Trip 1 Hannah's Hope Day 4: Dec 7- Dec 8

K

Before we left for Ethiopia, I said: "I would like to say I am having a total Scarlet moment saying, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." Well, tomorrow is kinda here and I have been having my Scarlet moment for some time. I know when we separate, you will be carried away from us. I know we will try to have our game faces on, so you don't see us cry." Okay Little Man, I so don't have a game face, who was I kidding? It is hard though knowing each tick of the clock is one closer to having to leave you. I know you are loved and being taken care of by your special mothers, but it isn't the same.

So I finally resigned myself to the fact I don't sleep in Ethiopia. In one sense, I am glad there are not a lot of clocks around, you can't see the minutes tick by when you are awake at night. Before coming I had purchased a travel alarm, since I knew the hotel room wouldn't have an alarm clock. I guess I didn't read the box, or it wasn't mentioned, because if I had I would have known the clock didn't light up in the dark. Again, point in my favor when I woke up super early every day, I didn't have to see the time slowly go by. This last morning, I believe I woke up around 3:30 am. I might have dozed off a couple of times, but I finally decided to roll out of bed around 6 am.

 {Okay, so this isn't what the room looked like the last morning. I want to say this was Monday of our trip. The first two mornings the hotel hadn't given us shampoo or soap, luckily we had packed that. Your Dad laughed at me when he saw I was packing it. I am thinking he liked having soap once we got there.}

After a warmish shower, I got your Dad up and we got ready to face the day, or at least breakfast. This morning the B family joined our group. They were in country to finally pick up their son, who they had last seen in July. Breakfast didn't have the awesome pancakes, but the French Toast and coffee was good. Again, we sat around long enough to have additional food brought to us at the table. I really love that about the hotel. We spent a lot of time at breakfast this morning.

Around 10 am Wass came to pick us up. We loaded in the van and I asked the B family if they wanted me to record their "gotcha" moment. I was handed their video camera and we were off. Wass parked outside of the gates this morning and once we walked through them, your Dad went to find you while I followed the B family to where their son was this morning. Again, tears watching this moment for another family.

So K, I must say, I think this was my favorite morning with you. This morning when we got to HH you were once again dressed in bibs and this time a long sleeved gray shirt. Your special mothers were feeding you as you ate outside in your bumbo seat. By the time I got to you and your Dad, you were holding his finger while a special mother feed you and your friend M.

After eating, you went to your Dad. (I think you prefer him right now.) I am so glad you went to him first. Why? He got you to smile. This is the first time either one of us got you to fully smile. Hon, you have a great smile that brings out dimples. That's right, my son has dimples. Your Dad cheated though. He gave you zerberts on your cheeks to get this to happen as he lifted you up in down in the air. He was also using his goatee. So the zerberts isn't cheating, but I am thinking the goatee is. I am letting this slide though, since he got you to smile.

So in addition to zerberts and goatees, booping your nose also gets you to smile. I am thinking you also like being lifted up and down. That's how I got you to smile soon after Dad put you in my arms. Unfortunately, your Dad didn't get a "good" picture of this, but this is the best one we have.

As we held you, you cuddled with us. You love to place your head either right against our head or in the spot between our head and shoulder. As your head sits there, you lean in closer and really get into the cuddle. K, I can't wait to have you home and have lots of cuddle time. (I am thinking we will also get a lot of this as we walk the aisle of the plane coming home.)

Eventually you needed to be changed. We carried you up to your room and your Dad changed your diaper. I don't know if this was met with less laughter from the special mothers or not, I was playing with the others in your room. While we were up there, we talked to your special mothers about what they do to get you to laugh, smile, and comfort you. I love your special mothers. They couldn't communicate, through words, everything to us, but we have it on video. We have them singing to you, holding you, cuddling with you, and everything they do to make you smile. These women are wonderful. Most importantly, we got how they give you your bottle. I am thinking we can do this K.

{Cuddling and laughing with M}

{clapping to your song with M}

{M getting you to go down for your nap}

Little Man, I am so glad we have a recording of all of this. Now we can show you how you were loved while at Hannah's Hope. We can show you the room where you lived. More importantly, we can do what your special mothers did to comfort you. Unfortunately, M did get you to sleep, but we got to put you in your crib. I cried as we did this. We would only get to see you one more time before leaving. 

Once we left the baby house, we joined the others in the court yard. We talked and played with the kids. We also got the chance to watch the older kids eat. I decided to give myself a tour of Hannah's Hope.

 So I now know what my injera has been missing, an injera maker. I am thinking this appliance won't fit in the cabinets though. . .

 The kitchen, separate from the injera making room. This is where the meals for the older kids are made.

 Shiro! Yum.

 The nurse's room in the baby house. Little man, you have been there too many times.

