We had breakfast in the Guest House and it was good. There’s plenty to choose from and we really enjoyed the cheese omelete and pineapple juice. Yum! Katie decided to go to church with another family and Pat and I went to Debre Birhan. It’s about 70 miles away, I think, but it took us 3 hours to get there. It was a wonderful day and I’m so glad that I went. I saw so much that it’s really hard to get it all down. The countryside was beautiful and here's some of the pictures I took.


Once we got to Debre Birhan, we went to the orphanage where Zoie was for a short time before being transferred to the Addis Kids Care location. Although I was glad that I visited, it just made me sad. It's just like a small house with a living area and a baby room.

It's bare, I saw no toys and there was nothing really warm about it at all. There are about 7-10 kids there currently and no babies.
The baby room was just cribs and I believe the older kids sleep in another small building in the back. One family handed the kids each a banana and the kids ate them right away. The kids seemed fine, but they wore clothes that didn't fit, some had shoes on the wrong feet, etc. It was depressing. The ladies there were working hard, one was doing laundry in a tub in the back and the other was working in the kitchen (or what we would call a tiny room with a table and a burner.)



The good news is that we went to a building that is under construction and will be the new orphanage as well as clinic and school.
It's a mansion compared to the current one and I belive the kids will be transferred to the new place if they haven't been adopted by then.

I was not able to get any more info. on Zoie. It's been months since she was there and I don't believe she was there very long.

Our flight to Addis seemed long, but was only 3 1/2 hours. I finished watching The Informant and watched about 1/2 of Michael Jackson's This Is It. Once we arrived, we went to the Visa area and then through more security and then got our bags. I am happy to report that 100% of the bags we checked in Dubai made it to Addis safely. (Blue tub location remains a mystery.) There were several other adoptive families in line with us. One of them was the Millet's. It's fun to finally meet the people from the Yahoo group that I've been chatting with for awhile now. Here's some pictures coming into Addis and a picture of our Henna hands before they start to fade. Katie's is really nice, I think.


We checked into the Yebsabi Guest House, which is very nice. There's a common living room and kitchen and then separate bedrooms, like a suite, as well.





My room had this waiting for me. Just one very important thing missing.


We unpacked a little and walked to the Zebra Grill for lunch. Patty had fish and fries, Katie had tibbs (small pieces of very yummy beef) and I had a hamburger. The lunch was good and we will certainly go back.

After that we all went back to the Guest House and fell asleep. It was around 3:00 and I slept over 5 hours! Yeah! it was much needed and I slept very soundly. I am soooo happy that I brought my fan from home. It drowns out a lot of unfamiliar sounds, dogs barking, morning prayers, music from the streets, roosters, etc. I am a light sleeper, so it is VERY helpful for me.

We got up after it was dark and were awake for a few hours. I skyped Mark, but Ella was asleep and then I went back to bed around Midnight. I woke up around 5:30 and got ready. Now, we are heading down to breakfast and then off to Debre Birhan, my daughter's birthplace.

Everything is going very well to this point. :)

I am sitting in the Mall in Dubai waiting for Pat and Katie to come down from the tallest building in the world! I opted out because there’s other things I would rather spend my money on. We should have bought tickets ahead of time, because the regular tickets at about $33.00 were sold out and we got there fairly early. However, they were offering an immediate ticket for 4 times that amount. Isn't it nice of them to do that? So, after a little discussion, including the “it’s a once in a lifetime thing”, Pat and Katie went to the top and I decided to check out the mall. I ended up going to the aquarium that they have here inside the mall. WOW! It's huge! What a great experience. I just LOVE learning about animals and this aquarium and “zoo” were awesome. I was able to get super close to sharks. I saw teeny tiny seahorses and I touched a horseshoe crab’s mouth, with the help of a guide. (They have blue blood, by the way, which was news to me.) I saw the most beautiful sea jellies called Blue Blubber Sea Jellies and Moon Jellies. I saw a Giant Pacific Octopus up close and one of the coolest things were these Giant Spider Crabs. They were HUGE! Their legs were several feet long and their body was about the size of a basketball. The guide said they were just juveniles.

That activity cost 50 Dirham, which is about $17. Well worth it for me.

