Videos of our girl!

Uploaded a couple of videos shot on the digital camera. Roxie, my dog (Kent), has become the new obsession. Roxie is doing really well with keeping her temper. Although during the two hand tail pull, Roxie turned and gave the girl a good push with her nose.

Happy New Year!

Playing ball with Roxie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeOmW9nQ14o

Sitting on Roxie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0RPxZDVODk

The Toddler has appeared, and she likes meat!

We are putting Ella specific posts here and general Ethiopian ones on Dolzilla.blogspot.com. Please check out both.

All of our loyal fans have most likely abandoned us since it has been so long between updates. I am using jet lag as an excuse for all it is worth. I finally felt normal last Friday, exactly a week after we left. Holy Cow! Between the jet lag and adjusting to a little one who is adjusting to a whole new life (with the requesite protests included), I’m surprised that Julia and I did so with the humor that we did. Having Tita (Julia’s mother) here has certainly been a blessing. I don’t know how we would have kept a house together without her.
The toddler appeared today. For the two and a half weeks we’ve been with Ella Mesay, she has pretty much been in one of our arms (Julia’s primarily) constantly. There were a few times at the guesthouse when she would be content to be on the bed or on the floor, but she was very needy when it came to physical contact. Besides the screaming that would ensue when she was set down, we think that the amount of physical contact was good for bonding. She was very clingy; still is a little. Today, she was running around the house a few times. It was great to watch her have such a good time. And, we all hope that the increase in activity will translate to harder sleeping. She is still very difficult to put to sleep and more so to keep her there. I have spent a few nights on the recliner downstairs. If one has to sit upright and holder her, they might as well do it in a comfy chair with a TV right there. It makes the next day a little hard, but at least Julia can get some quality sleep.


We’ve been home bodies for the most part. We have taken two stroller trips around the neighborhood. (Thanks Chuck and Ann for the nice ride.) The first one I think she was basically freaked out and silent. Our outing today was good for most of the way, then she grew discontent and had to be carried the last few blocks.
Today’s big outing was to El Patio, a local Mexican restaurant. She likes salsa . . . There is no use bandying about the fact. The chips she could do without, but she likes both red and green. Sucks it right down. Her eating habits are a bit to be seen. Ella is a carnivore. I don’t think I’ve seen a kid eat more meat. She isn’t that keen of veggies, but chicken, pork, turkey or beef, she attacks. She was even dipping her pork into the salsa verde tonight. She was a veteran with the condiment.


Our Christmas day was very subdued. Ella got a few toys and if it wasn’t for Tita and Heather, Julia and I would have been without presents. But the way we figure, EM is the big present. Ella got a Ms. Spider from Heather that she really enjoys. Ms. Spider is a cartoon that I had never heard of before Heather bought the toy a month or so ago, but Ms. Spider has adopted a bunch of buggy kids to make a family. Quite cute. The toy sings and stuff, but the songs are not annoying and she does have an off button. Ella is fascinated with Ms. Spider’s blinking eyes.
We also got her a set of blocks. She is a very good stacker. She is becoming more and more animated each day and her blossoming is something to behold. It is very reassuring to see her have her toddler moments, both good and bad.
Tita is headed to Montana tomorrow; it will be an adjustment for all of us. I hope her leaving doesn’t cause Ella too much distress. What am I saying, I hope it doesn’t cause all of us too much distress.
Oh, we had a doctor’s appointment last Tuesday. Everything checked out OK, including all the blood work. That was great. She started her shots. They just started her from the beginning even though she had some in Ethiopia. She had five in one setting. The girl is hard; she cried while they were doing the shot, but not afterwards. She comes from a strong and resilient people.
I’m sure there are more tales of amusement and whimsy that I am forgetting, but know we are all well.

We are soon to depart Addis

It gives me that feeling I, Kent, call melenhappy. Little happy, little sad. It has been a wonderful time. Not only have we gotten to bring a wonderful little girl into our lives, but we have also gotten to know a beautiful, yet heartbreaking, country. I not only have pride in my new daughter, but also in the new country that I have been introduced to and will always be part of my life.

We will leave the guesthouse in half an hour and be in Minneapolis/St. Paul Saturday around 4 p.m. Wish us luck on the journey and we will update soon. We have tons of pictures and more stories to share.

Thank you again for your love and support.

