Case cleared at the U.S. Embassy

This morning we received a wonderful email stating that the U.S. Embassy cleared our case. They asked us to provide three potential dates for our visa appt. so I am hoping that we hear back from them tomorrow. We cannot wait to hold our baby boy again!! 

Today we received an update on Alazar as well. He has gained 4.5 # in the last seven weeks, since he moved from his first orphanage to our agency's transition house. He is closing the gaps on his weight and weight and is no longer that far from being and average sized 7 month old! We are thankful for the wonderful caregivers and staff who have been taking great care of him!

This pic cracks me up! Look at his eyes! Check out his chubby wrists!

Update

I realize I have been such a slacker with this whole blog thing. It has been almost two months since we were in ET and I am still working on the trip #1 recap. I apologize to those of you who follow this. 

Anyway, in late June/early July we had a delay in our embassy submission which ended up being a full two weeks because of the 4th of July holiday. So on Thursday, July 11th, our case was finally submitted. We recently received notice of an interview date for this upcoming Thursday, 8/1, at the embassy. It will take place at 7:30 AM which is 12:30 AM here. (in abandonment cases, the finder appears; in relinquishment cases, the birthparent appears). So, our fingers are crossed that our interview person appears as scheduled and that we can clear in a timely fashion. Apparently, there are staffing shortages at the embassy and the processing of cases appears to have slowed down just in the last two weeks. I am hoping this is temporary and things pick up again, especially because some of my adoption sisters are still waiting for their interviews to be scheduled.

So this is where we are now. Originally I had anticipated that we would be back in ET this week. Stay tuned....

ETHIOPIA: Part 3

Day 4: Sunday, June 9th:
This day was the most magical, special day of our whole trip. I woke up feeling better than ever, after feeling sick the day before. In retrospect, I realize I was dehydrated. Anyway, once again we had an early start to our day! Our guide and driver picked us up and first up was a hippo boat ride! Our hotel was right on Lake Awassa and just north of the hotel is where the hippos live! Our hotel actually offered hippo boat rides but our guide informed us they where way overpriced! So we took little drive to another part of the lake and began our little adventure. We had a wonderful tour guide, Abraham, and his helper who helped bail the water out of the boat when it crept in!

Our guide & his assistant

Me & Chris

Justin & Ali, our travel buddies!

Hungry hungry hippos!!

The Haile Resort, our hotel while we were in Awassa & Shashemene

Fisherman 

Many people were out and about today!

After our ride we saw some other animals, these ones were much safer. We got to feed them peanuts!

After our hippo ride we were supposed to go shopping but the shops were closed because it was Sunday. We had a change of plans and we toured a local coffee farm. For those of you that don't know, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee or "buna."

               Coffee farmers & their families

After lunch, we stopped for buna & macchiatos (our afternoon tradition) and toured a couple of hotels so we could give our agency other recommendations. We saw a few wedding celebrations as well, it was really awesome!

Finally it was time to go see our sweet boy again!! We had a wonderful visit with him and he fell asleep in my arms!

ETHIOPIA: Part 2

Day 3: Saturday June 8, 2013
Early Saturday morning our driver, Aweke, and our guide/translator, Zack, came to our hotel to pick us up. 

The Heglunds, Ali & Justin, traveled with me and Chris to Shashemene. Their twin 5 y.o. sons were at the same orphanage as Alazar, CCC or Children's Cross Connection. I was very hot and not feeling well on the drive down. I tried to enjoy the sights and scenery but found myself trying to get comfortable and get some sleep so I would not be feeling yucky when I met Alazar. After a long trip, we finally arrived at CCC in the afternoon. When we first got there, we spoke with a staff member who was prepared to answer any questions we had. She told me that I resembled Alazar. She would the first of four people who told me that during our long weekend at CCC. At this time, we presented her with our donations and gifts.

Finally it was time to meet our baby boy. We walked into the baby room and I was looking all around the room for him. He was actually all bundled up in the arms of the nanny who was sitting right next me!! I sat down next to her and started talking to him. Then I finally got to hold him. After couple of minutes I gave Chris a turn too. Alazar is super cute, happy, content, and alert. We love him so much already!

After our visit we were all very tired and we checked in at our hotel, the Haile Resort.

Travel tidbit: For anyone that is traveling in ET, I recommend that you carry wet wipes and tissue in your purse with you because you do not know what the bathroom situation will be, especially if you stop at random restaurants/cafes on the side of the road.

ETHIOPIA: Part 1

Day# 1: Wednesday 6/5/13: Our journey to ET began on Wednesday night, June 5th. We had a 10:10 P.M. Lufthansa flight out of Logan to Frankfurt. Thanks to Ambien, the flight was fine!

Day #2: Thursday 6/6/13: We arrived at the Frankfurt airport in the morning and we remained there for 10 HOURS! The layover was actually not as bad as I had anticipated it to be. I was surprised by the cleanliness and size of this airport. Luckily we were able to shower here. In Terminal B they have a nice locker room type shower area that was wicked clean and nice. I believe the shower was what got us through this very long day. Finally, after walking around the airport 587 times, nighttime arrived and we were able to board our plane to Addis Ababa!!

Day #3: Friday 6/7/13: We arrived in Addis somewhere between 5:30-6:00 A.M., obtained our visas & luggage, and found our driver. After we got to the van we realized that we forgot to exchange our dollars for birr, the ET currency. We went back in and exchanged $500 for birr. The rate is 1:18 so it was pretty funny when Chris could not fit his "stack" into his wallet. What was even funnier was the man purse he wore all week long. At least I did not have the responsibility of keeping the money and passports safe. Soon after leaving the airport we arrived at our hotel which was just a couple of miles away. 

After checking in, our agency's person in charge on the ET side called us and asked us to meet him in the lobby so he could review our paperwork for the US Embassy. After this was done, the 3 of us went to breakfast at Kaldi's where Chris' obsession with machiattos  began! Chris and I walked back to the hotel from the breakfast place and this is where I learned the streets of Addis are no place for flip-flops! 

For some reason, I do not remember pieces of this day. It was a bit of a blur but I do remember the following parts:

-meeting and eating lunch with Heglunds out on the balcony

-napping in the afternoon

-eating the yummiest meal ever, the Thai Chicken dish at the hotel's restaurant

-taking a shower as fast as possible because the drain was screwed up and the water overflowed onto the floor.

-going to bed early as we had to get up in the morning to begin our "real journey" to Alazar!