"Ain't nobody here but us chickens..."

We're doing better hereabouts; the fever has broken, and she's back to her chipper self for the most part.

"Who are you calling 'chipper'?"

She finally slept through the night last night- from 7 pm until 4 am, and then back to sleep until 8 or so this morning. We're so thankful that the Cavalry (Carrie's mom, former pediatric nurse) arrived on Tuesday and will be with us until Sunday.

Anyway, we're looking forward to her being well enough to come and visit folks. It may be sooner than later, as I'm pretty sure that she'll be able to thwart Carrie's attempts to quarantine her:


Thanks for all of your kind emails, phone calls and prayers.

Home at last

I'm writing this from our living room at Pepperdine- we made it home last night, with no major issues due to any of the fires in our area.

We do have one issue that we're dealing with, though- our little girl has come down with what we believe are the chicken pox. Both Carrie and I have had them, so there's no contagion here- just a lot of "Don't scratch" and "It'll be OK" and "Don't scratch, baby", combined with sleepless nights. Ah well...

Please keep us all in your prayers, especially Mihret and Carrie as I go back to the office starting tomorrow.

Stupid chickens...

Photos From The Journey

And now, the moments you've all been waiting for... pictures!
Ah yes, the traditional "plane" photo. As mentioned earlier, we are big fans of Emirates... Well, they're great once you get into the air (more later).

Yup, there's a Starbucks everywhere...

When we first met our daughter, she was in the nursery at Layla House, being cared for by amazing staff. These folks were so gracious and loving, that I don't blame her for not being too excited to meet us.

I love this photo- Carrie looks so beatific, and Mihret looks terrified...

She's not happier here, she's just planning her escape attempt.

"Well, OK... I think I'll give this a try..."

As many of you know, we made a trip on Thursday to the city where Mihret was found and cared for.
On the road to Nazret.

Yup, that's a hut. No, there wasn't pizza.

This is the hospital complex where she spent her first few days after her referral.

"The unit for the treatment of children who need special attention". Luckily, they'll also talk to new parents who need special attention.

The "Children's wing"...

Where Mihret was cared for...

By these folks, who are a part of the amazing medical staff at this hospital. While you can't tell it here, Mihret was not happy to see them... Must not be a part of her HMO network.

"Well, if there are no shots involved, I guess you can hold me"
St. Mary's church (Ethiopian Orthodox), where our daughter was discovered by people coming to worship.

Our first family photo, on the steps of the church.

On Saturday, we returned to Layla to say our goodbyes. As you can see, Carrie is extremely popular.

This is the caregiver that was described to us as "Mihret's Mama"- she was the one who spent most of the time connecting for her during her stay at Layla.

On Saturday we arrived three hours before our flight to discover that our 7:00 pm departure had turned into at 3:00 am due to severe fog at Dubai (who knew?). As this would make us miss our many connections, we started to work with the Emirates staff on corrections. We were surprised that they hadn't begun work on this, but 5 hours later we had tickets (kind of). Our original booking was for a pair of bulkhead seats, and a bassinet to let her sleep in. After a number of fiascoes, we ended up with middle seats, not together, on an oversold flight.

It wasn't all bad, though- it was a direct flight to DC, and the were (allegedly) able to book us from DC to St. Louis (instead of through Cincinnati as originally planned). And, as Carrie mentioned, Mihret traveled amazingly well- 16 hours in our arms (after we arranged to get seats together), and no problems. In fact, we wondered if this was still our daughter- she was making friends and had lost all of the shyness that we initially saw.

When we got to the USA, we got some more very good news.
Yup, she's my daughter...

The bad news was that our flights out of DC weren't finalized after all... but American Airlines worked their magic and got us home in one piece. Well, two pieces- our bags got lost (again). So, if you're keeping score: Emirates Air- Amazing in-flight service (food, comfortable seats, entertainment) and good prices. Poor luggage management and flight connections.

But, like I said, we're in St. Louis now and Mihret has met her Nana and Papa. Should I be worried that he keeps calling her his "little turkey"?

This shirt definitely says it all... for the long process, the delayed and missed flights, the sleepless nights (and those to come), the misplaced luggage... She is worth it all.

From the Middle East (kind of) to the Midwest

Thank you so much for your prayers. What a difference a week makes! At the beginning of the week Mihret seemed serious, cautious, and a bit nervous as she tried to figure out what in the world was happening; now she is full of smiles, cuddles, and happy squeals. In fact, her dad calls her "chirpy" because she makes these cute little chirps whenever she gets excited. The journey of attachment and bonding has begun well and we are very thankful! Several people -- including the nurses at the hospital in Nazret where Mihret was taken after being found -- thought that she had been with us for several weeks instead of just a few days based on how comfortable she seemed to be with us. Thank You, God!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was seeing Mihret's hometown of Nazret. We discovered that she had been found by parishioners at St. Mary's Church. We got to visit the church and found the grounds around the church to be very peaceful. It reinforced my belief that Mihret was well-loved by her birth family and that even though they could not raise her themselves, they put her in a place where she was sure to be found by people who would take care of her. Intentionally or unintentionally, I believe that they entrusted her to God and to people who love God, and that means a lot to me. We also took our first family photo there.

