On our way home

Well
Not sure what it feel like to do to this journey straight but it is about to start our first plane is 11:30 tonight and I am very sad to be leaving. I made sure today was another busy day so I would not have to think about it too much .

One of the families here is picking up their son tomorrow and he is in the same room as the babe so she is going to try and peek in on her and maybe even see if she can find out anything about the newspaper ad.
Wish me luck with this trip home ,I am always knew it would be hard but I guess the sooner I do it the sooner I can come back.
See everyone soon
Shannon

Here is A's bed . They put up this photo so she knows I am close and will be back as soon as I can .


P

This sure felt all wrong for Ethiopia

A 8 minute cab ride and it is like arriving in another world one that included armed guards as high X-ray machines just like the airport and then you are in the Sheriton hotel , well it was more than a hotel I an sure the grounds covered at least 5 large city blocks maybe more .

I was happy to be there as I was very interested in a pool , loved the idea that I could do one of my favorite things o on Christmas and swim. I was also happy to be able to sit down with the other adoption families are relax
And not be thinking too much of court etc. One of the families with us flew out to A birth city and saw the first orphanage she lived in for her first few months before she was moved to Addis they have some photo's I can not want to see. They said the roads are very bad and many trucks at night and bad accidents this is scary as we found out they move the babies at night so it will
Be less hot in the van . Looks like
A ' s first car ride was a real
Adventure bumpy back roads and no car seats guess she was
Held by a nurse as she was too little
To sit wonder what she was thinking hope she slept more than cried .

Someone else who met Adea a few days ago gave the same report, she is very happy and does not stop moving . I had shared a picture of her when she was going to visit and it was in her phone . Her son has been with them a few days and he is 3 and just figured out out how to play with the phone.He found Adea 's picture and started talking and pointing and talking some more about her but seeing none of us speak amharic I guess I will
Never know Adea tales he was telling us . It was a good day but funny swimming with 2 children that all
Lived in the same room as my girl for the last six months wish I could have read their minds.

The BBQ and food was very fancy but so was everything about it .I do not feel these photos even come close to showing how big and beautiful it all was. The louge chair one me laugh as I look like I sit around this kinda place everyday .As you leave the reality of poverty is a few steps away , so glad we figured to carry granola bars to give away, They always make the kids so happy and I was extra glad to have them after walking out of this place and back to reality.

Sunset on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas

I must say it does not feel at all like Christmas . The lady who brings breakfast to my room said to me with a shy voice Merry Christmas. The restaurant last night the staff was wearing santa hats but somehow it all feels pretty funny when you are in Ethiopia. I am heading to the Sheriton hotel for a BBQ by the pool
With three other adoption families.

Wishing everyone a great great Christmas . Thinking of everyone at home , hope Santa finds his way.

Here is my a great gift, no not the baby but one very very important step closer . The famous letter ,This envelope makes me so very happy . I am now waiting for January 9th to see if the judge feels the ad in the paper ran long enough to be satisfied that no one objects to the adoption. Then on to the immigration wait. Notice the date on the envelope the calendar is still in 2004
I know this might look like a simple Christmas gift but it sure is one of my favorite pictures.
Shannon

Life at the Markets

Was different than I had imagined from
Pictures I had seen. I always had thought it would be very crowded and a bit scary.There are many people but I guess no worse than the malls these last days. We are always with Marcos our great guide and taxi driver so he knows what shops to take us too but after awhile I started to also know what I was looking for.It took a day or so for me to get a handle on the money but that too is now much easier . I guess it will be no surprise to anyone that most of the shops in these photos have girls dresses in them. I am making sure I bring traditional Ethiopian clothes in all sizes for when she gets older as it will
Not be something I can ever find at home. The funny part is there are ni sizes so I get the "child how old" "fat ? No fat ? " all with little words pretty hard to explain even my guide is very confused that I do not know what size and why we are still looking for more clothes. It is hard to explain that I have to find just the perfect ones and I am
Pretty picky but it has been great fun.

The markets are where you can really see some more of the poor children and the beggars it is always hard but we have been giving out granola bars and this has worked well , except for yesterday a little boy got my moms heart and he knew to stay close and she ended up giving all of them to him but they where both happy. The teenagers are always laughing at her blonde hair but she is good at laughing back she finds it funny as well that they are laughing at her.

I am on a app that now lets insert photos but it also adds capitals when it feels like it , oh well I guess pictures are better than perfect grammar etc.

Working Backwards

It sure feels like these pictures where taken months ago. I think one thing that surprised me the most was how fast both the flights felt.
The first flight I ended up sitting with an acrobat from Cirque who was heading home for Christmas in France
I was of course laughing to myself at this seating arrangement. He is a working in Montreal for the creation of the new show opening in the spring.

