"Meetcha Day" Video

On August 11, 2012, we met our daughter, Kisanet, for the very first time!!!!

Embassy FB Posts

Pam ~ I have utilized Facebook throughout our adoption journey to keep people updated and to record things that have been going on so that I don't forget. But not everyone who reads this blog are FB friends, so I thought it would be fun to share our FB posts from our Embassy trip!!!!

September 21, 2012 ~ We have arrived safely in D.C. and are checked into our hotel for the night. We head back to the airport first thing in the morning and fly to go get our GIRL!!!!

September 22, 2012 ~ It's breakfast time and then it's airport time and then it's sitting down for a very long time in a very small space with a lot of people I don't know and then it's time to go implement "Gotcha Day"!!!!

September 23, 2012 ~ Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us!!! We've made it safely to Ethiopia and are checked in at the guesthouse. We've got 1 hour here, then we'll meet other traveling families for lunch and then it's time to go GET OUR GIRL!!!!

We LOVE our little girl soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!! I was hoping to get a video of us meeting her again, but she appeared out of nowhere and jumped into my arms with a HUGE smile on her face!!!!! Nathan and I are VERY tired, but hanging in there. She is FULL of energy (and didn't get a nap today so she is also tired and has NO attention span)!!!! Prayers for strength would be greatly appreciated!!!!

We put Maya K to bed EARLY tonight because she was sooooo tired. So we're praying that she doesn't wake up crazy early. I greased her skin up with baby oil) and some in her hair too), put her in footsie pajamas, brushed her teeth (YAY for her knowing how to do it already; I'm lovin' those nannies that have been taking care of her), "greased" up her face with cream, Nathan read a story to her and we put her in bed. It only took about 15-20 times of laying her back down with me laying down in the bed next to her crib (I know she's too old for a crib, but it's what we have available to us here), for her to finally fall asleep. Please pray that she sleeps the whole night through and doesn't wake up scared or confused!!!! (Sorry for the long post. There's been a lot happening!!!!)

September 24, 2012 ~ Kisanet slept for 12 hours last night and woke up smiling and laughing!!!! What a blessing to get to cuddle and snuggle with our little girl first thing in the morning!!! We will be leaving for our first lunch out with her in a few minutes, and we're praying that it will go well!!!.

She just called me "Enat"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That means "mommy" in Amharic!!!! Be still my heart!!!!!

We got through lunch (remind me to buy some large bibs when we get home; she is a VERY messy eater!!!) and came back to the guesthouse for a late nap (we ALL needed one). It took a half hour for her to settle down and go to sleep, but then she slept for an hour. We just woke her up (it's 4 p.m. here and we want her to sleep tonight) and she's cuddling with her daddy while eating a granola bar. We are soooooooooooooo thankful for the bonding that is already taking place!!!!! God is good!!!!!

September 25, 2012 ~ We need prayers for strength and energy today. Last night was rough. Kisanet screamed for THREE HOURS straight!!!! And she's got a powerful set of 5-year old lungs!!!! No amount of holding or rocking would make her stop. We are grateful that she allowed us to at least try to comfort her!!! She's running on about 6 and a half hours of sleep and Nathan and I are running on even less. She woke up happy and smiling (at 5:15 a.m.!!!!) but we are TIRED!!!! We leave to go shopping in about an hour, then we have lunch, and then we have our Embassy appointment.

We had our Embassy appointment and everything went as it was supposed to. We're not putting Kisanet down for a nap today because we are PRAYING that she will be so tired tonight that she will fall right asleep!!!! But, in the meantime, she is CRANKY!!! We are VERY thankful that there is a play room on the roof of the guesthouse and Kisanet is LOVING playing in there. Nathan and she just headed up there again and Mommy is having a little quiet time in the room!!! But I'm heading up soon to "relieve" Daddy!!!

