Back to Africa - Wednesday was the Longest Day

Wednesday was supposed to be a relatively light day. Our whole group had an embassy appointment in the morning to pick up the paperwork we needed to bring our kids back to the U.S. and nothing much going on after that. We met our guide, Robel, and the other families in the lobby and got on the bus for the short ride to the embassy.

When we arrived we made our way through a couple of different check points and waiting areas until we were left in a room with about ten rows of chairs, a TV, and a small play area on the floor. One by one they called out the names of the families in our group to go upstairs to another room for a brief interview and to receive the all-important envelope they needed to present to immigration along with their children's visas. After a while, all of the other families in our group had finished their appointments. Families adopting children through other agencies were arriving, and the room started to fill up. Our guide, Robel, finally told us that there was some problem with our papers and that we would have to wait a little longer. He made plans to send the rest of the group on the bus back to the guesthouse, so he could wait with us. It was hard to watch everyone else leave without us, but we weren't that worried at this point. We gave Robel all of the papers we had with us so that he could discuss things with the embassy officials and clear up the issue.

He took those upstairs and we sat down to wait next to a couple who was adopting twins.

After another half hour or so Robel appeared again and told us that there was no point in waiting, that the problems were not going to be solved within hours as we had hoped.

So we spent the afternoon at the Hilton on the phone with the national visa center in the U.S. and our agency trying to fix the problem. The next day the embassy was going to be closed due to an Ethiopian holiday, so we felt that we were up against the wall trying to get this worked out before Friday, the day we were supposed to be leaving.

On top of the stress of trying to arrange for Davis' papers, Davis had his one horrible, horrible diaper of the trip. It was all over me, all over him, all over. So I had to send David to the gift shop to get a new shirt for me and then changed him on the counter in the bathroom.

The afternoon drained away quickly. By the end of it we had assurance from our agency folks in the states that all would be well and that we would be able to bring our boy home on Friday. But since we did not hold our son's papers and visa in our hands, I wasn't totally convinced and still felt a little defeated as we left the Hilton to return to the guest house. David and I discussed how we would deal with things if we were not able to travel with him - one of us would stay in Ethiopia and come home later after Davis was given clearance. I felt guilty for having any negative feelings at this point since we had only the day before been given our wonderful, beautiful son. Our wonderful, beautiful daughter was so far away and even though I knew if we had to we could manage just fine - I had no fear of traveling alone or staying in Ethiopia with Davis - I was sick over the options. Staying with Davis meant missing Faith for longer, which was impossible, and leaving Davis was impossible, too.

When David and I arrived back at the guest house the Garner family was there in the lobby since they had graciously waited for us to go to dinner. The Bayly's were able to go with us, too, so we all walked to a restaurant down the street called the zebra grill where the food was very fresh. David had a spicy hamburger that was pretty tasty. I can't even remember what I ate, but I do remember feeling very spent. I also remember that we had a fun time trying to figure out everyone's share of the dinner bill, and that our waitress very sweetly offered me use of the restaurant office to change Davis.

Davis settled down very easily for this night, too, and we all got some very much needed rest.