 The kitchen in the baby house. This is used mainly for the cleaning of bottles, if I understood correctly.

 Random bathroom.

 The ladybug room.

 The elephant room. There weren't any babies in this room when we were there.

 The turtle room.

Your room and crib.

Eventually we were told it was time to go around 12:30. We went back to the hotel and ate lunch. I know we ordered an Ethiopian dish. I don't know what it was, but I can say it was the first Ethiopian dish I didn't like. I am not sure what I didn't like about this dish, but I was not a fan.

Following lunch, we had about a half hour until we were picked up at 2:30 for our last afternoon at HH. This trip was different. Danny pulled up to the hotel and we piled into the van with the C and G families to be greeted by a goat. This goat was purchased by a family and was heading to one of the orphanages, once Danny dropped us off at HH. So the goat rode in the back of the van, this is more what I was thinking our goat experience was going to be like the first time.

When we got to HH, you were once again up in your room, eating. We got to finish feeding you and while we did that, T came in and translated the questions we tried asking in the morning. We learned you have a bottle every 3 hours, including throughout the night. I am not sure about this, but it seems you get 4 oz of milk every time you are fed. In addition, at 7 am, 10 am, and 3 pm you get rice cereal. You are not a fan of the potato and carrot food they make, you like your rice cereal.

Following your rice cereal, we went outside. Your Dad carried you down the marble steps. (Yes, marble.) Out in the courtyard we sang and danced. I ignored your boogie as long as I could, I knew you would cry as soon as I tried to wipe it away. You cried when I did wipe it away. (BTW- Your aunts Courtney and Marcia were impressed I took your picture when you had a boogie, let alone shared it. To be honest, these are favorites.)

 {Yep, you enjoyed licking your Dad's shoulder.}

Throughout the afternoon we took turns holding you. We watched the other families play with their older children. At multiple times, tears would well up in my eyes. We continued to hold you and sing, T even joined us at one point and we all sang and clapped your song.

Eventually, T came to tell us, "Time to go." Your Dad was holding you and we were directly in front of the baby house, she was on the porch. She asked us if we wanted to take you upstairs or if we wanted her to take you. The tears were already coming. Your Dad looked at me and told her she needed to take you. We both kissed you goodbye and as you went to her you started to fuss. T turned and carried you up the stairs, we stood there watching. We hugged each other and moved to where we could wait for the others. Eventually we all walked out through the gates and got in the van. It was a quiet trip back to the hotel.

At the hotel, we went upstairs washed up and went back downstairs to eat. We wanted something bland, since we knew it would be a long flight, so we ordered rice and Cokes. (Okay, Diet Coke for me.) Eventually the S family joined us with the twins and then the C family. We finished dinner and got ready to leave. 

At 7 pm the hotel shuttle took us to the airport. To get into the airport we had to show our boarding passes. Once inside the airport, we had to go through security before even getting to the ticket desk. The security check point here really didn't like my pump and back-up pump. They didn't get that it couldn't go through the X-Ray. They kept trying to take it from me and put it through X-Ray. I kept grabbing it and saying it couldn't go through X-Ray even with showing them the two letters I travel with. Eventually they let me through, after patting me down three times. You Dad stood there laughing with our stuff.

We waited for the desk to open and then checked in our bags. We went through a pseudo security and then immigration where they stamped our passports. From there, it was up the escalator to where the shops were. We looked around and then went through security to get to our gate. We repeated what happened earlier with my insulin pump. It didn't take as long, I still got patted down three times. Your Dad and I were the first of the three families to get there. Your Dad sat and listened to music while I read. 

We boarded the plane and flew to Frankfurt. It was the bumpiest flight I have ever been on. We got into Frankfurt around 6 am their time and found the "Z" gates of terminal one. We went through security again. Security went better, but they looked my pump up online. I still got patted down. We wondered. We found coffee. We got on the plane. (BTW- not a fan of the desk clerk at the gate in Frankfurt.) All three families flew to Chicago together. It was a quiet flight. 

As we went through immigration in Chicago, I remember turning to April and saying, "Something smells. I really hope it isn't us." She replied, "Don't worry, it is." After immigration, we rechecked our bags and the G family left us and we went to terminal two to board the flight to our regional airport. In terminal two we went through security again. (I am a pro at this.) We found a "Nuts on Clark" and I got popcorn, we couldn't find the Garrett Popcorn stand. We boarded the plane. 

Thirty minutes later we were in P. Grammy and Papa met us at the airport and drove us home. 

K, now we wait. It is the only thing we know how to do it seems. We wait to be submitted to Embassy. We wait for the Embassy to give us clearance. We can only be submitted on a Monday. We might be submitted tomorrow, which is already today in Ethiopia.

Love,

Mom