The Shers

from our little pumpkin!!

Stay tuned for pictures of him in his costume!!  What will Abe be????

as a family that is.  So you will have to excuse the horrible lateness of getting this post up but well, I've been busy :)  So Monday morning of our trip we had arranged for our driver Solomon to meet us at Bejoe House since we thought that we would be going to the Care Center to pick up Abe.  Once he got there though Travis called and told us that the other little guy being picked up that day wanted to go see his Mom and Dad now and didn't want to wait on us to get there so Travis said that he would bring Abe along too and would be at Bejoe in about 1 1/2 hours.  Since Solomon was already there we decided to run to the store to pick up some bottled water.  We got our water and was on our way back when Solomon got a call from Travis asking where we were.  He was already at the guest house with Abe and we were nowhere around!!  Solomon gets off the phone and says Travis is at Bejoe and I completely freaked out.  What did he mean?  We still had plenty of time.  I needed to get our cameras and have someone video tape the event, I wasn't ready (oh, wait, yes I was, I had been waiting for this moment for years!!).  As we start to pull into the guest house alley we notice that Travis is parked in his car at the entrance waiting for us to get back, so we were able to pull in, run upstairs to get our camera (we were going to video tape it but we didn't even have a tape in the camera and Jeremy was shaking so bad he couldn't get the wrapper off so we just went with the camera.)  So here's the video for my little camera.  Little background, the other couple that was there were caught off guard too so since I had the camera I started video tapping them because I thought Travis was the only one in the car so I figured he would bring up their son and then go get Abe from the car, well I was mistaken.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out at Bejoe House with Abe.  It's hard to put in words all the emotions of that day.  It all kind of seemed surreal.  All of the sudden this guy walked up the stairs and handed us our child, WOW!!  But it also all felt so natural.  Having him just fit.  All the waiting, all the fustrations and emotions leading up to that moment just all seemed to fade away like a distant memory. 

Before I am unfriended and disowned I figured I should at least start blogging about our trip, try to get everyone caught up on life over the past three weeks.

The first two days of the trip were pretty much spent on a plane, fun fun!!  We had a 2pm flight out of Cleveland on Saturday, our friend Kate who was staying at our house came over a bit early to settle in with the dogs and prayed such a wonderful prayer over us and our trip, we feel so blessed to have her as a friend.  Our next door neighbor Laura drove us up to the airport. 

It didn't take long to get checked in, although United wasn't so keen on allowing us 4 checked bags each weighing almost 50lbs but they really had no choice since we had a connecting international flight.  She really checked our weights though, I really think she was hoping she could charge us for overweight bags but I had weighed and re-weighed our bags to make sure they were under 50lbs.

We had lunch at the airport and I think that is when it hit me that we were really on our way to pick up our baby boy.  I started tearing up over lunch, I know, I'm such a sap!! 

Most everyone knows I hate to fly.  I was more than willing to get on a plane to go get Abe, but I really do not like to fly.  So as we are sitting at the gate waiting for our flight to DC the attendant comes over the speaker and informs us that due to severe turbulence we would not be getting an in-flight drink service and would not be allowed to use the restroom so get something to drink and use the potty before we get on the plane (ok, he didn't really use the word potty).  Great, my first flight of a 100 something hours in the air and they are warning us about the turbulence before we even get on the plane!!  It actually wasn't as bad as they said but apparently had been really bad coming in from DC.  It was only a little over an hour and a bit bumpy but we got through. 

We had a 5 1/2 hr layover in DC.  We found a Potbelly's Sandwich for dinner.  We discovered this little gem on our trip to Columbus this past summer for our anniversary and fell in love with their sandwiches, however I accidentally said I wanted everything on it which included some really freaking hot peppers and after a few bites I couldn't feel my mouth!! 

At the gate we met up with another family traveling with Gladney, the Davis'.  They became quick friends.  We had such a fun time with them that week.  We wound up sitting right behind them on the plane.  There was also another family on our plane that was traveling to pick up a sibiling group of 4!!  4!!  They had 3 children already at home, one of their sons was traveling with them. (More about them on Wednesday)

The plane ride was LONG, but I think I wound up sleeping a lot of it.  That's one advantage of being short, you can curl up in airplane seats, plus having a wonderful husband who doesn't mind you laying all over him helps!!

