Friday, July 31, 2009
Delayed an hour
For those meeting at our neighborhood park today we have been delayed one hour in DC so we will get there between 6 and 7 now.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The journey home begins!
Just a very quick note, because the van is waiting...We are on our way home!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Embassy appointment
Yesterday we had our Embassy appointment and so now the only thing that remains is to get Eyob's travel visa.
Quick update: Praise – the ticket issue has been resolved.
For anyone coming after us, we cannot recommend Ethiopia Guest House strongly enough. We have especially enjoyed the community meals. We have met so many families that have such amazing stories of how they have ended up in Ethiopia adopting a child or children. It has been such an encouragement to us. When one family is struggling with an issue other families come alongside and share words of encouragement or some advice from personal experience to help.
Eyob continues to do well with the transition with us. He is enjoying his brozzers and seester very much. We have found that when we go out anywhere he gets very quiet (which is very much out of character for him) and so we will be glad to get home to begin some sense of normalcy. Have to get ready for the day, more later...
Quick update: Praise – the ticket issue has been resolved.
For anyone coming after us, we cannot recommend Ethiopia Guest House strongly enough. We have especially enjoyed the community meals. We have met so many families that have such amazing stories of how they have ended up in Ethiopia adopting a child or children. It has been such an encouragement to us. When one family is struggling with an issue other families come alongside and share words of encouragement or some advice from personal experience to help.
Eyob continues to do well with the transition with us. He is enjoying his brozzers and seester very much. We have found that when we go out anywhere he gets very quiet (which is very much out of character for him) and so we will be glad to get home to begin some sense of normalcy. Have to get ready for the day, more later...
Monday, July 27, 2009
A new approach
We realized today at the Hilton that we have no problem accessing our email account remotely, so we are going to attempt to use email to post directly to the blog.
After I completed the last blog, Melissa asked me all sorts of questions about what I commented on in our successful blog and I realized that in the vein of "men are from Mars..." that I failed to comment on the really important stuff, instead focusing on the administrative stuff. So here is my attempt to comment on the important stuff: Our incountry cell phone number is 011-251-091-0103887 (we have already added the US exit code and Ethiopia country code).
Eyob is doing remarkably well in the transition to life as a Miller. He has a very winsome personality and enjoys entertaining us and others. He knows more English than we were expecting and is able to repeat what we say very well. In addition to "welcome", we love the way he says brother (sounds like "brozzer") and sister (sounds like "seester"). He is sleeping well at night, and typically wakes once in the middle of the night for a drink of water. Although I am sure it hurt Tesfanish's heart, I think she did a remarkable job of preparing him for the transition. She is truly a wonderful woman and one we want to make certain Eyob remembers as he grows up. We can build on the strong foundation that she built.
We have really enjoyed Ethiopia Guest House and would strongly recommend it to anyone coming to Addis Ababa to adopt or do mission work. We have really enjoyed getting to know the families that are here as well. It is neat to see such a diverse group of families from places like Chicago, Austin, Dallas, Denver, and Santa Barbara, with a similar call to adopt from Ethiopia. It has been really great to hear everyone's story of how they got to this point and it has been such an encouragement to us.
Praises:
- The flight went very well and we managed the time better on this flight. Sleep was less of a problem.
- All of the luggage was allowed without any fees.
- Abby's luggage that was lost was found with everything intact.
Prayer requests:
- Eyob's ticket issue is still unresolved and we ask for your continued prayer. The problem has been escalated to the person within Ethiopian Air who can choose to resolve it so we travel as planned or choose not to, pushing us to a later flight (not a desired outcome).
Believing that the ticket issue will be resolved well, we are planning to land at O'Hare about around 1:20 pm on Friday, July 31st. From there we plan to drive to Bloomington and go to our neighborhood park between 5 and 6 pm to see any of you who can make it.
More to follow...from Ethiopia we hope (if this works as anticipated, I will try to push some photos through to the blog as well).
After I completed the last blog, Melissa asked me all sorts of questions about what I commented on in our successful blog and I realized that in the vein of "men are from Mars..." that I failed to comment on the really important stuff, instead focusing on the administrative stuff. So here is my attempt to comment on the important stuff: Our incountry cell phone number is 011-251-091-0103887 (we have already added the US exit code and Ethiopia country code).
