Last Post

We have a new blog now at http://frasierfamilyblog.blogspot.com

Just a disclaimer that my teenage children are writing it becuase they are upset that I have stopped blogging.

Our new family.

We are all really enjoying the company of Girum and his brilliant smiles. He has learned to walk now, and can even bend over! He still eats as much as ever, and has only fefused the turkey dinner baby food thus far.



Girum and Wyatt really enjoy each other, and are often found laying on the love sacs together watching a BYU or Jazz basketball game (That is when Wyatt isn't lifting weights or working out with the lacrosse team.) Girum, we have learned, is a great mimicker. When watching sporting events with Wyatt, he will scream and wave his arms in unison with Wyatt (who knows though, maybe he is just a great athlete in training not just a cute mimicky baby!) Wyatt is always willing to lend a hand and help out with his favorite little guy.



Mariss is joy to us, and when she isn't swimming, can be found helping with our cute little guy. She will feed him, change his diaper, play toys with him, and even sneak around the house trying to steal the little guy away from her siblings. I know that our daughter will be on great mother someday.




Olivia is just a gem. She is always looking for people to befriend, and to cheer. She has a real talent for finding and keeping friends, as well as being just an all around fantastic little girl. When she's not doing gymnastics, she can be found playing house with Audrey or just chilling out with one of her friends.



Audrey, well, she's still sweet, loving, and well a little bit energetic to say the least. But we all love her nonetheless, and she always keeps us on our feet with her antics. Whether it be a "project" such as the tape sculptures she is often making, or it is just a race with her cousins after eating Wyatt's protein powder :-S , she is always the highlight of our house.

Keep checking back for more updates. Thanks.

A post from Marissa

A Birthday to Remember
By: Marissa
Our big boy has finally turned the big 1!!! Friday January 4, 2008 we celebrated Girums first birthday with a traditional Ethiopian meal. We had our family and friends over. We ordered a ton of food (literally) of which we only ate about a half. It was very spicy and a lot if the kids ended up having hot dogs instead, although all of the adults said it was like heaven! I will have to admit it was excellent and my favorite was Dora watt a dish with a spicy red sauce, chicken and hard boiled egg. Mom also bought red and yellow lentils, (the red was way more spicy then the yellow.) “ “Attecult” cabbage with carrots. This funny thing happened when my mom tried to buy some of the food. She kept saying “I want the attecult!” and the lady at the African market kept saying “what three atteclut?” well it turns out that attecult does not mean cabbage and carrots in Ethiopia it means vegetables! So all mom was saying was “I want vegetables!” (Funny huh?). There was my second favorite dish tibs, includes beef and onions. The Ethiopians have spicy food, so they have this cheese that they put on top of all their food to make it less spicy. To me it tasted a little like milk, so the lady at the African market filled a whole take out box with it so we had that too. You can’t forget the Injara when you have Ethiopian food! They use the Injara as silverware, pinch, grab, eat! You have to be carful if you eat to much it expands in your stomach! Our Aunt Brook took home a big package of the left over Injara and said. “This stuff makes me feell like I have a lot of energy. So I am going to take this home and this is all I am going to eat for three days and see how I feel.” She will do it too! We will have to tell you how she feels,
Girum got his own cake, and it was huge! Mom decorated the Ethiopian flag on it and set it in front of him he make a gigantic mess! He had frosting all over his face and his little body.
Everybody had a great time celebrating are little guys birthday. We are so blessed to have him in our home and have him be able to show use what is important in life. He has been a blessing in our life and we love him so much!!!!!

Girum's Birthday!

Our Beautiful Adam!

Here is a assortment of photos of little Adam since we have brought him home. I think you will agree he is quite the little butterball turkey!

Our very last post! (I think)

If you read below, you will gather that it has been months since we have posted. However, we wanted to add a few more thoughts before we send this blog to be printed so I believe this is the end!

Shawn and I are amazed how a conversation one Saturday morning could have changed our lives so much! I am unable to comprehend what life would be like without Adam Girum. Things have gone so smoothly that I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. After we arrived home we visited the International Adoption clinic at Primary Children's Hospital. He had tests I did not know even existed. Everything looked great! We did find out that the illness he was experiencing in Ethiopia was most likely Hepatitis A as he showed that at only three months he had contracted this disease. With this exception we feel very blessed that he is so healthy. My social worker reassures me that my tears will slow as days go by and I only hope she is correct. Adam is a constant reminder that we have been so materially blessed. I can not look at him without thinking of Ethiopia and the many beautiful people we met. Adam's arrival has reminded us at this time of the year that our material blessings can be better spent on others less fortunate than on things we really don't "need". Even little Olivia and Marissa said that we could spend their Christmas money on children in Africa. As a family we have been forever changed.

We finished our last post-placement report that requires a social worker two weeks ago. The last check has been paid and all of the paperwork is done. We have filed for naturalization, however, we are still waiting on the official word that Adam has American citizenship. We applied in July but have been told it could take up to 18 months before we receive word. (Pretty unbelievable huh?)

All in all, we could not be more pleased that Adam has attached well and gained a whopping 20 lbs in 9 months. Weighing at 11 months, 26 lbs. He is still short and only in the 4%, so we are still waiting for him to get a little taller and take the shape of something other than a football.

Pictures from Ethiopia

We have put together of a few of our favorite photos from Ethiopia. Happy viewing!

Sara Groves,

My reflections three months later

Well the clock has slowed a little and I have been able to catch my breath. I was thinking tonight that I would reflect on a few of my thoughts since arriving home with our beautiful new son. His sweet disposition has been amazing. Shawn says he is painfully sweet, and he is right. I find myself as an older mother enjoying so many things I found annoying with my first. For instance, nighttime feedings. I love them, the quite night the smell of my little baby nestled sweetly up to us. This morning at about 4 am Adam was lying between Shawn and I in bed he started to stir a little, enough to wake me up. I turned over to stare at him just as he reached for his daddy's hand. As soon as he knew he was near back to sleep he went.

