Embassy Day

Embassy day for us was pretty low key since we had a 1:00 pm appointment. So, we got up, blew some bubbles, viewed some beautiful Ethiopian landscape and just played around.  We changed Ellie into a dress, which she loved.  She also liked her sandals, but wanted socks on too (Ok!!).

Blowing Bubbles

Checking out the Addis View! 

Hanging out with my sippy cup!

The Alley-way beside our Guest Home

 We were expecting to be picked up around noon for our appointment, but our driver never came until 12:40. We also had to stop and pick up the CWA rep from the office. Ahhh.. I was worried we'd miss our appointment and have to reschedule. Luckily that was not the case. I forgot things run on a much more relaxed schedule in Ethiopia!

Going into the Embassy, they check your bags and you are not allowed to have cell phones (which is why we left ours at the guest house).  As they scanned our bags, we got pulled aside for having "cell phones" in our bag (which we did not have!) The scanner showed 2 "microchip" looking things that security thought were cell phones. It turns out it was our government badges that were causing the problem. But, Security wasn't buying it.  (which upset us because we were in a U.S. Government office with U.S. Government badges/clearances, and the guards didn't understand what those mysterious microchips were on the scanner! Ugh.).  We had to completely unload our  backpack to show we did not have a phone. Then, one guard took our tin of "Altoid Mints" and wanted to know what they were.  We said they were mints, and he made me eat one!! Ha ha. I didn't know that my breath was smelly!! It was funny!! Finally, we were cleared to enter the building with our "suspicious badges" and "mysterious mints!"  Gotta love it! 

The package we waited 5 weeks for!
Wonder what's in it? ? ? 

Next, we entered a room much like a DMV with teller windows and numbers above each window. We were told to sit near window 7 or 8 since that was the window with our file. There were many adoptive families there and it was nice to chat with them while we waited and hear their God-touched stories. We were not called until close to 3:00.   Elliana just sat on our laps the entire time taking in everything.  She did exceptionally well!  It only took about 2 minutes at the window once we were called. They just asked if we saw Elliana before this trip, gave us an envelope and told us not to open it, and handed us her passport.  That was it and we were done! What a relief it was to walk out of that building with our daughter (and with our suspicious badges and mints).

That afternoon and evening, we just played around at the guest house and started preparing and packing things up for our trip home.  Elliana discovered her reflection in the sliding glass window at the guest house.  She entertained herself (and us) for about 45 minutes blowing bubbles and trying to share with her "twin" in the window.  It was very sweet to watch.  We even heard our first words that day and saw a few smiles.  

Another view from the Guest Home
Those are roof-tops of surrounding homes