Eyob is doing remarkably well in the transition to life as a Miller. He has a very winsome personality and enjoys entertaining us and others. He knows more English than we were expecting and is able to repeat what we say very well. In addition to "welcome", we love the way he says brother (sounds like "brozzer") and sister (sounds like "seester"). He is sleeping well at night, and typically wakes once in the middle of the night for a drink of water. Although I am sure it hurt Tesfanish's heart, I think she did a remarkable job of preparing him for the transition. She is truly a wonderful woman and one we want to make certain Eyob remembers as he grows up. We can build on the strong foundation that she built.
We have really enjoyed Ethiopia Guest House and would strongly recommend it to anyone coming to Addis Ababa to adopt or do mission work. We have really enjoyed getting to know the families that are here as well. It is neat to see such a diverse group of families from places like Chicago, Austin, Dallas, Denver, and Santa Barbara, with a similar call to adopt from Ethiopia. It has been really great to hear everyone's story of how they got to this point and it has been such an encouragement to us.
Praises:
- The flight went very well and we managed the time better on this flight. Sleep was less of a problem.
- All of the luggage was allowed without any fees.
- Abby's luggage that was lost was found with everything intact.
Prayer requests:
- Eyob's ticket issue is still unresolved and we ask for your continued prayer. The problem has been escalated to the person within Ethiopian Air who can choose to resolve it so we travel as planned or choose not to, pushing us to a later flight (not a desired outcome).
Believing that the ticket issue will be resolved well, we are planning to land at O'Hare about around 1:20 pm on Friday, July 31st. From there we plan to drive to Bloomington and go to our neighborhood park between 5 and 6 pm to see any of you who can make it.
More to follow...from Ethiopia we hope (if this works as anticipated, I will try to push some photos through to the blog as well).
Hopefully a post that will go through...
This is Chad writing as I sit in the Business Center of the Addis Ababa Hilton. We have had issues with our internet connection at the guest house, so I am hopeful we finally get an entry in. We will have to input some entries when we get home to fill in the blanks that I don't have time to write right now (as well, I was hoping to post some photos, but even that won't happen until we return to the States)...
When we went to the transition home, Eyob came running out with is his nanny, Tesfanish, and announced with bright eyes, "WELCOME". I will date myself, but if you imagine back to Fantasy Island, you will get a pretty good picture. The only downside of our visit is that of the 11 pieces of checked luggage, the only one that did not make it was Abby's bag (we took the Semlows' advice and moved some clothes around the other luggage to handle this if it happened) which also had the gifts for Tesfanish and the other nannies.
We got to see several children who are awaiting their parents (two beautiful sisters are meeting their new mom and dad now, as I type).
We have also been able to do some things that we will look back on fondly--attended a church service and ate a traditional Ethiopian meal. We had Doro Wat (a spicy chicken spiced with the local spice berbere) and Bere Tibs (a grilled beef dish) that we ate with Enjera (you need to look this up online because I cannot do it justice--it involves the use of fermented, decayed something).
We are out today to confirm our return tickets (please pray about this because due to an error with the travel agent that was compounded by Ethiopian Air at this moment we do not have a ticket home for Eyob), do some shopping, and visit a coffee warehouse. I will continue to try to get another post out from the guest house, but this may be the only one incountry. And we thought we faced posting challenges in China!!
When we went to the transition home, Eyob came running out with is his nanny, Tesfanish, and announced with bright eyes, "WELCOME". I will date myself, but if you imagine back to Fantasy Island, you will get a pretty good picture. The only downside of our visit is that of the 11 pieces of checked luggage, the only one that did not make it was Abby's bag (we took the Semlows' advice and moved some clothes around the other luggage to handle this if it happened) which also had the gifts for Tesfanish and the other nannies.
We got to see several children who are awaiting their parents (two beautiful sisters are meeting their new mom and dad now, as I type).
We have also been able to do some things that we will look back on fondly--attended a church service and ate a traditional Ethiopian meal. We had Doro Wat (a spicy chicken spiced with the local spice berbere) and Bere Tibs (a grilled beef dish) that we ate with Enjera (you need to look this up online because I cannot do it justice--it involves the use of fermented, decayed something).
We are out today to confirm our return tickets (please pray about this because due to an error with the travel agent that was compounded by Ethiopian Air at this moment we do not have a ticket home for Eyob), do some shopping, and visit a coffee warehouse. I will continue to try to get another post out from the guest house, but this may be the only one incountry. And we thought we faced posting challenges in China!!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
We made it!
Just a quick post to advise we made it. We are about to leave for the transition home to get Eyob!
