Tuesday morning – 8:00am Kampala, Uganda
Last night was wonderful! Joseph (the man who runs the adoption program in Uganda) came and got us at around 7:00pm to take us to his home. It took forever to get around Kampala. We literally drove around the “inner city” of the metropolis. It was very much like Gulu (Uganda). People selling food on the street, people were everywhere and gathering around in large groups. The traffic was crazy. I am sure there is some type of order, but it doesn’t seem like it. It felt like chaos. I was sitting in the front seat – big mistake! I finally just closed my eyes until we got there.
Now for the good part! We pulled up to Joseph’s house and he honked the horn so the gate could be opened. The gate begins to swing open and who do I see opening the door on the right? Karim! I knew it was him the moment I saw him. Then, on our left as we drove through were Jackie and Phiona – both grinning from ear to ear! They all came and gave us very big hugs as soon as we got out of the car. Harriet, Joseph’s wife asked Karim who it was and he said “Mom and Dad”. How wonderful! He called us Mom and Dad the entire tie. They both did. They were both very sweet.
Carey will absolutely go crazy over James – who actually prefers to be called “Sam”. He is absolutely precious! If he hadn’t been taken by Mac and Carey, Shaun and I would have added him to our list and brought him home. He is beyond sweet, very out-going and very affectionate. When he sat down next to me he held my hand. What an absolute doll baby. He loved the picture of C.C. (our cat). He called it a puss cat. If Carey doesn’t have a cat now, she may be getting one. I was very sad that I didn’t have their photo albums and gifts (due to luggage being lost by the airline).
Anyway, last night sitting around the table and watching Karim and Phiona as they sat next to met was so surreal. I couldn’t believe that they were there in person where I could touch them. I had only seen them by picture for seven months and the moment was very precious to me. Shaun and I both agreed that meeting them brought total confirmation to our decision to adopt both of them (as well as Yohannes).
Joseph is bringing them to the hotel today. We will get more time with them here in our room. I can’t wait to love on them some more and take many pictures. Tomorrow we will be meeting Yohannes! What a great week!
Tuesday night – flight from Kampala to Addis Ababa
We had a great day with the children. They came to the hotel and we played in the room. We gave them their gift bags – they really seemed to enjoy them. I took out the activities that I brought for Yohannes so they would have things to do while in the room. Phiona cracked me up because she started putting everything she came across in her bag. I had to start hiding stuff so that Yohannes would still have items to keep himself entertained on the plane. Karim was curious about the shower so he took one – ice cold. He just stripped right down and jumped in. He really enjoyed it. I got a couple of great pictures. I ordered them spaghetti for lunch and ice cream for dessert. They ate it all!
We then went to the mall to get some snacks and clothes (since our luggage was nowhere to be found). Just like my boys back home, they wanted everything they laid their eyes on. They both spoke Lugandan so they would be chatting away to me but I had no idea what they were saying. Thank God Joseph was there to interpret.
We ended the day at the airport. Karim would have gotten right on that plane with us. I am not so sure about Phiona. We hugged them goodbye and that was that. It was sad to say goodbye but knowing we would be seeing Yohannes the next day seemed to detract from the sadness of it.
Still no luggage and we headed off to Ethiopia. The flight was fine but waiting in line for a visa and through customs took forever!
I am really looking forward to meeting Yohannes tomorrow. I wonder what he’ll be like. I hope that he is happy to meet us and feels comfortable around us. Will he call us Mom and Dad like the other two did? Lots of questions and hopefully we get an answer early tomorrow!
Friday morning – 1:00am
It has been a whirlwind since meeting Yohannes yesterday. When we walked through the AFAA gate I saw him immediately. He was sitting at the plastic picnic table and of course, he was wearing a jean jacket! He also knew who we were right away. I could tell that he was going to be very shy. I called his name and he walked over to us. Since he was so unsure I just knelt down and said hello. I am not sure what all I said – I just remember holding his hand. He stood almost paralyzed. If I only knew what was going through his mind. Shaun was filming but eventually he came and gave him a hug.
He showed us around a bit but the rest of it is a blur. I think we pretty much went straight to Tigist’s office to do paperwork. He just sat there totally silent. Tigist talked to him and he talked back to her. She said that although he was acting shy he was very happy to have us there.
A little later Shaun and Yohannes played ball – they really enjoyed it. Tigist did say that all morning Yohannes talked about meeting us and that he was very excited. I can’t help but wonder what that looked like. We had the coffee ceremony at 3:00pm. It was the best coffee I have ever had. The children came home from school at around 3:30 but it was raining so we didn’t get to spend any time with them. Tigist told us that Yohannes did want to go with us that night so it was very encouraging. So, at about 4:00pm we went back to the hotel. He sat on my lap in the backseat of the taxi and a tradition was set – he now sits on my lap each time we are in the car. We had still barely heard him speak.
When we got back to the hotel I showed him his books. He broke out the Dr. Seuss “ABC Book” and “Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?” and read them both out loud. Shaun and I couldn’t believe it! It was amazing. We also brought out an animal book and he was able to name the animals and write their names in English and Amharic. Although he didn’t converse he was willing to help us with our Amharic words. I got out the dictionary and would point to the words. He would read them and tell us how to say it. I believe the system is working well.
We went to dinner with the Russell’s at Top View Restaurant. The food was very good. As soon as we sat down Yohannes put his napkin on his lap. He ate spaghetti for dinner. When we got back to the hotel he took a shower and got ready for bed. I let him watch a video. We slept in the same bed. I was worried he would wake up and be scared because he was in a new place but he did great. He woke up in a great mood. We went to eat breakfast at a place that Tigist recommended called Isha (?). The food was great! We also went shopping to get Yohannes a few items. He did great the entire day and held my hand when we walked around.
