good and asleep on a plane (thanks to the prayer warriors praying through the night for us!)
After a brief stop in Qatar, we were on the way to Ethiopia. My stomach was in knots! We were almost there...Once again hesitant to talk to my seat mates, I finally did. She was Ethiopian and he was from the States. They encouraged me about being in Ethiopia for the first time and affirmed us in our adoption journey. They even gave us their phone number just in case of emergency. So after all, it was good to talk to people--I left those flights more encouraged and thankful.
Once we finally landed, we entered the late night Ethiopian airport and the chaos that was getting a visa and gathering luggage. I have never seen so many bags everywhere. Thankfully all our bags made it! Out the door we went not really knowing who was going to pick us up. So we just looked out into the darkness of the cool night hoping to see a sign with our names on it. Sure enough, there was a man holding the sign and we got in a big van with him and another Ethiopian man neither of which could speak English except for the occasional conversational jabber and the words "Bob Marley" and "One Love" referring to a statue of Bob Marley in one of the round abouts. We, of course, had no clue on how to speak Amharic. We drove down the dark, barely lit streets of Addis Ababa to our hotel. Once checked in around 2:30am, we fell asleep wondering what the next day would hold.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast and there was our guide, Semmey, waiting for us in the lobby. We introduced ourselves and then we were off to the hospital to see our son! We have traveled to third world countries and seen a lot of poverty, trash, dust, mud and animals literally laying in the middle of the road, but something seemed different. This was were our child was living and without us!
I was wondering how I would react when I first saw Harris. I imagined I would burst into tears and embarrass myself in front of a bunch of strangers thinking, Who is that white girl and what's her problem...
The moment came where we would find out what my reaction would be. As we walked up to the hospital, there were people everywhere. We made our way straight through the dark people-filled waiting room and down a hall then into a hospital room. In the room was about five beds lining the walls, four of them with children in them. And one of those kids was ours! At first, all we could see was the top of his sweet little head but as we came around to the other side we could see his face! Though very poorly, his eyes still seemed so bright--our little warrior fighting this disease. Overwhelmed with joy, I couldn't think of crying! After a couple minutes I couldn't wait any longer, I had to hold him! I asked the nanny if I could hold him and she gave him to me. He immediately started crying! But I was determined to work my baby magic and sure enough within a minute he was not crying. He laid there so helpless and somewhat stiff in my arms. I could tell he was tired and so very weak from cholera.
Doctors came back in to check on him along with the nanny who had been with him through all of this. As soon as he saw the nanny, he reached for her and cried so I gave him back. My heart was so full of joy I didn't even mind. I was thankful for that connection he had to her--it gave me hope that he could form a new connection with me and Jake. Later, I held him some more and as I swayed back and forth, Jake sang songs to him. It was a very special time indeed.
After he was released from the hospital, we were off to a pediatric facility where he would be monitored for a few more days. In the car, his new caretaker was holding him. I was anxious to hold him! After all, we did come all this way....so when we hit a bump and he woke up, I took the opportunity to ask if I could hold him. (Did I mention there was no carseat...) He slept in my arms until we reached the pediatric facility. Stepping over the rainy season's mud puddles outside and trying not to slip on the tile floor once we were inside, we took a seat in the waiting room while Semmey got Harris checked in. This wait time allowed for more snuggles. He laid down on Jake's chest just looking around. I could tell he knew we were safe people but he was still trying to figure out who we were.
Of course, we were the only white people in the waiting room. We got plenty of stares, especially from children. In fact, I could feel a little person touching my hair and another little person was touching Jake's arm.
Eventually it was our turn to see the doctor. We went into his office and he did a brief check up. Then he started asking us, "What sorts of concerns do you have?" We looked at each other and then back at the doctor and just went right into parent mode asking questions. Then the doctor said, "Wait, you've only known him for a few hours?!" We replied, "Yes." The doctor looked at Semmey and back to us and moved right along as if we had known him all his life. Then we made a plan for Harris' care.
We took him to an inpatient room where Trumar, his temporary nanny, would stay with him over the course of the next few days of being monitored. There was a nice big window and an old metal bed for him to sleep in. The doctors came in to take a blood sample and put in a port for an IV. He did not like either part! Once again, I just went into mommy mode and held his arms and legs down just like I have done so many times with Asher and Mary Clair at the doctor so they could do what they needed to do. He was so dehydrated that it took about 3 tries to find a vein that was big enough to get a port in. I was able to comfort him and love on him after it was all over.
