The Big Barlow Blog

Bahar Dar part 2 Blue nile falls

2009-06-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is a post from a while back but wanted to update it with pictures

After a quick lunch we went to the blue Nile falls. The ride is very interesting with lots of people in the street walking. People walk everywhere. Donkeys carrying big loads. people carrying big loads on their heads and backs. carts being pulled by carts. very old world. Our guide Fish told us about all the things the U.S. is doing for Ethiopia. The government and the church charities and the regular charities. By far the USA is doing a lot and he was very grateful to our country. He also told us that Americans are a happy people and that is some thing they like no matter how bad things are you can still smile. That was the thing that has gotten to me is how friendly and how happy they are. The US is helping them build some power plants that will be up and running soon so there are no longer the blackouts for extended time. Education is huge here everyone wants to be a Doctor. Fish told us that the US is no longer giving money to the government that is trying to teach the people through education. He and his fellow guides like to take Americans on tours because we are impressed with there country. His least favorite are the french and the Israelis, he says they are hard to make happy. When we got to the Blue Nile Falls we hiked for a little while and through a very small village where people tried to sell us stuff. they were well spoken little girls about 4 to 6 years old and very nice but it got a little overwhelming a few times. they had this speach memorized that they each picked one of us to give it to so it was hard to say no if we didnt want it. the guides helped us out quite a bit in this regard. We went over a old bridge built over 400 years ago. the falls were impressive although they were flowing at just 10 to 15% the rainy season is almost here which is when they become big. Also they are building power plants that are taking 60% of the water until they are done with them. it was still pretty neat. On our way back we stopped by the village and max played kick ball with the kids from the village. there was one kid running around with a long sleeved sweatshirt and no pants. thats how they potty train the kids, just let them run around nude. max has been fun and is making friends here. We bought a few things from the kids and headed back to the hotel. fish said that it is better to give the older kids money 12 year old than the young kids as they will spend it wisely on their family and not to teach the younger kids not to value education. pretty neat insight

2 weeks home

2009-05-31T10:58:00.001-07:00

well we've been home 2 weeks. Twins are harder than you think. I think Ann and I are just lucky we didn't have the first few months when the feedings happen all the time. It does seem that we are either changing a diaper or feeding all the time. They are a blast though. We really are loving it. We met with the Doctor yesterday he was impressed with them and thought they looked real good. They have been gaining a lot of weight since they have been home which is great. Our doctor was also impressed with the reports/test he was able to review. Apparently a lot of countries you are only given a very limited amount of info. We also met with our social worker who said they seem to be doing well and dont appear to have any attatchment issues she'll be back in another month to check on them. We took the m to Max's school for sharing this week, They loved him. The kids sit in a circle and Max tells about them and then the kids ask questions. It was fun. Alot of the kids would tell about their siblings or just raise their hands and say "I think they are cute" well got to go they are up from their nap. wow that wasn't much time.

getting caught up

2009-05-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

I am going to try and finish some of the stories of the trip in no particular order and edit the order after i get it done. this post will stay on top until the trip is complete. thanks

HIV orphanage in Ethiopia

2009-05-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

We spent today touring the CHSFS(which is our adoption agency) projects around Addis. The First place we stopped was a Orphanage called Ahope it is not part of our agency but is next to it and they work together somewhat. This is a orphanage for kids that were HIV positive. Some donations were brought to this orphanage mostly medical gloves which they were in desperate need. The nannies were proud to help out these kids. They said we our risking our lives every day to care for these children and these gloves will help protect us. The facility wasn't near as nice as our orphanage. it was dimly lit. There were probably 12-15 kids per room in bunk beds ranging from 1 to mayber 10. It broke my heart to see these kids. In fact its been 2 weeks since we were there and my allergies are acting up as I am thinking and writ ting about them. A lot of the kids had sores on there face. they were about twice as large a giant zit. Ethiopians as you have seen have large beautiful eyes which just adds to these kids beauty. It is hard for me to think of these kids suffering from this disease. I was so proud Max is my boy the whole trip but particular here. He went into this place and was in one of his sillier moods and made these kids laugh like crazy. Seeing a red head boy their age and having fun with them. They just loved him. I am a very lucky parent to have him. If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child from this orphanage or learning of ahope click on here Ahope

Some pictures

2009-05-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hope this works I'm a rookie. It has been great beginning to get these precious babies.

We're home!!! our phones are not

2009-05-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had to sit next to a screaming baby on a flight. Well we were that couple. The flight was long and painful. 5 hours from Ethiopia to Dubai 7 hour layover and 17 hours to lax. Either Ann or I was up rocking(sometimes both) the entire flight. It was rough. The twins and us are adjusting to the time zones. Also are phones are still in Ethiopia somewhere, so we no longer have any ones contact info. We ordered new ones and should have them this weekend so please call as we may not have your info. I'll try and finish the blog shortly and get pictures up soon as well. Thanks again for every ones love and support. It was a awesome adventure. I cant say enough good things about Ethiopia and the people

Under Construction

2009-05-15T12:26:00.001-07:00

I received a lot of post entries through email last night so I will try to put them in chronological order for congruent reading. However, you may need to scroll back to catch some entries that happened previously that I just posted. When Ty and Ann get back maybe they can add pictures to each entry to complete the journey. - Angel

Do Nothing Day

2009-05-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today has been almost agonizing. Its a good thing we sent Kathi and Brian home with Max because they would have been bored stiff. There is nothing planned for today, just a hair braiding class, which I did not go to. All the parents here are ready to be in their own environments and get to their American... (this is all I received from the last post due to computer outage)

Bahir Dar by Ann and Max

2009-05-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Max's contribution to the Big Barlow Blog:
"we saw hippos in the nile river.
we saw donkeys."

Bahir Dar was such a cool city. It is kind of like a tropical resort town except that it is by a brown water lake called Tana. After checking into our hotel room, we went on a boat ride across the lake to a monastery. Max got to drive the boat, he was in heaven! Everyone is so good to him over here. He is such a novelty, with his red hair, freckles and blue eyes, everyone wants to touch his hair. Since Max is so friendly, they call him an "African Boy" mostly because here in Africa, the people are very affectionate. They hold hands, walk with their arm around each other regardless of their sex. It is so different than the American culture where the men, especially, keep their distance from each other. Here, in Africa, the men will hold hands with each other, just friendly like. They say that American children are usually more reserved, but we know that Max is anything but. The guides all enjoy walking with Max.

When we got across the water, we were taken to the monastery which was like a walk in the jungle. We saw some monkeys swinging in the trees but they were too quick for us to get a picture. The monestary looked like a huge round straw hut. Inside there were these four walls that had pictures painted of Bible stories and stories of legend. The people couldn't read, so they painted all these pictures so they could teach using the pictures.

I wore a scarf to be covered in the church, it is the culture to wear it either over the head or around the shoulders to show respect in the church. Some of the locals who were following along with us wrapped it around my shoulders. The Holy water they put on our faces was a lot of water. Our faces were really wet after that. I didn't know whether to leave it there or let it drip down my face. We both opted for the drip. There was a lot of chanting (Ge-ez) and a lot of translating through our guide. The Priest blessed our rings and blessed these black strings they tied around our necks that were in place of the cross necklaces we were supposed to have brought with us, but didn't know about.