60 seconds, 125 floors! That’s how fast the girls got to the top. Well, actually, almost the top. The farthest you can go is 125 of the 160. That’s probably far enough. They said that it didn’t even feel like they were moving. Very smooth. They could see 360 degrees and they loved it. Katie took this great picture!

After that, we spent some time shopping.

This mall is amazing. It’s huge and you could spend days there and not see everything.
There are designer stores and a waterfall and an ice rink. I know there’s more, but we had to leave the mall by 2:00. Katie really loves shopping, so she was having a great time. We caught a taxi back to the hotel and rested for a little bit. Then, at 3:30, our safari guide picked us up in a 4X4 and off we went. We drove for quite a while and then went off-roading in the desert. These words come to mind when describing the 30 minutes of dune driving……”fun, crazy and nauseating”. Katie and I sat in the back, which contributed to the nauseating part. The first 10 minutes were great and then after not being able to totally see where we were going, it got a little less fun for me. However, Pat and Katie really enjoyed it. When we stopped, the fresh air helped with the sick feeling. Then, we drove to the camp area where we had dinner and entertainment. Yes, I rode a camel for a few minutes and those things are BIG!
They really jerk you when they stand up and then later when they sit down. The ride was really short, less than 5 minutes, but fun anyway. We had our hands done with Henna painting. (The paint has a strong, odd smell, by the way, that lasted for hours.)

Then, at about 8:30, after eating and watching some belly dancing, the driver took us back to the hotel. I had not had much sleep at all since we left San Diego, so I just wanted to go to bed. Katie and Pat went off to a different mall across the street. I ended up having a nightmare, woke up and soon after they came back. The city of Dubai seems to sleep late and stay up late. The malls close at Midnight! I guess the malls were very crowded and included families and children at that hour. It seems like we’ve been gone from San Diego for a long time, now and we’ve really only been gone 2 days. We’ve done a lot already, but the best is yet to come.

Wake up call came at 5:30 and we caught a taxi to the airport at 6:30. My MIA tub never came and I guess I need to follow up with more forms later. My name and address is written in permanent ink on the lid, so maybe it will show up someday.

The flight to NY was uneventful, which is good. I watched 500 Days of Summer, which was pretty good. Katie did some homework, listened to her I-pod and slept a little. I tried to sleep and maybe did for a few minutes, but it was nice to just rest for awhile. With so many little things to do to prepare to travel, I enjoyed the rest. We met up with my mother-in-law, Pat, in NY and we just ate dinner and are now waiting for our plane to Dubai. How cool is that?




We just arrived at our hotel in Dubai. Lots of good things to report and a few glitches, as well. The flight was uneventful and loooong. We flew Emirates, which is a very nice airline. If you are going to be stuck in a plane for 12 hours or so, they try and make it as nice as possible. Each seat has its own screen and an enormous list of movies, t.v. shows and games to choose from. Katie was so excited about the movie choices that she joked the flight wouldn’t be long enough. She did change her mind after about 7 hours passed. I watched the movie, Julie and Julia, as well as several episodes of Arrested Development. I never did any reading and slept only a little bit here and there. Not as much as I had hoped. The food was actually very good. We had 2 meals, dinner and breakfast. They had pillows and blankets ready, they passed out hot towels for our hands and my glass of wine was no extra charge. The flight was not overly crowded, so there were lots of extra seats. Unfortunately, we did not grab them quickly enough and stayed in our assigned seats most of the time. I got a little jealous when some people had 3 or 4 seats to themselves and we were scrunched together, but no worries. I watched the plane’s progress as it traveled and it was a little unnerving to be flying over cities that have made the news in recent years for being hostile.



One little hint for future travelers. Please, please lock the bathroom door when you go inside. I had the joy of opening the door to find an older man sitting on the pot. He grabbed the door and closed it quickly. Now, come on. It’s not my fault. Everyone knows to move the latch over once they’re inside. Now I have that visual in my head and it’s not a good one.
Once we landed in Dubai, we got our passports stamped, which was cool. The airport is clean and beautiful. It’s easy to find your way around there and luggage carts were free. Here’s one of the glitches. 3 of our 4 bags were waiting. For you Mathematicians out there, that’s 75%. I was hoping for 100%. The tub of orphanage donations remains MIA. So, off to make a report I went. Now, that’s really what I wanted to do after 3 flights ½ way around the world. But, it really just took about 30 min. I just hope they find the tub. It has a lot of toothbrushes, toothpaste, toys, etc. for the orphanage. Note to self....wearing the INDIANA sweatshirt screams "tourist".