September 26, 2012 ~ Yes, we gave in. She cried for 45 minutes in her bed last night and then we put her in our bed. She fell asleep in under 2 minutes and we moved her back to her crib where she slept for 9 hours!!!! It's probably the start of a bad habit, but we all NEEDED the sleep and are feeling much better today. We are also trying to take into account all the changes that are going on in her life right now. She needs to know that we will ALWAYS take care of her and when she is crying "Enat" and "Dada" we want to answer her!!!! We are going to the older child Transition Home today to try to get some video of Kisanet singing with the nannies and teachers. She LOVES to sing and is singing different songs ALL day!!! "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" is a favorite and after we sang "Jesus Loves Me" to her at bedtime last night, she sang another "Jesus" song to us in English. It was soooooooooooooooooooooo sweet!!!!!

Today was a little rough. I had a meltdown of emotions this afternoon and Nathan is such an AWESOME daddy!!!! He kept Kisanet occupied for an hour while I lay down on the bed (and believe me when I say that keeping her occupied for an hour is a VERY hard task). When I got up, I still couldn't stop crying and my sweet little girl climbed up on my lap and hugged me and fed me from her granola bar and tried to wipe my tears with her shirt!!!! That afternoon was GOOD!!!!! We are all changed for bed and just need to brush her teeth, have story time with daddy, sing some songs, and then it's bedtime!!!! We're starting her in bed with us tonight, so please pray that she settles in and goes to sleep QUICKLY!!!!!

September 27, 2012 ~ Kisanet fell asleep right away and was moved to her crib within 15 minutes of laying down and slept for 9 1/2 hours!!!! Daddy slept fantastic; Mommy is sleeping light and didn't get a ton of sleep but was able to rest. Kisanet didn't wake up as happy as before and was very serious and sober until finishing her breakfast. She ate a TON this morning, so she was obviously very hungry!!! We are taking a trip to a mountain and then a zoo this morning. Then daddy is going to try to occupy Kisanet while mommy packs for us to go HOME!!!!!

This will probably be my last post until we're HOME!!!! Nathan has taken Kisanet up to the play room on the roof of the guesthouse while I stay in the room to shower and pack. We have dinner in about two hours and then leave straight from dinner to head to the airport. There are 4 or 5 other families that have been here with us this week that are on the same flight to D.C. with us, so we will all have lots of moral support!!!! Please pray that Kisanet will be good on the plane. That she will allow herself to be buckled in, that she won't cry or be scared, that she will be entertained by the entertainment on the flight, and, most importantly, that she will SLEEP for several hours!!!! The flight is about 16-17 hours long and that is a very long time for a 5-year old (and for her mommy and daddy!!!!).

Submitted to Embassy

Pam ~ Yesterday, we got an e-mail from the US Embassy in Ethiopia telling us . . . . . .

Congratulations! Your adoption case has been submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Your authorized agent, America World Adoption, submitted the case to us on September 5, 2012.

One more piece of the final puzzle has been put into place!!!! We're almost there!!!!!

We honestly were not expecting to be submitted quite this quickly. Our agency told us that we would be submitted 3-5 weeks from passing court and we can only be submitted on Wednesdays. So, our case was submitted the quickest that it possibly could!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!

We are now waiting for a second e-mail to come within the next 10 business days that will give us the next piece. There are three possibilities of what will happen. 1) The Embassy will ask to interview Maya K's birth dad, 2) They will tell us our case is "not clearly approvable" and it will be forwarded to the USCIS office in Nairobi, Kenya, or 3) We will be CLEARED to travel!!!!!

We are anticipating that #1 will be what happens with our case. They will probably request an interview with Maya K's birth dad and we will wait to hear when the interview will be. Then we will wait to hear the outcome. Then we will wait to hear if we are CLEARED to travel!!!!! (I'm glad we've already gotten so good at the waiting game!!!)

Whatever happens first, at some point in the next few weeks we should receive an e-mail telling us that our case has cleared the Embassy and we will get to request three interview dates. We will have to wait one day to hear what interview date we have been given, and then we will make our travel arrangements and fly back to Ethiopia to bring our little girl home!!!!!!