After the ceremony, the Priest asked to take our photo with his cell phone, which was kind of funny to see that he even had one since he lived in a hut. He was so kind to us. He invited us to eat with him in his house (hut) where we had some ingera with some lentil wot, pretty spicy and cold (I have only had it served hot). I was a little nervous to eat it, because some of the advice we got before coming over here was to only eat food that you can see the steam coming off of to avoid getting sick. I think Kathi was the most nervous. We all sat in his one one room hut to eat. It was such an honor, but we were all nervous. They had a pitcher with water and a bowl with which they poured water for us, one at a time, to wash our hands. When it came to Max's hands, he stood up as they poured for him. The Priests sort of reacted with sounds and soft chuckles. Our guide explained to us that it is Ethiopian custom for children to stand when being served the cleaning water by an adult to show respect for their Elders so Max was "righting" (doing the right thing).

After our walk back to the boat, and a quick lunch of peanutbutter and tortillas in the hotel room, we went to the Blue Nile Falls.

part 2- Blue Nile Falls

2009-05-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Gondor

2009-05-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

Our flight to gondor was full, but our guide said the drive was nice with a nice roads, so rather than wait at the airport we decided to go by taxi and see the countryside. It was 185 km to Gondor and turned out to be a great decision. As everywhere else we had been we saw people were walking everywhere. We saw men carry huge piles of wood on there backs or plows to use in the field, kids carrying babies on their back, women carrying huge water jugs on there back. It was pretty amazing. During the drive we crossed the Nile river and saw 2 hippos wading in it. Our driver told us that it was a sacred river and we could not take a photo of it so you will just have to visualize that one. The drive was incredible! We were so excited to see the countryside, the people going about their business as a typical day entails, the circle homes busy with activity. Come to find out the animals sleep in the home with the family or the man sleeps outside with the animals.

It was about a 3 hour drive and paved the whole way. I rode shotgun as i was able to communicate with the driver the best. I was lovin' every bit of it and wanted to soak it all in. About half way through the drive I was noticing how they were plowing the fields. The farmer has two very skinny cows attached with rope to a "plow" that consists of wood logs or sticks. One sticking into the ground and one crossed to keep it square. The farmer circles his whip in a lasso style to signal the cows to move while balancing the plow for depth and direction. I asked the driver if it was possible to try to plow behind the 2 cows. Our driver became very excited and said "do you want to try" so we drove a little and found a farmer close to the road and our driver asked if we could try. I went first with a whip in one hand and the plow in the other i got the cows moving. It was cool to experience what I was seeing first hand. I think i could have gotten the hang of it with a little more practice. My dad did it next. He was a little awkward with his long legs. The plow was set up for a much shorter man so he had to crouch down to dig in the plow. We all thought it was pretty funny. We must have been quite a spectacle because we gathered quite a group of people and they were all laughing at/with us. We also played one of their musical instruments. This experience turned out to be one of our highlights so far. I am so glad our flight was full.

The Gondor Guide (aka: Groom) met us and we had a 2 hr break at the hotel which overlooked Gondor neat hotel. After lunch our guide met us for our excursion to see some castles. Gondor was the capitol after the fall of the Axumite empire around the 10th century. They reminded me of some of the castles in Scotland but not quite as elaborate. There were 10 castles on one property basically when one took over as king he would build a new castle. We then went to a church that was built in the shape of an ark. This church had stories all over. On the ceiling there were faces with the big eyes looking at you no matter were you stood. Max loved the staffs and the noise makers. One interesting thing about this place was a fence surrounding the church with about 20 round pillars about 6 ft in diameter. Monks lived in these tiny places. The next place we went to was a secone home to one of the rulers. This house was built in the center of a swimming pool twice the size of a Olympic size pool. It was filled with water by diverting part of the river. Gondor has a university so there are lots of students. We then went to the center of town. There was a fair amount of Italian influence as they occupied it during the late 1930's. We went to the open market to try our skills at negotiating. Which turned out to be quite poor but we are fine with it. There was a naked man walking down the street and my mom and Ann made the driver turn around for another drive-by. How embarrassing for the rest of us. The market was busy lots of people. We're starting to get adjusted to the time zones.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

2009-05-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

(received May 12th from Kathi)

Brian, Max and I are coming home tonight, Tuesday, on Ethiopia Air. The schedule looks fine for us to make it. Max is still sick, but is getting better and now Ann and Brian are sick too. Several others in the group have the same stomach bug. I am looking forward to coming home. Ann and Ty are anxious to get the twins home too but they have to wait until the visa come. They are soo... cute.

Farwell Party at Orphanage

2009-05-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

Today was the farewell party at the Care Center for the twins. It was not at all what I had expected. I thought it would be sort of like, kids running around, maybe some cake, and after some small talk with the other parents and care takers, we'd be on our way. What actually happened was, we arrived and they asked all the parents to go downstairs and wait for the children. When I say downstairs, this place is marble floor, huge chandelier, beautiful. They had chairs all lined up on one section and chairs all around the outside for the parents. Then, all of the other children who are there waiting for their parents came downstairs, removed their shoes (without being told) before walking on the carpet, and sat down in the chairs. One really cute little boy came around to all the parents and gave us all hugs.

Then, the social workers came downstairs and started things off. She told us how much all of our children meant to them there at the orphanage and the they believe that children are a gift from God and they hope we will feel that way too as we care for them in their new country and honor Ethiopia as well. Then all the care takers came downstairs, dressed in these beautiful white dresses with Ethiopian embroidry on them. They were each holding one of our children who were also dressed in traditonal Ethiopian dress. It was so moving and beautiful.
They had us all stand in a circle and then a prayer was said by a local minister and asked if anyone wanted to say anything. One of the parents said a prayer and then we all took a seat.

They made a book of all the children's hands who were leaving so they had each child come up, one by one, to put paint on their hands. They had all of the children who were sitting in the seats to chant each child's name when it was their turn.
Then they served soft drinks and cake. We were all emotional throughout the whole thing. At the end, Kathi broke down crying and said, "They are ours! We get to take them home now!" And she and Ty both broke down. I was already crying. Oh, I forgot, Ty had alergies, not crying.

Then this afternoon, we took them to the Embassy. We were nervous about it, but it was really painless. We waited our turn, they looked at the papers, had us sign our names a couple of times, asked us a few simple questions and we were done! It went really easy and we had been all nervous about it. The babies are so easy, we felt we could manage ourselves on the flight home. We'll see if we are right.

