Hello blog friends! I’m sorry I haven’t posted already. We’re in a different part of the hotel this time around, and our internet doesn’t seem to be working as well. I’ve been trying to upload pictures for two days now, and it’s just SUPER slow and gets stuck every time. I just wanted to let everyone know that we made it here safely and that we’re enjoying our time with Yohannes!!! I’ll update more details later when our internet service is better, but he was really glad to see us yesterday. He saw us in the van and came RUNNING! It was amazing! We had a great day yesterday, a little rough time last night at bed time, and we’re having another great day today. He is WONDERFUL and seems to be bonding with us really well. He’s picking up on English faster than we expected and has already learned his brothers’ names. It melts my heart completely to hear him say, “mommy!” We had our Embassy appointment this afternoon, and everything went well. I got a little choked up when the man behind the counter had us raise our right hands and made sure we understood that the adoption is final and that it’s hard to be “undone.” Yohannes has been our son legally since August 4th, but something about today made it really seem official (even though it already was). We love him to pieces and can’t wait to bring him home! I’ll keep trying to post pictures, and I can’t wait to share more about him and our trip when I get a chance and some decent internet!
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two more days
Life is crazy busy around here this week. Brad and I have both been a little under-the-weather, and he just went to the doctor this morning to get medicine for a nasty sinus infection. I’ve been running around purchasing last minute things we’ll need for little man as well as things the grandparents and big boys will need while we’re gone. I’ve been typing out lists for the grandparents and letters for the teachers and packing lists, etc. Our little guy’s bed is covered with suitcases and things to be packed in them. I think I’ll just be glad to get on the plane and sit for a while on Saturday (I’m sure I’ll eat those words when we’re about 15 hours into the trip & I’m sick of sitting on that airplane)! I’ve got so much to do before we leave, but at the same time, I’m so ready!
We’ll arrive in Addis Ababa Sunday evening, and we’ll go to Hannah’s Hope to get him Monday morning. Our Embassy appointment is Tuesday morning, and we’ll leave Ethiopia to come home late Thursday night. We’re not allowed to go out in public much at all with him, so we’ll spend a lot of time at the hotel. I’m sure that we’ll be very ready to start the journey home on Thursday. We’ll arrive in Nashville Friday afternoon, and we’re inviting any friends and family that would like to greet us at the airport to do so (I’ll share all of those details in a later post).
When I think about the number of people involved in helping to bring him home, I’m completely overwhelmed with emotion. There are literally about 300 people who have contributed financially, and so many people have prayed for us over the past eight months. We will never be able to adequately thank you all. Please know that every little donation and every little word of encouragement and support has been SUCH a HUGE blessing to us. Our small group threw a “toddler shower” for us last night, and they gave so generously. Now our little guy has plenty of clothes to wear and new, fun things to play with! We are so grateful for all of you for partnering with us on this crazy journey God has taken our family on.
We know the real journey is just about to begin, so we would truly appreciate your prayers as we transition to being a family of five. We know that there will certainly be tough days ahead as he grieves the loss of everything familiar. There will possibly (if not probably) be times when he shuts down and rejects us, when he gets angry and frustrated, when he cries and we don’t know why or what to do. There will be a language barrier for a while since he doesn’t speak English. In many ways, the hard part is ahead of us as we learn to parent him well.
We’ll be “cocooning” for a couple of months while he transitions to being a part of our family. I’ll do a separate post on that soon describing what that means and what we think it will look like for us. Again, thank you all so much. I CANNOT WAIT to show you his beautiful face and smile. We are incredibly blessed to have the privilege of being his family, and we can’t wait to bring him home!
WOW!
I didn’t know what title to give this post . . . “WOW!” was all I could come up with after sitting in front of my computer screen for several minutes. The “Facebook/Twitter/Blog-a-thon” fundraiser was a huge success this weekend, and we are incredibly grateful for ALL who participated. It is amazing how a lot of people giving a little can add up! There are still a few donations coming in the mail later this week (and some are still coming in online), so I don’t have a grand total just yet. BUT, as of this morning we are up to $4,000. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! Can you believe that?!
We don’t have the words to express our appreciation to everyone who donated and got the word out. We knew going into this adoption that we would have to ask for help financially at some point. It’s often humbling (especially in our society) to have to ask for help, but we know that God wants to use others and doesn’t want us to carry our burdens alone. He hasn’t called all Christians to adopt children, but I DO believe that he calls ALL Christians to love and care for orphans and others in need. So for those of you who contributed last weekend, you did just that – and we thank you.