Right now, there is a small possibility that we could be traveling back to Ethiopia in just a couple week {squeal}!!!!! The great probability is that we will be traveling back the very beginning of October. Whenever God chooses, we will go!!!!!

There are still so many things that I want to get done around the house, so I'm trying to stay focused and get as much done now as I can!!!!! Once we are cleared to travel, my house won't get any more attention for a while!!!!!

Keep up the prayers!!!!!!

Traveling to Ethiopia

Pam ~ Thursday morning, August 9, 2012, we woke up at 2:45 a.m. and got ourselves ready to head to the airport. A friend had sacrificially volunteered to come pick us up at 4:15 a.m. ("Thanks, Will!!!") and we were surprisingly ready when he got there.

Nate ~ It was kind of funny actually. The night before, we had prepared ourselves to be up until crazy hours of the night, but then we were basically done by about 8 PM. Then, then the next morning we were ready with enough time that we were nervous that too much was being forgotten. In the end, we never felt like anything major was left at home so that was a blessing.

We checked our four bags in at the counter, but questioned the lady when the bags were tagged to go to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. Our travel agent had said that the bags would be check through to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When I asked, the lady said that because we were in D.C. for 24 hours, the bags would not be held for us and we would need to pick them up. That worried me. How were we supposed to pick up our four checked bags, along with our total of four carry-on bags and haul all of them on a shuttle bus to the hotel where we would be staying in D.C.??? In my head I said, "Simple, we won't." I had no idea what we would do, but I knew that taking the luggage and totes to the hotel was not much of an option to me. 

The first two flights went as scheduled. We flew from Des Moines to Chicago, then from Chicago to Washington D.C.

When we arrived in D.C., Nathan called our travel agent, Kari, and told her the issue we had with our bags. She was awesome!!!! To make a long story short, she told us to go to the Ethiopian Airlines baggage office, they sent us to a different baggage office, and a nice lady told us she would keep our bags for us and lock them in her office overnight. What a blessing!!!!!! Truly, this was a blessing but it also made me nervous. She didn't take our names down nothing. Just a promise that in the morning we would see her and she would recognize us. To say the least, my trust meter wasn't very high. 

Nathan called our hotel to ask about the shuttle van, we waited for just over a half hour for the shuttle to arrive, rode to the hotel, waited until our room was ready, walked to a convenience store to get some lunch (from Des Moines to the hotel - it was just after lunchtime), were lazy for the afternoon, ordered in a pizza, went to bed early, slept well, and got up early to eat breakfast at the hotel and head to the airport. As we post here now and in the following posts about our trip you are going to start seeing a trend towards pizza. In my defense, in Dulles, I had no idea that I would be so nervous and apprehensive that not much Ethiopian food was going to sit well. (They spice their food very heavily.) Anyway, just a note: look for pizza references!

We weren't sure exactly how long it was going to take us to find the office where we had left our luggage, pick up our luggage, and check the luggage to Addis, so we wanted to have plenty of time. And we did!!!! Crazy enough, she DID recognize us and gave us our luggage without any problems. Trust renewed and my stress levels decreased just a little bit.

It didn't take us long at all to get our luggage picked up and checked in at Ethiopian Air, and then we headed to our gate. We were there PLENTY early and were able to sit and wait. And stand up and wait. And use the restroom and wait. Lots of waiting!!!!! (and waiting and waiting and waiting....I'm not impatient about things as long as I don't have to wait!)

It was finally time to board the plane and we walked on, hoping that it would be easy to switch seats with someone so that we could sit together for the 13 1/2 hour flight. That worked out fine and we got as comfortable as we could for the long flight.

