A peek-a-boo while waiting

We are still waiting patiently (sort of), but it certainly helps when we get photos like this!  I checked my email on the way home from work last night and was so excited to find 29 pictures waiting.  (don't worry... my hubby was driving!!).  I carefully studied each picture... right down to the tiniest crumb on Elliana's face :)  It makes my heart happy to see her smiling!  Actually, it makes us miss her even more, but we will take all the photos we can get right now. 


We also received a photo and message last week from our previous Case Manager, who is living at Acacia Village right now with his family.  Here's part of what it said:

Here is the best picture we could get so far of Geneme smiling when she is eating lunch with her friends :) . She is really smiling a lot more these days and even willingly gives out high fives when we ask her. She is still very quiet, but is saying more each week. We will keep the family updated if anything changes. We will try to get a better picture with her smiling in the next few days :) 

They totally got some better pictures of her smiling, as you can see below!  


I also received an email last week from a friend who was over in Ethiopia picking up her precious little boy who was at Elliana's orphanage and at Acacia Village.  Here's what she said:

I got to see your sweet babe yesterday.  She was sound asleep and so I didn't get to hold her but I did get to sneak over to her crib and peek in on her.  She looked so peaceful and beautiful.  I leaned over and gave her a kiss before leaving and whispered that you were coming soon.  She is even more beautiful in person than your pictures convey :)  Praying for you as you wait and that it will be over soon.

Many of you have asked how we are doing with the wait.  Honestly, it's tough, but it's those little messages and words of encouragement that keep us going.  It's the pictures, prayers and cards that we are receiving.  It's reading other's blogs who are in the same spot and gaining strength from their words.  We know the wait is nearly over and we are on the home stretch, but it still doesn't change our longing to have our little girl home now!  


We are still waiting for her original birth certificate. Our Case Manager said that many times things continue to move behind the scenes and I know God can do wondrous miracles behind the scenes!  We would LOVE to be submitted to the Embassy next week.  So please continue to pray that we can return soon to bring our sweet girl home!  Her family misses her.  

Hanging out... waiting patiently!

What??? I didn't do it  :) 

Ellie looking at the photo album we left for her! 

Ethiopia - Days 5 -7

As I mentioned in a previous post, on Sunday, January 1, 2012, we rested our weary souls.  We needed a day to process our thoughts, feelings and our first few days in Ethiopia. I even had a massage at the Guest Home.  It was wonderful!  


Day 6, January 2 - Court Day! 

Just outside the court building after passing court

Our group was up early in anticipation of court.  Our court appointments were at 9:00, so imagine our surprise when our driver didn't arrive until around 8:30. We all scurried into the van and were on our way. I nervously checked the time every couple of minutes as we were driving.  We didn't arrive until about 9:15.   Luckily, court in Ethiopia isn't as stringent as courts here.  I don't really remember many details except that all 8 of our agency's families entered the building together.  I suspect we looked like quite the entourage to bystanders.  We went up several flights of stairs and entered into a waiting room lined with chairs. All the chairs were taken by other families waiting to adopt.  We were told by our attorney that they would probably take us in 4 families at a time. We all nervously waited. Not long into our wait, they started calling for the parents of Geneme... Yay, that was us.  We went into the court room (which is more like an office with a Judge sitting behind the desk), with 3 other families.  The Judge asked a few questions that we all answered in unison, and that was it.  Geneme was ours forever!  It was pretty anti-climatic, but such a relief! 

 After court, our driver dropped us off at the Hilton where we met up with all of the other families from our agency.  Because it was so early, the outside restaurant was not open yet, so we all hung out, checked our email and caught up with each other.  We at lunch again out by the pools.  


After lunch, many of us headed to the ALERT  hospital (All Africa Leprosy, tuberculosis and Rehabilitation and Training Center) shop.  This is a work group that trains members to engage in hand-craft activities instead of begging, as a means of income.  Many of the members are disabled due to the toll that their leprosy has taken on them.  Don’t be mistaken, however, because the smiles and joy on their faces told a different story.  The old and young alike can be found at this compound.   The children pictured here were children of the ladies who were embroidering beautiful tablecloths and such.  They were so sweet and totally in awe of seeing the digital pictures of themselves!  We bought a tablecloth for E for her wedding day and it was really neat to see the ladies who were making them.  The hand-crafting here was out of this world!  