Max had gotten pretty ill a couple of days ago. We think he ate something that his body did not like or had something that was prepared with the drinking water, we aren't sure, but he had one really bad night. Then he felt ok the next day but everyone else ended up getting sick. Ty was ok, Kathi was ok, but Brian and I both got pretty sick. Today we are all starting to feel better but I just think max had enough of this trip, so we sent him with Kathi and Brian. He has been really great this whole trip. He had a great time, ate the ingera and all the rest of the Ethiopian food and loved it. He even ordered it for breakfast a couple of times when there were other things he could have ordered. He has loved this trip, we are so glad we brought him and that is all thanks to kathi and Brian, we wouldn't have done it without them.

Tomorrow we are have a free day to basically do whatever we want to do, and then hopefully on Thursday, we will get to come home! We are so ready to be home. this has been the trip of a lifetime. We will definitely come back. I can't say enough how wonderful this place is, what rich culture they have here. I will never forget this place.

Emails

2009-05-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

(Received Sat May 9th from Kathi) We are having a great time. However, the internet is very, very unreliable. Actually it mostly won't work. I type a letter and go to send it and I am off the internet by then. So I am typing fast and hoping... Everything is really super and the twins are the best.
We will catch you up when we get there. -

(Received Sun May 10th from Kathi)

Happy Mothers Day from Ethiopia!!
I will see if I can get this off before I am kicked off. It is Sunday morning and Ty and Ann traveled down south on a 3 1/2 hour bus ride with the other parents to meet the family of the adoptive children. This is only a chance meeting if they are able to show up. We are staying in Addis Ababa for the day. However, Max threw up all night and so he is sick with a little diarrhea. He did wake up feeling fine but I am afraid of what to feed him. It is very different that I can't go to the cupboard or the corner store or even order something in a restaurant that would settle an unset stomach. He is wanting something to eat and Ann told me to keep him on clear liquids but that is going to be the challenge of the day. He is hungry so hopefully that is a sign he's feeling better. We are anxious to get home because Fatana is not feeling well either. Ann thinks that is where Max may have gotten it.

The guest houe that we are staying in with the other families is a nice house but the electricity goes out in the city often and we are without power. Also there is no water most of the time. So... no flushing or showers. I have had to sponge bath myself for three nights. e have seen things that I never would have thought I would see. Can't wait to tell you all about them.

I am sure grateful for what we have. Life is good.

I Hope that all is going well at home. I love all of you so much and am thinking of you tons. Love and Misses, MOM

(Received May 10th from Ty)

Angel- computers are terrible and we don't have much time. Babies are beautiful. Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

We were able to meet a member of the birth family today. Our social worker has counciled us to save the twins' story for them, as it is theirs, not ours, to tell. It is difficult for us not to share it with those we love, especially since, in our eyes, the story has no shame and is a very sweet story full of love. So what we will share with you now will be in fairly vague terms, but we did want to share a bit of what happened.

Really, all I can say, is that we were very nervous and excited about this meeting. We were told that the birth families don't always show up so we should be ready for that. The day before the meeting were told that our family member would be there at the meeting, but we were still trying to be prepared because anything can happen up to the last minute.

One of the couples here was told that their birth family member would not be there, but they went on the trip down south to Hosanna with us anyway, just to see more of the area where their child grew up and to see the child center where their child was taken. It was good that they did, because they showed a photo of their child to some of the nannies there and they recognized their child and kissed the photo and were quite emotional. Ty saw that they were looking at the photo so he went back to the bus and got ours out and showed it to the nannies. He got some of the reactions on video which were quite emotoinal and so great to have. Another nanny came just after we finished filming and she probably had the best reaction of all so we were sad to miss that one.

After stopping at the orphanage, we went to the place where we would meet the birth family members. All the parents waited

Meeting the Twins

2009-05-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

(Note: The CHSFS staff calls the twins by their Ethiopian names so in order to keep things straight here, we are calling them by their Ethiopian names as well untill we arrive home)
Yea!!!! We finally met the twins!!!! We got in late last night after an eight hour, bumpy, dusty drive from Lalibela to Bahir Dar and then a late flight from Barhir Dar to Addis Ababa, we finally arrived at the Guest House. We found out when we arrived that we would be the first group of parents to stay in the new guest house. Apparently the landlord of the old guest house raised the rent so they got a new place, which is the building of the old child care center. Kathi and Brian get to stay here in a room next to ours.

This morning, we were tired, but so excited we didn't care. We aren't jet lagged like the rest of the couples are, so we feel fortunate about that. We met at 8am for breakfast, the staff made us some pancakes, and then went to the CHSFS office to have a bit of a prep meeting for the visit to meet our children. Max was bursting. He said, "Mom, when I get there, right as soon as I see them, I am going to be a big brother!" We were all so excited. It just felt surreal.

We first went to a meeting at the office, the purpose of which was to prepare us for meeting the babies and also to help us know what to expect while here. I was so nervous and excited and emotional, I think we all were. I don't even know how to put into words what we were feeling.

When we got there, we were struck by how nice the care center is. They had us all go into a room on the bottom floor and one by one they called us in to come and get our babies. This is partly to keep us organized and partly because they had a professional photographer there to capture our experiences for each of our kids' DVDs. They called one set of parents, then another, and another...and I was beginning to get the idea that we were last since we were the only set of parents to adopt twins. Finally, they called us upstairs. We had Max, and kathi and Brian all come up with us to see them for the first time. When we walked in, it was so surreal. We were seeing them, but it seemed like I couldn't really believe I was seeing them. One parent explained it well. Its kind of like when you see a celebrity in person. Not the famous part, but its like you only know them from pictures so when you see them in person, its like - 'is it really you?'

I just lost it. I think we all did. They were laying in their beds in a room with about seven babies. We walked over to them and they were just haning out, looking around. We walked over and the nannies handed Fetene to Ty and I went and picked up Wasagn. It was so wonderful to hold them. They were so much smaller than I thought they would be. And even more adorable than their pictures. Max was so happy. I was in such a zone, I really don't know what kathi and Brian were doing, except that when Ty and I wanted to trade babies, we had Kathi hold one so we could trade easier.

Then they told us we could take them downstairs with the rest of the parents and their babies. It was such fun to show them off. I think all the parents felt that way. All the kids are soooo cute! They are so adorable. The people here are so beautiful, its no wonder.

They are such sweet babies. They are so mellow and seemingly easy. We got to spend time with them talking to the other parents and looking at the other babies. Then it was time to feed the babies so they brought these bowls of cereal out. The nanny fed Wasagn while Ty and max helped and I fed Fetene. He was having a hard time eating. Its like it was difficult for him. He seemed to have a hard time swallowing it, or even getting it to stay in his mouth. It wasn't as easy as it was to feed max at that age. He was kind of fussy during the whole feeding and he only ate half. Tomorrow we have a meeting with the doctor, the social worker and their nanny so I plan to ask about that. He is smaller than his brother, so we want to find out what they know about that.

Shortly after they ate, they both fell asleep for a little while. I rocked Wasagn to sleep, there is nothing sweeter. Ty held Fetene and he went to sleep, that is until Max woke him up because he was so excited.

Then it was time to get the babies back to their beds for nap time and we went back to the guest house for lunch. Later in the day we got to go back and hold them.