We landed in Addis Ababa around 7pm Sunday night. We had to make our way down to get Visas, go through immigration, change out some cash and find our luggage.  We get our luggage off the turnbelts and they are all sopping wet!!  It was raining in DC and the only thing we can think of is that United threw our bags out on the tarmac and told Ethiopian Air to come pick them up.  I think they sat out their for awhile.  The Davis' bags were soaked too.  We found Travis, our in-country staff person, pretty easily, the only tall white guy in the crowd.  We met our driver Solomon, who became a great friend that week!!  He was awesome.  He loaded us up and took us to Bejoe House.  All 4 of the families traveling that week stayed there.  One was already there, and then we and the Davis' got in and then another family came on Tuesday. 

The Bejoe staff cooked us dinner which was very nice of them and very yummy!!  We had spagetti.  It had the best sauce on it!!

We settled in for the night, pretty tired from all the traveling.  We would meet our son the next day.  We were actually pretty tired so fell asleep pretty easily and got a good night's rest.  The next day would change our lives forever!! 

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The bags are packed!!  We're ready to go!!  We get on the first flight of our journey in 6 hours!!  ABE, WE'LL BE THERE SOON!!!  MOMMY AND DADDY LOVES YOU!!!

....until we get on a plane to go get our precious little boy!!!

Day 3 sheila 4

So I've been thinking about our blog, it started out as a private blog, mainly a way for our family, since we are spread out all over, to jot down what's going on in our lives, a way to stay in touch with the day to day things we do.  When we started our journey to Abe we went "public" and anyone can see our blog now.  At first I didn't think anyone other than our family would read our blog cause really, I'm not at all a good or eloquent writer and who would want to read about what was going on in our lives.  I was surprised, people started leaving comments, people would say "yeah I read that on your blog", I was kind of shocked. 

It became a way to connect with other adopting moms. And I wanted to share my adoption journey with others, maybe it would encourage them to adopt, maybe it would just help someone know they weren't alone, I don't know.  Anyways, I find myself nearing the end of the journey TO Abe and the beginning of the journey WITH Abe.  And I've thought about what to do with my blog.

So here's the plan.  We are going back to private, not right now but I'm giving notice.  I've had some completely random people leave comments on my blog and the more and more I blog about Abe the more and more uncomfortable I am about letting anyone and everyone have access to it.  Maybe that sounds weird and strange but that's how I feel.  I will continue blogging public through our travels, I will be sure to post about our trip and will put up more pictures but after that I will change my settings back to private.  Unfortunately what that means for anyone who wants to continue to read our blog you would have to sign up for a Vox blog.  You don't have to blog using it, you just have to have an account so that I can make you my friend.  I'm pretty sure I have everyone that has left a comment on previous posts down as friends (well minus those weird and strange people who left weird and strange and creepy comments).  If you have a Vox account you can always check to make sure we are friends by going to your Neighboorhood and making sure I show up under that.  If you don't have a Vox account and want to continue reading my blog sign up for one and leave a comment and I will make you my friend.  I will definetely let everyone know before I actually go back to private, I don't have a date yet just whenever I stop blogging about our trip and start blogging about everyday life.

Since our families are so far away this is our way of having them be a small part of our everyday life.  I want them to know Abe, even if it's through a computer and so I want to share all the big and little things that will happen and post tons of pictures and talk honestly about well everything and not sure I want to share all of that with the entire world. I don't want to leave my friends out though and have no problem with friends reading my blog we just have to get ya on my neighboorhood (which sorry Sam that means you will actually have to sign in to Vox, I know how much you hate that and I won't make you but well you won't be able to read my blog without doing it :) )

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I might be a little partial, but oh my goodness he is a cutie!!!

Stay tuned for more!!

So my blog has definetely suffered these past couple of weeks, I feel like I've had so much on the brain that I haven't even thought about blogging but so much has happened the past couple of weeks so I really should share. 

So great news, Gladney verified yesterday that our fingerprints are in Ethiopia at the US Embassy so we are set to travel Sept 26th for sure!!  Yeah!!  I can not believe in 16 days we will be flying out.  It seems a little odd, I know that sounds weird, but life these past 3 1/2 years seems to have been all about trying to have a child and now it's here, it's 16 days away!!  It almost feels like life as we know it is going to complete change.  I mean I know it will change because Abe will be here but I think our conversations, our attitudes, everything will change because after all this time of dwelling on having a child, he'll be here.  I think we will be soaking in every moment of him.  Conversation at dinner time won't be about what we will do when he's here but what we did today with him.  It's exciting and scary all at the same time! 