After we arrived 'home' to our Guest Home, they prepared a traditional coffee ceremony for us.  It's quite the ordeal, and the coffee was oh-so-good!  I feel guilty using my Keurig now! 

Day 7 - Tuesday, January 3 - Our last day in Addis :(  


Because our flights were not until the late evening of January 3rd, we were given the opportunity to see our sweet children again.  We were even allowed to go a little earlier in the morning.  We were all excited, as we hadn't seen them since Friday.  


After our Friday with Elliana, we weren't sure what to expect.  Would she be happy to see us, or frightened again?  Luckily, and with God's grace, she eagerly reached out to us when we arrived.  She was still frightened, but at least she recognized us, and we could 'officially' say we were her mommy and daddy!  

On this day, she seemed to be more comfortable with us and even played blocks with us.  We fed her snack again, showed her out the windows and took her for a walk outside.  We weren't sure how long we would be allowed to stay, so each time I saw the director walk into the room, I held my breath.  We both had enormous knots in our stomachs that whole morning.  As time seemed to be getting near, we both were able to pray over Elliana and tell her we would be coming back for her very soon.  Her big brown eyes just looked at us -- it's hard to imagine what she was thinking.  


Soon it was time to take her up stairs for lunch.  I immediately started to cry because I knew that meant it was time to go.  We took her up and gave her to her nanny who was ready to feed her.  At that point, we weren't sure if we could stay while she ate, or if it was time.  We poked our head out into the hallway, and Helen said it 'was time.'  Tears were overflowing my eyes at this point, so we peaked back into the room, said a prayer for sweet Elliana, blew her a kiss, and started down the stairs.  I knew if I went back in to hug and kiss her, it would alarm her (and luckily we had time before we took her up to say good-bye).  That was, by far, one of the toughest things, we had ever had to do.  I know she is in good hands, but not in 'our hands.'  She needs to be home with her family now and we are praying that it will happen soon.  It was a bittersweet day -- we were very distraught to leave our little angel, but we were also missing our kids back at home too!   


The ride back to the guest home as a quiet one.  We got back, had another coffee ceremony, packed our bags and headed to the airport.


The flight home was long and grueling.  Brad started feeling bad before we even got to Rome.  By the time we landed in Rome, he was very sick and pretty much incoherent.  Luckily he was able to make it to the bathroom each time he was feeling sick, but it was a long and rough haul.  By the time we landed in DC, he was feeling much better.  Unfortunately, the bug reared its ugly head later that night, and he was down and out for 2 days! 


At this point, we have our original  Court Decree... but we are still waiting for the original Birth Certificate.  We are praying that it comes this week.  Then, Elliana will need her physical and passport.  If all of that can get accomplished this week, we will be able to be submitted to the Embassy next Tuesday (our Agency can only submit cases on Tuesday).  If not, it will be the next Tuesday (hopefully).

Please join me in praying that we can get this little girl home soon!   

Ethiopia - Day 4

(Some of the excerpts and pictures below were taken from my friend's blog.   Since we were together all day, and she's already written much of our day beautifully on her blog, I borrowed a few of her paragraphs.  This was especially handy for some of the historical things....I'm terrible at retaining history! (Thank you Melissa!)  

Day 4 in Ethiopia was actually New Years Eve back here in the States.  Since it was Saturday, and we were unable to visit our children at Acacia Village, we planned a day full of activities.  We also wanted to experience as much of Ethiopia as we could. 

Our friends Joseph & Melissa & Tom & Liz

We joined two other couples for a day of sightseeing in Addis Ababa.  We hired a driver and a translator to assist us for the day.  Our translator,  Abee, chose our first destination -- Kaldi's Coffee (Ethiopia's version of Starbucks, without the Starbucks price!) We had breakfast and some delicious coffee. Below is a picture of my caramel macchiato.   

caramel macchiato - yummy!  

After our stop at Kaldi’s, we began making our ascent up Mount Entoto, the highest peak in Addis Ababa. The road was very curvy and there is no such thing as guardrails!  There were also people (at some points) running along side of the van trying to see if we were giving things away.  I also later read that Olympic runners train on this road!  