We got him settled in for a nap. Everyone was clearly tired. Semmey told us we looked tired and needed to rest. Trumar would take good care of Yibekal (Harris) and we would go back the next morning.
So we headed back to the hotel.
I couldn't believe it! We had been able to hold, hug, kiss, help and love on our son! Finally!
Naps, tea, dinner and making new friends at our hotel from our agency were a great way to end our first day in Ethiopia. For the first time in days, we felt somewhat at ease and were so thankful we were able to come be present for Harris in such a crisis time.
*I've gotta go to bed...looks like you'll have to wait for Part III... ;) *
*Also, sorry, we can't post any pictures of Harris until the legal part of things are complete. I know, torture.*
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Friday, September 23, 2016
Emergency Urgency! Part 1
Where to even begin....
So last you heard we were celebrating Harris' birthday with Ethiopian food. That was June.
July came and went with our usual 4th of July gatherings, fireworks and the traditional and most beloved part of the holiday, homemade ice cream. I also loaded up the kids with my sister-n-law and her kids and drove to the beach--what an adventure!
Then August came. I turned 31! Happy birthday to me! I was wondering what this new year of life would hold, where it would take me and my family. It started off with Asher starting school. What a bittersweet day! When he got off the bus that first day I was secretly hoping he hated school and missed me all day long. Quite the contrary. He went on and on with a big smile on his face telling me all the details and couldn't wait to go back the next day. I guess it's good that he likes school. ;) The next day I tried to go on with life as normal (sniff) and enjoy my one-on-one time with Mary Clair. So we met my brother and parents for lunch. During our delicious Thai lunch I had a missed call from our agency and a couple texts from Jake indicating I needed to call our agency A.S.A.P! I was hoping it was good news--maybe we got our court date and were going to be leaving the next week! I was going to wait until I got home to make any phone calls. Then Jake called. "I'm at home. Where are you? I tell you what's going on when you get here." My stomach dropped. Had Jake lost his job? Was something wrong with Harris? Something was not right. Usually the drive from downtown Athens to home is not that bad, but this was a terribly long ride with my mind going 100 miles a minute with all sorts of bad thoughts of what could have gone wrong. I came in as quickly as possible and got Mary Clair to bed.
"Harris is sick and in the hospital," Jake said. Apparently there was a cholera outbreak in his orphanage and 4 kids were in the hospital, Harris being one of them. Jake had been upset and was crying. I was too mad to cry. He should have already been home, I thought. This would have never happened if he had already been home! It's been almost a year. He should be here....
I've never felt so helpless.
What were we going to do?
Jake had already been doing some research on cholera and it sounded really serious, so we emailed all our questions to our agency. As you've heard me say before, we have to best agency ever! Lifeline Adoptions has been walking with us now over these past 4 1/2 years and I can't imagine having gone through all this with any other agency. Now that we are at the end of our process we have also been working with another adoption agency who is partners with Lifeline--West Sands Adoptions. They also have been very helpful and kind.
We exchanged some emails and phone calls to our case worker over the next couple days trying desperately to get some details on anything! We would get responses saying the hospital was shut down because of the outbreak, the phone of the nanny who is with Yibekal (Harris) was dead because she had no charger in the hospital, all children from our agency had been pulled out to the home of a man who worked with the agency to insure the health of the children....then they said they would let us break the rules and come if we felt we needed to go see Harris. Unfortunately, the courts had just closed for holiday so there would be no expediting our court date because of health issues.
So we prayed.
And the next day we bought plane tickets.
Then the day after that, we were on a plane to Ethiopia.
Ok.
Time out.
Rewind.
Monday-Katherine's 31st birthday (dreaming about what the year would hold)
Wednesday-Asher starts kindergarten (tears and overly sentimental Katherine)
Thursday-Crazy scary phone calls about our son, Harris, in the hospital with cholera (potentially deadly)
Friday-The courts in Ethiopia close. But our agency says we can go to Ethiopia....
Saturday-Plane tickets purchased.
Sunday-Got on a plane and headed to Ethiopia.
"Wait a second," you may say, "how on earth did you pull that off??"
Well, we had lots and lots of people praying--in fact, on a 24 hour basis! We had friends making packing lists, ordering medications, ordering plane tickets, feeding my family and even unloading my dishwasher (if you want to bless me, unload my dishwasher!!) We had other friends giving us money to cover the cost of the trip! Did I mention we had people praying??! Our parents jumped right in to buying us another suit case, dropping everything and being willing to do child care for the week last minute, and driving us to the airport. Did I mention my sister was in town from New Orleans and helped my parents with the kids (even with those middle of the night bad dreams and having a child sleeping in the same bed! Sorry for those grey hairs you found the next week....I will take full responsibility!)?
