Tuesday, December 15, 2009
One more comment
Oh, I'm so sorry. The framed photo is Lydia's late mother. She died when she was 27 or 28, I believe.
Few photos from trip - mostly Lydia's family
Hi, I found a few photos from the trip. This is Lydia's family. Her two grandmothers, two aunts, cousin, half-sister, and family friend, the older boy. The house is Lydia's maternal aunt in Debre Zeit. Some of the photos Lydia took for me. I may be able to send a few more photos later.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Good news!
Hi all! I arrived home in Tulsa late Saturday night. We found out on Friday, the 11th, that Sammy had all his waiver paperwork back in and we were able to leave the country. We cancelled our flights with Britsh Air (which we had learned needed a transit visa to go through London per Sammy's Ethiopian passport) and went to the travel agency to change our tickets to Turkish Air so we could leave that night, at 2 am.
The trip to Ethiopia was very good. The beautiful sights and abject poverty we saw were very sobering. The disparity between the rich and the poor in Addis was sharp. But the people were beautiful. We enjoyed spending time with the four other families staying at the guest house during portions of our stay, and we very sad that the two other families traveling with us, were not able to leave Friday like we were - we were waiting on waivers for four kids between the three families - only two children received their paperwork back on Friday, and the other child was waiting for his sister's paperwork, so his family was not able to leave.
It was, of course, so good to see my family at home. Graham looked bigger than I remembered - I guess that comes from carrying a 17-month old around for two weeks.
So much to say, maybe I'll try to post again, once my head is a bit clearer.
Oh, and the day we left Ethipia, we learned that Lidiya Sissay passed court and is also officially an "Emory". I'll try to post some photos of her and Sammy later in the week. We got to meet her family in Ethiopia, two aunts (from mother and father's sides), two grandmothers, her half-sister, and her young three-year old cousin. so many women in her life, but no men. Her parents died about six years ago. While we don't understand why her aunt could not care for her; although she is relatively poor, we are honored to have her in our family. And yes, she does have the most delightful smile you've ever seen.
So good to be home! We were gone right at two weeks - left Sunday morning after Thanksgiving and returned Saturday night almost two weeks later. Couldn't have hoped for a better turnaround on our paperwork.
The trip to Ethiopia was very good. The beautiful sights and abject poverty we saw were very sobering. The disparity between the rich and the poor in Addis was sharp. But the people were beautiful. We enjoyed spending time with the four other families staying at the guest house during portions of our stay, and we very sad that the two other families traveling with us, were not able to leave Friday like we were - we were waiting on waivers for four kids between the three families - only two children received their paperwork back on Friday, and the other child was waiting for his sister's paperwork, so his family was not able to leave.
It was, of course, so good to see my family at home. Graham looked bigger than I remembered - I guess that comes from carrying a 17-month old around for two weeks.
So much to say, maybe I'll try to post again, once my head is a bit clearer.
Oh, and the day we left Ethipia, we learned that Lidiya Sissay passed court and is also officially an "Emory". I'll try to post some photos of her and Sammy later in the week. We got to meet her family in Ethiopia, two aunts (from mother and father's sides), two grandmothers, her half-sister, and her young three-year old cousin. so many women in her life, but no men. Her parents died about six years ago. While we don't understand why her aunt could not care for her; although she is relatively poor, we are honored to have her in our family. And yes, she does have the most delightful smile you've ever seen.
So good to be home! We were gone right at two weeks - left Sunday morning after Thanksgiving and returned Saturday night almost two weeks later. Couldn't have hoped for a better turnaround on our paperwork.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Oh, plans changed quite a bit!
We decided, probably immediately after that last post, that I would travel with my mom at this time to get Adam Samuel and hopefully Todd can travel with the entourage in January to get big sister.
It was pretty stressful trying to figure out how to juggle grandmothers helping with traveling at the same time - kids to school, etc. Also wasn't too excited about both of us being away from the two little ones for a long period of time. Don't think we've both been away from them for more than two nights. Elise was pretty distraught about us going. She's still not happy about it, but I tried to assure her, while it is a long time that I will be home and before Christmas!