I have had this neurotic sense of needing to read every baby care book available.  I'm thinking I might take one with me just in case I forget how to change a diaper :)  If you have a suggestion on baby books let me know, I haven't found one I absolutely love yet so if you have one that has been a help to you share!! 

So our flights are booked, we leave 2 pm on the 26th and will land in Addis Ababa at 7pm the 27th.  We were hoping to be able to get Abe that night but it will probably be Monday sometime before we do.  By the time we get through immigration and luggage and to our guest house it will be pretty late.  That might work out best so that we can get a little sleep before we get him.

If you are wondering what we will be doing while we are there, well Monday will be the big day to meet Abe.  If we aren't able to get him in the morning we will probably go out and do some exploring and then just hang out at the guesthouse after we get him.  Kind of just lay low and get use to one another.  Tuesday is a pretty free day, we may have a meal with some of the in country staff that works for Gladney.  Most of the day is open to do whatever.  It is going to be a bit strange, we can't take Abe out in public with us so we have to hire a nanny to stay with him.  The nanny will be from Gladney's care center but still the idea of just getting our son and then leaving him with a babysitter is weird!!  But we also recognize that this trip is very important for us to soak up some of the Ethiopian culture, to visit some sites, to try and get a picture of what Ethiopia is like so we can pass that on to Abe.  We can hire a nanny for half a day or for the whole day so we will probably just do half days a couple of days while we are there.  Wednesday we get to go to the Care Centers.  We are taking a package for a family and pictures for that same family and another family.  I'm so excited to be able to do that for them.  I know how much it has meant to me to get pictures of Abe and I am so glad I get to return the favor.  We will get to meet the ladies who have taken care of Abe.  He will have had one "special nanny" who would have been assigned to him to give him a little extra attention and care.  We get to have a coffee ceremony there too, it's kind of the official handing off of responsibility from Care Center to Parents.  And then that afternoon is our Embassy appointment to get Abe's Visa.  This is one of two days Abe gets to go out with us.  Thursday we will do some more sight seeing and have a cultural dinner that night.  Friday if possible we will get to met Abe's birthfamily.  When we started this process I wasn't even thinking about the possibility of doing that but now that it is possible I look forward to it.  Sure, I think its going to be a little awkward but I think it is something we all owe to Abe.  We will also visit the government orphanages.  I think that is going to be hard.  Saturday is another free day in the morning and afternoon and then we all, including Abe, get to go to Dreamland and have dinner.  It's a a large crater lake with a beautiful view.  And then Sunday we leave.  Not until 10pm but we will probably just get packed up and ready as can be for a 20 hour plane ride with an 18 week old!!

Can't wait!!!! 

For our fingerprints that is.  Next Monday Aug 24th!!  Much quicker than I was expecting so I am thrilled.  I was quite prepared to become a stalker of USCIS but no need.  I did find an email address for our special orphan officer at our CIS branch.  She actually responded to my emails which I was impressed.  And then she emailed me and told me my date and said the papers were in the mail, which I thought was super nice of her not to make me wait a couple of more days!! So now we go Monday and have our fingerprints redone, and then we have to see if they can electronically submit them to the National Visa Center or if they will use our FedEx account and send them that way.  Not sure how long it takes them to process before sending to the Visa Center, I'm hoping not long.  I will definetely be asking questions Monday and probably crying and begging for them to help me out here!!  Gladney has to confirm that our fingerprints have been received at the US Embassy in Ethiopia before we can travel but they have us tentatively scheduled to travel the week of Sept 28th.  We are praying very hard that we make that week.  It was a disappointing to find out we couldn't travel for 6 weeks and I feel completely selfish in being upset by this because I know so many families wait so much longer than we have.  A family passed the same day we did that got their referral a year ago.  I just can't imagine and it makes me feel so horrible for being upset about 6 weeks. 

We got a new picture of him.  It made me cry.  He is definetely getting better and as excited as I was to get a new picture, it reminded me he is growing up without me.  I can't believe he is in pink yet again, I promise I sent him boy clothes!!

Michaele 8.17.09

We also got measurements.  He is 11 lbs and 22 in long!!  Look at those cheeks!!  I can't wait to hold my baby boy!!