Lalibela

2009-05-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Lalibela was pretty smooth. flew over some pretty big mountains to get there. I sat next to a guy about 25 to 30 who was a nurse in a health center. He was going to school to become a doctor. They study for a go to school for a little while then they work to pay for school. He wanted to become a doctor for the rural areas surrounding Lalibela. He got great joy from helping the people. As a nurse he made 700 bir per month. Right now the exchange rate is 11.5 birr per US dollar. so he lived on about $65 per month. He said when he became a doctor they make 1600 birr per month. That is about $150 per month. Our guide met us at the Airport and we checked in at the Hotel Jerusalem. Nice hotel quickly unpacked and headed off to the churches. These churches were amazing, built by around the time of king Lalibela in the 13th century, he spent a significant amount of time in Jerusalem, he layed out the churches to resemble Jerusalem including the Jordan river. King Lalibela wanted to provide a safer alternative to the pilgraming Christians. At the time these churches were built there was a lot of fighting between the Muslims and the Christians and the Muslims won most of the time. Ethiopia was fairly safe at the time. But the cool thing about these churches is they were built below ground. Basically the building was dug out then the building was hollowed out. A lot of them were interlocking through tunnels. We went in one of them. It was wild going through them in the dark. My dad was a crack up trying to go through. Max liked it so much he and the guide went through again. The best church was Saint George it was built in the shape of + sign or a cross. There were no pillars on the inside. There were also some dead bodies that were fairly well preserved supposedly because they were washed in the holy water. They were amazing. Later on that night Max and I walked around the hotel and met some new friends. had a nice meal with a nice staff. Our guide's father and grandfather was the priest of one of the churches. So he had a lot of insight.

Bahar Dar part 1

2009-05-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

This was a incredible day. We were met at the airport by our guide nick named Fish. He was great. He actually helped guide the people that filmed the Imax movie Blue Nile Mystery. He guides for eight months then goes to Gondor for school to become a Veterinarian. The guides here are professionally trained and must pass an exam. Fish told us when he went to take the exam 5,000 people took it and only 120 passed.
He took us to our hotel which was beautiful and right on Lake Tana, the lake that feeds into the Blue Nile. Unfortunately we had to change our plans and we are only going to in Bahar Dar for one day as we didn't arrive in Ethiopia until a day later than planned. The city is very green and beautiful with a lot of colorful birds. For those of you in Phoenix the love birds that are in Phoenix are native to Ethiopia. The weather actually reminds me of the dry air back home. Shortly after our arrival, we loaded on a boat and went to the monastery. On the lake, there are roughly 27 monasteries. I think there are 14 islands some of which are men only. We arrived to the other side of the lake and walked a short distance to the monastery. It was a small....

(to be continued...Sorry folks, this is all the email included so I guess you will have to tune in next time for the rest of the story. I'm also emailing any comments left (only Meghan so far) to them in Ethiopia so if you have any thoughts like just add them to the comments and they will send them to them while they are there.- from Ty's sister)

Four Stars

2009-05-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

Ty wanted me to blog, but it looks like he pretty much covered the journey to get here. At the airport in DC just in the boarding area for our flight, we already started to stand out (our social worker told us we would stand out over here), and so it wasn't hard to spot other couples who were going over to adopt. I saw this other couple with a baby carrier with no baby inside, so I told Kathi who promptly went over to start a conversation. Then I came over and started talking to them. They were actually a "Pioneer Couple" for the Rowanda program. They were super cute and really a nice couple from Pennslyvania. They have two bio children and this will be their first adoption. Then, while we were talking, another lady came up and joned in the conversation. She and her husband have three or four (can't remember) children and are adpoting a sibling group of three. wow! She home schools her children so she is going to have her hands full! Ty covered our flight, pretty uneventful, nice staff. Once we finally got on the last leg of the flight from Rome to Addis, Max and I were watching a movie and when it finished, I turned to the channel that has the map of where we were and I saw that we were over Africa and I just started to tear up. It's these unexpected things that get to me. Flying into Addis, I noticed that there were a lot of farms in the brown landscape but they were much smaller than we see in the US and shaped in different shapes rather than all rectangle and organized. Each farm had a house on it and they all were pretty much the same size. About a two bedroom house, I would guess. Then, when we got to the outskirts of the city, there were all these tiny houses, or roofs at least, that looked like little lean-to's and they were all crammed together with the edges of the roof touching the next one.

Our first day here went well. The guide was there at the airport holding a sign that said "Ty Barlow" so that made it easy. After loading all the monster bags he took us to the hotel which is in a nicer part of town, which for the US would be an area sort of like, well it looked more like Mexico with the little shops crammed together.The hotel was one of the nicest in the area. It was a "four star" hotel. I know this because it actually had four stars above the entrance. I took some photos which we will try to get on the blog. The staff was really nice, they really liked Max, with his red hair. Everyone over here is very quiet and soft spoken. I wonder if they think we are loud. Max is very excited to get the twins. He keeps asking when we will be able to go get them and wondering where we will have them sleep in the hotel, things like that. We are on a short flight and are landing, more later.

What time is it?

2009-05-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Alright we've been jam packed on our adventure and we are still adjusting to the time zone.

Our day in Addis was spent seeing the city on the way to the hotel. We went for Pizza at Metro Pizza and enjoyed it thoroughly. Half way around the world for pizza but it's kind of authentic. Let me explain... the Italians occupied Ethiopia for about 5 years around WW2 and that has a big influence on the food. Spaghetti is actually served quite a bit so it counts right?. During lunch Max fell asleep and we took him to the room. Ann stayed with him and my mom and I went for a walk around the Hotel. We saw a lot of goats and cows sharing the road with the many cars and people walking everywhere. Some roads were dirt and some were not. Shortly into our walk, my mom nearly stepped on some goat guts in the road and screamed causing the drivers to laugh. The hotel and the orphanage grounds, where we will be staying during the "adoption week", is where a lot of embassy people live so therefore we saw a lot of nicer homes. The rest of the night was spent repacking/ separating the donations to be stored at this hotel and the stuff we are taking on the trip to see the country. Max woke up at 11:30pm which is 9:30am in Phoenix and was done sleeping ready to go. Ann stayed up playing tic tac toe for an hour then I relieved her and played with him until 4:15am when we all got up for the day. We have a driver taking us to the airport at 5am for our standby flight to Barar Dar. ---Ty

Continued...

2009-05-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

(see post below for the beginning of the story) ...It was a small circular building. Inside there were paintings that looked almost cartoonish that told Bible stories. The monastery is 600 years old and the paintings were 400. The paintings were very vivid images colored in blueand black tones stained over many years out of flowers. Our guide told us many stories about these paintings. Next the Priest came out and did a special ceremony. It was a trip! They were four people performing the ceremony in their traditional dress. The priest blessed us, our rings, our family, and threw some holy water on our faces. He gave us biblical names Mine is Trinity and Ann's is Mary. The whole time he kept praying. It was really special. They said they had been praying since 8:30 am and would continue the rest of the day. After the ceremony was over we looked around, thanked him for the ceremony and took some pictures. He also took some pictures with us from on his cell phone. I was a little surprised he had a cell phone but I guess everyone's got one now.
We bought a couple souvenirs, then as we were leaving the priest invited us in his home for some injerra. It was cool and Max loved it. My folks were a little so-so on if they liked it or not as my dad has a "sensitive stomach".
We then took the boat back to the hotel Max drove it for a little while. Can you believe this is only part one of our first day adventure?