His adoring smile that can light up the room is amazing. I find myself able to stop and just admire him ignoring that the dishes are dirty and the floor needs to be cleaned. The rocking chair has been moved to where it is convenient rather than where it looked good. This little boy is so loved. It scares me to think what life would be like had we not traveled down this road.

One thing I was not prepared for was how often I would think about his birth mother. I was talking to my dear friend Heather (who also traveled with me) the other night and we were both talking about this. Adoption seemed so cut and dry in the beginning. Especially after finding out our son had been abandoned. We would travel to Africa and pick up our new son and come home and live happily ever after. That has not been the case for me. I can say that everyday AT LEAST once (and most days it never goes far from my mind.) I look into his face and fight back the tears wondering so much about his past. What are his parents doing? Did his mother eat today? What does she look like? How tall are his parents? What did they hope for him? Did they hope for him? Do they know he is still alive? Were they married? Is she cold? What is she doing today? Will she be able to find work? Does she work? Oh the list could go on and on and on. I have realized that visiting the land of my childs birth has brought so many answers that I can not imagine living without. It has truly changed the way I look at him. He is a miracle to be alive. HAving the knowledge of how difficult life can be has brought a whole new prespective to me about our sons birth parents. How I wish so much I could have met them. I cry at his beautiful spirit and the opportunity that I have to raise him. It has given me more strength realizing that my five children are not mine, but children of a loving Heavenly Father. Shawn and I are here to raise them and care for them and that is our joy.

This fact has been more close to my thoughts now more than ever. This is in fact the thing I have struggled with more than anything. It is almost a feeling of guilt for the opportunity that I have that his birth mother will never have. He truly is a blessing in our lives and I hope everyday I can remember that. I hope so much to someday even if in heaven to meet her and share all of these wonderful things about our beautiful son with her.

On a lighter note. Last week we completed the re adoption which is a technicality in order to get a US birth certificate. Then I went to vital records and picked up his new birth certificate. All of this was done because US immigration was increasing their fees on the 30th of July. That's right to fill out one piece of paper and send it in with about 10 requested documents proving his adoption will now cost families $450.00. I personally think this is a crime. Before the 30th the fee was $215. The reason I was racing to get this done. Keep in mind this is on top of the now $750 fee to get a US visa so that your child might enter the United States. So all in all the NCIS or US immigration will gain over $1000 for adopted children. ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!! Do not get me wrong he is worth ever penny I just do not get this fee.

Well it is late and I am signing off. Thanks to all for reading!

We are home and settled in.

Well it has been a month since we have been home and my BLOG has suffered miserably. Little Adam Girum has settled in so nicely. The plane trip home was SOOOOOO long . However he pretty much slept the entire time. When we arrived home the kids had made a cute sign on the garage and my sisters and parents were at the airport. It was a so nice to have the support of all of the people that we love.

We spent the first week getting aclamated to having a baby in the house again. It was so much fun. Even Audrey our three year old seemed to being enjoying him. However, she is still getting mad when we try to call him Adam. She reminds us that his name is Girum.

We have been to visit several doctors and down so much blood work I felt bad for the little guy. However, it appears that he is pretty healthy. So life in the real world is settling in. I had not anticipated having so much help from the older kids. I will set little Adam down and turn around and he is gone. I do not think he is getting any floor time and appears to be loving every minute of it.

I think the most difficult thing about returning from Africa is coming back into the land of PLENTY. I found myself unable to drive down the street the first week without crying. The images that I saw are forever burned into my mind. Specifically a few that I talked about earlier. The woodcutter with the infant on her back that was walking 10 miles up a road to get wood to sell and then walking back down the road to earn maybe $1.50.


The beautiful children who wanted to much to just get a few minutes of our attention. They were so happy and excited to talk english. In particular a little girl who wanted the map I had brought. Which after finding there was no one to meet us in Hosanna we gave it to her. She was so excited to have it. I am posting a picture of her and her friend.



The children, the children, the children. I wish I could have captured the smell. Without it these are just pictures. They wanted to be so close and I wanted to give them all hugs and love them. However, mostly I had a difficult time breathing. It is pretty obvious in Hosanna that a bath is a luxury. However, there smiles seemed to take care of that.





<

One thing that is real is how blessed we felt to have such an amazing traveling group. It is so comforting to go through the process with others that are in the same place as you. Although we just met these people. They will forever be our friends.



I must sign off now. Today we are blessing Adam Girum in church and I must go get ready. I will post pictures of that soon. As well as the 500 other pictures I took. I have been working on getting them on a slide show format that does not take years to upload like the other things I have on this BLOG.

See you soon!
If you want to turn off the sound so you can hear any of the you tube videos below, simply click in the lower left corner of the video below (the little icon that looks like a speaker). This will turn it on and off.
BELOW ON THE LITTLE ROCK YOU VIDEO-

Hello All,
This will be our last and final email from Ethiopia. We leave this country with a deeper understanding and appreciation of our son’s birthplace. We can’t imagine having missed the opportunity to come here and pick him up as it gave us a great deal more insight into his cultural heritage and ancestry. We have a new son, and that fact alone has changed the course of our family’s history.

