Update

The weather is nice here and reminds us a lot of home, with the cool, light mountain air. In fact, with an altitude of 9,000 feet (twice what we are at home) and people burning wood for cooking in the morning, it reminds me a lot of what it feels and smells like camping.

We are getting ready for breakfast. We have three cooks. They work all day long cooking for us. Yesterday while we were eating breakfast they were starting on lunch. Which Shawn and I are still talking about. It was some of the best food we have eaten.

We are getting ready to go back to see Adam. We had no electricity today. We are going with the wet and dry look. We are waiting breakfast and then going . oops Massi is here I will write later.

We just had a short orientation and exchanged our money for our trip. Several families arrive today. I have been glad that we arrived on Thursday as it gave us time to meet with the outgoing families and learn from them as well as get our bearings without being in a rush. It has proven to be a blessing the extra day. Yesterday was emotionally draining today is better.

We went down to the care center right after our meeting. Girum was being changed for our meeting and having his hair done and oiled. He is so darling. He has a ton of hair. I will try to take a picture soon but right now there is no picture taking in the care center and we have not taken him out of the care center. We feel much better after seeing him and feel confidant that he has been in the hands of exceptional people. I can not say enough good things about CHSFS. They are amazing. The overall program and health considerations that are taken here are really incredible. Yesterday when we arrived most of the nannies that were not working were in a hygiene class. We have been so impressed with the care that the nannies give. They truly love the children and you can see Gods hand in the work here. They are insistent that you wash your hands before you touch the babies and keep good hygiene while in there. We even watched the nanny change a diaper and then use her elbow to open the door. They take very good care of the children.

We just spent one hour listening to the dept. heads of Social work, audio visual, accounting, and health. They have over 175 people that work here and they are amazing in their plight to help the Ethiopian people. They have the nannies that come from more lower socio-economic regions and put them through school for 1 year to teach and educate them to take care of the babies. It is truly amazing!

He is darling!

Well we are both a little overwhelmed!!!! We got up today and needed to be at breakfast by 8:00. We met the other families staying this past week. They are all leaving tonight. They had all of their children with them and it was very chaotic. Several of the older children were really grieving the loss they were feeling. It is really a tragic situation that this country is in. Most of the children had birth parents that could no longer take care of them and therefore left them with our care center. Most of the adoptive parents were able to meet them and said it was very emotional for both sets of parents.

After breakfast we met with the social worker and then had to sign paperwork allowing them to video tape our trip. We are not allowed any pictures inside the childrens care center for privacy issues. I am so sad about that because it is really a great photo op to give you a better understanding of how fortunate we all are to have our families.

Fortunatly CHSFS sends a videoperson around with you during your first visit to meet your children. The nannies had little Girum dressed so cute and he had been bathed and was the only baby in his room with a diaper on. the rest of the babies just lay on a pad and they clean the pad up after they go to the bathroom. Diapers are a real luxury item. We walked into the room and the nannies picked him up and gave him to Shawn and I and said in broken English.... Girum, mommy daddy. They just stood to the side and watched. It was so obvious that they really love all of the babies. Girum has seven babies in his room. Two to three to a crib. Although, Girum had his own. I am not sure if that is because we were there to see him. During our first visit the nanny came to find me to say he needed a diaper change. I offered but she insited she do it. I was not going to argue. They feed him while we were there. Quite a site. They poured milk in a cup kind of like the kind you see on the top of the tylenol bottle. Then he GULPED that down within a minute or two. She filled it up three times and then he was done. After that we had to return for lunch. The drivers are very busy and you must conform to their schedule.

After that we went back to the guest house for a tradittional Ethiopian meal. Since it was all of the other families last meal they cooked injera and all of the fixings. I was so hungry as I have not felt 100% and have not eaten since I arrived. The meal was great. Shawn kept saying .... Your dad would hate this. Too spicy and toooooo much garlic.

The cooks are wonderful and so apt to please. The Guest house we are staying at is beautiful. Massi the all around do everything man told me that this is the area where rich people live. I can tell. We have a beautiful room. The nicest of the guest house because we got there first.