Along the way, we noticed several women weighted down with enormous loads of eucalyptus branches which they had gathered high up on the mountain. We found out later that these women are known as fuel wood carriers. They strip the branches off trees, carry loads which are heavier than their own body weight down the mountain, and sell the branches for firewood to make a living.  What they do is actually illegal and it contributes to the degradation of the forests, but they have no other way of earning an income.  I later read that they make $3.00 a week!  The photo below shows one of the ladies carrying her load of branches.  This picture was taken by our friends Joseph & Melissa.  (Thanks guys!).   Can you even consider complaining about your job??  

At the top of Mount Entoto, we toured a museum and took a moment to enjoy the incredible view of Addis Ababa from where we stood at over 10,000 feet above sea level. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I was sure feeling the elevation while we were there.  I felt very out of shape!  

We also had a chance to see an early palace built by Menelik II who ruled Ethiopia at the end of the 19th century. Emperor Menelik and his wife founded Addis Ababa, which means “new flower”, in 1886.

Entoto Maryam Church, the site of Emperor Menelik’s coronation in 1889, is located next to the former palace, but we were not allowed to tour the inside.

One of the first eucalyptus trees planted by
Emperor Menelik

On our way back down the mountain, Abee chose another interesting stop, a weaving shop which benefits the women fuel wood carriers. Inside, the workers weave beautiful scarves on old-fashioned looms. They told us it takes one day for a weaver to complete one scarf.

The scarves are then sold at this room next door, and the profits are used to raise awareness of the working conditions of the wood carriers and to provide alternative sources of income for the women. The scarves were lovely, and we were thrilled to have the chance to purchase them knowing that our money was going to a valuable cause.

We made one more stop at a rather run-down little zoo that had some lions, monkeys, and different types of birds. The conditions the animals lived in was definitely low compared to most American zoos, but I couldn’t help thinking that the animals were far better off than millions of Ethiopians. The animals had adequate food and shelter, which sadly is more than can be said for many people in the country.

There wasn’t much to see at the zoo, but apparently some of the local Ethiopians thought the Americans appeared to be rather exotic creatures.  We noticed some people snapping pictures of us instead of the animals!

After a full afternoon and a quick stop back at the guest house to relax for a bit, we hopped back in the van to head out to Yod Abysinnia, which is well-known for its traditional food and dance.  I believe there were 24 of us, in total.  It was quite an experience.  It was loud, crowded, and a total blast!  We personally loved the food, but we have eaten Ethiopian food before.  

Popcorn & coffee -- an Ethiopian staple

Hand washing -- since you eat with your hands (no utensils),
hand washing is a MUST.  

Our meal for five people.  It was very good. 

I keep asking my friends and family to go with us to our local Ethiopian restaurant, but no one seems to want to go with us .... we can't understand why?  

Pepsi :)  

 We were so blessed that 7 out of the 8 CWA couples were able to attend dinner that evening.  We also had a few others join us, as well.  Here are some pictures of our new friends!

Mike and Richelle, WA

Joseph & Melissa, NC
Blog

Dawson & Alicia, MT
Blog

Joe & Sarah, IL
Blog

Greg & Amy, GA

Tom & Liz, NC

Brian, Jeanne & daughter Selah, SC
Blog

We were missing C.O & Ann Marie from Alaska at dinner. Their blog can be found here.  They definitely won the award for farthest travel!!!  All of these couples have amazing God-stories, amazing hearts and are just all around wonderful people!   It was such a blessing to connect with each and every one of them and I look forward to keeping in contact with them! They are all in my prayers daily!     

That pretty much wraps us our Day 4 in Ethiopia.  After dinner, we went home, took some pepto, and headed to bed!  

Day 5, Sunday (New Years Day) was a day of rest for us!  We needed a day of rest to process everything that was in our hearts and mind.  

Baxter Family SIX

Wow!  I was just able to change our blog title to BAXTER FAMILY SIX!  It feels great [and a bit strange] to say that we are now a family of 6.  Just one year ago, we were still a family of 4.  Gaining 2 daughters in less than a year is a huge adjustment, but a wonderful blessing from our Creator.  I cannot even begin to explain what a blessing it is to have 2 wonderful sons and 2 beautiful daughters.  The boys have adjusted well to having one little sister, and I'm sure they will adjust well when Elliana comes home as well.  Baby Faith, however, with probably have a slight adjustment issue, but she will be fine.  She already loves her sissy and kisses and points to her pictures all of the time!  I just cannot wait to have our family ALL home and under one roof.  


