Update from Ethiopia

The Internet works, but it's really too slow to attempt any pictures. I actually updated on FB last night, but was distracted before I got to the blog, so I'm going to try to sum up the last three days as efficiently as possible. The flight was uneventful and we arrived to our host just as the agency promised. After flying all night, they brought us to the guest house, but set us down to eat breakfast before we saw the girls. It was killing me, but I didn't want to appear like a crazy woman and run...plus you never are sure what traditions you may be violating. After eating, we met our new little girls. They were dressed up and completely understood that we were new momma and daddy. They both came to us and kissed us upon instruction from the nanny. Isabella is the most easy going child I have ever encountered. She always has a smile, is happy to see anyone that walks through the court-yard and is thrilled with the items we produced to play with, especially bubbles.


Selah cannot be five; she is barely taller than Bella and appears to interact as about three. She was even wearing a diaper the first day, but not the second. When I asked the agency director, he told me that "that  is only orphanage paperwork" and she is about 3.5. We will be getting a bone scan done, but I'm pretty sure I am the mother of three children three and under at the moment. Selah was thrilled with us, but was having some melt-downs about sharing with the other kids. She is pretty jealous of her mommy and daddy and isn't even sure about sharing them with Bella. The second morning we brought our girls up to the front porch and played ball and bubbles with just them, (until several other kids made their way around) she handled that much better! 


I'm anxious to get Selah American medical care. We are here with a nurse and we both think that her big belly is terrible parasites. She also has some skin issues and a mouth full of cavities. It's hard to imagine that so many children here live their entire lives with these conditions. 


Yesterday was court, we were among the first to arrive and were called pretty quickly for Selah's case. Our agency director brought up our need to be pre-approved for Bella's and it didn't appear to be going very well as the judge was speaking quickly and shaking her head no. Not understanding the language, we went on with Selah's case and came out of the court room with her as our legal 10th child. The agency director then explained that he would draft a letter and we will go back in about Bella. We waited until the very end, after many adopting couples from America, France, Germany and Israel until we were called again. We repeated the process and she pre-approved us as parents when Isabella's case come back to her. Since the birth mom's death certificate is already turned in to the court, we are hoping that it is only a few weeks. 


Legally, I am going to be able to show pictures of Selah in just a few days, but Bella's (God willing) will be in a few weeks. After court, we had a great time shopping. I have a very difficult time with the obviously sick begging children in the streets. I wasn't allowed to give them money (they turn it over to a "master" and don't get to keep it). Today I have my bag packed with Slim Jims and granola bars that I'm going to hand out and hope that we don't have the mobbing experience that I created in Liberia when I decided to hand out candy.


There is so much more I can say, but we are loving our time here. I am very excited to show Alyssa all we've seen and more since we are saving the trip to the wild hippos to go on with her. Today we are heading over to the orphanage that Selah was in, in town. I found out that she was turned into a Dire Dawa orphanage (where her mother still lives) and was moved to Addis when the orphanage got too full. We are also hoping to make the four hour round trip to the area that Isabella's mom lived and visit the orphanage that she was turned into. 


I will hope to update more tonight and maybe wait through one picture to upload. If you are a member of my family, can you please FB me a message about everything at home!