Big fun in Addis

Julia here-- it's just 6am and the babe has fallen asleep on her tummy, in bed next to a snoring Kent. From the scent of it, there's a full diaper to change, but I hope to get a few minutes to post my thanks to all for your encouraging messages re this blog.
When I was preparing for this trip, all of my attention has been on the baby and packing and documents etc-- it literally never occured to me what fun this would be! We've had a really great group of families here, and have so enjoyed their help as we get used to being new parents. I'm posting a few pics to give you a sense of the fun we've had! A shot of breakfast at the guest house and a typical shot of everyone piling into the van to go somewhere.
The other thing I never anticipated was how much I'd love Ethiopia and Addis. What a beautiful country and people- I am so proud to have a daughter from this amazing place.

Much love to you all -\Julia
d

The essentials: Food and Sleep

My heavens how the concerns about eating have dissipated like the bowls of spaghetti for lunch and dinner. She is also chugging down the formula. The Bebelac has a vanilla scent to it that is very pleasant. Julia continues to be the primary caregiver, me I’m the flogger – I fetch and I blog. All of that is good. I’m happy when the girl is happy – She’s got one scream on her. We’ve gotten calls of complaint from Cairo. Her sleeping is the final issue of complaint, not worry. It is nice to not have worries. She has a hard time being happy not being in Julia’s arms. Now I know she appreciates the compliment to her care and love, but she’d certainly like to lay down to sleep. Ella Mesay won’t even let her lay down and snuggle on Julia’s chest. She has to sit up unless EM is in a deep sleep. Last night was really hard on Julia as Ella would not get to that deep sleep. She had to sit up for most of the night.
Tonight shows a little promise as Ella Mesay hasn’t had a full blown nap all day. We are going to run to the pizza place for one final outing. Then comes the joy of packing, and maybe I’ll find the stuff I’ve been looking for all week. We are trying to arrange one final outing tomorrow to Shero Meda, a textile market. It is safer than the Merkato, which is mentioned below.

We’ll try to get up some more things, but we’ll be pretty busy with the final preparations and one last shopping trip. We’ll continue to put some Ethio stories even after we get back.

Thanks for everyone’s support. We love seeing the comments.

Just uploaded the picture. Jez, she's cute.

An Embassy, an airline and pancakes

As you tell with our lack of recent posts (we are getting four up today, however), we’ve been a little busy. Both with trip things, but mostly with being rookie parents. The full bottle in the backpack was a good one. There went a full roll of soft-soft. Not being fully prepared for diaper . . . shall we say . . . overflow? . . . was a learning experience. We now have the appropriate cleaning supplies. Experience doesn’t hurt either.

The big news, or at least I, Kent, think, on the baby front is her eating. Today she ate well. She had most of a good sized pancake for breakfast topped off by some eggs, a nice lunch of doro wat (chicken in a pepper sauce) and injera, dinner another pancake and two bottles (sippy cups) of formula thrown in there for good measure. The dinner pancake was a great surprise. I had told Hirrot, the guesthouse cook, that we were worried about Ella’s eating and she was visibility concerned. Once she heard how Ella scarfed down a pancake this morning, she was more than happy. Before dinner, which is soup, she asked what Ella would be eating. I said we’d try the soup, but if it didn’t work we’d make some cereal or something. She said she’d make a pancake. Well, as you can see from the picture . . . she went more for the full stack. Hirrot’s pancakes are very good by the way and she is a very sweet, loving woman.

Let me back up to yesterday. We started a nice leisurely morning, for a change, with the exception of Ella’s non-breakfast. We did a little shopping in the neighborhood, picking up a few items, which will remain unknown at the moment. My personal score was a pair of the ubiquitous Ethiopian foam sandals. They are the same material as Crocs in the States. They have many different styles and a quite comfy. I won’t look at that display in Wal-Mart the same, now that I know you can pick them up for 10 Birr ($1.25). I paid 30 Birr; I couldn’t come to bargain with the shopkeeper. Our street is pretty run down, OK really a disaster compared to anything stateside, and knew she could use that extra 20. I also picked up three rolls of soft-soft or toilet paper. The Ethiopian version is pretty good, I must say, 2-ply and is softer than the stuff in public schools. We came back to lunch of fish and pineapple with rice (Ella –nada) and then dashed off to the US Embassy – our little slice of home – behind blast barriers and Concertina wire.

