Yep, we are alive...all of us...barely

Okay. Here we go. Hunker down, cuddle up, sit for a spell because this is going to be a marathon post. It's Saturday night, Karl is finally getting some time with the guys and the kids are in bed. I am also in bed, yep, I am in bed and it is 8:30... on a Saturday (for those of you who know me closely you realize this is quite late for me actually, ha). I am going to try to sum up what has happened since that last post. Unfortunately, everything everyone told me about not having time for myself anymore totally happened so I didn't get to journal as well as I did last time (total lie, I didn't journal at ALL) so this is as much for me as it is for you so someday (if we all survive this) the kids may enjoy reading it. Or not...

So we arrive in Addis early Sunday morning, the 13 hour flight was killer but Ethiopian airlines really is a nice way to fly. We arrived at the Addis View Hotel and while Karl was checking in and getting some money exchanged I ran up to the dining room to see if Rackaways were there. The whole Rackaway family (minus my favorite Maddie) were present and accounted for, including Lowta/Cate. So good to see this beautiful, friendly family who have really become an extension to our family. We have been through some of the toughest stuff together and there has never been anything but kind words, love, and encouragement. Love them! Ok, back to the beginning. We chit chatted with them for a few and then we decided that we needed some sleep before we went to pick up the boys. Being at the Addis View again was very nice. It is wonderful to be in a place that can feel a little like home away from home due to familiarity. The staff here are so courteous and helpful to us throughout our stay with the boys. Karl and I slept until 1ish and then got ready to go to the care center to pick up the boys. Our favorite driver, Benjamin, was there to get us which was another amazing feeling of comfort. We drove to the care center and thankfully Benjamin's English is very good so he was able to tell the nannies we were here to pick up the boys (because we arrived on a Sunday there are no English speaking employees available). The boys were happy to see us and with prompting gave us kisses on the cheeks. Let's be honest, they were WAY more excited about their new clothes. So we changed them and got them in the car and went back to the hotel. At this point the boys and we are in a state of shock and bliss/fear. We color for awhile in the room, play with some dump trucks, and then realize, hmmm what are we going to do for the next 4 days... Being exhausted we went up to eat at 4:30 in the afternoon. This was the first time I witnessed how much these two eat. It is like nothing you have ever seen. I swear. So by 5:30 we are done eating and I decide to take Ahmi (formally known as Obama) downstairs while Karl and Ajura pay our bill. Poor decision. When I get to the room, Ahmi starts this sad whimpering cry that turns into a wail. I just hold him and cuddle him. When Ajura and Karl return he is fine. Ding ding ding, duh, he is terrified of being separated from his brother. Ajura is the only thing in his life that has been stable. So we bathe the boys and all go to bed around 7 (it may have even been 6). The night went pretty good, just a few shinty (pee pees) here and there.

The next day we are still exhausted and to be honest I wake up and see these rambuncous kids and kinda just want to cry. I am pretty sure I did cry. The next section will be putting the next four days all together. Ahmi is really struggling with authority. Then I remember we are these new random white people who all of a sudden pick him up and now are telling him what he can and can't do. Oh yeah, and we don't speak Amharic. When we tell him 'no' he just smiles and continues to do what we told him not to do so finally it resorts to basically holding him still with his arms and legs pinned and he screams and fights. Once he stops fighting us we release him and he continues to cry but eventually falls asleep. Yep, this is a lot of fun. Oh and remember those good table manners I failed to mention above (their table manners the night before were better than Karl's), yep, sometime in the middle of the night those manners got erased. At one point we barely missed losing a entire cutlery set out the window. And once we get Ahmi settled down Ajura has the same defiance fit and Karl has to hold him down. This time Ajura's tantrum lasts for an hour and a half before he finally gives up and falls asleep. So Ajura is crying and Ahmi now starts to cry because Ajura is crying. I start to cry and look at Karl and asks, "How are you dealing with this?" His response, "I am in denial." With a wink, which makes me giggle and then we both continue to comfort the children we have just cattle tied (so to speak). Rackaways get done with Embassy so we all decide to go to Africa Park to let the kids play. Let me tell you something, if Africa Park had not been there we all may not have made it 4 days in a hotel room. Seriously, someone would have died. I don't know who, probably me, I seem to be the weakest link at times. We all pile into the car and deal with the traffic (the prime minister of Ethiopia had died just prior to us arriving and his palace is right across the street from Africa Park so there were miles of lines of mourners paying their respects). Get there and find out they are not open on Mondays. WTF!!!! So we head back to the Addis View and try to entertain the children the best we can on the back patio area of the hotel. Thankfully Rackaways brought a large supply of balloons so the kids had something to play with and on our last day there Karl bought two balls from a local boy and the boys were so excited and happy to play. On the back patio the boys, well okay, Ahmi was a celebrity. Due to his former name, he was the talk of the hotel, the staff even lead him to the back to meet the chef. He had the security guards wrapped around his finger. We all decide to try Africa park the next day after we get through with Embassy. We all go to bed early again, thankfully bath time and bed time are the easiest parts of the day (still are).

