Sucessful Embassy Appointment

This morning we stayed at the hotel and had a relaxing time. We got to play with our girl and we took a walk around the hotel. At noon we headed out to the embassy. Like everybody said the room we waited in was very hot but everything went well and quick. We did not have to wait for a long time and we had all the papers we needed. No one even asked to look at our I-797C (the document given USCIS approving us for adoption). The Coles family passed as well so we just need Jordan's passport and visa. I believe we will get that on Friday. After that we headed out to the Alert hospital. It is a place where people with leprosy get to come to work and weave. They sell the items which they weave like dresses and tablecloths. We were not allowed to take any pictures there so I only have few from our morning walk. We also visited some shops on the way back and tonight we went to a Chinese restaurant. I didn't care for it that much. We just made it to our hotel room and I am tired and ready for bed.Jordan is doing great. Tonight she showed us her temper and how mad she can get. It is fun to getting to know her. We are looking forward to seeing our kids again and have our whole family together. We talk to them every day via google talk and it seems like they are doing great with grandma and grandpa. We have another busy day tomorrow so I better go get some sleep.

Tuesday

Today we had another busy day. We met with the Coles family and headed out to the embassy for a blood test then to the clinic for a Dr. visit. Everything went well. We were all surprised by the the American embassy since we did not see one American solider but all Ethiopian and nobody spoke English there (not even an American flag). Everything went well and quickly so we decided to head out for a little trip. We visited Entoto mountain where we had a view of the entire city of Addis Ababa. There is over 6 million people in this city (3rd largest city in Africa only Cairo and Lagos are larger). It was fun to be at a place that we saw so many times on other peoples blogs and here we are at the same place. Jordan is doing super traveling around town with us. I took plenty of nice pictures but they will have to wait till we get back for some editing. We also ate pizza for lunch Fil and I tried Ethiopian beer (it was good). We are now back at the hotel for some relax time and tonight we will have a meeting with our in country representative to put together all the papers we need for our embassy appointment tomorrow afternoon. We are enjoying our trip. We have been blessed to have two families with us the VanWinkle family and Cole family. Both of them brought their kids with them so our bus is full. All the kids are doing a great job. Overall Jordan seems to be a very happy baby. She loves children and she loves being held.I wanted to let you all know that our Internet connection in the Hilton hotel is pretty good. Not as fast what we have at home and I am sure for very large uploads it would be that great. We were not sure if we should bring our PC with us and now we are happy we did. Also we are able to talk to our kids back home over google talk for free! Unfortunately we can only post to our blog via e-mail but not read it. Therefore we cannot read any comments being made on the blog. If any of you have any questions please feel free to ask. Email us or call when we get back and we will try to answer them.Sam, Nate, and Emma (grandma and grandpa) we can not wait for you too meet Jordan. She will love you all. She loves being around kids.

Monday

Last night we had Jordan with us for the first time. She wasn't so sure about us at first. It took her a while to get used to her new bottle but before she fell asleep we got her to smile at us. She did great last night and even though she woke up few times she was only hungry or she needed to be changed and after that she went right back to sleep. She woke up very happy this morning. She is exploring our faces and pulling down my hair. We can tell she is getting used to us. We also met the Coles family who arrived last night with their two little girls and we went with them back to the TH. I am so glad we did. The nannies showed me how to do her hair and we had a great time playing with all the kids. I made sure I held all the babies again and I gave them all big hugs and kisses. They are all so loved by everybody. I also got to talk more to the nannies since some of them spoke English. I told them that we all pray for them daily and they were all very thankfully for that. Jordan was happy to see her nannies but she was happy to be with us as well. The Coles family took their girls and we all went out for lunch to a Ethiopian restaurant. Both Fil and I love Ethiopian food so we were very happy. After that we did some more shopping and I have to say that I love to haggle. I will fight for every cent all the way to the end. Fil is just paying. He admits that he would give up long time before me. I got some nice stuff that was on my list to do so I am happy with my purchases. We also have Bebi back as our tour guide so it is nice to have him with us. Rachel also brought one of the nannies for the whole trip to help with all the kids. This was very nice of her since she held Jordan so I could eat at the restaurant. We just got back to the hotel late from our dinner and are very tired and ready for bed. Jordan is sleeping so we better follow as well.Sam, Nate and Emma: Jordan loves to play with the photo album we sent her last month. And she loves looking at the picture of Sam and Nate.Jordan is doing well. Thank you so much for all your prayers. She is happy with us. Rachel and her husband told us that they never got her to smile at them and at the dinner table both Fil and I were able to do it. Isn't amazing how quickly she is getting used to us? We can see big difference since this morning. I cannot wait for her to be with you guys Sam, Nate and Emma. We love you all and miss you. (Just in case you haven't noticed we are having a good time here. We feel very blessed and thanking God for all His love for us.)