We are sending this email before we are off to see Girum again. He is beautiful. Bigger than expected. soft skin many of the children have scabies and ring worm but he is perfect. Lots of flowing hair. I think he likes Shawn best. He snuggled right into Shawn's chest and just set their content for 30 minutes. He follows us and sound and seems to be following some developmental milestones. He will stay at the care center probably till next week with us just visiting.

We will meet with the Doctor soon. Massi told me that Doctors for the center are well paid; twice what a government doctors are paid. $500 US a month. WOW!

We're Here

We arrived after a very long flight. Both international flights were empty so we were able to spread out and sleep. We loved flying KLM. They are the best airline I have ever flown. We got here and moved quickly through immigration . funny thing all of the Etiopians were stopped and they looked through there bags but not us! We were smiled at and waived through. We said thank you in ahrmaric which sounds like (a mess of jello) The immigration officer smiled and said have a nice night. Amazing! I was super worried seeing as how we had 5 – 70 lb bags of supplies. We drove through town . Even at 10 pm at night there were people walking everwhere. Groups setting up on the street getting ready to sleep and the stinch of rotting animals in the air as we drove. Lots of little stores open the kind we see in dads photos. Three feet wide by 10-12 feet deep full of everything. We even passed a man using the gutter for the toilet. The roads are just dirt mostly with lots of evidence of rain. A couple of places I thought were not passable but they were.



The staff here are super nice and accommodating. They could not believe all of the supplies we brought. But hey frankly neither could we. There are two sisters still here from this weeks travel group they gave us the low down as they packed. We also got a packet about little Girum with lots of social things about him. I was quite relieved to find out he has put on three pounds since April 1st. He is up to 9.28 lbs. They say he is very cautious of people he does not know but loves to laugh at the nannies and others he knows. They say he gets two baths a day plus a sun bath. He lets them know when he is hungry and full. We get to meet him tomorrow. CAN’T WAIT!

THIS IS THE WEEK!

Well it is finally here. I have to admit that I have gotten so little sleep in the past two weeks from trying to get ready to go. I can not believe all of the little details that have to be done to leave four kids at home and get five 70 lb suitcases packed. We have had a couple of crazy and exciting things happen since I posted last so I will bring you up to speed.

1st. We found out that we need a transit visa for our son coming through Amsterdam. Of course the Dutch embassy told us that we did not when I called them last month to make the flight arrangements. However I was miss informed and it is funny how the words "I am sorry some one told you that" seem to send chills down my spine. So a very nervous weekend worrying that we were going to be stuck in Ethiopia for another week. See we can not get a Dutch visa until we have the US visa. Our original plans were to visit the US embassy on Tuesday as that was our appointment day. Then we would pick up the completed visa on Friday. Thus not giving enough time to get to the Dutch embassy and have them issue a dutch visa. WOW who knew that traveling with an Ethiopian passport would cause so many visa issues. Shawn and I were talking last night and just commenting on how blessed we are to hold a US passport. Interesting enough....if you are a US citizen you do not need a transit visa.
I waited up till 1AM last night to call the US embassy to see if they would consider expediting our visa and they said they would be happy to do so. She even moved our embassy appointment to Monday. I could not believe how friendly they were. Then I got up this morning and the Dutch embassy had emailed me back and said they would be happy to expedite the visa as long as we could prove that we had a flight itinerary. So once again everything has worked out just fine. Even though it cost Shawn and I a few restless nights.


2nd our babysitter who was suppose to watch the kids has had some serious health issues. We got a call from her mother-in-law on Saturday. She said "Jill, we have a BIG problem." She then told me that her daughter in law had a massive blood clot on her brain and was in the ICU in critical condition. Her condition is life threatening and we are keeping her in our prayers.