We’re a bit behind, but we’ll start with yesterday (Friday) morning. We awoke and enjoyed an olde-fashioned pancake breakfast with our dear friends at the guest house. Then, it was off to the Dutch embassy for the second time to collect our 75.00 USD transit visa so we can transit through the fine contry of Holland for seven hours. Note to potential travelers: Don’t go through contries that require a transit visa. We went with Heather in the taxi who needed to drop by the British embassy and pick up her transit visa. We left at 9:15 A.M. and we thought we were off for a breezy morning drive to quickly pick up our transit visas and then back to the guest house to laze away the day enjoying delicious Ethiopian cuisine and sprightly conversation. At least, it started that way. The trip to the Dutch embassy was accomplished with dispatch, and the Dutch were ready and attentive when we arrived and handed us our visa with nary a word. We were quickly off, back into the bustling streets of Addis headed to the British embassy. Now, we had had a moderately trouble-free experience with Dutch embassy, but Heather was having a nightmare of a time with the British. This was her second or third time at the British embassy and she had also had to make a second trip to the US embassy because of other troubles with her paper work. Anyway, she had called the Brits yesterday morning and someone there gave her information that she could pick up her child’s transit visa that morning (previously, they had told her not until after 2 P.M. Friday). As our stop by the Dutch embassy was quickly accomplished, we were headed off to the British embassy by a little after 10:00 A.M. The British embassy was quite far and there were a lot of poor roads due to construction. After driving for about 40 minutes we finally pulled up to our destination. It was now about 10:40 A.M and heather hurried inside to get her visa. She returned shortly and we were elated that the morning had gone so smoothly. She reported however, that she had been given erroneous info and that she could not actually pick up her visa until after noon. Our dilemma was that it was a long drive back to the guest house and it wasn’t really realistic to go back when we would immediately have to just turn around and come back. A phone call to Mossi resulted in the taxi driver being instructed to take us to a nearby café for a beverage to kill the time. After finding a suitable establishment, we enjoyed a soft drink and casual conversation. During our respite, a very strange thing occurred: An older woman, perhaps mid sixties, walked up to us and in almost perfect, accent-free English, gave an oration about her husband, marital relations, her marriage and marriage license being “on the moon” and some other information which seemed very out of context for the time and place we found ourselves. She then left as quickly as she came. We were stunned and didn’t know what to think. Then, almost on queue, all the Ethiopians who were sitting nearby all broke out into laughter. We realized this had been just as surprising for them, and somewhat humorous. It was a very strange occurrence, but was kind of an icebreaker for us ferenji sitting at a Café among Ethiopians. We all exchanged smiles with the Ethiopians giving gestures which seemed to convey, “don’t worry about her”. This lightened our mood and helped the time pass until 11:45 when we paid the café bill and headed back to the British embassy. Heather was dropped off in front and disappeared into the cavernous edifice and we prayed it wouldn’t take several hours to accomplish her task. It was a hot day in Addis and Girum was getting restless. We parked the taxi in a sort of taxi repair area across the street amongst several other inoperative taxis. In one near us, several young men were sitting, apparently idled waiting for some spare parts or something so they could continue their repairs. They were smiling and waving. One of them motioned to our taxi driver and he approached their vehicle. They handed him a branch with several green leaves on it and motioned him to give it to us. Once in hand, our driver told us it was “chat” and said we should not chew it but give it back. (Chat is a plant that contains a cocaine-like substance and will get the one who chews it “high”, or so we were told). We took a photo and gave it back to the nice gentlemen who had given it to us.


Just when we were thinking that Heather was in the embassy for the long haul, she reappeared with her daughter. She had acquired her baby’s transit visa which was attested to by her broad smile and bounding gait. It was true! She had her visa. We bid farewell to our chat-chewing friends who gave us a weak wave and we were off again, bound for the guest house.


Upon arrival, we were greeted with the delicious smells of Ethiopian cooking. We weren’t disappointed. Lunch was great. It was a great to come home to our friends and a fine lunch. Some of the greatest concerns of our entire trip—the procurement of transit visas—had been accomplished in time for our return trips home.

After lunch we finished packing and cleaning our room so that it was ready for the new occupants.

We next went with Mossi to see the results of another project we wanted to finish while here in Addis. Jill’s sister, Brooke, had given us money in donation which was intended to help rehabilitate a swing set at the CHSFS school in Addis. Mossi had purchased chains of appropriate length at the Merkato and had already mounted the seats we’d brought from the US when we arrived. We took photographs and Mossi said that the children had really enjoyed them. As the chains hadn’t cost too much, there was enough money left over that the school will be able to purchase a whole other swing set frame and two more sets of chains. Shawn and I told Mossi we’d purchase two more swings and send them with a family traveling to Addis in the future.

We then went back and said our final goodbyes to guest house staff, exchanged addresses and readied for departure. Several families were to fly home Friday evening. Jill, Heather and I were headed to the Hilton. But first, we needed to make one last stop at the CHSFS offices.

We packed the people and cars and headed for our exit meeting with the founder and visionary of the CHSFS Ethiopia operation, Mr. Asnake. When we arrived, we were escorted to his office where he thanked us for our participation in the program. He then presented each family with a personalized “life book” for our children. This consisted of both an impressive bound book and a multimedia DVD. The book contained pertinent information on our child’s background and progress while at the care center in Addis. It contained photos and interviews with the people who were instrumental in getting our son into the hands of CHSFS-Ethiopia staff. The DVD contained actual video footage and narration of the same items as the bound volume. If there is one thing—above and beyond everything else-- that has really set our agency apart, it has been the preparation of this lifebook. This is obviously something that takes a lot of effort and time to prepare. The CHSFS-Ethiopia staff understands that although Adam is just a baby now, the time will come when he will have many questions about his origins and beginnings. This lifebook will be essential when the time comes to answer these questions. Moreover, CHSFS-Ethiopia understands that picking the child up is merely the beginning of a very long journey and any tools—such as this lifebook—will be of immeasurable help down the road.