I always say this, but I mean it . . . if you would have told me 5 years ago that I would have 4 children, I would have laughed at you. :)  


I'm so glad God is in control of my life... not me.  His plan is much better than I could have ever imagined.  Don't ever close yourself off to what God has in store for You!  

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6

 (Don't worry, our blog address is still baxterfamilyfive.blogspot.net -- I just changed the title on my page).  

Ethiopia Day 3

I actually have to pick up where I left off on Day 2.   Trying to keep my 'try not to be a spoiled American' theme I have to mention the evening of Day 2.  After dinner, chatting with our new friends, texting and trying to Skype with the boys, we decided to go upstairs, shower and go to bed.  I was so looking forward to a nice hot shower, since my last run-in with the shower was quick and cold.  We did plug in the hot water heater, and we had electric all day, so the water should be nice and toasty warm.

I quickly gathered my things and ran into the bathroom.  As I turned on the light switch, the light bulb gave a loud 'pop.'  Ok, so I'd take a shower in the dark.  No big deal.  I turned on the shower and hopped in, but there was one problem . . . there was no water coming out of the shower head.  Oh no!  We were out of water.  {in Ethiopia, they do not have wells; they have large water containers that are filled up when needed.  The water is then pumped into the house.}  No water also means no toilet flushing.  We washed up that night with some bottled water and some baby wipes!  Gotta love it!    As a side note -- after our first no-water experience, my genius husband decided he was going to start collecting water in our used one liter bottles in case we were out of water again. We can't drink the water, but he was stock piling it for flushing emergencies!   I thought he was being ridiculous, but guess what.... his efforts paid off later in our trip -- two times, to be exact!     


The next morning we heard the generator start up, which means we must not have had power either -- we hadn't really noticed.  We still had no water.  Shortly though, the power kicked back on, and we heard the water pump kick on. Luckily, we were never without power or water for a long period of time.

Today we would be meeting at the CWA office to complete our paperwork for court.  The Director of CWA Ethiopia shared a lot of information with us.  I had wished I brought a notebook to take notes.  The meeting ran a little over, and all of us were very anxious to get to Acacia Village to visit with our little ones!  We were hoping they'd allow us to stay later, since we would be getting there late.

When we came out of the CWA Office, our van was 'parked-in' by another vehicle.  My heart sank.  I didn't want to miss any more time with Elliana!  I was amazed how our driver got out of that space!  I would have certainly still been sitting there.  So, soon we were on our way to Acacia Village.

When we arrived, Elliana was the first child they brought down.  She came to us willingly!   She looked so cute in her little jeans and pink shirt.  This day, however, she was very reserved and cried a lot.  She sat with us but didn't really want to engage.  She was frightened and shy.  The nurse came and talked to her a few times in Amharic, which seemed to help, for a little while.  We also met with the Counselor, along with the nurse, to discuss Elliana's medical and social history.  They basically said that she is very healthy (except she had recently had conjunctivitis and was treated with eye drops) and that she was reserved and shy.  They were working on reassuring her and giving her extra hugs and kisses (this is why we need her home ASAP)!  

Elliana liked the photo book

Eating for mommy

Safe in daddy's arms

We fed her snack and lunch again and then she fell asleep while Brad was holding her.  We took her up to her crib and gave her kisses before we left. It would be 3 days until we could see her again! (Saturday, Sunday and Monday).

After we left  Acacia Village, 3 other couples from CWA (as well as us) went to Island Breeze, which was a very nice place with a great menu.  They make yummy stone-fire pizza.  When I say stone fire, I mean, they went outside and made a fire in a stone pit or oven to bake the pizza.  I didn't have any, but it looked delicious.  Again, I cannot tell you what a blessing it was to share our experience with other adoptive couples.  It was nice to chat about our visit and get to know each other a little better.  After lunch, we all went to the Postal District shopping.

After Day 3, we were emotionally and physically exhausted!  I continued to worry about Elliana's fragile state, but I knew in my heart that she would be just fine once we got her home and could give her the attention she so desires.