Mihret did amazingly well on our flight home (actually, she did better than her parents who are still exhausted!). I was worried that the changes in cabin pressure might hurt her ears - especially since she still seemed to have a little bit of nasal congestion. She didn't seem phased by it at all, though. She made friends with all of the people around us and even "borrowed" a little 18-month-old boy's teething biscuit for a second when I wasn't looking. The boy's mom was very sweet and gave Mihret her own biscuit which she demolished within 10 minutes (think Cookie Monster - more biscuit on herself, her momma, and the seat than in her tummy...).

We are now at Chuck's parents' house in Bethalto, Illinois (near St. Louis) and Mihret is enjoying getting to know her grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. We've posted pictures on our family blog, and may get some video up in the coming days Thank you again for walking with us through this journey. Your prayers and encouraging words have meant a lot to us!

Oh, by the way, several of you asked about our luggage. It did eventually arrive. We were able to get it on Thursday - better late than never! A very kind adoptive mom at the Guest House where we were staying loaned us a few diapers and me some clothes. It was especially sweet of her because her daughter, Annalise, tended to spit up every hour or two, so she didn't have many clean clothes to spare!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emails from Ethiopia

I know that some folks didn't get these updates, so here's a catch up:

Tuesday-
We made it! We had a little delay when we missed our flight in Dubai due to a terrible traffic jam, so we arrived a day late (Tuesday) but much better rested. Unfortunately only 2 out of our 4 bags made it with us. We had 2 boxes of supplies for the orphanage and 2 suitcases. One box of supplies and one suitcase made it. The suitcase with Mihret's and my clothes in it hasn't arrived yet, but we are hoping and praying that it gets here today. :) (I've worn the same shirt for 3 days. It's about to stand up and walk around the room on its own!) If it doesn't, then we will need to do a little shopping this afternoon. Either way, I think we'll survive but it would be nice to have all of the things I so meticulously packed. :)

Mihret has been with us for almost 24 hours now. She's a beautiful baby! She was a little scared and nervous around us yesterday but we got a few smiles out of her last night and she seems to be feeling much more comfortable around us today. Please continue to pray that she will feel safe and loved with us. Right now she is fast asleep on her daddy's chest - very cute! She is fairly healthy but has a little bit of a cold. We are hoping that the cold clears up by the time we get on the airplane so that the take-offs and landings don't hurt her ears too much.

We go for our US embassy appointment this afternoon along with two other families who are here adopting children. Tomorrow we are taking a trip to Nazret - Mihret's birthplace. It is about a two hour drive from Addis Ababa. We are looking forward to seeing some of the Ethiopian countryside! One of the other adoptive families is going with us since their baby daughter is also from Nazret. A social worker from the orphanage is also going with us so hopefully we will find out a little more about our daughters' early history from the hospital where they were both taken after being found.

Well, I better get back to Chuck and Mihret! Thanks for your prayers for us! Either Chuck or I will try to send out another update later this week.

Friday-

Greetings from Addis... I sit here, across from Layla House listening to Eric Clapton. I think I've found the definition for "sublime".

We spent a good portion of our time on Thursday traveling across Ethiopia- What an amazing country of contradictions... beauty, poverty, joy, loss. I am glad we chose to come rather than have our daughter escorted to the States.

Yesterday, we went to Nazret to meet with the nurses and doctors who cared for Mihret when she was found. We also went to the Catholic church where she was abandoned... What a blessing that God's people were able to get her help. Another parent was with us on this trip- her daughter had been abandoned at 3 weeks in a run-down warehouse area... And yet, now, Annalise is headed home.

Carrie is at Layla with Mihret, sitting in on one of the math classes the kids attend. It's such a vibrant community of caring and invested people. Mihret is eating and sleeping well, albeit that "sleeping" requires being on Dad or Mom's chest. There are much worse things, to be sure.

Tomorrow we fly out to the US, so the next update will be from St. Louis. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

What's one more day?

Greetings from Dubai!

Due to a little traffic glitch (Stuck for 2 hours on what should have been a 20 minute trip- remind me never to complain about the 405 again), Carrie and I will have to wait one more day before we meet our daughter. Continue to pray for safe travel.

Here's what we've learned so far on our trip.
In flight ESPN is great, unless your team is choking.
Emirates Air is amazing- service, food, entertainment.
If you mention "Adoption" or "Orphanage", you get even better treatment (if that's possible)
Plastic boxes are not the best luggage.
Cardboard boxes, surprisingly, are.
Always pack extra underwear. Just sayin'.

Hopefully we'll have more to tell you in a day or so... Blessings!

The friendly skies...

They'd better be friendly, for as much time as we're spending there.

Here's the agenda, for those of you who have Google Earth and a lot of time on your hands:

• Nov. 10th - leave LA, fly to Kennedy Airport, fly to Hamburg Germany
• Nov. 11th - overnight layover in Dubai
• Nov. 12th - arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Nov. 12 - 17: Week in Ethiopia- at Layla House and the Guest House
• Nov. 17th - leave Ethiopia, back through Dubai, Germany, and New York
  
• Nov. 18th - arrive in St. Louis, via Cincinnati
  
• Nov. 18 - 24: Week in Bethalto, Illinois (the happiest place on earth)
• Nov. 24th - fly home to LA

Fun for the whole family!