To conclude, Mr. Asnake, discussed his vision for the future of CHSFS-Ethiopia. It included expanding his operation so that more children can be placed with families and that more jobs and economic opportunities can be provided for citizens of his country. It is wonderful that many children who may otherwise face a bleak future can be given loving, stable homes in the US. Beyond that, however, Asnake realizes that this should also be an opportunity to hire, train and improve the labor force in his own country and thus provide a much-needed economic boost for his people and an investment in Ethiopia’s human capital. This is evidenced by the fact that in just a few years, Asnake has expanded his operation from just a few staff to nearly 175 persons. Where just a short time ago all operations were conducted out of one facility, there is now several facilities in multiple locations and two separate large guest houses for visiting families. Nurses and nannies are receiving ongoing intensive training given by well-educated staff doctors in child care and medical treatment. The training curriculum rivals anything in the developed world. In this way, the placement of orphaned children through CHSFS-Ethiopia is very much a win-win situation for all parties involved.

After receiving our exit materials, we were dropped off at the Hilton. It was very busy, with people from all over the world checking in and conducting business. It is a stark contrast, the bustling, developing streets of Addis Ababa with its sights and sounds and unfortunately, extreme poverty, and the polished, modern and beautifully landscaped Hilton Hotel which was like a tropical island paradise. It makes one feel almost guilty being there. It could have been fine hotel in any European capital. One of the last sights we witnessed before entering the well-gaurded gates of the Hilton’s sheltered enclave was that of a young mother with her young child and infant huddled under a tarp trying to keep each other warm, this small piece of sidewalk their bed for the evening. The security was so tight to get in. All of the families had traveled in one car to drop everyone off at the Hilton or the Airport. They allowed us in because we were in a nice Mercedes van. However, the taxi van that had been hired to take all of our luggage was not allowed into the Hilton compound. No taxi’s apparently are. So Shawn and the two divers had to go get all of our luggage out on the street and haul them into the compound. At first I did not understand this. However after staying at the Hilton for a day I can see that it is so nice that if the security was not so efficient you would have so many people in the city trying to come in to get away from the real Ethiopia outside the gates of the Hilton. It is hard to look at the lush plants growing in the beautiful climate here and wonder why all of Ethiopia can not look like it does inside the compound.

From the balcony of our comfortable room, it seemed almost surreal as our view was of one of Addis’s squalid neighborhoods, seemingly made exclusively out of rusting corrugated steel sheeting. And to our left a few clicks away, the even more lavish Sheraton Hotel, reputed to be Africa’s finest. We went and ate lunch out on the pool deck under beautiful grass huts with the landscape that looked like we were in the tropics.

It was difficult for me to sit and enjoy my lunch in such a beautiful surrounding knowing what lies on the other side of the compound walls.

We requested a crib for Adam Girum, had something to eat, and went to sleep, knowing this would be our final night in this amazing country. We are going to sign off with this last email. Thank you to all of our friends and family for your love and support in our families journey. It has been so nice knowing that our children back home have such a great supportive group of people to look after them.


Mom and Dad or Shawn and Jill

Ethopia Update 9

Well we are officially checked out of the guest house and have moved to the Hilton until tomorrow night. We already miss it there and the friends we have made. We promised to get together in three years to see our children again. Shawn and I could not have asked for a better group of people to spend the week with.



I will try to catch you up on yesterday’s travels as well as today’s. Yesterday we awoke and got our little Girum back to the care center. The nannies were surprised to see him as we could keep our children full-time after Wed. Afternoon. However, she was happy to see him. They had already brought in another 8 babies that morning and had given away his crib. I told the nannie that we were planning on leaving him one last time while we toured Addis. She smiled and took Girum and said, “ Go, go he be fine.” I have to admit that I found my self getting a little teary-eyed leaving him.



After leaving the care center we left with our driver. We had hired the same company that we had gone with to Hosanna with on Sunday to take us on a tour of Addis and up into the mountains called Entoto. It was absolutely beautiful.



Our first stop was the Ehtiopian National Museum. This was the second museum we’d been to, the first being the Institute for Ethiopian History at the Addis Ababa University. This, too, was very interesting and it gave us a further appreciation for the rich history and heritage of this ancient country. In addition to many interesting things such as art and sculpture, the National Museum also contained a replica of the ancient bones of “Lucy”, the oldest fossils of upright-walking humans. The original Lucy bones are temporarily on loan in the United States.



After the museum, we went to see one of the most famous Ethiopian orthodox churches in the city called Eternity Cathedral. It was very interesting, especially as we learned some of the reasons why the church was founded and how it differentiates itself from other churches such as Catholicism the Eastern Orthodox. In Ethiopia about 60% of the country is Eastern Orthodox. In Addis, the driver said that the number goes to 90%. One thing that we have really gained appreciation for is how deeply religious this country is. Our driver told us that many of Ethiopians spend hours worshipping everyday. Most of the women wear crosses around their neck. This is unlike most African counties were the religion is primarily Muslim. Our driver told us that many Ethiopians believe deeply in the scripture that states that a rich man can not get into heaven. This is what sees them through their daily lives. They worship daily and believe that they will live with God due to the fact that they are poor, humble and religious.



We then stopped by the office of Abbysinian Tours and Travel to meet Tsagae, the owner of the company that took us to Hosanna on Sunday. Shawn has struck up a friendship with him. I think they both enjoyed talking politics together on Sunday. It is amazing that someone in Ethiopia would share so many of the same ideas as my husband. Shawn said they are kindred spirits. He had invited us to lunch with he and his wife. Our driver joined us as well. He took us to a beautiful restaurant, even by American standards. We were amazed as we looked at the menu and read the prices. At first I thought it must be in US prices as there was no way that Filet Mignon with button mushrooms, julienne zucchini and eggplant with new potatoes could only cost 22.50 Birr (equivalent to about $3.00 US) But indeed it was in Birr. It has been experiences like this that have given us a better understanding at how well someone with money can live in Ethiopia. Our meal for five all eating steak, lamb kabobs and the like came to $20.00 US that included the tip and two beautiful pastries as well. We so enjoyed our visit with Tsagae and feel ourselves blessed to have met him and gained a new friend. The Ethiopian people are so beautiful and hospitable.