We received an email yesterday from friends who are in Ethiopia right now picking up their little boy. It read, “We saw [him] again yesterday. I think he is definitely missing you guys. Even Almaz said that he was missing his mom and dad when our group was there. I think he will definitely be ready for you.” As I read it, tears rolled down my cheeks. On one hand, I was glad to hear that he remembers us and love us already and misses us. At the same time, though, my heart broke for him (once again). I’m praying that he really believes we’re coming back for him and that we love him so much. We leave in ELEVEN days, and while there’s still a lot left to be done before we travel, September 4th can’t get here fast enough!
I’ll leave you with this verse because I really do believe it’s true – we’re living proof!
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19
I hope you all are having a great week, and thanks for reading!
HELP RAISE $4800 in 48 HOURS!
{Scroll to bottom of post for updates!}
Our case manager called this morning and told us to go ahead and book tickets for our next trip to Ethiopia – which will be in TWO WEEKS! We leave Nashville on Saturday, September 4th, go to our Embassy appointment on Tuesday, September 7th, and arrive back home on Friday, September 10th WITH OUR SON!!!
This weekend we’re doing a FACEBOOK/TWITTER/BLOG-A-THON to raise the money needed to purchase our airline tickets, and we could use YOUR help! Here are the details:
Our goal is $4800 in 48 HOURS!
Begins TONIGHT at 11:59 and ends at 11:59 PM on Sunday.
If 480 people each contribute $10 . . . our goal will be met!
Donations will be run through the Paypal “Donate” button here on the blog (top, left-hand side).
***Please consider donating $10 or more & help us spread the word exponentially using Facebook, Twitter, blog posts & any other forms of social media you use! It’s easy – just copy and paste this information:***
$4800 in 48 HOURS: Help bring a little boy in Ethiopia home to his forever family for only $10! Visit www.dunlapadoption.com to donate online! Re-post this to help spread the word!
Your help is GREATLY appreciated! Check back here for progress updates throughout the weekend!
We can’t post {full} pictures of our son yet, but these will give you an idea of how PRECIOUS he is! . . .
**UPDATES:**
Friday 8/20 @ 9 PM: $800!!!
Friday 8/20 @ 11 PM: $1,045!!!
Saturday 8/21 @ 8 AM: $1,220!!!
Saturday 8/21 @ 2 PM: $1,510!!!
Saturday 8/21 @ 8 PM: $1,720 (one ticket down, two more to go)!!!
Sunday, 8/22 @ 8 AM: $2,175!!!
Sunday, 8/22 @ 1 PM: $2,535!!!
Sunday, 8/22 @ 9 PM: $3,030 (two tickets down & one to go)!!!
Sunday, 8/22 @ 10 PM: $3,445!!!
Sunday, 8/22 @ 12 PM: $3,500!!!
Monday, 8/23 @ 4 PM: $3,910 (donations are still coming in . . . WOW)!!!
REJOICING!!!
You guys must REALLY be praying for us or something!
The big boys and I were out doing some back-to-school shopping this afternoon when I got a call from our case manager. She said the magic words we love to hear . . . “Well, I have some good news for you . . . ” and proceeded to tell me that we have an Embassy appointment on Tuesday, September 7th!!! She told us to go ahead and start looking into flights for September 4th – 10th. These are tentative travel dates at this point, and there are still a number of things that could slow the process and cause a delay. Please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly and that we indeed get to bring our little boy home very SOON! I just about broke into a dance in the middle of Target, and I’m completely overwhelmed with thankfulness this afternoon. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support! To commemorate the occasion, we decided to buy him these! . . .
In other news, Riley and Cole started back to school today! Riley is a FOURTH grader now & Cole is in SECOND grade . . . yikes! They only went for half of the day, and their first full day is on Monday. They both came home in good spirits and enjoyed their teachers and their classmates. Riley’s excited because they have a hamster, some fish, a frog, a guinea pig, etc. in their classroom. They get to be on “pet patrol” and even take one of the little critters home for the weekend every now and then – whoo hoo! Cole said his teacher is cool because “she has good Legos and good books in her classroom.” I’m praying that it’s a good year for both of them – especially with all of the changes going on at home with little man coming into the family. I’m really proud of Riley and Cole, and they are going to be such great big brothers!