We're Here

2009-05-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Flight here to Ethiopia worked out great. It wasn't very crowded so we were able to spread out on the airplane a little which was really nice. We had several comments on the amount of bags (donations) we had with us . 10 bags (2 bags each) all pretty much at a max weight of 50 pounds each= 500 lbs. On the flight, Max and I watched the movie "Mall Cop" then Ann was nice enough to let me sleep most of the rest of the way. I by far got the most sleep and everyone else is exhausted. We were a little nervous with the long travel plans with a 5 year old, but Max did great.

Today our guide met us and took us to the hotel. Addis has about 4.5 million people in it and the driving is pretty crazy with an "every man for himself" mentality. There are no traffic lights due to sporadic power outages and the roads are in rough shape as well. The begging has already started to get to us a little, as they come right up to the taxi with there big beautiful eyes sometimes carrying a baby. The people are absolutely gorgeous, their eyes are stunning and they have all been extremely kind. We feel very safe here which is a big relief to my parents. Max has been a big hit with his large personality and red hair. Tomorrow we are off to Bahar Dar to see the Blue Nile falls and renew our wedding vows. I can't wait.

The rumor is true that blogspot does not work here so my sister Angel will have to update it through email. I can't see it until i get back so hopefully it works.

This Just Feels Better

2009-04-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

After a flight back to Phoenix, some take out from Pei Wei, and a much needed night's sleep, Brian (Ty's Dad) woke Kathi up at 3:08am, and was already showered, dressed and ready to go. After all, we had to leave the house an hour and a half later.

Paige came over at 0'dark-thirty to help us transport all the huge donations bags back to the airport since we and the donations wouldn't all fit in one car. (Thanks Paiger!)
We caught the 6am flight to Chicago, quick stop there and then on to Washington DC. Since we were the last on the flight (that's the joy of Stand-by), we were scattered all over the plane. I sat Max with a couple with a baby, they looked pretty safe, and I sat in between two big guys. I don't know where everyone else sat. We were a little worried about Max by himself, but he did great! I fell right to sleep, and about half way through, I woke up and saw Ty take Max to the restroom.

I sat there thinking, since I was alone, and all these thoughts were running through my mind. I started writing in my journal (thank you Angel!) and had so many emotions, I didn't know where to start. I was thinking about how excited I am to meet and hold my little guys, how I hope they will adapt well, how much I will miss my one on one time with Max, how Max will adapt, how crazy yet wonderful our lives will be, how grateful I am to be making this adventure with Ty, the love of my life, how the birth family must be feeling, how much I am looking forward to getting to see the country our little guys will come from, how grateful and overwhelmed I feel for all the support and love we have received from people close to us and people who don't really know us, how grateful I am to have in-laws who are so loving and willing to take this journey with us which is WAY out of their comfort zone yet they are doing it anyway, how much Angel and Rob are giving up to let Kathi, their main Charlie holder, come with us, its all just wonderful and crazy and well, just ....CRAZY!! I started tearing up writing all of this and the guys next to me kept joking about all the pot holes in the sky we were hitting.
But I have to say, even though not making the flight yesterday was a little disappointing, going this way just feels better. It's more relaxed, and just feels better for some reason. And we won't have a twelve hour layover in Dubai in the middle of the night.
Tomorrow we will catch our flight to Rome on our way to Addis Ababa and we won't even have to get off the plane.

Since we had some time to kill here in DC, Max, Kathi and I went to the Smithsonian close to the airport that is all about air travel while Ty and Brian took all the monster luggage to the hotel and got us all checked in. Max got to see the space shuttle, the Enola Gay (the first atomic bomb dropper) and tons of other cool aviation feats.
We'll be "up and at 'em" in the morning, leaving for the airport at 7am local, so we'll be up by 4am when Brian wakes us up. ---Ann

Hot Diggity

2009-04-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well our adventure has started. My parents got on a plane out of SLC at 6:55 to LAX and arrived at 8am. We met them there with no real problems. We got in the line for Emirates Airlines to go to Dubai at 1:45. The line continued to grow which made us, especially my dad, nervous. In case you didn't't know we are flying standby. Flying standby for us on Emirates cost us $400 a piece for the adults, Max was about $350 and the twins one way are about $100 including taxes. Normal confirmed tickets are roughly $1600 to $3000 a piece. Needless to say we are all about saving money. Unfortunately Emirates was full and we didn't't make it. What did look like a good option getting there changed as they are beginning every day service from LAX May 1 and started running very cheap flights to fill them and started a few days before the every day service. So we went to plan B and are flying to Washington DC to fly out of there on Ethiopian Air. They told me on the phone that the flight looks good but we will have to see. We have until May 8 to get there so we will be fine. Everyone is doing great. On the way to the airport in Phoenix Max said he was bored. I thought that was funny as we were looking at 36 more hours before we got to Addis Ababa(turns out it is going to be a few more than that). After talking to him a little I was able to understand that what he meant to say he anxious and couldn't wait to meet his brothers. I asked him as I was videoing him if he had anything to say and he said let me think about that (he thought for about 5 sec.) and said "Hot Digity". The kid cracks me up, so that is the word of the day. We are on our way. Again.

Donations

2009-04-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

Donations

We did not expect this and are deeply humbled by your genorosity. Just a sample of what we received to take with us. Over 1,300 diapers, puzzles, toys, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, all different size of clothing, lotion, pian reliever bandaids, shoes, etc. And for those of you that donated money Ann went to Costco and bought a ton of medicine tylonal cold meds etc. thank you thank you thank you. It is very moving to see the genorosity of so many, many don't even know us. All in all we will be taking over 400lbs of donations. Incredible in this bad economy how much people still give. We are off in the morning. Hope it all works out. Blogspot apparently doesnt work in Ethiopia, so I will be emailing my sister to update the blog. I hope it works. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Well be back around the middle of May.