After lunch our driver took us to see the huge Jumbotron in the middle of the city with a big terraced hill so that the people can sit and watch the soccer games as they are played. Soccer is a huge sport here and you are able to see all of the taxis with their local and international favorites. They all follow the English teams such as Arsenal and Manchester United. They hadn’t really heard of Real Salt Lake. This has been a big ice breaker with people for Shawn. He loves to ask people that we meet who their favorite team is. It always starts a conversation. We also visited the Ethiopian Tourist Center to pick up a few brochures and such.



After we left there we headed up to the Entoto mountains that are surrounding the city of Addis. It began as a beautiful drive up the hill side leaving the hustle and bustle of the busy city. However, the poverty which I thought was horrific to see in the city became quickly almost too much to bear as we drove up the mountain in our LandCruiser. In Addis the poorest people are known as “the woodcutters”. These are always women. They walk up the road to Entoto to the forest that lies at the top. They cut down the branches and trees and then bundle them together and then put them on their backs to walk all the way back down 5 to 10 miles to sell the wood for about $1.50 or 15 birr, if they are fortunate enough to sell it. As we begun this ride the women were walking down the road with their bundles at first I thought the first one or two were quaint and stopped to take a picture, always tipping them for the ability to do so. You can tell they count on the money as they have their hands out and as soon as you give them the money they stand up and smile for you to take their picture. All the way up their hands were outstretched at the cars and they knew the English word for money. However, after we had been driving a few more miles and the women kept coming it became to sobering thought for me to realize the harsh life and existence that they live with everyday. As we arrived at the top, we visited the oldest Orthodox Church in this area. Along with the Palace (I use that term only because they used it). It was more like an old stucco house. It was the Palace of Menelek II, the king of Ethiopia. It was beautiful and by the end I of the tour I had quite the following of beautiful children that loved having their picture taken. I would take their picture and then show them on the back of the digital camera and then they would laugh and laugh. It was so fun. At the top we were able to overlook the entire city of Addis and it was beautiful! After this, we returned to our car and drove down the hill. It was at the end of our drive when I was just overcome with the poverty. We had just left as the rain started it was coming down at a good rate. It made the beautiful scenery even more beautiful. The trees were lush and beautiful. As we headed down the hill we started passing the woodcutters again. I asked the driver if he could stop and so I might better get a picture. As he stopped and I got out of the car and reached into my purse to get some Birr to tip the women began bowing at me as she could tell I was going to give her some bir. Customary is to give them two birr about 20 cents US as I got nearer to her I realized that she had a bundle on her front as well as the 70 lbs of wood on her back that caused her to hunch over forward to carry them. As I got closer to her and handed her the money she pulled down the blanket on her bundle and I discovered that it was a baby. She was uncovering her sweet baby so that I could photograph him as well. It was the last straw for me. What is this world coming to? I could not leave her there with 20 cents in the rain. I was not prepared for this. I reached in and gave her more money to which she started crying and bowing. Then I started crying and bowed to her and jumped into my car and started crying. It was silent ride down the rest of the hill. The driver asked if I would like to take more pictures and I declined as I could not capture the hard life of these women without sobbing. I will never forget this woman. The driver left this area and drove us back to the care center were we picked up our little Girum, who was of course being played with and loved by the Nannies. His nanny got him ready for me to take and then said, “ Little Girumy is going to America!, Little Girumy is going to America!” Indeed, he was with little to no understanding of this beautiful country he was leaving or what his life holds in front of him and what lay behind.



We thanked the Nanny again! We left with big hugs and lots of tears and then ran down the stairs with our sweet little boy as we left for the last time his home of three months.

Update 8

It is Thursday morning here in Addis. It is another sunny, warm day. Adam Girum slept here with us at the guest house last night and appears to be quite the munch mouth. He woke up and wanted to eat about every two and a half hours. Obviously, he enjoys bottle feeding.

Yesterday afternoon at around 4:30 P.M. the care center put on a Goodbye Ceremony for all the children leaving in this group. It was very touching. All the children had been dressed by their nannies lovingly in traditional Ethiopian clothing which they were to keep. The program began with the toddler and school-age children singing a song in Amharic followed by a rousing rendition of, “If you’re happy and you know it”, sung in English. After, one of the social workers expressed her wish that we would all take a positive impression of Ethiopia back with us and try, as far as possible, to raise our children with an appreciation of their Ethiopian heritage. They gave us a chance to speak, and the parents universally expressed thanks to the staff here for the devotion and loving care shown our children while in Addis.

Next came the children being called individually to dip their hands into paint put their handprints on the wall, thus leaving a durable record of their presence there. The handprints were placed on a wall-sized painting of the Ethiopinan flag. Even though this ritual occurs every week here in Addis, the CHSFS staff were clearly sincere and their expressions were deeply hearfelt.

Since we were unable to meet any birth family in Hosanna, we asked management (something you should always do if you want to do anything which may deviate from standard protocol) here if we could give the photo of Adam Girum (which was meant for the Hosanna trip) to the nanny with whom Girum seemed to have a special bond. We were told we could. After the goodbye ceremony we gave the photo of Girum and our family, together with a laminated photo of Jesus surrounded by children to this nanny and expressed our thanks via a translator. It was very touching. We cried and embraced each other.

Shortly before this, Girum had thrown up all the formula we’d fed him in the last hour or two. As he liked to eat from a bottle, we just kept feeding him when he felt hungry. No one could believe how much he expelled. This was in the middle of the goodbye ceremony and kind of embarrassing. The doctor was there and she told us what we already suspected: we had overfed Girum. Although well fed in the care center, he had simply ingested too much formula because he enjoyed eating from it so much. We have since scaled back how much formula we give at each feeding. Adam Girum seems just as satisfied with no more throwing up.

