HE'S HOME!!

I will eventually finish our trip timeline but we have been so tired and haven't had time to get on here.  I thought I would post some pictures instead!  I posted pics of our other days as well.

Gotcha Day - Day 7

We woke up anxious again. My life story on this trip. We went to the Bethany Corporate Office here to meet with social workers and the head of Bethany. He showed us how to fill out our Embassy forms that we do tomorrow. We then met with our social worker and his nurse to go over final details. Hagirsa is a happy, healthy boy.
We started with lunch at a golf club today! My favorite. We got to eat outside and loved the warm weather. Did you know that Malarone and Cirpro BOTH make you sensitive to light? Yep, got a nice sunburn at the beginning of February which I can say has never been done before. We were all so anxious, we just wanted to GO!
We had a few families on the bus getting children from other orphanages as well today. We went to the Mussie orphanage and got to see four children with their parents - so emotional! Kids sang songs and they cut a cake and everything (never mind the butcher knife they gave a five year old to do it with). Very sweet little ceremony. Now unto our day. We walked in and they had the children that were leaving dressed up in traditional Ethiopian clothing. Hagirsa looked so dang cute as ever. His nannies cried and cried. They tried to hide their faces but that didn't help. They kept asking for Hagirsa to hold - one more time. "He is such good boy, so happy, he so lucky to have you as family" one said. So, we all cried, hugged and had bittersweet feelings about the whole experience. These nannies have been his mom for half of his life. They know him way better than I do. I'm hoping the transition goes well. We took a great big group picture which was amazing. So many orphans now into good homes in the US. It broke my heart to leave the orphans there that weren't leaving yet. One was Samuel and he LOVED Hagirsa. We found out he will be in the Grand Rapids area when he comes home. He was crying too. So many tears this past week. Anyways, the bus ride was a bit stressful. My quiet kid whom I've never heard cry decided he was going to on the bus ride home and for about an hour after that. It is a sweet little cry. He is teething though, has really bad diaper rash, and left the only world he knew to come with us to a new place with more new faces. Poor thing. After feeding him I decided to bring him down to the common area where the kids were and he was TOTALLY fine. Kendal is going to be so helpful in this transition. We put him to bed okay, he was fussy for a bit but a little bottle and he was out. He put up a good fight though. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings after some sleep that we all will hopefully get.
Side note: I tried camel tonight. No, it doesn't taste like chicken, I though it tasted like beef. Weird! You can buy it on the street right around the corner from us at the butcher. Whatever dead head is outside the market, that's what dead meat is hanging inside the market.
Can't believe we are a family of four now! We go to embassy tomorrow to finish paperwork and file for his visa. His passport is so cute. Going to bed early tonight, when your kid sleeps, you sleep! Have a good week everyone.
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Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

Day 6 - Sunday

This is the fun day. We get up and have a quick breakfast. We then leave for this resort that has a boat ride you take to photograph hippos! So excited. People are dropping like flies though getting sick today. So many reasons why you could be sick here it's scary. So anyways, we get on a pontoon boat that takes us about 1/2 hour across Lake Awassa to see the hippos and we DID. Got some great pics. So amazing. Came back while the other group went and walked through the resort where monkeys were on the trees just like squirrels are at home. Got lots of pics of the monkeys. My favorite was the one holding her baby. The girls played putt-putt. So, I legally can say that I PLAYED GOLF IN ETHIOPIA! We ended up staying at the resort because one of our friends was really sick. We at right on the water of Lake Awassa. It was a beautiful day too. I got sunburned! It just so happened that the second prime minister of Ethiopia was eating outside as well with about 100 other people on poverty. He would be like our vice-president in our country. I was wondering why so many people had AK47s standing on balconies. So, I did get an illegal picture of him. Got lots of pictures by the water of the exotic birds and more monkeys before we left. We started on our 5 hour trip back on a bumpy bus with sick people on it. Two more got sick and one is actually in the hospital now getting her fluids revived. Very scary. I'm doing good mom! :) Tomorrow morning we will get up and head to the Bethany Corporate office here and get prepped for our embassy appt which is Tuesday. We then eat lunch and go pick up Hagirsa. They do a goodbye ceremony which I'm looking forward to except the tears I shall have again. These nannies have had him for half of his life. They love him. One of the nannies patted his head on Friday and said, "I will miss this one" and had to walk away because she was crying. It will be a packed house tomorrow night with all of our kids here together. At least the kids all know each other so that will be helpful for them. Alright, it's almost midnight here so I'd better get to bed. I will enjoy the Superbowl in my sleep tonight since we are 8 hours ahead! Go Lions!! :))))
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Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