This is the day that George W and the gang would give all of us the “Mission Accomplished” and as far as the US is concerned, Ella was ours. Now you think this would be all smiles, but one couple here has been mired in a paperwork fiasco. I believe this is there third week in the guesthouse. Now the problem wasn’t from the US, but once you’ve been tangled in the burocracy, you tend to get gun shy. Just for that touch of home and a visit to a government office, we got to stand in line in a room with a temperature a bit over the melting point of sand. Now when I said it was all of us that includes all the adults and children, even the biological ones. Thank heavens we had a “handler” from CHSFS with us, who took care of the fee and corralling the paperwork. After a bit in the sauna, we were told to go to the lower waiting area. I felt sorry for the Ethiopian people who were stuck waiting for their number to come up that remained there. I actually thought that the wait wasn’t so long. However, kids fall down, some one cries, a diaper needs changed, some loses a makina (car), and one of the Moms became faint from both a lack of water and being slightly ill. As you can see it was no picnic, which was good because Ella wouldn’t have ate anyway. We were called up one-by-one, and had to answer some questions, pertaining to the our child’s health, situation, etc. Of course there was a coaching session earlier in the day, so it was pretty much 1-2-3. We will get the approved forms back Friday morning and be set to head home. And everyone made it though, so Mario and Emily can finally return home. It has been nice having another couple who has been here for a while, as they know all the nuances of the guest house.

From there we went to the Addis Hilton to confirm our tickets on Ethiopian (they don’t said Air, it is just Ethiopian). Here we are in the second best hotel in all of Addis, and we get stuck in the queue to end all queues. It’s not that it was long, it just did not move. Why do you have to confirm your flight? From what I can deduce, Ethiopian will overbook its flights a little because it has a notorious cancellation rate. You can see it from their perspective; they can’t afford to fly empty seats. Therefore, beginning 72 hours before the flight, you can confirm. This is a first-come, first-serve affair. I believe it took at least 10-20 minutes to serve each customer. Of course you have the occasional customer fit, babies needing what babies need and everyone exhausted and dehydrated from the embassy experience. The joy of Business Class came up again when I was done confirming in about five minutes and three of that was spent in chit-chat. So we are ready, at least logistically, to head out Friday night.

The best of the Hilton experience is Julia had heard it possessed the best pastry shop in all of Addis. She decided to reward us all for the long day by buying a lovely cake. It was quite tasty, I must say.

After we got back from that, we had just a few minutes to get ready before we drove all the way across Addis to go the Crown Hotel. A couple nights a week the Crown hosts Ethiopian folk dancing. Sounds like a nice way to wrap up a, if not stressful, tedious and hot day. Those of you with children, already know the answer to this question. It started out rough, especially for Julia. We had to rush out the door and as we were backing out of the compound, Ella had a blow out. Please, don’t ask me to explain. She decided to stay and I went along. After our driver waited about five minutes for her to return, we left for the Crown. The drive over was another night cruise through Addis, near head-ons, pedestrians scampering and realizing that the money spent on paint for the lanes should have been used one something else. The dancing at the Crown was very good. It is traditional featuring dances from the four main ethnic groups, Amhara, Orimo, Tangyra and Hidiya (Ella’s). I filmed all of the dancing because Julia couldn’t be there. The food was good and I had a pleasant Ethiopian white wine, Amharsh Cristal. One of the children got violently ill during the course of the evening. We got home around 10, having left at seven.

Now there is part of the story I left out, really it is the key to the story. When we got to the Crown I realized it, Julia when she got upstairs, I had the key to the room. So there she was without a key and a baby in desperate need of cleaning and new clothes and I’m in the van without a clue. I feel terrible about it. I’ll let here tell her part when she can, but I do thank her for letting me go. I hope she enjoys the video. We’ve talked about going Thursday night. We’ll see.

Ella did not have a good night. At five, she woke up with a major fit. Our first. Wow, I don’t know how loud it really was, but the girl has a set of lungs. She finally calmed down and we got a little more sleep. It was hard to see her in that great of distress. I think that is one of the difficulties of taking over the care of a little one at this age. If we’d been with her from the beginning we’d know what she needed a little bit easier. I’m sure the nannies have her figured out to some degree, but we’ll catch on.

I spend most of my time as “Baba” getting things. I’m not complaining, but I find if funny that I spend most of my time hunting and gathering. I don’t think we have progressed that much. On thing I am excited about when we get home is having the slight idea where something might actually be located. I don’t know how much time I spent looking today. This is in spite of the fact that we spent a good portion of yesterday reorganizing. It is just hard in a space that isn’t your own.

We have two more days left. In some ways it will be nice to be home, but in others, not so. It is a really interesting place and each day I feel that I know a little bit more, but also that there is more that I don’t know. That’s a little Rumfeildian, isn’t it.

Drat, still a day behind in the blog, but know we are doing well.