After the ceremony, the staff treated us to a piece of delicious cake and a bottle of soda. We enjoyed each other’s company and several of the children said goodbye to the care center for the last time. The event evanesced into a haze of tears and embraces.

It is difficult to appropriately thank these fine individuals who have done so much to help these children we’re adopting. It is amazing how close we’ve grown to these caregivers, the language and communication barriers notwithstanding.

We have been very lucky this week as we’ve traveled with five wonderful families. We’ve laughed, comforted each other’s children, taken meals and driven through the bustling streets of Addis together. Several will leave Ethiopia in the next 24 hours and we may never see them again. We hope, though, that we’ll be able to exchange information via email and hear how this amazing adventure will continue for them.

Update from Ethiopia

Another interesting and eventful day in Ethiopia.

We awoke, had a yummy breakfast and then boarded a taxi for the Dutch embassy to petition for a transit visa for little Adam Girum. First we went to the care center to fetch Adam Girum from the nannies. When we arrived to do so, we found him on the roof of the care center sunbathing with all the other babies whilst being slathered and massaged with baby oil in the warm sun. This ritual is repeated every morning with the babies from 8:30 to 9:00. This is done so the babies get some good vitamin D-building sunlight and their skin is well moisturized.

As soon as I walked in, Adam Girum who was heretofore perfectly content, began with his "I want food" cry as soon as he saw me. Although he was not scheduled for a feeding, he has already learned that Mom will provide food any time. This was confirmed when we rapidly consumed a 6 oz. bottle of formula as soon as we climbed in the van. Off to the Dutch embassy and people in wooden shoes.

When we arrived, there was a long line of Ethiopians waiting to get in for various reasons. We completed Adam Girum's application, and then asked the guard at the door what we should do with it. He then asked us what country we were from. We answered, "USA", at which point he summoned us through, bypassing all the people who were ahead of us. We protested and said we'd wait, but he insisted. So, we reluctantly went inside. (When we asked Aswah later (sp?) at the office about this curious thing, she simply stated this was normal to let Americans go to the front of embassy lines and not to worry about it). The Dutch gave us our rubber stamp, took our 75 bucks and told us to come back on Friday morning to get the visa. With a clack of her wooden shoes she was off to the next visitor. By the way, the Dutch embassy grounds were beautiful. Often the contrast inside these embassy, business and private living compounds and the bustiling, developing city outside is bracing.

We arrived back at the guest home for another Ethiopian feast which was exceptionally delicious. The food at the guest house has been very good this week and quite safe. We did get a few reports of some minor "issues" with those who either didn't heed or hear Massi's advice to avoid anything uncooked at the Crown Hotel last night.

Adam Girum had, in the meantime, consumed two more 6 oz. bottles of formula which warmed our hearts.

We met with the two care center doctors for a briefing on Girum's progress during his stay over the last few months at the care center. Very impressively, they had maintained a thorough medical record for Adam Girum that was as comprehensive as anything I've seen in any country, including the United States. As I've stated before, the staff here is very good and they really understand the unique challenges facing these children in this part of the world. In fact, when you consider how many children are here, the space they have to care for them and the other challenges they face, it would arguably be difficult to find this good of loving, concerned care even in the United States. This CHSFS facility would put many american child care facilities to shame. Many of you know that Adam Girum has had a few issues during his stay which have been successfully treated. The doctor even mentioned that Adam Girum is a tough little fighter. We agree. Since being with us, he seems to be making great progress, with good eye contact and really seems to be recognizing and reacting to us.

We're just about to attend the Goodbye Ceremony at the care center. This is where the nannies and staff say goodbye to the children they have cared for so tenderly for these last weeks and months. It is sure to be an emotional time. As happy as we are to have our new children, many of the staff will grieve as they have been so close to many of these children and have, in a very real way, saved thier lives.

We miss all of you and are beginning to feel just how long this trip is lasting. We miss our children very much. Jill, in fact, is craving an icy diet coke in a Maverik Mug just to give you an idea.

From Ethiopia

Well it has been another fantastic day in Africa! I am laying here typing with my beautiful baby lying next to me and the wind is flowing thru windows off the deck from our bedroom. He is starting to smile at both of us and has been cooing so sweetly. When Shawn and I went to take him back to the nannies this morning while we shopped. I had him in my sling. The nannies smiled and patted my sling saying, "good mommy! Safe, Safe, Safe". I knew they approved. Ethiopian culture says that babies are not to be seen in public until they are older than six months. So my sling that keeps him hidden inside is perfect. We kissed him goodbye and told his favorite nanny that we would return after lunch.



Massi then took us to Church Hill road for a morning of shopping. The shopping prices were so amazing. I felt guilty buying the things knowing that this was someone’s livelihood and that the items were so inexpensive. Even harder to watch were all of the beggars that showed up as soon as they saw the Americans. There were many people who were crippled,or in wheelchairs or have some sort of terrible disability. In America we have a social safety net for these people but not here. We were told by our driver today that only between 6-20% of this country works doing salaried jobs. The per capita income in Ethiopia is $120 a year. No that is not a typo! Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest nations. As we were walking our baby back this morning we walked next to two young men wrapped in blankets that they probably had slept in on the road. They told Shawn and I that there was no work here. They were going to look this morning for something to make money. We gave them two granola bars for their breakfast and they thanked us and then we left them as we turned into the office. Anyway, I got off the subject of shopping. We had a good time and it was nice to have Massi and our driver to keep us safe and in the right place.



After shopping they drove us through the Merkato. This is the largest open air market in Africa. It was huge. I was taking pictures outside my window and Massi told me to quick close the window or someone would pull my camera out of my hands. There were so many people, donkies, cars, goats and more people. In the books it sounds like a fun place to visit and I had been disappointed when I learned that we would not be able to shop there. However like so many other things here as you are able to experience it for yourself you realize why Massi has made the determination that it will be drive through window shopping.