It WAS long!!!!! (LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG)

Neither Nathan or I were able to sleep (I rested a little bit), although we tried, and jumping seven hours ahead of D.C. time (eight hours ahead of Iowa time) really messed with our body clock. We arrived in Addis around 8 a.m. local time (midnight on our bodies), walked off the plane, stood in line to get our visas, went through immigration (I couldn't find the address of the guesthouse where we would be staying and I felt very flustered as I scrambled through my backpack trying to find it; needless to say, I will have that address in my pocket when we go back!!!!!), waited for our luggage to arrive on the carousel, exchanged USD for Ethiopian Birr, went through customs (which ended up being SUPER easy for us, praise the Lord!!!!) and looked for someone holding a sign that would tell us they were there to pick us up. (Love you, Yonas...but we didn't see you!)

As we were on the airplane in D.C. and getting ready to leave, I noticed a family get on and told Nathan that I "thought" I knew who they were. I had been e-mailing with someone from our adoption agency who had the same court date as us, and I thought that it might be them :-). Because I wasn't confident, and because I am often too "shy", I didn't say anything. But when we got off the plane and loaded onto the shuttle that took us from the plane to the airport in Addis, I made eye contact with her and she said "Are you Pam???" Silly me. We could have talked on the plane if I had just said something!!!!!

So, once we had our luggage and went through customs in Addis, we waited for the Haskins family to join us in waiting for our ride.

We had been told that sometimes the drivers are not allowed inside the airport, but then sometimes they are :-). If we didn't see anyone holding a sign that said "AWAA" we were to walk outside the airport, turn to our right, walk down a hill that would lead to the parking lot, and look for our driver there.

Our very white and out-of-place group drew lots of attention as we tried to find where we needed to go. A lady from an office that said "Tourism" asked us if we needed her to call someone for us :-).

Another long story made shorter ~ Nathan and our new friend, Dan Haskins, walked all around the parking lot looking for someone who was there for us. (By the way - The American-ness that was Dan and I was very clear here as we were CONSTANTLY asked if we needed a taxi. In fact, if someone heard us say no to someone else, they must have thought it was still an option because they would just ask us too.) Becky, their two children, and I stood around looking out of place. When Dan and Nathan came back, we decided that someone needed to go back to the airport and have the nice "tourism" lady call our agency. Dan headed towards the airport, and, just then, we saw an Ethiopian man coming our way with a sign that said AWAA :-). He had been there the entire time, but we had somehow missed him!!!!!! (Glad you found us, Yonas)

He introduced himself to us ~ Yonas. ("Hi, Yonas!!!!! We know you will be reading this!!!!!") Yonas became a very good friend during our six days in ET. He is AMAZING!!!!!!

And that is the end of our "Traveling to Ethiopia" adventure. It's on to "Day #1"

Maya Kisanet Joy Maxwell

We would like to introduce you to our daughter, 

Maya Kisanet Joy Maxwell.

We passed the Ethiopian court process on Tuesday, August 14th, and Maya K became legally our daughter!!!!

Praise the Lord for His goodness!!!!

Thoughts #1

When we get home, we are going to work on doing a post of each day that we are in Ethiopia. This is just a quick post on some of our thoughts up until this point.

Pam ~ I'm in Ethiopia. I've met my daughter. The little girl who has already changed my life. A strong-willed, affectionate, playful, FAST, sparkling, smart, beautiful child who has stolen my heart.

Our trip to get to ET was very long and tiring. We arrived in ET having just been in an airplane for 13 1/2 hours and not been able to sleep. We were able to get our stuff brought in to the guest house where we are staying and had about an hour and a half to "freshen up". Then it was time to meet the other adoptive families who are in country and go to lunch.

I wasn't hungry. I ordered a cup of tomato soup but was only able to eat a few bites. My stomach was in knots and I was soooooo nervous and tired. I kept waiting for that adrenalin to kick in.

We went from lunch straight to the transition home where we were the third of four families to meet our daughter.

Love. that. girl. to. pieces.

She came right to us and I tried to not cry as I scooped her into my arms for a hug. She was wearing the shirt we had sent her and had the photo book we made for her in her hands.

More to come on day #1.........

Today (day #2 in ET). Our daughter met the van as it pulled into the TH yard and grinned as she looked up at each window to see if she could find us. We grinned and waved and she was waiting by the door as we got out.