Merkato, aka -Mall of Africa

It sure is hard to keep up with this thing once you have the child and we are doing so many interesting things. Going to the Merkato is definitely one of them. The Merkato is the largest outdoor market in Africa. I don’t know how many city blocks it is, but I hope the pictures give you some sort of idea. The volume of people and goods was awe inspiring. Block upon block, product upon product. It is not one giant market. It is part of the city with streets that are broken up by product type. There are areas for mattresses, tires, rugs, textiles, plastic goods and food vendors. The textile area went on forever and it bled into the tailoring area. Julia remarked you could pick out your fabric and go home with a suit in a few hours.
Plastic goods abound here. We saw so many people traveling for water with two five gallon plastic jugs. Buckets are also very popular. I can’t explain to you the enormity of the place. I wish I had brought the video, but hopefully the stills will give you a grasp. We drove for at least 30-45 minutes and Massi said we hadn’t seen a quarter of the place.
We also drove through the chat section of the Merkato. Chat, for those of you that don’t know, is a leaf that people ingest as a stimulant. I’ve heard before and Massi reiterated that it can make people act a little crazy. It is easy to find a chat shack in the Merkato, just look for a green building. We (our group) even stopped and bought a 2 Birr bundle, day’s supply, just to see what it looked like. People chew it in the afternoon. It is a little like coca leaves in Peru and Bolivia, I would assume. The way these people work, so hard for nothing, I can see why they may desire a bit of an afternoon bounce.

I am really bummed that it isn’t safe enough to walk around in. It used to be the sort of place where you could walk around, but now westerners are restricted to cars and vans. Not because you are going to get stabbed or anything,
just theft and con schemes abound. Most travel guides tell people to avoid walking through it.
Massi stated that everyone comes to the Merkato. We saw donkey carts besides nice cars. Of course the goats were everywhere. Julia mentioned, and we didn’t get to go past it, that there is a recycling section where people take old things as make new products out of them. For example, hats out of soda cans, and a myriad of other things. Nothing goes to waste in this country. You actually don’t see the amounts of trash that you could, as every little scrap of something is used and used again. I would have liked to see what happens to a kaput dryer, as I had two of them last year. I’m a little bummed
we couldn’t see it.

And if you need a part from a 1972 Toyota or Peugeot, you may want to check the Merkato.

Wofuchi

We met Ella Mesay's birth mother today. It was an incredibly emotional experience for all of us. We are so lucky to have met her- we were able to meet for well over an hour, and our translator was very sensitive and supportive of both parties.
Most of the information we gathered will remain private, because we see our responsiblity to Ella in the future- her birth and adoption stories are hers to share as she chooses. But we did gather some information we can share- Alamz told us that, for a variety of reasons, "Mesay" was not the name she gave her child. She named Ella Mesay "Wofuchi," which means "God's Soul" in Hadigyana. We're not sure how yet, but we'd like to incorporate such a meaningful name into Ella's.
It will be so important to Ella Mesay to have information about her birth mother as she grows up. We'll be keeping Almaz abreast of Ella's life and development. We plan to return to Ethiopia when Ella is older, and visiting Almaz will be key part of that trip. What this essentially is, is open international adoption. While it is not something I would have considered when I started the adoption process, in part because it hadn't occured to me as a possibility- but now we are so grateful to have met and made a family connection with this brave and dignified woman.

“I’d lend you a blanket, but it probably has ringworm.”

In the guesthouse common room, there’s a box of lice medication next to packets of Crystal Lite drink mix and lo-cal sweeteners. This is how we roll, in Addis. Meds for ailments that would probably freak out most American parents- may actually be a parent’s worst nightmare stateside- are commonplace. Mothers swap meds to counteract the effects of endless diarrhea; fathers don latex gloves before breakfast to apply cortisone cream to toddlers’ scalps etched with well-established ringworm infections. There is little queasiness, and if there is any, we laugh it off, about the daily clean-ups, disgusting symptoms, and most recent disasters. It seems like every day, at least one toddler has a gusher, a sudden bout of liquid poo that flows out of their diaper, soaking their clothing, their parents’, and the carpet. This is unlike any poo you’ve probably ever come across, with a stench so horrid and lingering, it inspires competitive descriptions by laughing parents drinking local beer late into the night.

By typical American standards, our kids are pretty sick. Aside from the diarrhea (but really, isn’t everything?), these children have conjunctivitis, flowing-green-snotty head colds and barking coughs, practically open-wound diaper rash, bacterial and fungal infections, and a variety of infestations. It is frequently gross, smelly, itchy, or painful around here.

But this is Africa, and every parent here knows that their child is lucky; that he or she could have something much worse than ringworm, lice, scabies, ghiardia, flat worms or parasites. Here, these children are healthy. They look like high school athletes compared to the children we see on the streets. Adoptive parents of African children are unflinching; we treat what we can here, and we save the rest for when we get home to the pediatrician. All of this is no big deal, really- our kids are alive and pretty healthy and going to get much healthier when they get home.