After we arrived back at the guest house, guess what I did.... got a hot, awesome shower!!  We had a big day planned for Saturday, (Day 4).

Where are we in the process now?

We found out on Friday that our Court Decree and Birth Certificate has been received and translated, so we were able to complete our I-600 Form (that gets submitted to the Embassy).  Yay!   We scrambled around today to get it notarized and sent it to our agency's office.  They will receive it next week and will ship it over to Ethiopia in next Friday's package.  I'm not exactly sure where this form fits into the breakdown below, but at least it's one step closer to bringing Elliana home!   I'm assuming we are at the point of requesting a passport... but not sure.  


If you are following the 10 steps of my previous post, I'll give you a little breakdown of where we are now: [it feels REALLY good to cross some of those things off] but, realistically, I'm trying not to get over-excited :) 

1. An approval letter has to be received from MoWCY. (we need a positive recommendation) and hopefully this has already been received by our first court hearing.  
2. The courts must give their consent
3. We must give our consent (which we will do while we are there). 
4. After we have 1, 2 and 3, they can submit to get our court decrees and birth certificate. (This typically takes several weeks).  
5. Then, after we have 1, 2, 3 and 4, we can request a Passport.  (we are here!!)
6. Next is the Embassy Physical.  Physical results must be back before we can proceed.
7. After 1 - 6 is all done, with no errors and no requests for additional information, etc., we can be submitted to the Embassy!  
8. The Embassy may take a few weeks to review our documents.  They may request more information, or they could approve the case right away.  (if they request more information, we could be delayed significantly).  
9. If we are approved right way, the Embassy will contact us for an appointment, in which we will travel back over to Ethiopia.  I hear that sometimes we would only get a one week notice!!  
10. Once we travel back over to Ethiopia, we will have our Embassy appointment and then it will take them 2 days (I think) to process E's Visa, then we are free to leave the country.

Please continue to pray for our quick return to bring Elliana home.  Also pray for the wisdom of the Embassy officials reviewing all of our cases.  We are praying that things continue to move along and are not delayed :)  


And, just because she is so cute, here is another picture of Elliana enjoying her Ethiopian Christmas! 

Ethiopia Day 2

Day 2 was the day we would get to meet Elliana-Geneme.  [as a side note, you may notice that I refer to her in some posts as Geneme -- this is her given Ethiopian name, and honestly, I have grown quite fond of it.  When she comes home, there will likely be a transition period in which we will have to call her Ellie-Geneme for a while, and then eventually drop the Geneme.  It is pronounced  Ga - nim- E]

Finally after  months of looking at pictures we would see her face to face. Would she like us?  Would she cry? Would we cry?  What if she screamed and hated us?  We were both unbelievably nervous.  I stressed over what to wear (silly, i know)...

At breakfast in the Guest Home, we met up with Joseph and Melissa again, and also met some new friends -- Tom and Liz from North Carolina and Mike and Rachele from Washington.  Tom and Liz are with CWA and adopting an 8 year old boy.  Mike and Rachelle were with another agency and adopting a 20 month old boy.  We all chatted anxiously about our first meeting and quizzed Mike and Rachelle about their experience [since they had met their son a few days earlier].  Soon, our driver arrived and it was time to go.  I had a huge lump in my throat and no matter how much I swallowed, it remained.

A picture of us as we were leaving the Guest Home to meet
Elliana for the first time! 

The drive to her foster home was humbling.  It took us through several villages.  Addis had areas that look similar to some cities, but dotted all along the dirt roads, highways and streets are reminders of the poverty  that surrounds Ethiopia.  The people are so beautiful and such hard workers.  There were cattle and goats all along the road right behind their shepherd, who was sometimes just  a boy.  The traffic is crazy and there are apparently no rules.

A shepherd and his goats on the road

We swung by another guest home and picked up another CWA family, Brian, Jeanne and their daughter, Sela.   Together we chatted and rode to the care home where all of our kids were staying.  All of our children were from the same orphanage.   Finally, after about a 20 or 30 minute drive [I seemed to have lost track of time] we arrived at the Care Home called Acacia Village.  [Acacia Village is owned and operated by our Agency.  All of the children here are either in the court process, or waiting for their Embassy appointment].  As the gates opened to allow our van in and revealed the facility, we all fought back tears.

