Sorry it has been a little quiet on here lately, but there is a lot happening. We are in the Embassy portion of the process, and it is possible that Micah could be home in as little as four weeks. I can almost feel that little boy in my hands, ready to join our permanent family. Jana and I are so thankful for all the support we have received from everyone, but most importantly from our parents. So many people have helped so much already to make Micah a part of our family and we couldn't be more appreciative!
Again, more info to come.........stay tuned. :)
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Introducing Micah Mitik Esden
This blog post is long overdue but things have been a whirl-wind since we got the call that we had a court date and needed to be in Ethiopia in a little over 1 week. To bring you all up to date before sharing the details about our trip, Jana and I were not expecting to travel for court (our first Ethiopian trip) until October. Courts close in Ethiopia in early August and the timeline just wasn't working in our favor. Low and behold, we got an e mail telling us that somehow we were able to get a court date but needed to be in Ethiopia in just over a week!
We didn't even have time to process what was happening before we dropped Callie and Elena off at Jana's aunt and uncle's and boarded a plane to D.C. with a connection to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We were lucky enough to have an overnight stay in DC and since neither Jana nor I have ever been there, we made sure to rent a car and drive downtown to see all the major sites. The white house, Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument were all on our list and able to be visited before it got too dark.
The next day it was back to the airport for a later morning flight direct to Ethiopia. The flight was 13.5 hours and allowed us time to get our heads together for what has become one the most incredible life-changing experiences of our lives. Neither Jana nor I were able sleep, either because of sheer excitement or the fact that there is something that feels so unnatural about being in a giant plane flying over a huge ocean for such a long time (Nerve racking!). We landed at 7am Ethiopian time (midnight east coast) and were exhausted. Navigating the airport and baggage claim area was our first exposure to just how different life is like in Ethiopia in comparison to the States. In general in America we have grown accustomed to organization and structure, something that was lacking with the simplest tasks like getting your luggage or forming a line to move through customs. Once to the airport exit, we met Woudneh, our agency's director on the "Ethiopian side." We had heard a lot of great things about this guy and all are true. He proved to be one of the most sincere, patient, altruistic people I have ever met and is truly committed to the orphan and the adoption process in Ethiopia (the man does not take a day off...literally).
After leaving the airport, we were immediately exposed to life in Ethiopia. In retrospect I am not sure what I was expecting to see. Jana and I of course read about Ethiopian culture, history, and economy, but little can prepare you for extreme poverty and the severe living conditions. I won't spend much time describing all that we saw (homeless men, women, and children, hungry children begging for a meal, livestock running free throughout the roads, extreme exhaust from overcrowded roadways....the list goes on). We were immediately brought to our guest house and given just enough time to drop off our luggage before we were told we would be heading to the transition house to meet our son. The transition house is about 40 minutes away and is where all the children available for adoption stay as they transition from orphanage life to living with their families. This was a weird 40 minutes. We were dealing with complete culture shock, were severely jet legged, and had literally just met 3 other couples also coming with us to meet their children for the first time. It was exciting and completely terrifying at the same time.
After arriving at the transition house we had about 5 minutes to get prepared. So many things were going through our heads. Would he look like his picture? How would he react? How would we react? Should we go right up and grab him? Will he be nervous? Before we knew, it he was there. A nanny came around the corner holding him.....the cutest, most perfect, quiet, special, largest 11 month old I have ever seen. I know I just stood there, partially so as not to startle him and make him uncomfortable but also in shock that this was finally the moment we had been waiting for. Jana snapped out of it before me and following her motherly instinct walked in, offered her hand, and got him in her arms. Of course the moment was perfect in every way, well as perfect as it can be with 6-8 strangers watching one of the most personal and unique moments of your life but I would be lying not to say there was also a little bit of shock, specifically with how large he was. We had only seen 1 photo of him before our meeting, and Callie at 11 months was certainly not as large in comparison. We didn't know for sure until a few days later when we weighed him but Micah weighed in at a whopping 25 pounds. After meeting him we spent the next 2 hours getting to know each other. He crawled, played with toys, and laughed. He was quite yet curious and interested. Such a special moment for us.