Is that a high E or G?

These lovely people, seated here at breakfast our first day here, hate us now. I'm actually joking, I don't think they hate us, but when Ella Mesay found her voice at 5 this morning, I wouldn't be surprised or offended if they did. Wow. The cry is hearty, but the scream she can let out. Wowza.

I write more humorus musings, but another violent poo just hit.

Two life changing days

Today we went to Hosaina, a city 230 km southwest of Addis Ababa. The drive is exceptional . . . All of the families – 5 Land Rovers full- who chose to go got started at 5 a.m. It only took 3.5 hours to get there . . . The roads out of town are really quite good; the driving is good also, just a little on the ‘we don’t really follow the rules.’ After cresting hills in the left lane, almost hitting several people, goats, dogs and donkeys, we came to the part of the road that is under construction. Cones aren’t used, rocks are. The detours are really dusty, crazy curvy and just a bit rough. OK, more like the roughest road I have ever seen. All those hours riding across the plains of Montana in a ¾ ton came in handy. We slowed down though this town because of goats, and these guys with sickles scared the living begezzus out of us. The consensus is that they were just screwing with people, because some of the drivers laughed, but still . . . not cool. But if I were them, I might do the same.


After we arrived in Hosaina, we grouped up at a hotel and took a bathroom break. A few ladies braved the elements of the facility. I felt the blessing of being male. . . talk about yeck. Then you find out it is the best they have in town . . . Then we rolled to the intake center . . . where Mesay began her time with children’s home. The center is small; if I recall correctly, five rooms where the children are staying. We first went into the main play/activity room . . . the looks on the faces varied from shock to excitement . . .

It is now Monday evening . . . we were so wiped out yesterday, that we couldn’t finish the update. I may be a little redundant here, but the computer I started the update on is being used by another person, so I’m punting as to where to start.
Been here two days, feels like two weeks, if not longer. That’s in a good way.

The intake center in Hosaina is a lot to take. You are seeing children whose world has just shattered, no matter how poor that life may have been. The poverty is endemic . . . you almost begin to get used to it; it wears you down. These kids just stare at you . . . perhaps the first white person many have seen, if they weren’t there during the last tour. The local kids surround the outside of the compound, begging, asking for money. When we came in, we were given a tour. We didn’t know, but the family members were already there. (Julia and I will be meeting Almaz, Mesay’s birth mother on Thursday in Addis.) The other five families all had a least one member there. Julia and I helped the other families with photographs and video tape . . . we were pretty busy.We couldn’t help overhear many of the stories and conversations, which I will not share out of respect for privacy of everyone concerned. It was remarkable to see each family start a relationship with these people who had to make tremendous sacrifices or who happened upon a child and took the responsibility to bring the child to the intake center. Each family had a different experience, of course, but all said it was worth the trip and the expense. It was emotionally exhausting.


The trip back to Addis was another experience of Ethiopian Driving. This time, however, people were out going about their daily work. I never envisioned the country so densely populated. Only the high mountain pass 30km south of Addis did not have people at least walking by the side of the road. I took lots of video of the drive both ways. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see anything, but you may see some near hits. Remarkably in the 230 km we had seen only one goat and dog who found the driving fatal. I don’t know how there are not hundreds are killed on that highway everyday.

We stopped for some photographs . . . the country, people, houses and animals are all so beautiful. You are at 7700 feet here in Addis and 9 degrees latitude. It really is a fantastic climate. My vision of what Ethiopia looked like was formed by impressions of the famine in the 1980s. It is so lush. The grain fields stretch up the hills, terraced. There were people out harvesting, with a sickle, threshing with sticks and cattle, and finally chaffing with a basket. I remember the films from seventh grade, but seeing it in person was unbelievable. I don’t know if I captured it all on the video, but the images will stay burned into my mind for as long as I can hold onto it. I just hope I can share. The most important thing is that Mesay is from this part of the world. It is my every intention and desire that she develops a great love and respect for the land and most importantly the people of her birth.