We returned home to another wonderful lunch finished with the best rice crispy treats ever. Someone on our agency forum had told me that the cooks love to make rice crispy treats. So if I would bring the marshmallows and rice crispies they would make them. They were delicious.



Need to run and do some things I will write later.



I went to pick up Girum from the care center and his favorite nanny was there. She was smiling her usual beautiful smile. She tries so hard to communicate with me and I, her. But usually we just smile and laugh at our little Girum, however. Today when I came she said to me, "I have a gift for Girum". She got in her drawer and pulled out a beautiful Ethiopian outfit. She had bought it just for him. I got all teary eyed and gave her a big hug and she asked if she could put it on. He looked so beautiful in it. It was really more than my emotions could handle. This sweet nanny had bought this beautiful outfit with what was equivalent to 2 days pay. It was then that I really understood how attached she was to my little boy. She has taken care of him for the past three months so well. To which I will never be able to repay her for. I got to the car and the other families were there and I showed them little Girum in his outfit and all of them could not believe he she had done that. We are all very aware at the little money that people get by on here. I started crying it was just to much. A van full of darling babies and toddlers and my sweet little boy in his darling Ethiopian traditional dress.



We spent the afternoon enjoying each other's company and doing a little wash in the

bucket in our shower. Not my favorite pass time, but necessary as most of our luggage space was taken up with the gazillion donations we brought with us. (Thanks to the generous donations from so many of you our friends and family. ) The roof has a makeshift laundry line on it and we hung our stuff up to dry in the breeze.



We had to be ready to go by 6:30 to the Crown Hotel for a traditional Ethiopian meal and dinner dancing show. Think, Ethiopian Luau. It was very interesting food. I personally enjoyed the food at the guest house better. But it was still delicious. Then they had dancers that came out and a live Ethiopian band playing traditional Ethiopian instruments. They danced from all of the regions of Ethiopia. They can move their head and necks unlike anything I have ever seen. Shawn took lots of video tape so we will have to show anyone that is interested the tapes when we are home.



We are at the guest house now and I am tired and have to get up early as we have a car picking us up at 8:30 to get us to the Dutch embassy for a transit visa. Then we will be meeting with the Doctor to go over Girum’s history and see what she has to say about him. Hopefully the embassy will be a smooth trip.

Update from Ethiopia

It is morning and we have just awoken after a long day. We ate a delicious breakfast and are looking forward to an Ethiopian feast after the morning is spent at the Ethiopian National Museum. This should be an interesting visit. Lucy is housed here. She is the oldest found skeleton in the world. CHSFS has done amazing work here and I have to say that the founder of the Ethiopian program whose name is Asnaka is a visionary man. When we got here it was a little overwhelming to see your baby and realize that he is yours when you have never met him before. They do a great job at slowly introducing your children to you. When we got here we had a social report that had been done by the social worker which had all kinds of information about his likes and dislikes and habits. They had asked us to read it before meeting him. They do this so that the transition will go smoother. Everyday we get to see and play with little Girum and everyday the transition is smoother and more natural. I think tonight we will bring him back to the guest house for his first night with us. We will pick him up after the museum because we will be going to the embassy this afternoon. Then we will keep him with us until the morning. After we return him to the nannies, CHSFS will take us shopping. It should be nice, as the agency sends two people with us to help us communicate with the merchants. Massi, is Asnaka’s brother and a GREAT house manager. His job is to take care of all of us and make sure we get whatever we need and that we stay safe. He does and outstanding job of it and takes his job very seriously. Just try to go out at night, or do something that might be the least bit risky and he springs into action. He is an incredibly hard and dedicated worker as so many of the people here are with CHSFS. More importantly, he is great person who exudes genuine warmth and concern for all the families here in Adis.

A couple of things that I did not mention about yesterday that I meant to say: We had an amazing driver on our Hosanna trip who seems to have a thriving tour business here in Ethiopia. He spoke perfect English and thus was able to give us a lot of insight into Ethiopia and its various cultures. He kept reiterating how regretful he is over wasted human potential and resources in his country, especially in a land as rich and fertile with so much potential as Ethiopia. This is a beautiful country with incredible people and possibilities. Like I said yesterday, the people here are bright and intelligent, but often there is not enough opportunity. As Shawn and I were talking to all of the little children in Hosanna they wanted to talk English. Shawn asked one of the little boys, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” He answered, “ A doctor to fight HIV and AIDS” It brought tears to my eyes to hear that. Right after that we drove away and the driver shook his head and said, “ it is so hard for me because these children may never have that opportunity. It will be very difficult for him to accomplish that. As smart as he is it will be very difficult.” These children are smart. It was so amazing to me how much they wanted to learn from us. They were hungry for our attention and the chance to practice their English.

Our travel group is great. Six families, 2 couples picking up twins. One couple picking up a sibling set and three of us picking up single infants. Everyone here is very positive, which is extremely helpful in this situation. It has been so wonderful to have other families going through the transition with you that are sharing your same feelings. It is great to have each other. This is another wonderful thing about CHSFS. They have taken care of EVERY detail. I just can not say enough about this agency here. Asnake is going to go over his new plan for the center. We have seen pictures of it on the wall. It will be like a high school campus. With a birthing center, a school, a building for education to help the people of Ethiopia learn how to do many things that they can then turn around and gain employment through CHSFS at the center. It is quite amazing. When you meet people like the ones at this place it makes me rededicate myself to helping others.

New post- We just got back from the Museum. We thought we were going to the National Museum but first we went to the National Institute museum on the campus of Addis Ababa University. When we finished the driver said, “ we go now to the National museum and we all looked at each other and wondered what we had just been to. However, it was already 11:30 and we knew Ethiopian food was being served at the guest house at 12:00 and we had to be to the embassy by 2:00 and have picked up our babies. So we kindly told the driver we wanted to go back to the guest house. We will be able to visit the National Museum on Thursday I think because we hired the driver that we had on Sunday to pick us up on Thursday for a half day tour. The Museum that we visited was great and gave us a good insight on Ethiopian Culture. It is actually the palace of Hallie Salassie(sp?) It was quite neat. The mirror still had the bullet hole from the coup in the 1960’s.