So, I leave Sunday, the 29th, travel to Dallas, then London, then a short stop in Jordan and to Addis, arriving like 2 am on Tuesday (they are 8-10 hours ahead of U.S. time). Our embassy date will be the following day. Hopefully if all the paperwork is finished, I, my mom and Adam Samuel will travel back December 15th, arriving around 11pm on December 16th in Tulsa.
While there -
We just realized last week that an Ethiopian mandate is in effect which doesn't allow us to take our newly adopted kids out in public. How did I miss this? But we will be able to, hopefully, take a trip to big sister's town and visit her family (an aunt and half-sister) that we know about. We will also visit the town where Adam was found (assuming his home area, although he was found abandoned). These cities are pretty close to the capital city of Addis Ababa, but did require malaria treatment and a yellow fever inoculation. Addis is at a high altitude and doesn't have a lot of mosquito problems, while these towns are more low-lying. The towns we will visit are Debra Zeit and Nazareth (Adama).
So, we will have a lot of time bonding at the guest house. Hopefully big sister will be allowed to join us there. She has her court date December 11th - so we will hear the good news about her passing a bit quicker since we'll be in Ethiopia at that time. :)
All of my siblings are coming into town for Thanksgiving (with the other 15 grandchildren) - so I probably won't post again until I'm in Ethiopia, provided I can find that internet cafe!
Happy Thanksgiving!
It was pretty stressful trying to figure out how to juggle grandmothers helping with traveling at the same time - kids to school, etc. Also wasn't too excited about both of us being away from the two little ones for a long period of time. Don't think we've both been away from them for more than two nights. Elise was pretty distraught about us going. She's still not happy about it, but I tried to assure her, while it is a long time that I will be home and before Christmas!
So, I leave Sunday, the 29th, travel to Dallas, then London, then a short stop in Jordan and to Addis, arriving like 2 am on Tuesday (they are 8-10 hours ahead of U.S. time). Our embassy date will be the following day. Hopefully if all the paperwork is finished, I, my mom and Adam Samuel will travel back December 15th, arriving around 11pm on December 16th in Tulsa.
While there -
We just realized last week that an Ethiopian mandate is in effect which doesn't allow us to take our newly adopted kids out in public. How did I miss this? But we will be able to, hopefully, take a trip to big sister's town and visit her family (an aunt and half-sister) that we know about. We will also visit the town where Adam was found (assuming his home area, although he was found abandoned). These cities are pretty close to the capital city of Addis Ababa, but did require malaria treatment and a yellow fever inoculation. Addis is at a high altitude and doesn't have a lot of mosquito problems, while these towns are more low-lying. The towns we will visit are Debra Zeit and Nazareth (Adama).
So, we will have a lot of time bonding at the guest house. Hopefully big sister will be allowed to join us there. She has her court date December 11th - so we will hear the good news about her passing a bit quicker since we'll be in Ethiopia at that time. :)
All of my siblings are coming into town for Thanksgiving (with the other 15 grandchildren) - so I probably won't post again until I'm in Ethiopia, provided I can find that internet cafe!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
New developments
Wow - the past 48 hours have flown by. It looks like Todd will be able to go with me for about half the trip and we will take our daughter Lydia Grace,9, as well so she can meet her sister (who again, won't be able to travel home with us at this time).
We will probably be leaving Sunday, November 29th - Todd will stay about a week and then my mother or mother-in-law will come over and stay with me the remaining time. We have to stay a bit longer in the country because we have a waiver that has to be approved before our son can travel. I don't know when I will travel home but hopefully the week before Christmas.
There is a slight chance this won't all go through - if we've messed up the paperwork in some way, but if that's all a go - we're on our way. We found out Thursday that we needed to fed-ex our paperwork to Ethiopia because it needed to be there 2 weeks before the embassy date which is Wednesday December 2, 2009. So, that was a bit stressful for me. But we got it done, now just hope we did it correctly.
We had an Africa fellowship night with friends from our with Ghanaian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, and South African cuisine. Well, actually we had semi-Ethiopian food because I tried to make it and was so distracted by all that was going on that I didn't cook it correctly, but it ended up being rather mild, which is not typical and which, was a bit better for the kids.