Embassy day
We wake up and do the same thing again, eat, cry, sleep, eat, cry, and then go to embassy. At Embassy you wait in a line and then get pushed ahead of the line because we are adoptive parents. Then you go through security (if I had a dollar for every time I went through some sort of security this last two weeks I would not need to work again). Then we wait in this room with a bunch of windows, like the DMV, your family name is called and a English speaking American woman  swears us in behind a window. We can barely hear her. She asks a few questions and then answers many of our questions regarding the childrens' birth parents. In 10 minutes it is over and we are officially done with this adoption. Such a weird feeling. We now just have to wait for our documents to arrive Thursday morning. We get back to the hotel and go to Africa park. Hallelujah!!! This was the first time I heard Ajura's full on belly laugh. He just loved the slide!!! Being the awesome mom that I am, I almost broke my child's legs here. Ajura is a climber (just like his parents) and climbs to the top of a play set (it is at least 9 feet high) and looks as if he is going to stand on the top. I say no and he sits down nicely and then he asks me something in Amharic which I translated to be "Look mom how nice I am sitting" and I say "yes" and then smile. What he was really asking was "Hey mom, can I jump from the top of here?" So he flies through the air and lands on his feet and I am just standing there in shock like a total ass. The Ethiopian girl playing next to us says to me, "You should check his legs." Which I was totally going to do but he was gone already. Guess he was ok and no tib-fib fractures to worry about. We let Ajura, Ahmi, and Lowta/Cate run for about 1.5 hours and then Benjamin picked us up and took us to eat at Lucy's. Very good food again. We went to bed straight after with very tired kids (yeah, we were exhausted too).

Rackaways left us on Wednesday evening. So during the day on Wednesday we had our coffee ceremony at the care center. Prior to the coffee ceremony we played at the hotel on the patio, I received great parenting advice from Andrea, (like don't run after them down the hall, just leave them be, they are looking for attention), and they got to see one of Ahmi's meltdowns. Chapman's words of advice for me, "First phrase to teach these boys when you get home is, TAKE A LAP!" Thank goodness for 3 acres. Now looking back I think this is the last time I had to hold Ahmi down for more than 1 minute before he just relaxes. Wow, that makes me feel like we have accomplished something. Anyway, we all drive together to the coffee ceremony and it is fantastic. We were a little concerned with how excited the boys were to be going back to the care center but once there the boys checked in with us constantly to make sure we didn't leave without them. Good to know that even though we are all having mental breakdowns we are better than their previous life. I am not saying that they were not well cared for, not in the least. When we were saying our goodbyes to the nannies, Sister Almaz, Yared, Abebe, and all the other office staff you can tell they were happy for the boys but would miss them. I was very thankful that Sister Almaz gave the childrens' birth mother one of their photo books because we were not able to meet her when we were in country. Thanks to another traveling family, we do have pictures of her and the boys together which my wonderful friends and family had framed in the boys room when they got there. She is beautiful and SOOOOOO tall. I am going to be thought of as the little person in our family. Thankfully, the boys still wanted to leave with us so after more pictures and all the good byes, we all headed back to the hotel. We had planned to go to Africa Park again to wear Lowta/Cate out for her ride back home, but the weather didn't cooperate. We had to say goodbye to our dear Rackaways. We will see you soon!