Prayer update:
1. Praise - all the luggage was allowed with no penalty.
2. Praise - the flight was not too bad and we got some sleep.
3. Prayer Request - every bag made it but Abby's. We took the Semlow's advice and had moved clothes around to other bags so she has clothes to wear for a few days. The biggest issue is that this is the bag with the gifts for the nannies and a special gift for Tesfanish, his primary nanny. Please pray that it is found quickly so we can get those gifts to everyone.
Prayer update:
1. Praise - all the luggage was allowed with no penalty.
2. Praise - the flight was not too bad and we got some sleep.
3. Prayer Request - every bag made it but Abby's. We took the Semlow's advice and had moved clothes around to other bags so she has clothes to wear for a few days. The biggest issue is that this is the bag with the gifts for the nannies and a special gift for Tesfanish, his primary nanny. Please pray that it is found quickly so we can get those gifts to everyone.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
In DC
We are recovering from our day in a hotel near Dulles. What a day!
We got to O'Hare at 1 thinking we were in good shape since we flew out at 4. Turns out we needed every minute!
We found out that we could check our luggage all the way through to Addis, but it was all or none. We made quite a sight on the sidewalk moving clothes and stuff from our regular bags into a carry-on. Then we waited in a very long line to check all of us and our 11 bags in. (Keep praying for waived fees--that 11th bag might cost $250)...from there to a very long security line...by the time we reached the gate they were boarding.
Things were looking good, when a big thunderstorm temporarily shut down the airport--the neat thing about that was that as we were waiting Air Force One landed.
The flight went great and we made it to the hotel about 9 pm. We planned to walk across the street to a Chinese restaurant when the skies opened up. The boys and I ran through the rain to the Chinese restaurant...as we got to the door we realized they were closing! Luckily, there was another one nearby that we ran to. We were soaked by the time we got back to the hotel.
Now out of wet clothes and full of great food we are settling in for the night. Tomorrow morning we will leave DC on a 15-hour marathon to Addis Ababa. The next time you hear from us, we will be in Addis and will likely have Eyob. We will probably blog on Saturday evening local time (Addis is 7 hours ahead of Bloomington).
Stay tuned...
We got to O'Hare at 1 thinking we were in good shape since we flew out at 4. Turns out we needed every minute!
We found out that we could check our luggage all the way through to Addis, but it was all or none. We made quite a sight on the sidewalk moving clothes and stuff from our regular bags into a carry-on. Then we waited in a very long line to check all of us and our 11 bags in. (Keep praying for waived fees--that 11th bag might cost $250)...from there to a very long security line...by the time we reached the gate they were boarding.
Things were looking good, when a big thunderstorm temporarily shut down the airport--the neat thing about that was that as we were waiting Air Force One landed.
The flight went great and we made it to the hotel about 9 pm. We planned to walk across the street to a Chinese restaurant when the skies opened up. The boys and I ran through the rain to the Chinese restaurant...as we got to the door we realized they were closing! Luckily, there was another one nearby that we ran to. We were soaked by the time we got back to the hotel.
Now out of wet clothes and full of great food we are settling in for the night. Tomorrow morning we will leave DC on a 15-hour marathon to Addis Ababa. The next time you hear from us, we will be in Addis and will likely have Eyob. We will probably blog on Saturday evening local time (Addis is 7 hours ahead of Bloomington).
Stay tuned...
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Why do we adopt?
This video just grabs me--especially on the days when I think I have lost all my marbles. The song that plays with the video is a great song (to pause the music that plays in the background of our blog, scroll down to the playlist at the bottom and hit pause--then hit play on the video)...
We leave tomorrow!
Chad writing: Hard to believe, but we leave tomorrow. We will drive up to Chicago tomorrow morning and board a plane for Dulles in the afternoon. Between the five of us we have 11 bags/boxes (4 of them are crammed full of donations for the transition home). Please say a prayer that United will waive the fee on them since they are donations.
We continue to ask for you to pray for us on this trip. We have had a few instances of snafus that I am convinced are happening to harry us as we go forward. The first was an administrative error by Ethiopian Air to charge us twice for our tickets (resolved...I think!). The second was the FedEx delivery this morning of our tickets that was soaking wet--we had papers and tickets spread out over our dining room table air drying (a little crumpled, but still legible!).
It is all worth it (and, yes, we have a boy's bike waiting for him!)...
Melissa writing: We are on our way, sweet Eyob. The time has FINALLY come to bring you home. We cannot wait to hold you in our arms! You have waited so long...but not much longer!!! We love you so much.
