Fav Foto Friday

I'm not sure if these are really fav fotos (thanks Tara - I lifted them off your Snapfish album after we got home) but they bring back so many memories. One year ago today, Medina and I visited the WACAP house for the last time. Later that night we got on an airplane and flew home. It was bittersweet to me when Ruby and I left Guatemala but I was so ready to get her home for a whole variety of different reasons (2 1/2 year adoption process, stuck in the GC airport for 7 hours, Ruby was an infant and didn't know what was going on, etc) but it was really different with Medina. Medina would understand what she was losing. Yes, part of it was a life in an orphanage. But a much larger part of it was her language, her culture, her family, her country.


Oh how I cried when we pulled out of the WACAP house that last time for all the loss. I'm so grateful that Medina can enjoy life so much here in spite of all of that and yet I know she relives those losses daily when she has dreams of us all living together in Ethiopia. I know my sweet girl would go back in a heartbeat and it makes me so sad that she doesn't realize how hard that would be now since she no longer speaks the language. I know she could learn it again, just as she's learned English, but she doesn't understand how much things have changed for her. As happy as I am to have her as my daughter, my heart still breaks for all of her losses just as it did one year ago.

Ethiopia Journal - Wednesday, July 9, 2008

One more wake up and we head home!

Last night about 7 I couldn't keep my eyes open so Meidna and I layed down. I didn't go to sleep completely because she was coloring. Some time later the phone rang and it was JR asking to come over. We heard all about their day at the embassy and the police station. They needed $150 to get their passports. What a mess!! The good thing aobut JR coming over was that it kept me up later and last night was the first night I've slept all night. This morning Ato Teklu took them back to the embassy to finish up so they could get their passports. Around noon, he took 3 other families to the embassy to sign some paperwork on their medicals.

When they got back, Kim, Gwen, and I with the kids went shopping at Entoto market and then went to get coffee. I got a lot of good things I think.

After we got back to the hotel we dropped off our packages and Ato Teklu picked us up and we went to the orphanages. Medina was very excited when we pulled up (to Bete Hitsanat, where she spent about 6 months before going to the WACAP House) but all of her friends were gone. We stayed for a while but Medina just seemed to collapse in on herself. You could see that without her friends there, it was very hard on her to be there. After we left there, we stopped by the WACAP house - very close - but didn't get out. Then we went to Bete Saida, where Kim's boys were and where another family's first referral was.

We came back (to the hotel), had a potty break, and went to the Hilton for dinner. We ate at the pizza place there and then I got a few more souvenirs. Once back in the hotel, we got almost everything packed except what we'll need tomorrow. We have to check out by 11 am and at 11, we'll go to the WACAP House and say goodbye one last time and I will take some pictures and video there. I'm not sure how long that will take and then we'll have a lot of time to kill until we leave for the airport at 7:30 pm.

Continued faith in WACAP

Once again, WACAP has proven their ethics to me.

I talked to the main Ethiopia coordinator at WACAP tonight. I told her what I'd learned about Medina's family. Megan was thrilled to find out what I'd learned and so excited for Medina to have this information. I feel very reassured about getting letters to Medina's family through WACAP.

Sadly, I know that there are many agencies who would not react well to learning that a client had hired a private searcher but Megan's response was great!!! It shows me yet again that WACAP was not involved in the inaccuracies and has nothing to hide.

Ethiopia Journal - Tuesday, July 8, 2008

No one slept well again last night. I woke up around 2 am with an upset tummy and couldn't go back to sleep. Then Medina woe up with an upset tummy. I think I finally dozed off again around 6 am after Medina's pepto started to work. Then Medina was back up at 7 am.

The plan was to go shoppin this morning but it didn't work out. One of the families lost their money, credit cards, and passports. Ato Teklu came to help them and then had a court appointment. When he came back to take us shopping, we couldn't find everyone. He was taking that family to the embassy at 2 and said we would go shopping after that if it didn't rain. If rain then shopping tomorrow morning and then to the orphanages in the afternoon. We're going to get a sim card now and try to call home.