Day 5 Continued

So, Sisay who was the one who trained us at Bethany and was with us at court got married about three weeks ago and was having a prolonged reception. We went to that and got to pray and pray with Ethiopians. It was very cool to see the ceremony while my mind is racing about what may happen in less than an hour. We see a goat and find out that he has to kill it and they will eat it for dinner. The goat kept making sounds during the ceremony - famous last words. Kind of funny - not for the goat. So, as we leave I ask where we will meet her. Well, she's not here yet............seriously, our time and Ethiopian time are not the same. So, we sit down to eat dinner at our hotel for that night in Awassa. I ordered but didn't think I could eat. Mahi, then comes up to us and says, "She is downstairs." Oh my gosh. What do to? I feel so unprepared. How can you feel prepared for this. We were asked if we would like to eat and then meet her. We opted for meeting her first if that was okay with her. She agreed. We walk downstairs of the restaurant and there she was. THERE SHE WAS! The woman that gave birth to my son and gave us this precious miracle was right in front of us. What do you say? I hugged her and we were escorted to a room to "interview" her. She was very shy and timid. We asked if she would mind if we could record our questions to her so that Hagirsa could see them later. She said that was fine. We asked lots of things (most I won't put on due to Hagirsa being the one that can tell people if he wants in the future) but there were two answers that so warmed our hearts. We always have wanted "Hagirsa" to be his name unless it meant something negative. We asked her what it meant and she said she had him in peace and so that's why she named him "Hagirsa" which means peace in Sidayamo. Yep, cried. We got some information about her family and her life. She is twenty right now and is remarried. She smiled and even laughed in the interview even though I could tell she was very nervous, as were we. The last thing she added (which was not on tape) was that she prayed and prayed for her child to go to a christian family and now she is so blessed. That's all she wanted for him. We showed her the photo album we brought and the videos we had taken of Hagirsa walking the day before. She thought it was the cutest thing. She was smiling and laughing and holding her chest to laugh. Kreg then prayed with all of together. We got our pictures taken with her and two by herself for Hagirsa to have. She was beautiful and so petite and about 4'10". We all hugged, gave an Ethiopian handshake and said our goodbyes. So hard to talk when we got back up to the group. We made everyone cry with the story about his name. We made sure she knew how much WE are blessed to have HIM. Finished what I could of dinner and then just layed on the bed. I couldn't fall asleep. My mind was racing about what I didn't ask her, etc. She really wants him to come back someday when he gets older so I will make sure that happens. :)

The second picture was where we first saw his birth mom.  She was sitting in the back left table.
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Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

Day 5 - Saturday

So, we eat breakfast in the morning and know that today is going to be a tough day. We decided from the very beginning that we would like to meet Hagirsa's birth mother for a lot of reasons. Mostly, so we can tell him about her. We get on the bus to drive to Awassa with about 20 people - eight families doing the exact same thing. I was an anxious mess the whole day. The scenery was beautiful but I was very distracted wondering the unknown. The countryside was beautiful. Mountains were on both sides of us most of the way down. There were lots of little "towns" on the road. Most with just a few shops and houses. There were a few lakes and we got to see camels. One guy was herding them and another was a camel farm. We arrive in Awassa and eat at a very beautiful restaurant. We then head to the orphanage where Hagirsa started and lived for about a month. We knew the birth mom was supposed to be there when we arrived. We first got a tour of the orphange. It was heart breaking to see so many very teeny tiny infants that were in the cribs. Way too many. It was also heartbreaking to know that they do not have an organization working with them now to adopt these children. Tears were rolling at this point. Kreg cried when we saw twin boys 2 months old in adjoining cribs. He truely wanted to take them home if we could. I would have been okay with that. The kids that were older waved and blew kisses to us. We then walk out back where sits unfamiliar faces to all of our group. Everyone is wondering who goes with who. This was the most awkward moment of our lives. So, we are all sitting there and our social worker from Ethiopia comes over to us and says this, "Your birth mother changed her...............address." My heart sank because for what seemed like a lifetime I thought she was going to say, "mind." She said that she would be here in an hour. So an hour passes and the couples are meeting their birth parents/grandparents. Things are going awesome for everyone. I ask after an hour has passed if they are getting close. She checks and has a very sincere look on her face. She says that they can't find her. Wow, speechless and lots of tears again. When in the world would we ever get this chance to meet her I'm thinking? What if they don't find her before next Saturday? My heart is racing and I think I was going to be sick again. They said they are still looking for her and not to worry. No, I don't worry at all!! So, after some more time and tears, Mahi, our social worker, comes over and says that they found her father and that she got remarried and moved. He knows where she lives though and can find her they say. Another hour goes by. No word. Finally, they tell us that she is on her way and that she would be here in about an hour.