We had a fantastic afternoon together.

Then it was time to leave. We thought. But then we found out that we were taking "K" with us as we walked down the street to the older child transition home where "K" actually lives. Her face was VERY serious as Nathan carried her down the road and she wouldn't smile.

We got to see the room and bed where "K" sleeps and she started crying. And then I started crying. And then Nathan started crying.

I don't think I will ever fully be able to explain the look that was in my daughter's eyes as we took her into the home where she lives. The sadness, the fear, the panic, the PAIN. I'm starting to cry again as I type this. I took a picture of her face and it is NOT a face I EVER want to see on my daughter again.

Needless to say, leaving her was HARD. She clung to me and just sobbed. I was trying sooooooo hard to not cry, but as I set her down, told her that mommy loves her very much, and walked away (I didn't let myself look back) I lost it. The tears started and I don't know if I will really get them to stop or go away until I have my little girl in my arms FOREVER!!!!!!!

Nate ~ Well. I just read Pam's part and I'm crying again. When Pam says a long flight...she is under-stating what 13.5 hours on a plane really means. Those of you that have done it know, but there is a special mental pain that begins for people like me when we sit that long...and no. getting up to walk down a plane aisle full of people doesn't really help.

When we went to lunch, I ordered vegetable soup. However, I also had no appetite and only had a few more bites than Pam. I felt completely sick with nerves. What will we do? What will she do? What will she think? Will I ever be a good daddy to this little girl? Will we love her? Will she love us? Admittedly, I was terrified. In the end, it went well. She was hesitant at first but warmed up to us. She connected with both of us very quickly...OK. This is summary only. I have lots more to say about this day, but I'll wait until there is time to be thorough.

Today started with a service at IEC, the local Evangelical church that we attended. I won't say much here, but it was not like the services back home, but I could get used to it none-the-less! Today with the kids was much harder. Not just with "K" but with all the children. Yesterday, she cried when we left, but that seemed to be more because we were taking the things with us. Today, it was definitely because we were leaving. That was very hard and my heart broke for my daughter. I didn't want to leave her, but I knew that I had too.....Pam's has recapped that already and I'll talk more about it later. What also struck me today was how many wonderful children are here. For them to be at our agency's transition home, they either have a family that can't bring them home yet (waiting on paperwork) or they have not been referred out yet (most likely, waiting on paper work), or they are on the waiting child list. You can't imagine the smiles on these kids faces. They just want to be loved and cared for by a family. There is a longing in their eyes that I can't explain. The kids that would look at us while we played with "K"....and my heart broke again. It just hurts to see such a need and not be able to help them in some way....so I'm helping them, by asking you to pray for them. Pray for paperwork to move and God to move in the hearts and lives of the forever families that He has picked out for them.

We miss you guys....though we wouldn't leave without "K" if it was possible. We will be home in under a week and will try to get our thoughts completely down as soon as we can so we don't lose them. Thank you for praying and loving from a distance.

One Month "Referralversary"

Pam ~ It's been one month since we received our referral for our daughter "K" and one month since we first saw her beautiful face!!!! In some ways it seems like its been longer than a month, but in other ways the time has gone by quickly.

We are still waiting for our court date and we are still praying that we will be able to get a court date before the courts close on August 22nd (exactly four weeks from today). I got an e-mail from our adoption agency today that was VERY encouraging!!!!

"At this point, there is definitely still a chance you will get a court date before the closure. Your case is open and in line at court, and the court is still issuing dates.......Definitely still prepare for receiving a court date before the closure, as there is a good chance you will receive one."

I LOVED reading those words!!!!!

What are we doing to prepare to travel???  Well . . . . . . . 

Making a packing list

Finding luggage that we can borrow

Buying medicines we need to take

Praying

Finishing the required "older child adoption" training

Finding a pediatrician

Finishing the "Post Adoption Plan of Action" report

Praying

Working to empty out "K"'s bedroom

Keeping the house clean

Praying

Probably lots of other things that I am forgetting

It's a little hard to wrap my mind around the possibility that we could be in Ethiopia hugging our little girl in less than a month!!!!!!