At one point I was almost asleep and he wanted to get out of the seat so I went to move and he just looked at me and laughed and then did some crazy hop /flip move into the aisle , I did not even move an inch and he did some just as crazy move to get back into his seat. His aunt had just adopted from
Haiti so he was pretty excited about me making it to Ethiopia he also thought adopting is harder than jumping for the circus no one has ever compared this one before.The flight to Ethiopia was really exciting I just wish it was not at night as there was nothing to see but the airport. I picked some ski
Movie to watch as I had the attention span of a fly and that was as deep as a plot that I could follow about 10 minutes into the movie the song " one step
Closer to you " came on , and to all of my friends that have been stuck listening to this with me over this last year can get how funny that was.
I guess the flights home will
Not be very much fun but I am already excited to be flying back to Ethiopia and it just can't come fast enough.
Shannon

Lost Track of Time

I guess it is official , I am in Africa it is hard to even figure out what day of the week it is and I never know what time it is.
I am dealing with the court news a bit better than I would have guessed. It still makes me nuts.

Hard to write today so I will leave you with as many photos as I can upload.
Shannon

Court Date a Hard One

It was a rough night . I was trying to accept the reality that I am so close to the baby and yet will not be able to spend anymore time with her.

We were picked up at 9am , the drive to the court house left me with more questions than answers.We had heard
That there was a police report being
Faxed from
Her birth city stating that they tried but could not find the key witness. My lawyer was not sure 1- if they would have the fax in time 2- if the judge would accept this report or ask for more investigation.

I waited in a room with adoptive families and birth families as well.
I was very glad that it was a quiet day at court and I did not wait long. I was called into see the judge showed her my passport and she asked me about 5 questions,they were all easy to answer
She explained to me she was requesting an add be run in the newspaper asking if anyone objects to the adoption. Jan 9th is the deadline for
Anyone to come forward.
The judge did not have the famous MOWA letter but my lawyer had heard it was written so they are off this afternoon to go to the MOWA office to get a copy.

So it played out a bit different than I thought , I was pretty sure I was not passing ( but it is hard to not still hope for a miracle )
I am very happy with the ad in the paper as it has a deadline and from what I understand will be the last step before the adoption order is granted.

How perect it would have been to be at the final step and be able to exhale and of course spend Christmas with the baby. On the upside I feel I can handle the wait of a newspaper ad, and this is so much better than starting her paper work all over again as I an not sure I would have survived months of paper work hunting.

The other little bit of good news is my mom and I are really happy in Ethiopia and love being here so now we will hunt out some new adventures.

SK

To market to market

Seeing as I can not get any pictures up from here I will not even try to describe life at the market but it was amazing and not like any shopping you could ever imagine, we have a driver from the hotel who stays with you and handles the very serious bargaining.

I am so tired but really relaxed for court at least so far.

The judge will be able to ask me her questions and enter the statements.

An Imagine family today was able to do this step but the judge is asking for more details in the police report that more effort is made to find the key witness.

I am going with the assumption that this will be the same for my case. It is so hard not knowing how long this can be but I hope to find out more tomorrow.

My good clothes are ironed and I am ready to tell the judge , yes yes yes this is the girl for me !!!!!!!!!


Thanks for all the thoughts and. Comments it sure does help to read all your words

Oh yes with out the police report I can not hold or take photo,s but do hope to at least sneak one really long peak when we go for the donation shopping trip.


still hoping for a miracle turn around .

Xo
Shannon

The girl moves and boy does she move

So as promised the van arrived at 10 , and we where off .
From that point so much happened so fast. I have no idea which way we drove then as we turned onto a dirt road I knew we where close.

The meeting was amazing but very much a blurr as time felt like it speed up.
She is still so tiny and loves loves to move her Nurse gave her a small plastic chair which she held onto and zipped all around the room.

She was a bit reserved but calm. They dressed her up in a very cute dress with a matching hat which she would take off every time the nurses would put it back on her.
She had a bit of a cough but not that deep she also keep pulling on her ears hope it was just teeth trying to come as to my surprise she still has none.

The room had about 12 babies and toddlers in the room and by the end I was ready to take them all home with us. Time store still but I think we where in the room for about an hour.

We where all told the rules about not touching the babies but the way it was set up that turned out to be impossible ( not a complaint ) as I was put in front of her to play and babies crawl and tumble, you have to catch then don't you ?

Also at one point the cutest 8-10 year old came in and she was carrying A ,and she did not speak English but she looked at me and said "Kaloo's Mother ?"

All workers call her Kaloo , they almost sing it.

So I guess no one told the girl about the no touch rule and she kept putting her in my arms,
Sure felt great to hold her she was very baby and went between trying to chew my watch and play with my necklace ( Teenie your New York watch has been taste tested ) .


Ah did I say this girl moves , she was so steady and fast!