Acacia Village

The moment that we have dreamt about for so many months was about to happen!  Surreal is the only way to describe it.   We meet Helen, who is the manager of the home and the one who takes all of the pictures of Geneme.  One by one the nannies brought out the babies to each family.  It was so sweet to see the first introductions of these children with their forever families.  I could not hold in my emotions.  All of the families found a private spot to get to know their little ones.  But, we remained at the bottom of the stairs.  Helen said they were changing Geneme and finishing her hair.  I could hear a faint cry up stairs, and I was praying it wasn't Geneme as they were doing her hair!  I wondered if she was nervous too?  It seemed like we waited a long time at the bottom of the steps, but I'm sure it was only a few minutes.

 Then, we saw feet coming down the stairs.  It was like anticipating a bride coming down the aisle.  Guess who they were holding!   Sweet Elliana Geneme Jayne.  She was more beautiful than we imagined.  We both choked back tears.  Elliana probably thought we were a bunch of blubbering idiots. :)  She was so scared and reserved.  Eye contact was difficult at first but she began to warm up.  She seems to hide her feelings.  Occasionally, she would pucker her lip and a lonely tear would stream down her face.  I just couldn't help but wonder what was going through her precious mind.  She would sit on my lap and occasionally look up, but then quickly look away.  We showed her the photo book we brought for her and she turned the pages and looked.  She seemed intrigued with the pictures of herself.  She's probably never looked at a picture of herself before.

Right after our first meeting.  Elliana was very frightened

After being there for about an hour, they brought us her snack to feed to her.  It was a thick oatmeal cereal with fruit.  She wanted nothing to do with it at first, but then she allowed me to feed her. Yay!  Success.  I was surprised at the amount of food they fed her.  It was a lot!

After snack and a little more time together, it was time for lunch.  We took her up with the nanny and other toddlers, but I was still able to feed her.  They had rice and beans for lunch.  The nanny fed the other 5 toddlers, and let me tell you, they have a system!   Each child has her own spoon and bowl.  The nanny would continue going in the same order giving each child an over-sized bite of rice and beans (a huge spoonful).  Then she would start back over at the beginning.  I can see why they give them such a big bite -- it's to occupy them until they get back around for the next bite!  Elliana seemed comfortable with her peers and she sat beside one little girl and they would almost hold hands and pat each other.  So precious.

After lunch, all of the toddlers waddle down the hall and sit on their own potty.  Some of the children are only 12 months old!  I am amazed how they all just sit there... for a long time...  The nanny sings songs that has arm and hand motions while they are sitting.  The children were so proud when they would go!  Elliana was successful {even with 2 strangers standing there watching -- probably creepy, now that I think about it!}

After potty time, all of the toddlers went down for their naps.  We took Elliana with us downstairs where the staff prepared a coffee ceremony for us.  She fell asleep in our arms. It was so precious.  When it was time to leave, we took her upstairs and layed her in her crib.  I was surprised how 'at peace' I felt when we left her.  The staff at Acacia Village really love the children and it was a bright, clean and cheery place.

Elliana sleeping during the Coffee Ceremony

Elliana's crib (and her sleeping in it)

After our visit, some of us went to the Hilton for lunch.  The Hilton is a beautiful hotel with all the amenities of home! For a brief moment, we almost forgot we were in Africa.  But, as soon as we drove out of the Hilton, it was back to the reality of where we were.  Brad and I had a cheeseburger, fries and a coke.  That was pretty normal food!  Although, they did try to put a fried egg on our hamburger.  We graciously said, no thanks."  :)

After lunch, we went back to the guest house and crashed as we tried to process our first two days in Ethiopia!

Coke Light (aka - Diet Coke)

Lunch with some CWA families at the Hilton

One of the pools at the Hilton

Christmas Pictures from Ethiopia

Imagine our delight when we received photos of our daughter opening gifts on her Ethiopian Christmas.  Looks like they had quite a celebration!  Here are a few of my favorite shots.  She looks like she grew already! 

Sticky lollipop goodness! 

Don't even think about taking my lollipop! 

~In her Christmas best~

Gifts from a donor!
Probably the first she's ever received

One of her nannies helping her open her gifts!
New Shoes!  

She received a traditional Ethiopian Dress! 

She doesn't look too happy about the head scarf! 

A new doll!