Ethiopian Food

2009-04-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

For my birthday my mom flew down and took us to dinner. I wanted to go to an Ethiopian restaurant. I wanted Max to start to get used to what we were going to eat over there(to make sure we didn't have to pack more peanut butter). Before this adoption journey I had never been to an Ethiopian restaurant. We went to Cafe Lalibela in Tempe 833 west University. It was great. It is a different style of eating. It is family style. the picture shows what it looks like. It isn't much to look at if you've never had it.
The giant tray is covered even overlapping in a gray cloth looking thing. The cloth looking thing is actually Injera, it is a sourdough pancake like bread, it reminds me of a spongy crepe. It is covered with an assortment of stews etc. We got a extra piece of Injera and ripped a 3 inch piece off and pinched the different samples. It is eaten with your fingers. Traditionally you sit on couches around a table like this one. There was chicken and lamb wat, i think it is called Dora(chicken) wat. Some lentil beans stuff. You do eat the table cloth underneath as well. Max loved it. He would run to different spots to try the different samples. and say "This one is Delicious"

Pre-adoption week trip itinerary

2009-04-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Day 01 Sat 02 May
Addis Ababa – Bahir Dar
- AM 07:10-08:10 ET122 flight to Bahir Dar
- On arrival you’ll be met at Bahir Dar Airport and taken to Tana Hotel
- After hotel check-in AM visit Bahir Dar town’s weekly open market
- PM boat ride over Lake Tana to visit one of the old island monasteries Ura Kidane Mihret.
Here we’ll arrange a priest dressed in traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Church attire to renew your wedding vows as well bless your son and the rings. Our 10 year anniversary is May 1
- Stay 2 nights Bahir Dar Tana Hotel

Day 02 Sun 03 May
Bahir Dar
- AM excursion to Blue Nile Falls situated 30 km out of Bahir Dar town
- PM sunset viewing on Lake Tana from the hill nearby Late Emperor’s palace

Day 03 Mon 04 May
Bahir Dar – Gondar
- AM 08:30-08:50 ET122 flight to Gondar and on arrival transfer to Goha Hotel
- PM sightseeing of Gondar and visit the walled Royal Enclosure that contains 17th century castles; Debre Berhane Selassie Church; Fasiledese's Bathing Pool; abbey of Empress Mentewab and finally Felasha (Black Jews) Village
- Overnight Gondar Goha Hotel

Day 04 Tue 05 May
Gondar – Lalibela
- AM 09:00-09:40 ET122 flight to Lalibela and on arrival transfer to Jerusalem Hotel
- The rest of the day will be spent in Lalibela town exploring the eleven 13th century rock-hewn churches
- Overnight Lalibela Jerusalem Hotel

Day 05 Wed 06 May
Lalibela – Axum
- AM 10:00-10:40 ET122 flight to Axum and on arrival transfer to Yeha Hotel
- PM visit in Axum town Archaeological Museum; Stele Square; 6th century Kings Gebre-Meskel & Kaleb Necropolis; Tsion Mariam Church; Epitaph of King Ezana and finally ruins of Queen Sheba’s Palace
- Overnight Axum Yeha Hotel

The big 40

2009-04-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Yes today I turn 40 with 3 little kids. wow. I am so excited for this trip I can hardly stand it. Thought I'd share a typical house that we expect to see in the country. These are the homes of the farmers outside of the city the smoke coming from the roof is some cooking that is being done.
I guess the kids like to come out and wave to all the passerby.

5 days until we leave wow

8 days left

2009-04-22T00:35:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the capitol Addis Ababa

With our first 100 degree day of the year yes 100, I thought id say what the weather is like in Ethiopia. When many people think of Africa they think hot. Ethiopia is close to the equator But the Capital Addis Ababa is actually very high in elevation. From its lowest point, around Bole International Airport, at 2,326 meters (7,630 ft) above sea level in the southern periphery, the city rises to over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) in the Entoto Mountains to the north. right now tempatures are running about high 70's but since it is so high it cools off and the lows are in the low 50's. The rainy season in the capitol is around August although it is starting to get a little moisture around this time of year.

9 days until we leave

2009-04-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

Things are coming together. Ann has been working on packing and buying supplies etc. and I have been working on gathering all of the paperwork we left for the last minute. Everything needs to be done twice(once for each kid. In fact we took Saturday off and did Pat's run A 4.2 mile fun run honoring Pat Tillman the Army Ranger killed in Afghanistan. There were over 20,000 runners and it ended on the 42 yard line at ASU. That is fun to run on the field.

I also wanted to answer a couple questions that come up and might be on your mind.

Why do Ethiopians terminate their parental rights?

•Most children who need adoptive homes in Ethiopia are placed due to the illness of one or both parents, abandonment, or extreme poverty. When a parent(s) dies often the extended family members will try to parent the children, but often cannot do so because of their own level of poverty.

•Birth control is not common in this area so the remaining family members have many of their own children to care for, making it difficult to care for the additional children. It is socially unacceptable for women to have children before marriage and a young mother will have much difficulty trying to parent on her own.

Do we know know about the birth parents?

Yes we know a lot of information However we have learned through all of the reading and social workers etc. that the confidential information that has been and may be exchanged belongs to our kids. Once this information is heard by others it is no longer ours to be shared with our kids when we choose and feel it is appropriate.

We are just finalizing our travel plans what we are going to see etc. We are probably flying over on Eremites to Dubai and have a 12 hr layover. Which will be fun to see. then on to Addis arriving on May 1st. I'll post our schedule when i finalize it.

May 7th is confirmed

2009-04-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

We have been confirmed for Meeting with our travel group at the airport on May 7th. We get to see and hold them for the first time the next day. We are going to leave either April 29th or 30th. We will tour the country for the first week then the adoption week. We'll be home about the 16th. I'll tell you more about the trip as i work out the details. We're pretty damn excited needless to say.

Donations for orphanage

2009-04-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Some people have asked about taking donations to Ethiopia with us I got this donation list from the staff. We will have 5 of us traveling and can take a two basgs 50 lb each so we will have some room if anyone would like to donate. Sorry to put this so last minute. right now if things stay the same we are going to leave around the 29th and should be confirmed this week. Thank you all for any help.

Hi Ty and Annabelle. Attached is the Donation List. The most needed items right now are formula (soy and similac - can be generic version), diapers (all sizes), wipes, and hand sanitizer.

Donation List
~ Bedding- sheets and bedcovers for twin and full sized beds
~Digital Scale
~Measurement Meter
~Length Board

Pampers (all sizes, especially for newborns)
Baby Wipes
Baby Lotion
Baby Shampoo
Baby Oil
Vaseline
Hand Sanitizer (self-pump bottles)
Soy Formula
Surgical Masks
Latex Gloves
Gauze
Bandages
Cotton
Tip Applicator
Paper for Changing Tables
Shoes (Toddler and Infant)
Clothes (all sizes needed, especially infant and toddler)
NG Tubes, #5, #6, #8

List of Medicines Needed

Ibuprofer drops or syrups (children’s ibuprofen) 400mg
Anti Acid Tablet
Anti Acid Syrup
Foban Ointment
Clotrimazol Cream
Antibiotic Ointment
Baby Suppository
Children’s Pain Reliever tablets & drops
Multi Vitamin Syrup and Capsules
Vitamin D Injection
Iron Drops

Items needed for brain development:

Building blocks
Coloring Books
Puzzles with big pieces
Big Legos
Books
Big cars to sit in and push around
Any toys they can walk under (tunnel type toys)

May 7th is our tentative date

2009-04-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

We have a tentative date of May 7th(my sisters b-day) to meet and hold those little guys. They gave us a tentative date to be confirmed next week. We plan to go over about a week early around May 1 (which happens to be our 10 year anniversary)to tour the country but that is when our adoption week will begin. Things are going great with us just frantically packing, paperwork,planning flights, more paperwork, planning the tour,more paperwork, revising travel because the twins will be traveling on a Ethiopian passport and adoption visa(some countries require a transit visa even just transferring airplanes for non US citizens), non-revving, checklists, etc.

