Photos now posted on Facebook

We posted a bunch of photos under Amanda’s account on Facebook.  Enjoy!

Staring

Since we have been here, many people stare at us. The word in Amharic for people like us is farenji, or “foreigner.” We certainly stand out, especially when we have visited areas less trodden by outsiders. But, we have come to realize that we likely do just as much staring as we take in sights that are so, well, “farenji” to us.

There’s one major difference. When Ethiopians stare at us, and we then lock eyes, the stare continues. When we stare at an Ethiopian and their eyes then notice the stare, we avert our attention elsewhere. Our form of staring, or people-watching as I suppose we’d call it, is an attempt to be a bit more subtle. But, it’s staring nonetheless.

This all makes me think again about the stares that we anticipate throughout the years as we raise a multi-racial family. The subtle, or even overt, staring will likely persist. And, while Amanda and I might be ones to avert our attention elsewhere, our son, at least in his current 9-month old focused mentality, will stare right back!

Stuck in Addis Ababa

We were hoping to write from the Amsterdam airport right now, halfway home with Simeon. Instead, I am writing from Addis Ababa, with Simeon on my lap. We did not quite anticipate that a volcano would erupt in Iceland, causing our flight from Ethiopia to be “postponed.” I can’t imagine that the odds of that happening were very high… 6 of the families flew on Ethiopian Air, and were able to leave. 4 families were on the “postponed” KLM flight. Our plane is here, and they are hoping that we leave tonight, but no one is sure yet. So far, we are hearing that it could be tonight, or it could be days from now. And if we do indeed take off from here, I wonder if there’s a decent chance we might be stuck in Amsterdam.

So, we remain in Addis Ababa for Day #16. Simeon was a champ last night. Despite our lingering at the airport to find out what was going on, he was pretty chill, which was a bit unexpected! Our guest house manager for our adoption is fantastic, so he returned to the airport last night to pick us back up. For as long as they’ll have us, we’re staying at the guest house without charge. It was a bit surreal to re-arrive at the guest house, unpack our bags again, and settle back in. But, at least we weren’t spending the night at the Addis airport with a 9-month old.

We have been stuck in the Blue Nile Gorge. Now, we are stuck in Addis Ababa. Indeed this has been adventure.

Carrying Stuff

Now that we are parents, we naturally get to carry more stuff (in addition to our ever-present Nalgene bottles).  But, what we will carry is nothing like what we have seen during our 32 hours or so from the back of vehicles as we drive the countryside.  Walking is the main mode of transportation in rural areas.  The distances are often long.  And, as people walk from Point A to Point B, they often carry stuff.  

Some people carry long items.  Umbrellas are a common item.  It shields from the sun, and then as the sun gives way to a downpour, it serves its primary duty.  Another long item is the rifle.  We have not seen an abundance of rifles, but some carry it to protect their livestock or land, particularly during evening hours.  But, the most common long object is the staff.  Shepherds, from age 5 to 85, use the staff as both a walking stick and a prodding stick.  Some of the younger kids, who work instead of going to school, tend to use the staffs with a bit more force on unruly sheep, goats, cows, or donkeys.   

What people carry on their backs is amazing.  We have seen many women carrying huge bundles of wood, with each piece 5-6 feet long.  Some carry other wares that they aim to sell.  Many more carry water on their backs, after a long walk to a stream or well.  Sometimes the water is in clay pottery, and sometimes in plastic jugs.  Either way, it has got to be heavy.  Typically, it’s held against their back by a rope that wraps around one shoulder, across the upper chest, and across the other shoulder.  It must be extremely painful; not exactly the comfort of the North Face pack that I use in order to carry some less essential items each day.

Several times, we have seen people carrying people.  In these cases, the individual being carried is quite sick, and the journey to a clinic quite long.

It all puts carrying a diaper bag in perspective.

A Few Full Days

Today is Tuesday, right?  They are all fading together!

Sunday was a fantastic and emotional day for us.  Our entire group (about 10 families) piled into the bus to head 3 hours south to Hosanna, in order to meet a representative from each birth family.  Amanda and I met Simeon’s birthmother, and got to speak with her for about 30 minutes.  What a moving experience to meet with her.  Our lives are incredibly different, yet we are so connected to her.  How amazing to fathom that she carried Simeon for the duration of her pregnancy, brought him into the world, and then loved him so much for as long as she was able.  One of the most powerful times of our meeting was sharing our prayer for her from Ephesians 3:16-17, which references the glory, power, and presence of each member of the Trinity.  Our time as a larger group closed with the birth families passing on a lit candle to each adoptive family in an “Entrustment Ceremony.”  There were more tears from us during that time than the rest of our trip combined!

