Out of Africa

A few weeks after the sudden suspension of all inter-country adoptions from Ethiopia the Embassy and US State Dept told affected families that Ethiopian officials had let them know that MOWA was going to start working on cases again, but that they were only going to issue negative letters. This was terrible news and sent about 200 families into a panic.  Negative letters from MOWA meant that the children they had been matched (some of them for years) but hadn't been through court would never be coming home and the adoption process was essentially over.  While I felt horrible for these families I knew we wouldn't be affected because we had already been through court and there was nothing they could do to reverse it. Our adoption was final.  What worried me was how long it was going to take to get him out of the country and if we were going to have to hire a lawyer in Ethiopia to make it happen.

One week after getting the bad news about the intentions of the Ethiopian government the 225 affected families all found each other on Facebook and organized themselves for a fight.  Four families went to Washington D.C. the next Monday and met with 12 Senators explaining the situation and asking for help. The Senators immediately jumped into action and within 48 hours an official letter from the US Congress had been drafted to the Ethiopian government.  In essence this letter "nicely reminded" Ethiopia of our long standing good relationship and all of the money and goods we provide them and let them know that failure to unite these kids with their families in the United States would have a negative impact on that relationship. It also let them know that the US would support them in whatever they decided to do about adoptions moving forward, but they needed to allow the adoptions already in progress to be completed.  Once the letter was ready we all had 24 hours to call our Senators and Representatives and have them sign the letter.  The response was swift and amazing.  We were told the letter would be strong if it could get 50 signatures, but at the end of the day 122 Senators and Representatives had signed the letter! Incredible.  It was sent electronically to the Ethiopian Prime Minister and government the very next day. For all of this to happen in one short week was an absolute miracle. I'm sure the fact that it wasn't a controversial or political issue was probably refreshing for the Senators and Representative and they were eager to put their names on it after finding out they had constituents that were affected. We were the only family from our state and yes, Senator Orrin Hatch did sign the letter. Thank goodness.

In addition to the congressional letter we all participated in a snail mail campaign to the Ambassador of Ethiopia in Washington D.C. Every single day the Ethiopian Ambassador received hundreds of letters at their embassy. These letters contained real stories and pictures of the families who were directly impacted by this decision and all of them were asking for him to intervene in their behalf.

At the beginning of June we all waited with baited breath to see if our diplomatic efforts were going to make a difference. As 1 of 20 families who already passed court and were the legal guardians of our kids we knew we would be the first ones through if they decided to start signing the vital letters we needed for our kids to leave Ethiopia. On June 5th the Facebook group started to blow up as families started posting messages like,  "Our vitals were signed by MOWA today!!" One family who had been in Ethiopia since the suspension began 7 weeks earlier was giving us a lot of updates so we were receiving accurate information almost instantly. AJ's papers were signed the next day on June 6th which meant that our agency could now apply for his passport and get his medical examinations done in preparation for his visa interview at the US Embassy.  Once we were sure his passport would be issued we booked our flights. With a passport there was nothing else Ethiopia could do to stop us from bringing him home!

On Friday, June 16th Adam and I started the journey back to Ethiopia.  We stayed overnight in Washington D.C. again and caught the direct flight from D.C. to  Addis Ababa. We planned to be on the same flight as the other families who were with us in April so there was a great reunion at the gate in Washington D.C.

We left D.C. the morning of the 17th.

We arrived in Addis Ababa at 7:30 a.m. the 18th. When we traveled in April they didn't have us de-plane on the tarmac and ride buses to the terminal, but this time they did.

We specifically planned to arrive on a Sunday morning, which is the day the West Sands staff has off, so we could rest at the hotel and be fresh when we took custody of our kids on Monday.  In fact our friend Michael had arranged a ride for us from the airport to the hotel just so no one from West Sands would have to come on a Sunday.  I hadn't slept a wink on the flight and was really looking forward to a nice long nap.  Unfortunately it never happened.  Apparently the communication isn't great between the US office staff and the Ethiopian office staff at West Sands because Semmy was at the airport to meet us and had planned for us to immediately travel to Adama to get AJ that very morning.  I was a little disappointed as I was hoping to be rested or at least showered before getting him. I also felt really bad for making them work on a Sunday.

The streets of Addis Ababa.

You know you are in Africa when you see UN vehicles on the road. In Adama they have large UN food station that feeds millions of Ethiopians.  In April we were there on a day when large trucks lined the roads getting ready to ship needed food to rural areas of the country.

Once you are out of the city you can see a lot of mountains and open area.  Addis is one of the highest elevated capitals in the world at over 7,000 ft above sea level. As you can see it is quite mountainous. 

We saw a lot of goats with young boys following behind to keep them in line.

We arrived at the orphanage and had to wait a few minutes while they gave Dureti (AJ) a bath and brought him out.  The clothes he was wearing were a little small, but he didn't seem to mind.

When they brought him in they turned on some music and he immediately started to dance.  The nannies then went and got some of his friends for a little farewell dance party.  AJ and one other little girl in particular were the ones who really got into the dancing.  We recognized their dance moves as traditional Ethiopian dancing and it was so fun to watch!

It was hard to get good pictures in this small office area because the light was always in the background.

He said goodbye (again) so some of the nannies who were there.

Then he waved bye-bye to his friends and was all smiles as we got in the Taxi to go to back to Addis.