We woke up on Thursday, the day we are going to start our long journey home. We received our documents as promised and played ball on the patio for many many hours. We also visited Africa Park to try to wear the boys out as much as possible. Ajura saw me start to pack their things and asks "America, aeroplane?" I say yes, and unfortunately/fortunately the kids get super pumped and want to leave pronto. How to explain that we leave in 6 hours... While waiting, the sweet mom that lives next to the hotel, Lily, wanted to braid my hair. So we did that for awhile. She is the sweetest thing ever. At 7 p.m. we were dropped off at the airport. We say our goodbyes to Benjamin and get a guy with a cart and haul all our things through security, well all our things except Ajura's backpack...! In his excitement he left it in the car and in our frazzledness we didn't even think about it until Benjamin was long gone. BUT HIS LEAP PAD IS IN THERE!!!!! So thankfully, the very organized person that I am has the phone number to the hotel and the guy with the cart has a cell phone, he calls the hotel, they give him Benjamin's cell number. Benjamin answers and cart guy (who got a HUGE tip) hands the phone to me and I say, "Benjamin! We forgot Ajura's backpack in the van!!" Benjamin replies, "I am coming!!!" So I take both kids to stand in line at check in while Karl leaves with cart guy and gets the bag and cart guy shuffles him through to the front of the line at security. Wow! And to think this is just the beginning. We check in, go through customs, and finally get to bathrooms and water. However, the bathrooms are right next to the prayer rooms and it is prayer time so the men are washing their feet so Karl is standing in a bathroom line with two little boys for 45 minutes trying to get to the bathroom. Then we go through security again and then get to sit down. By the time the flight is ready to go the boys are both asleep but we have to wake them up otherwise we can't get them and the luggage on the plane. So now we have two overstimulated, tired boys to deal with. Due to the three rows of three Karl is planted in between both boys for the 17 hour flight home (it takes longer because we refuel in Rome). I sit next to a very pleasant woman with her daughter. However, the very pleasant woman wants to sleep on my shoulder for a good 5 hours which makes me very uncomfortable. At that point, I think Karl was snickering that he got the good end of the deal because both boys slept most of the long flight. We arrived in D.C. extremely tired. The boys have gone from seeing their first motion activated door and escalator to having flown across the Atlantic ocean and arrived in Washington D.C. To all the employees at Washington Dulles International, you are the best airport staff I have EVER encountered!!! In immigration we handed over the precious documents and Officer Hernandez holds out each boys passport and visas and in turn says, "Hey buddy, this is really cool, (stamps the visa), welcome to America!"We then pick up our luggage and Ahmi is wanting to be held or else is refusing to walk and we need to drag him on the floor. I have a horrific headache and actually at one point think I am going to pass out (I think from dehydration and exhaustion). So Karl has two kids one of which is dragging on the floor plus a cart of luggage and his falling apart every second wife going through the airport. Of course, we need to go through the extra part at customs, then re-check in and re-check our bags, then go through security again. At security Ahmi is just following my lead and when I take my shoes off he takes his off. The security officer then informs me that children under 12 don't have to remove their shoes. I look at him and say, "If you can explain that to him go right ahead, I think this is just easier." Problem solved. Finally we reach our terminal and the boys are totally fit to be tied. Rolling on the ground, crying, messes. All of us, again, except Karl, cried at Dulles. Then we started the Benadryl. Took a bit to work but Ahmi and Ajura were both konked out for our second 4 hour flight to Denver. We all took "ladies of the night" bathes in the family rest room in Denver and then proceeded to our gate, so excited for the last flight and then we get to go home! Many people in the Denver airport stopped us and said, "What a beautiful family!" That was nice to hear especially since we were so exhausted at this point. The boys actually did really well for the insane amount of culture shock they must have been experiencing and exhaustion. Our final flight was only an hour so the boys were awake and did very well. We landed in Bismarck to a wonderful group of friends and family to meet us! It was quick since we were all fading fast. They took to their car seats well and when we got home we showed them the dogs. Ajura was a little nervous but did really well with Kinde and Ahmi screamed his head off. Not the picture perfect meeting we were hoping for. Ajura did pet Kinde and Nali before we went to bed and Ahmi was just fine with the dogs after a little work the next day. It literally took less than 12 hours for him to be okay with the dogs. A huge part of that was Ajura warming up to them so quickly and showing his brother they are nothing to fear. They saw their bedroom and were so excited!!! As wild and wired as they were, we bathed them and they slept.

Okay I have been writing for over an hour so I am going to go to sleep now, but stay tuned, I will write more tomorrow night.