Following a fussy Monday at the Embassy and then an afternoon baby-less visit to a leper colony, today (Tuesday) was the official day where the care center handed off Simeon Sisay to us.  No more nannies to help us now!  We enjoyed our day with him.  He likes to eat, and sleeps well (2.5 hr nap this afternoon!).  We had the pleasure of cleaning Simeon’s first seriously soiled diaper and attempted to give him his first bath.  Amanda is back at the guest house now with him, and I am at the Hilton.  Our lives are now officially not our own anymore!  But, what a joyous first full day it has been.  Our desires have been strong, the wait has been long, and now the parenting begins!

Simeon Sisay

We have 11 minutes of internet time… More now on Simeon… Here goes!

He likes to crawl and play in his playroom.  His favorite toy is always one that other children have.  They don’t seem to mind when he steals it.  We’ve seen him crawl over kids when he has a desired toy in mind.

Likewise, he is quite a focused kid!  He changes his focus on things often, but when he locks in on it, he is focused!

His nursery is by far his favorite part of the orphanage.  He’s most comfortable there.  When we take him elsewhere and plop down somewhere, he’s typically not too happy.  Interestingly, when he sees something (or someone) new (including us or even other nannies), he often begins to fuss.  We’re told he’s quite a happy kid typically, so the newness, his current cough, and his 2nd tooth which is coming in, might all have something to do with his general fussyness.

However, he seems to be comforted in both Amanda’s arms and Aaron’s arms.  He likes to take walks outside and be held, rocked, and sung to.  He’s fallen asleep on both us, which has been a fun way to bond with him.

We can’t take photos while in the orphanage, but hopefully will be able to take some pics of us with him on Tuesday.  We also heard our photos did not post.  We’ll try to figure that out.  Not sure when we’ll have internet again.

Animals!

So far, we have:

– Hit a goat with our 1970s Toyota (the goat lived)

– Killed a rooster with the same Toyota

– Had to avoid many donkeys in the road (it is now quite clear to me where the term “dumb ass” comes from

– Seen a bunch of camels being herded

– Sat in a boat watching hippos pop their heads above water at the source of the Blue Nile

– Seen 2 types of monkeys (one of which we almost hit with the Toyota)

– Lots of different colored pretty birds that we’ve never seen

– Oh, and lots of cattle.  All grass-fed.   🙂

Some Photos from Our Trips

Here are some fun pics from our trip thus far!

One of our highlights – Compassion International Visit

At various points in time, we and our families have sponsored children through Compassion International.  Yesterday, we had the extreme pleasure of visiting a site, and meeting the child that Aaron’s parents sponsor.  What a blessing!!

After driving 3 hours in a much nicer vehicle than the one that got stuck in the Gorge, we were greeted by about 50 children, with 2 children holding bouquets for us.  Yohanes (the 7-yr old child that our family sponsors) was quite shy when we first met him, but began to open up as he opened our gifts for him.  When he got to the coloring book and colored pencils, he put the gift opening on hold and spent about 10 minutes meticulously coloring parts of 3 pages.  Precious!  It was the most enjoyable gift opening experiences we have witnessed, as he pulled each item out of the small backpack we had given him.

The project has 250 children, and has been in existence for 1 year.  We were the 2nd sponsor family to visit – we were quite honored by the staff, children and volunteers, which included a sermon we received after 10 minutes on the property.  🙂

A huge highlight was visiting Yohanes’ family’s home.  His grandmother said many kind words to us, and expressed extreme thanks.  Yohanes joyfully called in his neighborhood buddies and began a “sharing ceremony” where he handed one pencil each to a line of his buddies.  It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.

We don’t want to post pics of this on-line, but feel free to ask to see pics and videos when we return.  This visit made us even MORE excited about the work Compassion International does.  We’d HIGHLY recommend checking out the work they do, if you’re not aware of them.

A Long-awaited Meeting

Very quick post (we finally have a hint of internet access).

We met our son this morning. How cool!!! We couldn’t stop smiling at him! He couldn’t quit fussing at us! Hopefully, we’ll get to know each other more over the coming days! It was amazing how normal it seemed to be walking around with him, trying to soothe him. He then fell asleep on Amanda. 🙂

Amanda pointed out that he’s a bit like his father – quite content, but not a huge fan of change. We’ll see how that plays out over the coming days and years!

Hopefully more later… No pics until at least Tuesday or Wednesday…