After we got back, all the families headed to the care center to see the children. Mesay was very upset and just limp. It was quit disconcerting. . . I don’t know if she was upset with us or having really serious problems. We were only able to spend an hour and a half with her and then we had to go to the airport to see if our luggage had arrived. Mossi, the center’s head driver and fix-it man, took us to Bole as there was another couple coming in. An experience I am trying to put in perspective what happened: You have to pay an admittance fee to Bole, as we were standing in the line to have the military look at our passports, a disturbance broke out. A man, who Mossi said was on chat, broke a way from a solider. The soldiers then pursued the man around the parking lot, for a second they were running right at us. The caught the man, pushed him to the ground and beat him with batons. Although the people who were in line strained to look, the line did not break. We remained calm, Mossi with a reassuring smile on his face, but the real story in his eyes. After calm settled Mossi whispered that the soldiers were looking for Somali names, as that situation has changed for the worse. WE got through the passport check and then lined up for the civilian security. Every bag and person passes through security at Bole at the main doors. (That’s going to be interesting and a pain when we go to leave on Saturday). We made it through the x-ray unscathed, dashed straight to the luggage area, went backwards through customs, and straight to the baggage claim. Long story short, our luggage got here Saturday. NWA sent it KLM … “we were going to call you” said the Ethiopian baggage claim clerk, “but didn’t get around to it.” That’s OK by me, we have our stuff! All of Ella Mesay’s clothes and baby stuff . . . just wonderful, all the donations. I gave Zach one of the soccer balls to take to the school this morning, he was very excited about it.

We had to wait about two hours for the other couple to land, get visaed and clear customs. We had a nice little drive to the Hilton, and got back here around 10 p.m. I tried to blog and you see above how far I got. So ends Sunday.

Monday, December 11, 2006
For keeps

After our late-afternoon visit with Mesay yesterday, we resolved that today was the day we would keep her with us for good! (There is some diplomacy required here, as the nannies have formed such important bonds with the children and of course have great info on each child’s temperament, desires, and needs.) All families had appointments with Dr. Freiwhot to go over our children’s medical info in the morning. Mesay continued to be pretty listless and ‘checked-out’ at first, just not responding to us much, and refusing all food at the big chaotic toddler lunch. While we were waiting for our turn to see the doctor, she fell asleep in my arms. She slept like that for at least an hour, and woke up while in the doctor’s office. (The doctors assured us that she was doing very well.) At the very end of the visit, she suddenly chuckled. I have never been so happy to hear someone laugh in my life! For the rest of the afternoon, as the entire bunch of us took a tour of the several CHSFS sites, schools, and residence halls (more on that later), she became increasingly smiley, sunny, happy, giggly, silly, and chatty. Everyone commented on it! She babbled in the crowded van, she giggled and blew kisses at me, she chewed on my sunglasses, chuckled and squealed as Kent tickled her. We also gave her a quick bath when we got back to the guest house – a classic CHSFS Guest House adoption trip experience, as I had several helpful hands from other (much more experienced) parents, fetching the bucket of warm water, teaching me how to use the tub/changing table, in a hallway full of other kids, adults and a couple of plumbers working on a leaky toilet down the hall. The nannies must bathe everyone standing up, because she refused to sit down, and wasn’t very pleased with the process until we got to the warm oil rub down.

Lunch at the Guest House is our biggest meal of the day. It is Hiroot’s shining moment as a cook. Today’s lunch was classic Ethiopian food- injera (the best I’ve had- much thinner and lighter), doro wat (spicy chicken stew), shira wat (spicy beef stew), and spicy red lentils. Mesay sat on my lap and ate everything. The girl likes her food spicy! She also liked the Ethiopian version of flan--- denser, with a nearly burnt sugar crust. Yum! We drink a lot of bottled water here, and Ethiopian Coke and Pepsi, and a local beer called St. George’s.
We’ve noticed that the toddlers are quite well-behaved, but the nannies also do a lot for them. Most every child is hand-fed. Kent and I have stepped in to help out at lunch, and it’s like trying to keep a nest of baby birds happy!
Something I meant to mention before:
Her name is pronounced more like “mah-Sai” or “m’Sai” than Meh-say. When the nannies put the affectionate “ay-ye” on the end, it sounds like “M’Sai-yai-ye” said in a sing-song-y tone.

A few pictures of Addis

Here are some photos we took as we walked to and from the children's care center on Saturday. The weather was spectacular- high 60's low 70's, cloudless. It's less than a 15 minute walk from door to door, but the streets can be crowded with people and cars, and the walking itslef is often tough- over broken concrete and rocks. In some of these pics, you'll see other families who are adopting as well.
We stopped in a tiny grocery store and found the nanny-approved formula and diapers, stopped in another hole-in-the-wall store and bought pretty scarves to wrap around our faces during tomorrow's dusty trip to the south.
The only thing missing from these street shots are cars and trucks whizzing by, very close, blowing their horns. :-) Oh! And on our way home in the aternoon, we were trudging along, when Kent said "Isn't that Randy Travis?" And yes, it was- blaring the stereo system some guys had set up by the side of the road, in front of a little cafe- country western music filled the air.