So there we were, on our way to Ethiopia, not sure what the trip was going to even look like. Would we arrive to even worse news than before? Would we arrive and not even get to see Harris? All we could do was sleep on the plane and trust that God was going to take care of all the details.
*Stay tuned for Part II*
So last you heard we were celebrating Harris' birthday with Ethiopian food. That was June.
July came and went with our usual 4th of July gatherings, fireworks and the traditional and most beloved part of the holiday, homemade ice cream. I also loaded up the kids with my sister-n-law and her kids and drove to the beach--what an adventure!
Then August came. I turned 31! Happy birthday to me! I was wondering what this new year of life would hold, where it would take me and my family. It started off with Asher starting school. What a bittersweet day! When he got off the bus that first day I was secretly hoping he hated school and missed me all day long. Quite the contrary. He went on and on with a big smile on his face telling me all the details and couldn't wait to go back the next day. I guess it's good that he likes school. ;) The next day I tried to go on with life as normal (sniff) and enjoy my one-on-one time with Mary Clair. So we met my brother and parents for lunch. During our delicious Thai lunch I had a missed call from our agency and a couple texts from Jake indicating I needed to call our agency A.S.A.P! I was hoping it was good news--maybe we got our court date and were going to be leaving the next week! I was going to wait until I got home to make any phone calls. Then Jake called. "I'm at home. Where are you? I tell you what's going on when you get here." My stomach dropped. Had Jake lost his job? Was something wrong with Harris? Something was not right. Usually the drive from downtown Athens to home is not that bad, but this was a terribly long ride with my mind going 100 miles a minute with all sorts of bad thoughts of what could have gone wrong. I came in as quickly as possible and got Mary Clair to bed.
"Harris is sick and in the hospital," Jake said. Apparently there was a cholera outbreak in his orphanage and 4 kids were in the hospital, Harris being one of them. Jake had been upset and was crying. I was too mad to cry. He should have already been home, I thought. This would have never happened if he had already been home! It's been almost a year. He should be here....
I've never felt so helpless.
What were we going to do?
Jake had already been doing some research on cholera and it sounded really serious, so we emailed all our questions to our agency. As you've heard me say before, we have to best agency ever! Lifeline Adoptions has been walking with us now over these past 4 1/2 years and I can't imagine having gone through all this with any other agency. Now that we are at the end of our process we have also been working with another adoption agency who is partners with Lifeline--West Sands Adoptions. They also have been very helpful and kind.
We exchanged some emails and phone calls to our case worker over the next couple days trying desperately to get some details on anything! We would get responses saying the hospital was shut down because of the outbreak, the phone of the nanny who is with Yibekal (Harris) was dead because she had no charger in the hospital, all children from our agency had been pulled out to the home of a man who worked with the agency to insure the health of the children....then they said they would let us break the rules and come if we felt we needed to go see Harris. Unfortunately, the courts had just closed for holiday so there would be no expediting our court date because of health issues.
So we prayed.
And the next day we bought plane tickets.
Then the day after that, we were on a plane to Ethiopia.
Ok.
Time out.
Rewind.
Monday-Katherine's 31st birthday (dreaming about what the year would hold)
Wednesday-Asher starts kindergarten (tears and overly sentimental Katherine)
Thursday-Crazy scary phone calls about our son, Harris, in the hospital with cholera (potentially deadly)
Friday-The courts in Ethiopia close. But our agency says we can go to Ethiopia....
Saturday-Plane tickets purchased.
Sunday-Got on a plane and headed to Ethiopia.
"Wait a second," you may say, "how on earth did you pull that off??"
Well, we had lots and lots of people praying--in fact, on a 24 hour basis! We had friends making packing lists, ordering medications, ordering plane tickets, feeding my family and even unloading my dishwasher (if you want to bless me, unload my dishwasher!!) We had other friends giving us money to cover the cost of the trip! Did I mention we had people praying??! Our parents jumped right in to buying us another suit case, dropping everything and being willing to do child care for the week last minute, and driving us to the airport. Did I mention my sister was in town from New Orleans and helped my parents with the kids (even with those middle of the night bad dreams and having a child sleeping in the same bed! Sorry for those grey hairs you found the next week....I will take full responsibility!)?
So there we were, on our way to Ethiopia, not sure what the trip was going to even look like. Would we arrive to even worse news than before? Would we arrive and not even get to see Harris? All we could do was sleep on the plane and trust that God was going to take care of all the details.
*Stay tuned for Part II*
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