Another glitch was that our hotel did NOT have a shuttle, which I thought for sure that they did. So, we exchanged money, took a taxi to the hotel and checked in. We all had some snacks and now Katie and Pat went out to go buy some bottled water and soda for our stay here.
All is well. I’m one day closer to holding my daughter! I’m thankfully off to bed.

We are on our way. We left our house at 7:45 and took the 9:36 flight to L.A. But, not without a small hitch, of course. Last night, while checking to make sure that all of our paperwork was in order, we realized that we had signed and notarized the wrong piece of paper called an I600A. It was supposed to be the I600 (without the stinkin' A on the end). It was already late, so we knew that we had to find a place in the morning, preferably close to the airport that could notarize Mark's signature on the correct form. So, he dropped Katie and me off and we checked in, while he took Ella and searched for a notary. It took 3 different places and he actually got it done. Meanwhile, I sent Katie through security, and I'm waiting to go through as soon as I received the hand-off of that one paper. After hearing my name called on the intercom, and anxious minutes waiting, here come Mark and Ella running down the hall. That's truly "in the nick of time". It made saying goodbye to Ella easier, because it was so quick! So, here we are in L.A. waiting to board for New York. And I am happy.

Update from Mark. The ladies are on the plane and taking off for Dubai right now. Katie's excited by the printed menu and warm towels the received and the assortment of entertainment options. She thinks the 11+ hour flight will be too short.

I'm very excited to leave and get baby Zoie, but the thought of being away from Ella for 10 days makes my heart hurt. I hope she is happy and stays busy while I'm gone. It will be very helpful for us to talk on Skype while I'm there and I'm leaving her a note and small present (playdoh, bath toy, chocolate, etc.) for each day that I'm gone. I leave her notes in the mornings a lot when I have to go to work, but these days she gets a present, too.

I definitely think it was a great decision for Mark to travel to ET early and then stay home with Ella while I go. If I had to leave her knowing that both of her parents were gone, I would be a mess. I know she will be doing fun things with her Daddy and I will not worry one bit about her safety. I will just miss her.

We found out Wednesday that those travel dates are official. Yippee! So, we've been busy searching for flights and just now gave the go ahead to our travel agency to purchase the tickets!!!

We will be leaving San Diego on Wednesday, January 27th and will be arriving in Dubai Thursday night. We will stay there for a little bit of fun, and then we will head to Addis on Saturday morning.

The travel group is required by our agency to be there by Sunday evening, so we will have some time to do a few things in ET before the big week begins. I have a big list of things I'd like to do, so I'll squeeze in what I can.

AND, on Monday, I will hold my little baby girl and tell her I love her in person for the first time. Am I blessed, or what?

Excitement level - 100%
Things to do - 1 million or so

I just found out that our tentative dates are January 31-Feb. 6th! Wow, I am so excited and hope these dates turn into the official ones. According to the e-mail I received earlier, I should know for sure tomorrow.

Once I get that info., it will be a very busy time with selecting flights, arranging my in-country stay, packing, getting Katie's finals arranged ahead of time if possible, spending some quality time with Ella, arranging a leave of absence from work, and more. This is the part that I call FUN!

Well, we still do not have any new info. regarding travel dates. I have been trying to get some info. and here is part of the e-mail I received today...

Regarding your travel dates, we anticipate hearing from Ethiopia tomorrow about your concrete travel dates and at that point we will email your family and let you know. Thank you for your continued patience during this process!

That's all I have to report and as I've said before, int'l adoption is a great lesson in patience!

A teensy, tiny bit of info. that might almost be news. Here's a portion of the e-mail I got today from our agency...

Thank you so much for your patience as we are in the process of discerning travel dates for your family to Ethiopia. At this point we are estimating that your family will be traveling the first week of February. We will know more by Friday about your tentative travel dates to Ethiopia.

So, we wait to hear about our TTD's (tentative travel dates), which will then be either changed or will become confirmed travel dates. Just another day in international adoption!

We are actually happy to have any news and we know that each day brings us closer to bringing Zoie home.