The Big Day winds down...

Hi all-
I've created another post in hopes of being able to upload 2 of the photos I meant to include in the original "Big Day" post. (We have internet here at the guest house, and it's not too slow, but there are little things that don't work as they should).

Here's the photo of Ella Mesay giving me the scowl, and Kent pouting back at her....


And here's one of her sound asleep in her toddler bed for mid-day naps!


A few other fun details of our stay here: We have an in-house cook, Hiwot, in comes in to make 3 meals a day, every day but Sundays. She makes traditinal Ethiopian food and some more western foods like scrambled eggs. But the eggs are spicy. :-) The big meal of the day is lunch, with soup for dinner. After our veggie soup tonight, several of us went out to dinner at an Italian pizza place. Because of the very brief Italian occupation of Ethiopia, Addis has a few great Italian places- and we certianly went to one, just up the street from here. Kent: "6000 miles for a wood-fired pizza!" But it was great. Quite traditional. Except that it is served with a side dish of minced green spicy pickled peppers- quite good on a classic cheese!
We travel to Hossana tomorrow to meet birth families andjus to see the countryside- it will be a long, dusty and road-less trip, 13-15 hours RT, but how can you pass up the chance? !! And then Kent and I get to go to the airport with Massi (the most excellent and personable guest house manager and driver) in hopes we can pick up our bags and take them through customs. Fingers crossed out there, people! Every couple of hours, I remember something else we don't have because it was in one of our 4 suitcases. The other families, though, are so generous - even if the bags don't come, we will be in good shape for everything except underwear.
So, no new pics of Ella Messay tomorrow- we won't be with her again until Monday.

The Big Day...

officially started this morning, with a briefing at 9:30 by Tsewaye, Asnake's wife. She reminded us of the rules (no tipping anyone, no photographs of others' children) and gave us packets on each of our kids. We were eager to see new photos of Messay- (her cover shot on the info packet is cute- she has quite a little scowl--) and read new info on her. Nice to have, but I think all of us were just ready to meet our kids in the flesh!

We were then driven to the Care Center- about 1/2 a mile away. It was kind of strange when we got there- there were two or three men with large video cameras filming, and they asked us to wait for our turn to meet our children, so they could film one at a time. It was a choatic scene anyway, with dozens of toddlers running around, the tv blaring a kids' music video, nannies laughing and playing with kids and parents trying to greet but not freak out, their kid. Messay was put in our arms- and we headed to an unpopulated and relatively quiet corner to get a look at one another.

She is very tiny, but solid and plump. Her hair is coming in nicely, and she certainly has what the info packet described: 'plummy cheeks.' Our first meeting was very quiet-- soon after moving to the corner, I tried to hand her to Kent and she squeaked and clutched on to me. Of course, I started to cry!


All in all, she wasn't very sure about us, and was content to sit in my (Julia's) lap quietly and eat little snack puffs Kent handed to her one by one. She avoided direct eye contact, but would dart furtive glances at us occasionally. And we got to see the soon-to-be famous scowl -- I love this pic of Kent pouting back to her! :-)


The info packet stated that she doesn't eat very well, but clearly they weren't feeding her the right stuff: Gerber's Toddler Food Strawberry-banana Snacking Puffs. Those she loves. :-) (And thank goodness for Emily and Kevin and their 2.5 year old biodaughter, Haley, who were so thoughtful and generous in sharing their snacks while ours are somewhere between D.C. and Addis.)

We got to help feed her (and all the other kids) lunch- it is quite a production to watch the nannies manage approx. 30 toddlers-- who were all seated at little tables and eating (mostly) by themselves. I fed Ella (well-cooked spagetti in a light tomato/cheese/meat sauce) while Kent took over feeding a table of five little boys- hysterical and not as messy as you'd think! Ella Messay looked pretty tired, and when I picked her up, she held the pendant of my necklace in her hand and fell asleep immediately.

We headed back to the guest house for our own much-needed naps and then walked back to be there when the kids woke up and had their afternoon snack. When we walked in, Mesay was being cleaned up by a nanny and was laughing and smiling with her. We were so glad to see that! This was a shorter visit- I took her outside into the lovely paved courtyard, and we walked around looking at all of the blooming flowers. She was quite happy to be held, but was very quiet until we saw the care center cat walk along a sloping roof-- she raised her arm and let out a long string of excited babbling- she had a lot to say about that cat! :)

Once we got a pair of shoes on her, that child took off. She is truly a toddler- excited to head off on her own, frustrated to be detained, and mad when her shoe came off and slowed her down. We got a chuckle out of her in the afternoon- she liked being chased, caught and tickled in slo-motion

Tomorrow, we won't see the children, as we are getting up at 5am to head to the Southern Regions. I miss her already.