We continue to ask for you to pray for us on this trip. We have had a few instances of snafus that I am convinced are happening to harry us as we go forward. The first was an administrative error by Ethiopian Air to charge us twice for our tickets (resolved...I think!). The second was the FedEx delivery this morning of our tickets that was soaking wet--we had papers and tickets spread out over our dining room table air drying (a little crumpled, but still legible!).
It is all worth it (and, yes, we have a boy's bike waiting for him!)...
Melissa writing: We are on our way, sweet Eyob. The time has FINALLY come to bring you home. We cannot wait to hold you in our arms! You have waited so long...but not much longer!!! We love you so much.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Reminiscing
All the kids, except for Sarah Beth, are spending the night with friends. So Melissa, Sarah Beth, and I are sitting at the computer looking over Sarah Beth's blog.
It is amazing to see the physical and emotional transformation of our daughter since November 2007. The thing that struck me was the picture of our four children together in China. Little did we know then that there would come a day when we take a picture of our five children!
Take a look...
Stay tuned for the picture of five!
It is amazing to see the physical and emotional transformation of our daughter since November 2007. The thing that struck me was the picture of our four children together in China. Little did we know then that there would come a day when we take a picture of our five children!
Take a look...
Stay tuned for the picture of five!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
We leave next week!
Sorry we have not posted since we passed court, but we have been moving so fast that we have not taken the time.
Here is where we are now--the US Consulate in Ethiopia has now signed off on the adoption and given us an appointment date of July 28. Therefore, we are flying out on Thursday, July 23, and will land in Ethiopia on Saturday morning (we have to layover overnight in DC so we will actually take off for Addis Ababa on Friday morning, July 24. After the visa is completed on Thursday, July 30, we will take a late evening flight for home and will land in Chicago on Friday afternoon, July 31.
Here is our specific flight information as we would covet your prayers while we travel (the DC to Ethiopia leg is about 15 hours going and almost 17 hours returning):
23 JULY 09 - THURSDAY
UNITED 950
LV: CHICAGO/OHARE 110P
AR: WASH/DULLES 406P
24 JULY 09 - FRIDAY
ETHIOPIAN 503
LV: WASH/DULLES 1005A
AR: ADDIS ABABA 820A ARVL DATE-25 JUL
30 JULY 09 - THURSDAY
ETHIOPIAN 500
LV: ADDIS ABABA 1015P
AR: WASH/DULLES 755A ARVL DATE-31 JUL
31 JULY 09 - FRIDAY
UNITED 151
LV: WASH/DULLES 1221P
AR: CHICAGO/OHARE 120P
We will get Eyob (Gabriel--we will let him decide when he is ready to go by Gabriel) on Saturday and are looking forward to experiencing Ethiopia with him. Like we did in China, we will go to an Ethiopian church service on Sunday. There are lots of other things we are hoping to experience as well, like Mount Entoto, a coffee ceremony, and eating local foods (we have seen some amazingly frightening dishes on the Travel Channel).
Here is where we are now--the US Consulate in Ethiopia has now signed off on the adoption and given us an appointment date of July 28. Therefore, we are flying out on Thursday, July 23, and will land in Ethiopia on Saturday morning (we have to layover overnight in DC so we will actually take off for Addis Ababa on Friday morning, July 24. After the visa is completed on Thursday, July 30, we will take a late evening flight for home and will land in Chicago on Friday afternoon, July 31.
Here is our specific flight information as we would covet your prayers while we travel (the DC to Ethiopia leg is about 15 hours going and almost 17 hours returning):
23 JULY 09 - THURSDAY
UNITED 950
LV: CHICAGO/OHARE 110P
AR: WASH/DULLES 406P
24 JULY 09 - FRIDAY
ETHIOPIAN 503
LV: WASH/DULLES 1005A
AR: ADDIS ABABA 820A ARVL DATE-25 JUL
30 JULY 09 - THURSDAY
ETHIOPIAN 500
LV: ADDIS ABABA 1015P
AR: WASH/DULLES 755A ARVL DATE-31 JUL
31 JULY 09 - FRIDAY
UNITED 151
LV: WASH/DULLES 1221P
AR: CHICAGO/OHARE 120P
We will get Eyob (Gabriel--we will let him decide when he is ready to go by Gabriel) on Saturday and are looking forward to experiencing Ethiopia with him. Like we did in China, we will go to an Ethiopian church service on Sunday. There are lots of other things we are hoping to experience as well, like Mount Entoto, a coffee ceremony, and eating local foods (we have seen some amazingly frightening dishes on the Travel Channel).
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