Ethiopia Journal - Monday,July 7, 2008

Embassy Day - What a day! Must have been a 2 star day.

Ato Teklu came at 9 to help us with paperwork and took us to the embassy so we could drop it off. We were there for about 1 hour - didn't do anything really. After that we went up to Entoto Hill and saw the museum and grounds - took a bunch of pics. We came back and had a lunch of granola bars and peanut butter crackers. We tried to get online but the computer was too slow so we never did. Then we went back up to the embassy for the interviews. UGH!!!

Tara and JR were up first. We were the last ones. All was going well until they got to my taxes and someone else's taxes were in my file. My taxes were misfiled in someone else's file. They asked if I had another copy. No. If I had a letter from my employer. No. Well - I needed to have something faxed or emailed because they couldn't approve Medina's visa without it. But they were the ones who lost it. Right at the last moment they found it in Tara and JR's file. Thank goodness!!! Medina should get her visa on Wednesday like normal.

I'm so glad to get all of that out of the way. I'll feel a little more relieved when I actually have her visa in hand and full relief will come when we get through immigration. I did get Medina's original birth certificate and some court documents. One of the documents had a new picture that I hadn't ever seen before and you can tell Medina had long hair...at least longer.

Ethiopia Journal - Sunday, July 6, 2008

We are here and so is Medina. We got here yesterday morning about 9:30. We got our visas, made it through immigration, got our bags and got through customs. Ato Teklu picked us all up - Kim and Gwen were on our flight - and brought us to the hotel. By 11:00 am we were settled in. Dad and I relaxed some and explored the hotel grounds some. I think I was too tired to be very nervous about meeting Medina.

At 4 pm, Ato Teklu picked us all up - including Tara and JR - to take us to the WACAP House. I started to get nervous then. We drove a little ways down the main road and then turned down a very bumpy small lane to the WACAP house. The compound was surrounded by a tall wall with broken glass imbedded into the top of it. The gate opened and the van pulled into a central court yard. We could see some of the kids. They took us into an open room and the kids were brought in - first were Kim's boys, Mulugeta and Yohannes, then Medina, and finally the nannies carried in Makias and Nardos. Medina smiled and gave me a hug and glued herself to me. She wouldn't talk at all but would smile and tuck her head when someone talked to her. Elizabeth (my WACAP coordinator) had said we would visit on Saturday and bring the kids back on Sunday but Ato Teklu encouraged us all to bring them back then so we all did except Gwen. Nardos has a very hard time with strangers and Gwen needed to sleep first.

Medina seemed very happy to come with us - lots of smiles - but she still didn't say anything until we got back to the room and I showed her some of her close and her mancala game. We played several games of mancala but she would have to help me. She would do her move and then show me what to do. She had on a nice outfit (one I brought in my donations bag) but her shoes were rather worn so when we went up to the main hotel for dinner we got her some new shoes. They were going to try one pair on her and she said, "No, I'm a lady."

After a dinner of traditional food (followed by hot milk with sugar and coffee for Medina) we came back to the room and got ready for bed. That night Medina didn't sleep well - up from about 12 to 2. We played mancala and looked at pics from home and also all the pics I have of her. I heard lots of stories about Mikias and Nardos but, of course, I couldn't understand them. We finally went back to sleep and Medina woke up promptly at 7:15.

We spent Sunday walking around the hotel and hanging out in our room. We did walk down the main road outside the hotel a ways. At one point we were walking and Ato Teklu and the driver camp up. Medina was so excited to see them. Ato Teklu had the rabbit and photo album I had sent and Medina was very excited about that. I told Teklu that Medina had talked a lot about Nardos and Mikias. He talked to her and then told me they had be in the same orphanage together for a long time and she loved them very much.