Alas, the luggage!

It's nearly 7am in Addis. The house is starting to wake up- kids are up, adults are groggy, and Hirewot is clattering in the kitchen, starting our breakfast. \We arrived safely and soundly last night, but alas, our luggage did not. Our trip started off badly, with our first flight out of MSP being cancelled within minutes of our having checked. Long story, annoying Northwest, but we ended up on the 1pm to Dulles, and our luggage may or may not have done so. In any case, it's not here now. Maybe it will come on the Sunday flight from Dulles. Maybe we'll get it Monday. \In the meantime....our late night drive through Addis, the night noises of a busy city late at night, the cool air, the smells and sounds, the poverty right next to the wealth...all of this reminds me (Julia) of Mexico D.F., growing up.
The views are spectacular, the morning calls to prayer over distant loudspeakers, the sound of a lone runner, feet slapping on the asphalt, a truck driving very fast down the little street the Guest House sits on....
We need coffee, and there are other families already in line for the computer. Breakfast is soon, and then, we meet Messay. Even as I write those words, I'm getting teary.
More soon, on our first day in Addis........

The day before departure.

It all happens tomorrow. The long journey . . . Actually the long journey takes two days. The time changes don't help. There are still a few jobs that need to be done around the house.

We're going to get our baby! Ella Mesay! The waiting and agonizing is finally almost over.

Here she is, as a matter of fact. The top picture is from her referral, our first glimpse of her and her life, and her entry into ours. The bottom one is the picture we got of her on Monday. It is nice to see her smiling. I hope she has the same reaction to us when we see her. I think about what her life has entailed so far . . . Such changes and now she gets another one . . . New parents . . . Long trip . . . New place . . . Snow . . . Cold . . . Crazy tasting food . . . And a couple of dogs.

It would be a lot to take in, even if you weren't just about a year or so old.

We have the baby's room ready to go, our bags almost packed, building projects finished and care for the dogs arranged. It seems to be going eerily well . . . I hope that keeps up. You should see the donations we are taking. It has to be 60% of the mass we are moving . . . If not more. The people at Julia's work, the local hospital, Tita and Beth, 'Aunties' Michelle and Kat . . . and those I am forgetting.... have been just fantastic. We also have got some great personal donations. Tita and Grandma Helen sure came through with some very cute clothing, Juliet and Forrest with a crib/toddler bed and two car seats, Chuck and Ann are sending some stuff too . . .
We leave from the twin cities tomorrow, around 9 a.m. Stop over in Dulles for a few hours (eight) and then on to Addis Ababa. The part of that trip that is going to be painful is the one hour stop over in Rome for refueling. (Kills me . . . I don't think we can even get off the plane, so I will not be able to "officially" be there, according to the rules that my brother Bob has instituted.) We arrive in Addis Friday evening. If you are keeping score, Ethiopia is 10 hours ahead from Central U.S. time. We'll come home on the 16th.

On Saturday or Sunday, we will be taking a day trip to Hosanna, a city about 100 miles south of Addis. We hear it is a 4.5+ hour trip via Land Rover. We may get to meet a representative of the birth family. The meeting will be short, 30 minutes or so, and we don't know if anyone will even show up, but we will at least get to see the region that Ella Mesay is from. On the advice of CHSFS staff, we are taking a couple of framed photos of Ella Mesay and one of us. These, plus a map of the world to show them where we live, are the only gifts we're allowed to give to the birth family. I have the video camera and Julia the digital. We will upload some pics when we get back to Addis.

Saturday or Sunday, the day we don't go to Hosanna, will be the day we meet Ella Mesay for the first time. I'm keeping myself emotionally open for that experience. I don't want to put any fantastic into it and I don't want to steel myself from any emotional reaction. I just want to take it in.
We're prepared for her not to like us. Well, we think we're prepared. She's been through so much, and we know we'll be disrupting her world once again. It might take a while for her to warm up to one or both of us. We think we're prepared....

The rest of the week . . . We go to the embassy for paperwork . . . Yahoo! . . . Long live the bureaucracy . . . I think we go to the national museum (To see Lucy!) and do some shopping. But getting to know Ella will be our focus.

It will be a eye-opening experience, no matter what angle you look at it.

We hope to update the blog semi regularly during our trip. Please feel free to comment, it would be nice to hear from our fans.