We came back to the hotel and he and Shaun played soccer while I got ready for the day. We then went to our Embassy appointment. It went very quickly. We basically got called to a window, had to swear that we were truthful in our documents and answer a few questions. Is this the child that was referred to you? Where are his parents? – then a congratulations and that was it. Everything was finally done!!!! We just had to get him on the plane. Honestly, I had to physically keep myself from crying. I guess due to the major load that felt like was taken off of my shoulders.
When we came back to the hotel they played soccer again. All of the guest house guards join in. Yohannes is getting a lot of attention. One of the ladies who cleans the rooms came in our room while Yohannes was reading a book to us. She sat down and listened and was grinning from ear to ear. You could tell that she was very proud of him. He is really starting to show some personality and a personality it is! He is a mess – and a smart ass if I may say so!!!! He is a hoot! Not much talking but facial expressions – he is amazingly expressive. We have no doubt what he is “saying” to us. He can speak English wonderfully he just doesn’t want to right now.
We ate at Green View pizza for dinner and it was great! Yohannes can put away some food! It is pouring down rain here – thank God! They really needed it. The only bad thing about the rain is that we didn’t get to spend any time with the older kids at the foster home because the common area is outside. I was really hoping to get a lot of pictures for Karen and the other parents.
Tomorrow is our last day in Ethiopia. I hope that Yohannes does ok when we leave – I am a little nervous about it.
Our last day in Ethiopia. We woke up and just hung around the hotel for much of the day. Yohannes, Shaun and the guards played soccer in the courtyard. It continued to rain but Yohannes didn’t care and just kept playing. He and Shaun really bonded because they spent so much time just playing together. I didn’t bring a hairdryer and the curling iron doesn’t work because its wattage is too high so you can imagine how horrible I look. I am dreading the 24+ hours of travel that we have ahead of us. I also know that Yohannes’ Aunt is going to be at his going away party – that is making me very nervous. I hope that he handles it ok.
I am now home, so the rest of this will be written from here. We got to the foster home and as soon as we walked in I saw Yohannes’ family. Two aunts and his sister. I was terrified of how it might affect Yohannes. As soon as he walked in he saw them as well and he just froze and shut down. He didn’t want to walk over to them but he finally did. He has been away from them for years (2-3 maybe) so you could tell that he was confused. They were hugging all over him and were very glad to see him. His sister was adorable (this is the sister that I blogged about a while ago that they wanted to see if we wanted to adopt). The language barrier made everything a bit awkward but we tried our best to be accommodating. I could tell that Yohannes wasn’t sure what to do with it all. For the going away party each family got to cut a cake. All of the children and workers were there. We had to do it crammed in a room because it was raining but it was still nice. We had some questions for Yohannes’ Aunt, so Tigist translated for us. I wanted to be able to tell Yohannes more of his story and she was able to give a little more information. After the party the children played for a bit. All of the older children brought me letters they had written for their families. They made me cry.
Ugh! Then the time came to say goodbye. The house mothers were wailing and clinging to the three children that were leaving. Yohannes was crying which made Shaun and I cry as well. He then said goodbye to all of his friends and Tigist – he kissed them all on the cheek and gave them a hug and they all began crying. His family was sobbing when he said goodbye to them. We also hugged the aunts and sister and they literally just clung to us saying “thank you” in Amharic. It was horrible – necessary but horrible. Finally we just grabbed Yohannes and walked out. It was as bad as I imagined it would be but Yohannes seemed to rebound once we got back to the hotel. It was all a whirlwind after that because we had to get packed and get to the airport. There was so much going on and so much new to see that it took his mind off of it all.
He did great on the plane. He slept for the first 8-9 hours of the 17 hour flight. The rest of the time he just played with the buttons that controlled his t.v., read books and played with the “etch a sketch”. It wasn’t bad at all. When we told him we were getting ready to land in Oklahoma he started freaking out a bit. It was like he finally realized what was really going on. Shaun and I tried and tried to reassure him that he was going to be ok but it didn’t seem to help much. The episode lasted for a while but then he was fine. We landed and he got to meet his new brothers and all became well.
The next day we spent the day at my cousin’s house. For the first 5 minutes he didn’t want to get in the pool but then he changed his mind. He got in and literally didn’t get out for over 5 hours!!! Shaun had to eat his lunch sitting in the pool because he couldn’t get Yohannes out long enough to eat his meal!
He is doing great. He is already on our sleeping schedule and is playing well with the boys. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Here is what I have learned about his likes and dislikes:
*He covers his eyes when anyone kisses in movies.
*He loves French fries with ketchup.
*He prefers toys that make noise or do something.
*He loves “action” movies. We’ve watched Superman, The Incredible’s and a few Star Wars movies. He loves them. We still have some of the Star Wars action figures and he has loved picking up the figures as they come onto the screen. I guess we will need to go buy the movies and more of the action figures and all of the space ships and stuff. He also holds onto the movie case and points to the characters when they appear. It has been a blast watching him watch the movies and put two and two together (the person on the screen and the action figure).
*He really liked the Pop Rocks that his Memaw got for him.
*His favorite soccer team is “Arsenal”.
*He will eat spaghetti, rolls with jelly, green beans, pineapple, apples, bananas, Shells and Cheese and a hamburger patty with a little berbere spice on it. (This is what I have made so far).
*He liked the buttered popcorn we ate while watching movies.
*He loves to play in the pool.
We’ll keep everyone updated on his progress and keep sharing our pictures. Shaun has told me that it is time to break his silence and post on the blog. I can’t wait to see what he says.