Each day we were there, they allowed 2 hours a day for us to play with our children. This was hard for us as we wanted to be with him as often as possible but we grew to understand why they do this. There is of course a lot to do while you are there (trips to orphanages, appear in court, etc) but they also don't want you to form too strong of bond yet have to leave your child for 3 months until the adoption is cleared by the US Embassy. We made sure that the times we were together we took video and pictures as much as possible and enjoyed each moment.
The orphanages: On our second day in country, our group was able to visit the orphanages where our children came from before being brought to our agency's transition house. This was a few hours drive south to a smaller city called Adama. We visited 3 different orphanages and were able to give donations like soccer balls, diaper cream, diapers, etc that we had all brought from home. Each orphanage was a little different but all were filled with incredible kids happy for just a little attention or someone to play soccer with. Micah's orphanage was one of the last we visited. We were greeted by the woman who runs the orphanage and were told that Micah was one of her favorite children she had ever cared for. We were able to visit for at least 45 minutes, and she told us about how Micah came to the orphanage, about his time while he was there, and she even showed us the crib he slept in. She also made a loaf of bread that we cut in Micah's honor to celebrate his adoption into our family. It was truly special. There were also some younger children, maybe 4 or 5 years old, that Jana and I played with. They were so captivated by our cameras and phones. Seeing how excited they were to push buttons and watching them gather around us was one of the more memorable moments of our trip.
Court: Passing court was probably one of the easiest parts of the trip. We really didn't know what to expect. We were just old to dress nicely and expect to wait at the court house for most of the afternoon. What it really turned into was a 5 minute trip into the court house where we were immediately called into a side room to answer about 10 questions from the judge about the adoption. After firing off the questions one after the other she concluded by saying "the adoption is final; he is all yours." That was it? It was an awesome moment and a huge sigh of relief to know that he was officially ours!
What's next: Our agency has applied for Micah's passport, and we are just waiting for him to have a physical prior to our case being submitted to the US Embassy. The US Embassy will have our case somewhere between 2-8 weeks to do their own investigation to determine that Micah is a true orphan (this has already been done by the Ethiopian government). Once the US government is convinced that Micah is a true orphan, we will "clear" Embassy and will then get word that we can travel back to Ethiopia to pick up our son.
We wanted to take a moment to thank everyone again for the overwhelming support that we have gotten from family and friends. Our sheet fundraiser is ongoing and has helped us to fund our trips across the world. We have spent time over the last couple weeks preparing our nursery for a second baby, and we hope to give you all good news soon that we will be bringing him home. Also, Jana's cousin Hannah is finishing up a video of our trip! We will not be posting this on the public blog, but please email us or check our Facebook pages in the upcoming days!
All my best,
Eric
We didn't even have time to process what was happening before we dropped Callie and Elena off at Jana's aunt and uncle's and boarded a plane to D.C. with a connection to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We were lucky enough to have an overnight stay in DC and since neither Jana nor I have ever been there, we made sure to rent a car and drive downtown to see all the major sites. The white house, Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument were all on our list and able to be visited before it got too dark.
The next day it was back to the airport for a later morning flight direct to Ethiopia. The flight was 13.5 hours and allowed us time to get our heads together for what has become one the most incredible life-changing experiences of our lives. Neither Jana nor I were able sleep, either because of sheer excitement or the fact that there is something that feels so unnatural about being in a giant plane flying over a huge ocean for such a long time (Nerve racking!). We landed at 7am Ethiopian time (midnight east coast) and were exhausted. Navigating the airport and baggage claim area was our first exposure to just how different life is like in Ethiopia in comparison to the States. In general in America we have grown accustomed to organization and structure, something that was lacking with the simplest tasks like getting your luggage or forming a line to move through customs. Once to the airport exit, we met Woudneh, our agency's director on the "Ethiopian side." We had heard a lot of great things about this guy and all are true. He proved to be one of the most sincere, patient, altruistic people I have ever met and is truly committed to the orphan and the adoption process in Ethiopia (the man does not take a day off...literally).