The last picture was inside the Shalom orphanage in Awassa.
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Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

Day 4

The last post was day 2 and 3 with traveling. Friday we got up and had some breakfast. We had some time to walk down the street we were on and played with some of the kids. I played hopscotch and Kreg and Tim got out the soccer balls of course. Everyone in Ethiopia knows how to play soccer (football here). We then left for the orphanage. We got there and found out they were going to tape us for our Life Book that they are making for us. So, there was a camera crew taping our first sight of him and for about an hour after that. We walked in and saw his cute little face sitting on the kitchen floor all by himself. He is so stinkin' cute. I went right over and picked him up. He was not timid at all with Kreg or myself. He smiled right away. We put our camera on him and got to see him walk for the first time. He took about ten steps before he squatted down so we missed quite a bit unfortunately when we were gone. He is so coordinated. He loves to move around and he LOVES to be held. He is really particular about just one toy. Whatever he has that day (this time it happened to be an empty bubbles bottle), he doesn't want to give it up. We may have our hands full for a while - literally! I'm okay with that. We got to play with all the kids and see all of the faces of the rest of the adoptive families light up. We eventually had to leave. We went shopping again and when I got to the first stop, I was violently ill. I had to use a restroom NOW. If you don't know anything about bathrooms in Ethiopia, don't find out. They are not really bathrooms so it was an awful experience. None that I had ever felt before or want to feel again. I eventually got better as the day went on. Got some other things to bring home to remind us of Ethiopia. We came back and layed down for a bit and then we had dinner together with the rest of the families at a traditional restaurant and then came back "home" to our guesthouse. Tomorrow we leave for Awassa to meet Hagirsa's birth mother.
--
Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

Day 2

Got up with our friends and had breakfast. Since we packed so suddenly we did forget a few things so we headed to the Mall of America - Where there's a will there's a way that I will find the biggest mall around. We then headed to the airport and left again. We found out that the weather got bad right after we left and THEY closed their airport as well. Sensing a theme here? God really wants us to get there! We flew to Amsterdam and had a few hour wait. As we were waiting, we see a couple that looks just like a couple that stayed with us during our first trip. It WAS! They were on our next flight! So awesome! So, we got to catch up with them and hear about how they found out last minute as well and got there. Flew out of Amsterdam to Sudan (kind of scary), fueled up and then landed in Ethiopia without a place to stay yet or knowing if anyone was going to be there. Sara and I sweet talked a friendly guy and he let us use his cell phone to call Abel. He was right around the corner and said he got us a place to stay. Praise the Lord! Our place is beautiful and has lots of room for kids! We got in late at night so we pretty much just went to bed. The smells and sounds of Ethiopia were all so familiar. We were also told that he would pick us up in the morning to go see all of our children!
--
Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

First Day

So, I'm in the car driving back from a meeting in Lansing and Kreg says to me, "Hun, I think we're leaving tonight." There was silence on my end. What???? We found out that morning that we were invited to travel and that our embassy appt would be next week. Due to the snowstorm coming in, we decided (along with two other couples) to try to beat the storm and fly north to Minnesota. We were the ONLY flight out of GR that flew out that night. I took a picture of the screen that had all flights cancelled but ours. We had a bumpy ride but made it safely to Minnesota. Had dinner when we got there and then headed to our hotel that we got that night in the airport!
--
Stacey Sills
Health and Prevention Consultant
Ottawa Area Intermediate School District
13565 Port Sheldon St.
Holland, MI 49424
1-877-702-8600 ext. 4111
ssills@oaisd.org
He who has health, has hope. And he who has hope, has everything. ~ Proverb quote

PRAISE THE LORD!

We are on our way to get Hagirsa.  Words cannot explain the excitement, nervousness, anxiety, etc.  Could be because we found out at 2:00 p.m. that we were leave at 7:45 p.m. from Grand Rapids in the biggest blizzard ever!  Our flight was the only one NOT cancelled.  We are safe and sound in Minnesota with the two other couples we have been traveling with.  We leave at 3:00 p.m. here today to fly to Amsterdam, The Sudan and then Addis!  Thanks for all of your prayers.  We will try to keep you updated as much as possible when we are there!  Can't wait to see our son.

I'm In Labor!!!

We received "the call" this morning that we can travel this weekend!  Kreg is working on the flight and our friend, Sara, is working on our trip to Awassa.  Praise the Lord!  We get to bring our son home soon!