Sunday afternoon

We were able to spend some more time at the transitional home thisafternoon. I got to see the older kids eat lunch and let me tell youthey all ate more then Fil eats. They got plates heaping with food andthey left nothing on their plates. The TH (transitional house) has achildren's cook and she is doing a great job. They also have a lady whodoes laundry. I saw her yesterday sitting in front of a big mountain oflaundry and she was folding it. That women is my hero. Rachel told meshe does that every day. Jordan has also been much better with us. Wetook her outside to be with us and the older kids since it was very hotinside. They bundle up all the babies here you would think we are at theNorth Pole. She loved looking around. She fell asleep in my arm again soI gave her to Fil and played with the older kids for little bit.In our original schedule they told us we would get Jordan officially onTuesday. Yesterday when we visited the TH Rachel told us we could takeher right a way. We were not planning on it and since we wanted to get agood night sleep after all the traveling we waited. Today we took herwith us. We may as well start getting to know each other. She did verywell with us. We even did some shopping and now we are relaxing at thehotel. We can tell she is not so sure about us but we are getting there.We also learned today that there is old money in circulation here thatis no longer good. We never heard anything about it before so we weretaken a back a little when a merchant at the shopping plaza told us wegave him a false 100 birr note (about $10). We thought we received thenote from the bank so we went to the bank to complain but they did notwant anything to do with it. The bank said that the counting machinemagnetically scans the bills that would have picked up the lack of amagnetic strip so they claimed it would not have come from them.However, we now feel that it didn't come from the bank but the merchantprobably switched the bill with us. The merchant came to us 20 minutesafter the transaction and of course we were trusting and switched billswith him. We didn't have a guide with us and our driver doesn't speakEnglish. I wanted to let you know if you will be traveling in ET towatch out for this and check for the strip.Other then that we love it here. The weather is perfect and everybody isvery nice. Fil is now playing with Jordan on the bed and she is lookingat her baby album.There is one more family coming tonight.

Sunday Morning

The International Evangelical Church in Addis Ababa
bus
flowers
A HOPE orphanage


Rachel and Berret (AWAA staff)

After a good night sleep this morning we visited The International Evangelical church in Addis Ababa. It was a nice building and all the people were very nice to us. In a way it reminded us a lot of the international church in Prague. I got to take pictures of many nice flowers around the church building. After that we headed to the A Hope Orphanage to visit. We met with Rachel and her husband there and spent over an hour playing with the kids. Even though none of the nannies spoke any English we got to do some crafts with the kids. Nail polish was a big hit with the girls. Before we came here I had no idea what to bring with us. The other family here with us brought craft type activities to do with the kids, some lollipops, tattoos, and nail polish. It was a great idea and I wish I brought some as well. I also talked to Rachel what they need at the transitional home and she told me at this point they need clothes for older kids. They have plenty for babies. Also there is always a need of diapers and formula. Also some teaching material for the older kids to learn some English. They have a big poster with alphabet outside and most of them know it very well. They also know their colors. I got to play hopscotch with them this afternoon. They all love being photographed and they hang on to me and Fil all the time (they are not shy at all).

Meeting Jordan

the door
meeting Sentayehu (Jordan) for the first time
she was not so sure about mom

proud daddy

Jordan in our arms
happy parents, not a happy baby


sleepy baby

with Jordan's nanny
Jordan's favorite nanny
(Thank you Kacie for taking pictures!)

As you can see we got to hold our girl in our arms. She wasn't veryimpressed with us. She cried for the first 30 minutes but after Istarted walking around with her she was much happier and she fell asleepin my arms. She is the sweetest little thing with lots of hair. Aftershe fell asleep in my arm I gave her to Fil and I explored around thetransition house. There are now 19 children. I would say half older kidsand half babies. They are all well taken care of. It is a very niceplace with lots of loving care.Penelope- everybody was so excited about those pictures you sent. Theyall still talk about Josiah.I did get to hold all the babies and I gave everybody lots of hugs andkisses for all those who have referrals and are waiting for referrals. All the kids look very healthy and full of life.We also got to meet the other family who arrived in ET on Wednesday.They are from CA and he is a pediatrician. He is here giving all thekids check-ups. He checked Jordan this morning and told us she is veryhealthy and if we need he will look at her again before we leave. We allgot to eat diner together in a Mexican restaurant. Yep all the way herein Ethiopia and we went to Mexican restaurant. It was very good and wejust made it back to the hotel room. I am starting to feel tired so Ibetter go get some sleep.Hugs and kisses to our kids and be nice to G's!!! We love you and missyou all.I am glad we don't have to drive here!

We Made It

view from our room


views from the hotel

WE ARE IN ADDIS ABABA AFRICA!!!!I cannot believe we made it. We had agreat flight. We slept on and off from DC and we both got a good sleepin on the way from Rome. The food was great and everybody was very niceto us. All the bags made it and we are now enjoying the BEAUTIFULweather in Africa. We feel pretty rested and are now waiting for Bebiour guide to pick us up in a hour and we will be off to see Jordan. Thehotel is very nice and so is the room, and the internet is working. Iwill try to post picture of a view from our balcony. There are lots ofpalm trees and beautiful flowers blooming (yes grandma I will takeplenty pictures of flowers). We miss you Sam, Nate & Emma very much butwe feel very blessed that you have grandma and grandpa taking care ofyou. Love you all and we will try to post again later.