So needless to say I had to find a new babysitter. Not an easy task in 4 days. I picked up my Grandma right after the phone call and told her my plight. She said I think I have your answer. My neighbors from Ghana, "I bet they would babysit for you." He just graduated from BYU with his masters in Statistics. And she can not work because of VISA issues. What is it with the VISA issue? So to make a long story short they are coming to watch our children. My girls are thrilled to have someone from Ghana watching them as they have been learning so much about their country in school and have done numerous service projects for the country of Ghana.

So now I am off to start packing suitcase number 4. I will update soon. And I am posting the latest picture of Girum cut from his birth certificate. We recieved it last week. It was so great to see Shawn and I's name on it as his parents. It is all starting to seem real. I can not wait to see him.

The crazy week is over!

Well the week of the 9th is over. Two Girl Scout Acitivities one being a literal all nighter. My Girl Scouts said it was the funnest activity ever. After staying up all night watching 11 & 12 year old girls ride amuzement rides I was exhausted and wondered how I would last though the Spagetti Dinner planned with my son and his two friends. They have worked so hard to raise money for a washing machine for AHOPE orphanage. An HIV positive orphange next to little Adam's. They did a great job and raised over $1500.00 dollars. A HUGE thank you to all of our friends, families and neighbors who bought tickets and supported this effort. Also a big thank you to Doug Nielsen who played his guitar that evening. The boys did a great job and should feel proud of themselves.

Spaghetti Dinner for AHOPE Orphanage

It's a travel date!

Well the day came. Last Tuesday Lindsay called from CHSFS to tell us that Girum had gone through court. I had just walked into the house and the answering machine was blinking. I was not expecting to hear from our agency until after the 15th of April. This was the date they told us would be the soonest that we could see his case heard .... so needless to say my heart was racing and I was in shock. When I finally got a hold of her she said we could make travel arrangments for the 13th. My heart sank. The 13th. that was only two weeks away and I had so much on my plate for that weekend including my big girl scout sleep over and my sons spagetti dinner that he is planning with two of his friends to raise money for a washing machine for AHOPE (an HIV orphanage next to Girum's) I was physically sick. I thought there is no way I can leave that soon. Lindsay told me that she thought the 2oth travel group was already full so I would have to wait till the 27th group to travel. I told her I would discuss it with Shawn and we would talk in the morning.

Shawn and I decided that night that with so much planned we would have to leave Girum in the Lord's hands for a few more weeks and just travel on with the group on the 27th. I got on the phone that evening and thought I would throw caution into the wind and see if I could by any chance get frequent Flier tickets to Ethiopia. Up till this point I had tried not to worry to much about the cost of these tickets. Shawn and I had been pricing them up to this point and knew we were looking at between $1600 and $3000 a ticket depending on the notice we were given. When we first started this adoption so many people on our adoption forum talked about how when you follow God's promtings he always provides a way. At first I thought of this as a cliche. However, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that God does provide a way and when we leave things to him he will bless us. I knew that if the needs be that Shawn and I could pay for these tickets however I found the cost quite unsetteling.

So I called Delta Airlines and explained to the agent that we were adopting and needed to see if we could use our miles to bring home our little boy. She worked for over one and a half hours to try and find us tickets. I thought there was no way that this would be possible. She came back on the line and said to me " I don'd know how you are living, but the Good Lord is looking out for you." I relpied "You have no idea how much" She was able to find us two round trip tickets to Ethiopia and Back on the dates we needed. I hung up the phone and was in tears. My emotions really were getting the best of me. It is true if we trust in the Lord he will help. Not the same way for every person but he is aware of our personal struggles and needs.

A friend on the forum sent this scripture today that I found so fitting with my little frequent miled miracle.

2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

So as it stands now we will leave on the 25th of April arriving in Ethiopia the next day at 9:10 pm. For those of you wondering it is 31 hours of ACTUAL flight time.

We can't wait to bring our little Adam Girum Frasier home to his forever family. I am posting the picture my dad took this last week for us to take with us to Ethiopia. It will be exchanged with the people responsible for helping him find his way to us. May God Bless you all as he has our family over this wonderful journey.