One of our new friends has an 18-month old son (dad is Kenyan, mom is American). I took such pleasure watching him as he reminds me of Adam! Fun to see what my son is doing right now - or probably doing since he is 16-17 months.
Okay, thanks for following - I'll try to post updates as I remember.
We will probably be leaving Sunday, November 29th - Todd will stay about a week and then my mother or mother-in-law will come over and stay with me the remaining time. We have to stay a bit longer in the country because we have a waiver that has to be approved before our son can travel. I don't know when I will travel home but hopefully the week before Christmas.
There is a slight chance this won't all go through - if we've messed up the paperwork in some way, but if that's all a go - we're on our way. We found out Thursday that we needed to fed-ex our paperwork to Ethiopia because it needed to be there 2 weeks before the embassy date which is Wednesday December 2, 2009. So, that was a bit stressful for me. But we got it done, now just hope we did it correctly.
We had an Africa fellowship night with friends from our with Ghanaian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, and South African cuisine. Well, actually we had semi-Ethiopian food because I tried to make it and was so distracted by all that was going on that I didn't cook it correctly, but it ended up being rather mild, which is not typical and which, was a bit better for the kids.
One of our new friends has an 18-month old son (dad is Kenyan, mom is American). I took such pleasure watching him as he reminds me of Adam! Fun to see what my son is doing right now - or probably doing since he is 16-17 months.
Okay, thanks for following - I'll try to post updates as I remember.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Going to Ethiopia November 30 - bittersweet trip
Well, there's good news and bad news.
Adam Samuel Emory, our new son, 16 months old passed his court in Ethiopia on November 5, 2009 and officially became an "Emory". His big "sister-to-be" had a court date a week later and didn't pass. The day that we learned she didn't pass, they offered us a December 2nd embassy date if I wanted to go ahead and bring him home. We weren't thinking along those lines, but decided we would try to go ahead and bring him home - 6 weeks before we anticipated and have her escorted when she passes court.
Wow! So much to do - like I said I wasn't exactly ready to jump on a plane. Now we have a bit of trouble getting out of town as this is the weekend after Thanksgiving and we may need to drive to Houston to be able to get out of the country. No way to get to D.C. to take Ethiopian Air, the preferred carrier, because there are no flights from Tulsa that way.
Also, plenty of paperwork to fill out. I'm not a procrastinator, per se, but I guess I just thought I had more time.
If I have time, I'll post a photo of Adam, but it may be a little while. Okay, so good news is we'll get to spend some time with big sister while we are there to get Adam and this will help with the transition, for sure. For all of us. Add one now, hopefully add big sister in another month or two. That will be nice I'm sure.
And Adam will be home for Christmas - of course, mommy might be a bit exhausted, but I think it's worth it for that prize.
Okay, off to do paperwork! Love ya! Faith
Adam Samuel Emory, our new son, 16 months old passed his court in Ethiopia on November 5, 2009 and officially became an "Emory". His big "sister-to-be" had a court date a week later and didn't pass. The day that we learned she didn't pass, they offered us a December 2nd embassy date if I wanted to go ahead and bring him home. We weren't thinking along those lines, but decided we would try to go ahead and bring him home - 6 weeks before we anticipated and have her escorted when she passes court.
Wow! So much to do - like I said I wasn't exactly ready to jump on a plane. Now we have a bit of trouble getting out of town as this is the weekend after Thanksgiving and we may need to drive to Houston to be able to get out of the country. No way to get to D.C. to take Ethiopian Air, the preferred carrier, because there are no flights from Tulsa that way.
Also, plenty of paperwork to fill out. I'm not a procrastinator, per se, but I guess I just thought I had more time.
If I have time, I'll post a photo of Adam, but it may be a little while. Okay, so good news is we'll get to spend some time with big sister while we are there to get Adam and this will help with the transition, for sure. For all of us. Add one now, hopefully add big sister in another month or two. That will be nice I'm sure.
And Adam will be home for Christmas - of course, mommy might be a bit exhausted, but I think it's worth it for that prize.
Okay, off to do paperwork! Love ya! Faith
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