New/LAST Goal ~ Trip #2

Pam ~ We have just one more financial goal to achieve on this crazy adoption journey we have been on.  It has been pretty amazing to see how God has provided for each of our financial "goals".  And now we are eager to see how He will provide again :-).

I want to again mention that we are estimating how much money we will need for each of these trips.  The cost will vary depending on what time of year we travel, if we are bringing home one or two children, how long we stay in Ethiopia, etc.  I have taken the estimates that our agency has given us and estimated on the high side in each area.  I would rather have a little money left over at the end to put toward buying donations for the orphanages in Ethiopia :-), than to not have the money we need to purchase our tickets.

Here is the estimated break-down of costs for Trip #2.

Airfare (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $4,000
In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $2,000 estimate (as with our first trip, this amount will cover our housing, transportation, food, etc. for the time we are in Ethiopia)
Visas (2 adults) ~ $40
Airfare (2 children) ~ varies ~ $2,000
Visas/Embassy Fee (2 children) ~ $808

This brings the our new financial goal to a total of $8,848.

God has already provided over $30,000 towards our adoption via donations from friends/family, fundraisers, overtime pay, and a lot of scrimping and saving on our part :-), and we are confident in His ability to provide this last amount!!!!!!

We honestly never thought that we would still be waiting for our referral.  We officially started this journey via the "paper-chasing" part of the adoption 1 year, 10 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days ago.  That's a long time!!!  We have been on the official waiting list for 1 year, 4 months, and 4 days.  That's a long time to be waiting for a special phone call.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging words!!!!  They are what is getting us through this waiting!!!!!

New Goal - Trip #1

Pam ~ As I so very calmly explained in my last post {insert sarcasm} we have met our referral goal of $9,785!!!!  I still am in shock that God provided the full referral amount in just over 3 months time!!!  Who are we to ever doubt His provision for His children?!?!?!

I have updated our thermometer with our new goal ~ Travel Expenses for Trip #1.  As a reminder, we will be traveling to Ethiopia TWICE before the adoption is finalized.  The first trip will be to meet our children and attend Court, and the second trip will be to attend Embassy and bring our children home {I can't wait for this trip!!!!!}.

This new goal amount has to be estimated because there are variables that can and probably will change.  Specifically, the cost of airfare varies almost monthly and since we don't know when we will be traveling, we have to estimate how much we will be needing.  Here is the breakdown of costs.

Airfare (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $4,000 estimate
In-Country Travel Package (2 adults) ~ varies ~ $2,500 estimate (this will include our housing, transportation, food, etc. for the time we are in Ethiopia)
Visas (2 adults) ~ $40

This brings the total of our new goal to $6,540.  After our referral goal amount of $9,785, this doesn't seem so daunting :-).  God is going to provide and we are excited to see how He will do that.

We are still in the waiting period of our adoption journey.  We have been officially waiting for 3 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days.  The uncertainty is hard.  Will we get a surprise phone call this next week with a referral for our two children (that surprise call has happened to other families that we personally know), or will we continue to wait for many more months?  Only God knows, and we want to be faithful in this time of waiting.  We will continue to work hard, fund raise where we can, and marvel in the greatness of our God.  Thank you for all of your prayers, and please keep them coming!!!!  We couldn't do this without YOUR prayer and support!!!!!

Where in the World is Our Dossier

Pam ~ We received an e-mail yesterday afternoon letting us know that our dossier is on its way from our agency's headquarters, and it's heading to Ethiopia!!!  We were told to not worry if the package makes stops in Europe or other countries for long periods of time.  Apparently that is normal and they have seen it happen often.

So........I am now a FedEx stalker :-).  I have a tracking number and will be following our dossier on its journey.  If you are interested in following it with me, just look over to the upper right side of the blog.  How long do you think it will take before it gets to Ethiopia????  You can vote over on the right!!!!  Let's see how close we can guess!!!!!