I will write more later as we are going to lunch and then to pick up our sweet baby at the center. I hope it goes okay tonight. He is so good natured while we have been with him so I hope that does not change. We have packed our bags with the bare minimum for our embassy trip as we have been told that they will search everything, make us drink any form of liquid to try it including the formula, even try on the lotion if we bring it. Funny thing the embassy of Togo is across the street from here and I have taken a couple of pictures of it and no one has come out running. Where is Togo anyway?

Off to lunch!

Well we are back from the embassy! That was sure fun. Amazing to see what our American Tax dollars can build in Ethiopia. I would have loved to have gotten past the front part of the embassy headquarters and walked around so that we could have seen the grounds. From the inside gate they looked beautiful. We had to go through two metal detectors and then Shawn was asked to try the liquid in the diaper bag. Good thing I had not mixed up the bottle yet. We then went inside and sat and waited until our names were called. After that we went upstairs and answered a bunch of questions to a American woman behind some glass. She was very nice and then said you passed. So now Adam is official and we can go get his Dutch transit visa. Hope that goes as smooth. Funny thing at the embassy there are big signs that say no photography. Vicki in our travel group was leaving the embassy and was across the street from the embassy walking to the van and thought she could get away with snapping a photo. So she did and then started walking to the car. She had not even gotten to the car when the guard caught up to her demanded to see her camera and the pictures she had taken and then watched and rechecked as he made her delete her photos. So when they say no photos they really mean no photos.

The CHSFS worker Martha then took us to the Hilton for us all to confirm our flights home which is a must do in Ethiopia. Then we walked over to the pastry shop and purchased a slice of cake from the bakery. It was a nice bakery the kind in the US where the slice of cake would be $5.00 US. We purchased it and it was 90 Birr. Equal to $1.00 US. I about fell over. Martha told us that was expensive to Ethiopians. I was taken aback because to me it was a real bargain.

We have Girum back with us at the guest house and he is a dream!!!! I don’t think he did anything but a few giggles today. He is so good natured and alert he looks around and is happy to be here. He did a great job at slurping down two 6oz bottles in 5 hours time so I think he will take to this bottle feeding well. He is now sleeping very peacefully next to me on the bed as I type. He is sooooo sweet and darling. He has a ton of hair and his locks are loose and soft curls. We will see how tonight goes. It is probably the only thing I have not been looking forward to: Waking up with a hungry baby in the night.



I forgot to tell you the cute thing his nanny did yesterday. I walked into his little room and she was cuddling him. It has been obvious from the start that she loves him. She handed him to me and as I was hugging him she put her hand on my arm and said with a darling smile. “I LOVE YOUR BABY!” and I knew she meant it.



She then took out her cell phone and showed me his picture on her cell plate. I started crying. How lucky He has been to have someone to love him so much until I could get here to pick him up. She ask me if she could please have a picture of Girum and if I would send one to her later on his birthday. It was so sweet I again got big huge tears in my eyes.

This place is amazing. Have I said it enough?

Well this is the longest email ever, I know. So I had better log off. We are shopping in the morning and then have the afternoon off to hang out with the baby. Tomorrow night we will be going to the Crown Hotel for a traditional Ethiopian dinner and dancing show. We hear that it is fabulous and we can not wait. So we will write again soon.

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.

The Awassa Children's Project

How much do I give?

I am up too late once again. Helping my 14 year old son get his portfolio ready to run for SBO office at the Jr. High. As I sit here exhausted with him I am reflecting on the chance that he has to do such exciting things in his life. As I watch him work away at his project I cannot get the pictures out of my head that a friend emailed me a few weeks ago. I reflect on the picture and think why is my son able to have all of the blessing he does while so many children are living a life of absolute poverty. I will share with you the pictures she sent. They are pictures of the underground children of Ethiopia. About the same age as my son. Yet tonight as I say goodnight and turn off his lights I think of them. Sleeping in the storm drains.

They live in tunnels, sewers and drainage holes, hidden beneath Addis Ababa's teeming streets.
They move from one makeshift shelter to the next, chased away by police or the rivers of water and refuse that flow when the rains come.
Growing up amidst the traffic, they learn to hustle at a young age seeking change or selling small items to drivers at traffic lights.

Among the reasons for the high numbers of street children in Addis Ababa are extreme poverty, hunger, violent conflict and drought in rural areas. Often, the children come without families, orphaned by disease, escaping abusive and neglectful parents, captivated by tales of wealth and opportunity in the big city.
An exact number is too difficult to pin down accurately, but various estimates put the total number of street kids in Ethiopia between 60,000 and 150,000.

As I have contemplated these thoughts of wondering why me? I have turned to my father for his wisdom. He has spent numerous trips overseas and has witnessed and worked with people of all levels of poverty. I asked him. "Dad, how do you do it? How do you see what you see and not come back and be angry at the wealth and more specifically the way we as Americans tend to use the wealth." My dad has always been a pretty intelligent person and one whose wisdom has always guided me. He replied. "Jill, you are starting to see,..... where much is given, much is expected. We have been given much.... what we choose to do with these blessings God has given us is the question." My dad counseled me to not become bitter at the way people spend their money and realize that money spent brings jobs to many. I have to admit I had not thought of it that way. So this has been my challenge as of late. Be grateful for what I have. Thank the Lord for ALL of my blessings. Then take those blessings and do good with them.

So tonight as I tuck my 5'11 teenager in bed I do so with gratitude in my heart and a stronger commitment to take this gratitude and do good with it.

Good Night and sleep tight in your warm soft bed.