We went into one of the gift shops in the hotel. I picked out some post cards while Meidna talked to the man and woman in there. I wanted to get her a kid's cd and the woman said Medina told her she wanted a cd of traditional music so we got that too and an Amharic/English dictionary. medina and the woman there talked a lot while we waited for the man to come back with the cds. Medina told her we were leaving tomorrow and I said, "no, Thursday night." Medina was worried that the hyenas would come then.

It's amazing how affectionate these strangers are towards kids. They really talk to them and kiss them and remember them later. Medina was worried she wouldn't get to say goodbye to them before we left.

Medina knows her ABCs - can recognize them by sight and write them (G and Y are backwards). She also knows several words - sun, flower, sandal, shoe, jacket, fish, cat. She loves to draw and color and braid the hair on her Barbie and My Little Pony - I was surprised how well she can braid.

Tonight (Sunday) Medina is sleeping much better. Unfortunately I'm not.

In the morning Ato Teklu is coming to get us at 9 am. We will finish our paperwork so he can take that to the embassy and then we will go to the embassy at 3 pm to apply for her visa. We're also going to ask about souvenir shopping. I want to get Medina some traditional dresses and some other souvenirs. I'd also like to get her another pair of shoes and pants. I'm not sure what else is on the schedule.

I know at some point Medina will start testing but right now she seems very happy and is coming out of her shell more and more.

Mini Celebration

So, it's not my plan to make any of these special adoption days huge parties but I do like to do something special for the girls. Today was low-key and fun - just perfect for our first Medina Day.

We went to lunch at Freddies where Medina could celebrate with a hot dog and Sierra Mist (a big treat in our house). Then the girls had ice cream for dessert.

Enjoying her ice cream as only Medina can

And then pondering life

Ruby's not going to get left out of the ice cream fun

I thought my dad might have a melt down as he watched Ruby's ice cream melt and drip but he held it together well. ;-)

Best of all...

A family pic with us all looking and smiling

This is such a rare event it almost warrants it's own celebration.

We came home and put together a photo album to send to Medina's family. I thought I'd done a really good job narrowing down the pics because the album held 100. I counted. I had 170. We got a new album that held 160. It's all put together and ready to go. I need to write a letter and figure out the best way to send it and it will be off. Medina said, "I'm so happy my mom will get to see so many pictures of me smiling." Me too!!!

Medina Day 2009

Holy cow!!! It's been a whole year! I really can't believe it! Medina is so different in so many ways. She speaks great English, she has long hair, she's grown so much. Yet she is so much the same little girl I met one year ago. She is fun-loving and a great sister. She is still so proud to be from Ethiopia.

Here it is...a year in review

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Medina Day Eve

aka...the 4th of July

We had a lazy day at home until this evening when we went over to my parents and then all went to one of the local fireworks displays. Medina was super excited all day long without really having any idea what to expect. I told Ruby about it but she didn't really get it.

We hung out outside, ran into one of Medina's camp friends - who happens to be adopted from Vietnam, watched the magician, listened to the band, played in the splash pad, watched some fireworks, and sat in traffic. Medina loved it all. Four F16's flew over and that scared Ruby due to the noise. I was worried about how she would do with the fireworks. She sat with her hands over her ears, completely still, the whole time but says she liked them. She did doze off part way through so they must not have scared her too bad and she never cried. We did make 6 or 7 trips to the bathroom, making me question why I wanted her potty trained. All in all, it was a great night!

The first face I got

It morphed to this

Watching the magician in awe

He was pretty cool (Ruby got bored with him after a couple of minutes. Medina watched for at least 20 minutes, totally ingrossed.)

My princess

(She's on a major princess kick. She wants to be one so she can help people.

I keep trying to explain you don't have to be a princess to help someone.)

Silly sisters

(this may be one of my all time favorites of them together)

Splash pad fun

(she really did have fun even though she doesn't look like it here)

Ruby...oh wait - it's a frog - she hops and ribbets

All in all, except for the 45 minutes in traffic, it was a great evening and a great build up for Medina Day 2009. :-)