Birth Certificates

2009-04-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

Things are moving fast. We didn't expect these for another week. Wow it is neat to see it in writing that we're the parents of these babies.

Can't wait to feel just welmed instead of overwelmed

2009-04-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ann and i are frantically trying to get ready for the trip getting all of the paperwork together packing preparing the house, planning the extra trip we plan to stay and see the country the week before we can pick up the twins. Just want to get the kids home as soon as possible. I am worried about Fetene not gaining much weight. Although it is very cute i wonder if it has anything to do with them drinking out of a cup. I don't know. Just thoughts that are going through my little head.I'm super excited but worry about the kids, trying to remember how to take care of a baby, staring at their pictures, rereading the social report, hoping i don't forget to do some paperwork issue to take.

2009-04-04T22:41:00.000-07:00

The good thing about my job and working as much as i have been lately is I get a new group of people to bore and show pictures to every flight so they at least seem interested. Where else can the go, or how can they make up an excuse that they have to be somewhere, It is a very captive audience. needless to say Ann and I are very excited.
I found someone who saw our babies in Jan. while picking up their child. Anyway this is what she sent me about the kids.

When we met your twins they were in the upstairs room, right next to the nanny's station for the teeny tiny babies. The nannies were so proud and held them each up and said, "look at these twins!". They were very swaddled and in that room they were kept very warm (there was an extra space heater or two in the room since the babies were all so young). They were so adorable and so sweet. I'm so happy for you! You better get packing.

One thing is for sure: the children at CHSFS are so loved and so cared for. I think the best thing the nannies do is teach the children to be happy- did you know there is a laugh therapist at the care center? supposedly this laugh therapist holds the world record for laughing!

Best,
Mindy
________

court approved!!!!!

2009-04-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

we got a phone call and this email today so we should be there in 3 to 6 weeks. we were both crying as this is a big milestone and a long wait

Hello Ty and Annabelle! Hooray! We have received verbal confirmation today that your case has made it through court in Ethiopia. The written court order and a written letter from the Ministry of Women's Affairs needs to be obtained by our staff in order for your child's birth certificate to be issued and sent to us via e-mail attachment. This process has been taking about 2 weeks. Once we receive and review the birth certificate to confirm that everything is correct, we will forward a copy to you and you will receive a travel date for about 3 weeks from this time and then can confirm your tickets to travel. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

2009-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

I cant figure out the picture extraction but wanted to get a few up. I dont think these are suppossed to be shown until friday so dont tell.

social report

2009-03-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well we got some more ipctures and they are cute. ive been waiting for thes for a long time. I need to figure out how to post them so stay tuned when i get some down time. On another note the people we know from phoenix that are 3 weeks ahead of us just got there travel date of April 9th. So basically there time line was court Mar 13(passed) then got a travel date 2 weeks later and they wanteed them there 2 weeks after that. We want to travel a week early so that may be as early as April 23. Wont be long now.

Max year 1

2009-03-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

Went and saw a buddy Jeromy Cushing and his new baby girl. I have forgotten a lot about babies. His kid was born at 8lb 13 oz so she was just about the same size as our boys. Wow that is little. It was precious to hold her. Can't wait to have our new kids in our arms. I pulled out a video i tried to make 5 years ago and uploaded it to youtube. The music apparently wont play as it is copywrighted. It is hard to remember him so small.

Winter '09

2009-03-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

We had a great winter. The weather in Phoenix was the best i can remember. I taught Max to ski. I tried to get him to snowboard but he wanted to ski like big Max and Uncle Rob. So I borrowed Max's old skis and headed up to Dear Valley. Park City has a deal called Quick start for out of state residence, you can ski free on the day you fly into SLC at any of the 3 park city resorts. That worked out perfect for us if it is free take 3. toward the end of the season Max got a little cocky telling me how only him and uncle Rob could ski backwards. It was fun and he did well. Ann even came up one time

2009-03-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

I emailed our specialist the yesterday as i hadn't heard anything for a while. No news is good news but no news is also to quiet. Anyway this is what she said when i asked about delays or what was happening. the good news is we will hopefully have some more pics in a week or two. We have also met a couple in Phoenix that are adopting from Ethiopia using our same agency. They had their court date on March 13th and passed. They haven't been notified as to when they will travel but we'll maybe be able to gauge our travel based on them. This will be their second adoption from Ethiopia. So 5 weeks after April 3 puts it around the first part of May.

Right now everything is looking good for you April 3rd court date. We have been receiving social reports about a week before the court date so hopefully next week we will receive your social report for the boys and you will have lots of new pictures to look at. J
Right now we continue to see families travel about 5 weeks after court approval. It’s been taking about 2 weeks to receive the birth certificate and about 3 weeks to travel. After court approval the court decree and birth certificate are being issued and received, there is a final medical exam of the children at the Embassy, Embassy appointment is set, and the passports are obtained.
Although we are still currently seeing 5 weeks from court approval to travel there is the possibility this timeline could change with new TB testing requirement that the U.S. Embassy will be putting into effect. We just recently learned of this new requirement and at this time we do not know if or how this will affect your case. The TB testing will be a requirement for the final medical exam for the embassy appointment, and can only be done by the panel pediatrician, IOM clinic. We have not been advised how this will all play out yet. We expect to have a bit more clarity over how this is going to be completed over the next couple of weeks or so...we just need to see how the embassy is going to implement this and then we will hopefully be able to better answer questions. We know that the Embassy doesn’t want children to wait any longer then they have to so hopefully the process will have a minimal affect on timing.
Also, we have learned that the Embassy is now going to assign agencies two dates a month to process children through for visas. However, the Embassy has stated if agencies need more then two days a month to process children through they will add additional dates when needed. So at this time, we do not believe this change will affect the process or timeline.

Lucy

2009-03-08T10:08:00.001-07:00

I just learned about the exhibit in Seattle last week and this is the last week it is going to be in the States. Max was off school on Friday so we met my mom in Seattle for the day to go see it. Flying free is nice. This exhibit is of Lucy and Ethiopia. The first half of the exhibit was about Ethiopia. It is very closely related to stories in the Bible. They think that it is where the garden of Eden was. They claim that the Ark of the Covenant is there etc. it was very cool. Max liked feeling the difference between a bone and a fossilized bone and fossilized dinosaur poop. The second part was about finding Lucy who was one of the first animals to walk upright. they found her in Ethiopia and believe that she was 3 million years old. The neat thing about the find is that over 40% of her skeleton was discovered. It was really cool to see. After Max went to Grandmas house for the weekend and I came back to Phoenix. You forget that the rest of the country isn't 78 degrees in the winter.