I have no idea what he was thinking as we drove away.  I'm sure it was confusing for him because this was the 3rd time we came and got him from the orphanage.  He probably thought he was going on another little vacation and would come back like the other times.

Here are some pictures of Addis Ababa from the 6th floor of our hotel.

There were other West Sands families at the hotel while we were there.  During the day we would take our kids up to the 6th floor because there was an open lobby that wasn't used during the day but allowed the kids some space to run around and play with each other.

This little girl was from the same orphanage as AJ.  She was going home to Minnesota with her new family.

The dining room at the Sidra Hotel.  We spent many hours sitting here for all our meals while in Ethiopia.

We went to the Embassy on Monday afternoon for our Visa interviews. The last time we were at the Embassy in April we left very disheartened, but this time we were all smiles. The Visas would be ready to pick up the next morning and then we were free to leave the country and take our kids home. Tuesday morning we received thick manila envelopes that were sealed shut and our children's Ethiopian passports.  We were told to give the sealed envelope to an immigration officer when we landed in the USA and when they opened the sealed envelope AJ would officially be a US citizen.

We originally planned to fly out Wednesday night, but when we finished with the Embassy by Tues morning we decided to change our flights and leave that very night.  It's a struggle to keep an active 2 year old boy in a hotel room and since we couldn't go out and do anything there really wasn't a reason to stay longer than necessary. It was fun to get to know AJ's personality a little more. We learned that he will eat pretty much anything and is a Ham with a capital H!  He loves to tease and dance and is very happy and cheerful most of the time. He is also a very busy boy! While the other families' boys were still in shock and quite reserved AJ walked around like he owned the place.  I like to joke that when personalities were handed out in heaven, AJ must have gotten a double dose. I brought a pair of sunglasses for him and he loved them so much he refused to take them off.  The hotel staff really got a kick out of him walking around with sunglasses on.

Our friends Kaycee and Bamlack (Leo)

Tuesday was AJ's hardest day.  I think that was the day he finally figured out he wasn't going back to the orphanage and his life was going to be different.  He cried a lot and was inconsolable.  We knew that this would happen and while it is completely normal for adopted children to grieve at the loss of everything they have known it was still sad to watch him go through it. It was also a little stressful because it's never fun to hear someone's kid crying at the top of their lungs for an hour when you are at a hotel.

By 7:00 p.m. Tuesday we were packed and ready to leave for the airport.  All 3 families were on the same flight going to Frankfurt which was a good thing because Michael was traveling without his wife (she is pregnant and couldn't travel back to Ethiopia) and he ended up getting sick that afternoon. He is pretty sure he got food poisoning when he left the hotel and had lunch with an Ethiopian friend.  This, of course, is an absolutely miserable way to start 20 hours of flying with a toddler boy! It was a good thing we were there to help him with his son, I don't think he would have made it otherwise.

Here are the 3 boys at the airport.

Bamlak (Leo) going to Georgia, Dureti (AJ) and Hambi (Abram) going to Alabama

The waiting area was hot and crowded and was the most diverse crowd I have ever been a part of. Flights were leaving for destinations all over the world. Adam took a picture of the departure screen.

These were the lights of Addis Ababa as our flight left at 11:10 p.m.  I don't know if or when AJ will come back to Ethiopia so I tried to document the last view of his homeland.

Fortunately AJ slept for most of the 7 hour flight to Frankfurt Germany. We made a little tent for him so the lights in the cabin wouldn't wake him up.

Here he is buckled up and ready to land in Germany.

We said goodbye to Kaycee and Leo in Frankfurt. They flew to Atlanta.

Michael and Abram continued on with us to Chicago which was good because Michael still wasn't feel well so we were able to help him for a big longer and by a "bit" I mean 9 more hours. 

AJ did pretty well on the flight from Frankfurt to Chicago. He slept for about 5 hours and was awake for 4.  He wasn't the least bit interested in the iPad I brought filled with videos and apps for a 2 year old so it made the 4 hours he was awake VERY long, but somehow we survived.

We had a 2 hour layover in Chicago which wasn't nearly enough time to get through immigration, meet with an immigration officer, have them go through paperwork, get our bags, recheck our bags, get to Terminal C, go through security and get to our gate.  We were stressed and sweaty and running and AJ had a meltdown while we were trying to get through security.  We finally got to our gate out of breath and just in time. . .and then the flight was delayed for about 30 minutes. Agh. 

Fortunately our flight from Chicago to SLC was right during AJ's nap time so he slept for the entire 3 1/2 hr flight.  I was so incredibly grateful because by this time I hadn't slept for 2 out of the last 5 nights and was exhausted and just didn't have it in me to entertain a toddler for another 3 hours on a crowded plane.

Touchdown in SLC was a surreal experience.   Four years of blood, sweat and tears had led to this very moment but I was so tired I was on auto pilot and felt numb. Grandma and Grandpa were there with Korinne and Jameson (Britton and Jenna were at EFY) and my sister Heather and her kids were there as well, which was a surprise.  It turned out that they just happened to be passing though town at the very time we were flying in. What luck!

Welcome home AJ!!

AJ had never been in a carseat before but it didn't take him long to realize that he wasn't a fan.  1 1/2 hours was a bit long for his first time.

Mom, why are you doing this to me?!

Home Sweet Home

Welcome Home AJ!