After leaving the airport, we were immediately exposed to life in Ethiopia. In retrospect I am not sure what I was expecting to see. Jana and I of course read about Ethiopian culture, history, and economy, but little can prepare you for extreme poverty and the severe living conditions. I won't spend much time describing all that we saw (homeless men, women, and children, hungry children begging for a meal, livestock running free throughout the roads, extreme exhaust from overcrowded roadways....the list goes on). We were immediately brought to our guest house and given just enough time to drop off our luggage before we were told we would be heading to the transition house to meet our son. The transition house is about 40 minutes away and is where all the children available for adoption stay as they transition from orphanage life to living with their families. This was a weird 40 minutes. We were dealing with complete culture shock, were severely jet legged, and had literally just met 3 other couples also coming with us to meet their children for the first time. It was exciting and completely terrifying at the same time.
After arriving at the transition house we had about 5 minutes to get prepared. So many things were going through our heads. Would he look like his picture? How would he react? How would we react? Should we go right up and grab him? Will he be nervous? Before we knew, it he was there. A nanny came around the corner holding him.....the cutest, most perfect, quiet, special, largest 11 month old I have ever seen. I know I just stood there, partially so as not to startle him and make him uncomfortable but also in shock that this was finally the moment we had been waiting for. Jana snapped out of it before me and following her motherly instinct walked in, offered her hand, and got him in her arms. Of course the moment was perfect in every way, well as perfect as it can be with 6-8 strangers watching one of the most personal and unique moments of your life but I would be lying not to say there was also a little bit of shock, specifically with how large he was. We had only seen 1 photo of him before our meeting, and Callie at 11 months was certainly not as large in comparison. We didn't know for sure until a few days later when we weighed him but Micah weighed in at a whopping 25 pounds. After meeting him we spent the next 2 hours getting to know each other. He crawled, played with toys, and laughed. He was quite yet curious and interested. Such a special moment for us.
Each day we were there, they allowed 2 hours a day for us to play with our children. This was hard for us as we wanted to be with him as often as possible but we grew to understand why they do this. There is of course a lot to do while you are there (trips to orphanages, appear in court, etc) but they also don't want you to form too strong of bond yet have to leave your child for 3 months until the adoption is cleared by the US Embassy. We made sure that the times we were together we took video and pictures as much as possible and enjoyed each moment.
The orphanages: On our second day in country, our group was able to visit the orphanages where our children came from before being brought to our agency's transition house. This was a few hours drive south to a smaller city called Adama. We visited 3 different orphanages and were able to give donations like soccer balls, diaper cream, diapers, etc that we had all brought from home. Each orphanage was a little different but all were filled with incredible kids happy for just a little attention or someone to play soccer with. Micah's orphanage was one of the last we visited. We were greeted by the woman who runs the orphanage and were told that Micah was one of her favorite children she had ever cared for. We were able to visit for at least 45 minutes, and she told us about how Micah came to the orphanage, about his time while he was there, and she even showed us the crib he slept in. She also made a loaf of bread that we cut in Micah's honor to celebrate his adoption into our family. It was truly special. There were also some younger children, maybe 4 or 5 years old, that Jana and I played with. They were so captivated by our cameras and phones. Seeing how excited they were to push buttons and watching them gather around us was one of the more memorable moments of our trip.
Court: Passing court was probably one of the easiest parts of the trip. We really didn't know what to expect. We were just old to dress nicely and expect to wait at the court house for most of the afternoon. What it really turned into was a 5 minute trip into the court house where we were immediately called into a side room to answer about 10 questions from the judge about the adoption. After firing off the questions one after the other she concluded by saying "the adoption is final; he is all yours." That was it? It was an awesome moment and a huge sigh of relief to know that he was officially ours!
What's next: Our agency has applied for Micah's passport, and we are just waiting for him to have a physical prior to our case being submitted to the US Embassy. The US Embassy will have our case somewhere between 2-8 weeks to do their own investigation to determine that Micah is a true orphan (this has already been done by the Ethiopian government). Once the US government is convinced that Micah is a true orphan, we will "clear" Embassy and will then get word that we can travel back to Ethiopia to pick up our son.
We wanted to take a moment to thank everyone again for the overwhelming support that we have gotten from family and friends. Our sheet fundraiser is ongoing and has helped us to fund our trips across the world. We have spent time over the last couple weeks preparing our nursery for a second baby, and we hope to give you all good news soon that we will be bringing him home. Also, Jana's cousin Hannah is finishing up a video of our trip! We will not be posting this on the public blog, but please email us or check our Facebook pages in the upcoming days!
All my best,
Eric
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