Max's song about his new brothers

2009-03-08T00:13:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to figure out this video thing and you tube/blog thing. It was a good thing i was hired for my body and not my brain. so this may not work. Any way this is on the day we found out that we were the proud parents of twins. We ran over to Max's school and picked him up early and this is the ride home. I think we were all doing a song and dance.I don't know how to edit or make all fancy yet But his song is kind of funny. I feel kind of like when Ann was pregnant with Max where i couldn't wait for the next Dr. apt. I am as excited about getting the boys as waiting for Max to be born and some of you know how that was. following the daily growth chart emailing updates, tape recording heart beats, Forcing Ann to listen to classical music 24hrs a day, giving her a time to drink a certain amount of water each day. Basically just obsessing. Its kind of the same way now without being close. everyone i talk to say the care is unbelievable but it is hard not being there.

What an orphanage is like

2009-03-07T14:47:00.001-08:00

My sister sent me this footage of a orphanage in Ethiopia. As we were looking into adopting and where we wanted to adopt from, we were drawn to Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a very loving and family oriented country. Both Ann and i feel that is so important escpecilly in the early years to have that and wanted that for our kids. I think that you can see that in this video, They don't have much but are loved and are happy. This is not the orphanage where our kids are. The other video is an example of a family and there experience. needless to say we can't wait to meet our boys.

Monthly weight and wait

2009-03-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

We got our monthly weights for the boys

Fetene

Now weighs 3.65 kg which equals 8lb 1oz
he is 52.5 cm which is 20 1/2 in

Wesegn

Now weighs 4kg which equals 8lb 13oz
he is now 21 1/4 in

In talking with our agency Ethiopian babies gain weight a little slower than American babies. She said 1/2 to 1 pound is normal. They both gained a pound which is great.

I also heard a rumor that the 2nd judge hears adoption cases that was on maternity leave is back so hopefully that will help their workloads and help our wait time. Our case is still scheduled for April 3rd and we will know a lot more info then. Until then the only updates we get are the monthly weigh ins or if there is a problem so all is good. Sure do wish we would get some pictures in the monthly update.

New weights

2009-02-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

This is the email reply from the Dr. in Ethiopia. I don't know why the difference but i'm happy and it sounds like they are doing great.

Hi Ty and Annabelle. Here are new measurements that were taken via a request over Fetene's weight. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Here is Dr. Selam's reply:-

"Fetene's current measurement(February-10-2009).
Weight-3.45kg
Head circumference-37.5cm
Height-53cm

Wesagn's measurement
Wt-3.77 kg
Height-55cm
Head circumference-38.5cm

Both are doing well."

here are the English conversions

Fetene

weight 7.59 lbs

height 20.9 in

Wesagn

weight 8.29 lbs

Height 21.7

Good news

2009-02-10T08:40:00.001-08:00

We heard back for the Dr in Ethiopia This is the message:
Fetene was seen by pediatric surgeon who said that Fetene has no Torticolis.

Dr Selam

I also took the weight charts to our pediatrician and the info about the torticolis before the exam. Our Dr. was concerned with him only gaining 3oz. he likes to see the weight gain for the 2ND month about 1 1/2 lbs. Max gained 3lbs 4 oz. Our agency tells us that Ethiopian babies gain weight a little slower and they typically see between a 1/2 lb to a lb. So he is not gaining weight that well. I wonder if they got mixed up on the weighing either the first or the second weighing as according to them he seems fairly healthy and eating well. It is a little nerve racking not being in control and not being able to see and know what is happening. We wont get any more pictures until we pass court unfortunately just the monthly weight and height chart as well as any time they are sick so no news is good news i guess.

weight update

2009-02-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

We got their weights for the 2nd month and they are
Fetene(the first one)
12/30/08 3.00 kg 49cm
2/1/09 3.09 kg 51.5 cm that translates to 6.8 lbs and 20.3 in

Wesegn
12/30/08 2.85kg 51 cm
2/1/09 3.54kg 53 cm that translates to 7.79 lbs and 20.9 in

I emailed them about the weight gain as i was concerned about lack of weight. My specialist emailed the doctor about it and also that typical ethiopian babies gain 1/2 to 1 pound. The doctor emailed her back this: Fetene Petros is taking his milk well. He is healthy that is he doesn't have diarrhoea or other illness. I was going to e-mail you about the problem he has. He tilts his head towards left side and he is going to be evaluated for torticolis by pediatric surgeon. I will let you know the conclusion. Dr Selam
Here is a link on it
Torticollis
I also took the info to our pediatrician who didn't seem to concerned about the torticolis but a little concerned about the lack of weight gain.

Lalibela

2009-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

I found a interesting article about a town in northern Ethiopia. They celebrate Chistmas on Jan 7th. This town is pretty cool with the churches dug down below the surface and made out of solid rock. Anyway here is the link
Christmas in Lalibela

Here is another slide show and story from this years celebration
Audio slideshow:

Enjoy

Tentative Court Date

2009-01-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

We just found out today that we have a tentative court date of April 3rd. If all goes well it'll be 3-4 weeks after that we'll be traveling to get them. From what I understand It doesn't always go through the first time. I guess what they do in court is review all of the documents. The mountain of paperwork that Ann and I did, Our agency out of Minnesota CHSFS, Our local social workers home study report. Then they review the Ethiopian orphanage paperwork and the CHSFS over there. They also have to review reports on the birth family. I've recently heard that quite often the birth family is sometimes required to appear in court. After reviewing this The court will then declare them orphaned. And the rest of the paperwork starts Birth Certificate and U.S. stuff.
Needless to say a lot can go wrong. Just today, There was a group that was supposed to go through court (7 from our agency) and apparently a government office MOWA is moving and is shutting down for this week. They have now been rescheduled for March 19th. I also heard that there are just 2 judges hearing the cases and 1 is out on maternity leave.
This is from a message board that someone who was part of the group that was rescheduled said
From what I can tell, there are at least three well-known agencies (Holt, Gladney, CHSFS) that have communicated to adopting parents that they should *expect* to be unsuccessful in their first court appearance, and plan on a new court date approximately six weeks later. From what I can tell, the new court dates for people who failed to pass court today have been rescheduled six weeks later, which would jive with what has already been communicated. My impression has been that these delays are due to a shortage of judges hearing cases (one is alleged to be on maternity leave), as well as increased MOWA requirements, including asking for birth parents or family members to personally appear in court. Seems to me there are a lot of legitimate reasons for court delays besides a pending closure.
and someone else wrote this My court was also post poned. But this was due to the MOWA moving. Also what I understand is that one of the judges is on maternity leave, this leaves only one new judge to handle all the cases. Although this causes delays in our cases it also shows me that the government is taking this seriously and not just pushing cases through. We need to remember this is a different country who deals with many hardships we can not understand..power outages etc. I also heard today that they are considering more judges which would hopefully speed thing up.

As hard as it is to wait and as much as i feel the need to bond sooner i am glad that they are making sure everything is checked out and is on the up and up for all involved. I'll try to go back over the last year and a half of this process and kind of make a time line as to what was involved to date and what is left.

Meet the Twins!!!!!

2009-01-21T19:43:00.000-08:00