Well, I have to go get ready for 2.5 hours of “Parent Night” at the school. Our sweet friend, Jessie, is coming to hang out with the guys last minute so we can both go . . . thanks, Jessie!!! I just had to share our good news and a school update while I had a minute. I am a lousy mom and didn’t even take pictures today (mostly because Riley would be mortified and completely embarrassed!), but I’ll try to sneak some in on Monday and post them (especially for the grandparents!). Until then . . .
Hannah’s Hope pictures & an update
I’ve sung the praises of Hannah’s Hope over and over since we were there, so I thought I’d post a few more pictures of the facility. There is always LOTS of work going on both inside and outside . . .
(For all listserv friends, the files I mentioned in a previous post are on the bookshelf on the left side of the first image.)
A couple of the “big” kids’ rooms . . .
This is the room where our son sleeps (below). That’s his bed in the photo on the right side. (Yes, it looks like a girl’s room, but there are some boys that sleep in there, too!)
This is the view from the upstairs balcony. The facility is located in a newer part of the city, and there is a lot of new construction going on all around.
Some of the baby rooms . . . 
It really is a GREAT place, and we’re so thankful for everyone who put in many hours making it so fun and kid-friendly!
In other news . . .
I spoke with our case manager today, and she said it will probably be late September or early October before we travel back to Ethiopia to bring our son home – which is a little longer than we were hoping. The timing of that trip revolves around when our Embassy appointment is scheduled. For an Embassy date to be given, a court decree & his passport have to issued, and some (more) paperwork has to be submitted. Our agency is allotted two Embassy dates per month, so our travel plans will be affected by those assigned dates as well. Lastly, since we’re adopting an “older” child, he has to go through TB testing (required by the CDC for him to enter the US). Sometimes that slows the process as well. The group that traveled prior to us got their Embassy dates REALLY quickly, so I had hoped we would as well. They all adopted little babies, though, and the timing of their trip, etc. just lined up perfectly for an earlier Embassy date.
Please pray that God makes a way for us to bring our son home as quickly as possible. This afternoon and tonight I found myself missing him so much. I stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes and just had a little quiet cry. I KNOW him now, and it breaks my heart to think of him wondering whether we’re really coming back for him. It makes me sad to think about him sleeping in his little bed at night thinking about his time with us and being confused. Pray that God will give him (and us) peace during this time of separation.
saying goodbye
We made it back to Nashville yesterday afternoon after 30 hours of traveling and about 21 hours on an airplane. While I miss being in Ethiopia, at this point I’m just really glad to be on the ground!
Friday was a tough day emotionally, but we made it and my heart is actually filled with peace. We headed over to Hannah’s Hope at 9:00 and played just like we did the other days. Our little guy was outside and ran to the van when he saw we were inside. Not long after that, however, he started acting very strangely. He was very clingy and didn’t want anything to do with Brad. He wanted me to carry him the whole time and didn’t want to play (which isn’t like him). He cried a little at one point, and Almaz came out and asked him if he wanted some new shoes. He did, so we went into the storage room, and he picked out a pair. He was SO proud of those shoes and strutted back out to the courtyard to show them off! He just kind of crept out there at first, looking down at them as he walked, and waited to see if any of the kids would notice. When they didn’t, he decided to call each child by name and pointed at them. It was so funny! After that, he was all better, and we had a good time.
* (These are his new shoes & his sweet little hand!)
When it was time for lunch, tears welled up in his eyes, and it was ALL I could do to hold mine in. He’s a smart little guy, and he’d figured out early on that we would leave soon after lunch was over. He finally stopped crying, and Brad and I fed him his lunch (injera and shiro wat). In Ethiopian culture, feeding someone shows that you love them, and I had kind of wanted to feed him all week long. He settled down, and we blew LOTS of bubbles and played soccer after lunch.
Because he had figured out that we are his parents earlier in the week, Almaz was honest with him when it was time for us to go. She told him that we were going back to America to get him some new clothes, some toys & some candy and that we would be back to take him home. He instantly looked sad and wouldn’t look us in the eyes. Almaz said that he agreed with the part about us bringing him new things but didn’t agree with us leaving. We loved on him, and I took his little face in my hands and gave him one last kiss. Then we got in the van. I somehow managed to hold it together until we backed out of the gate, and then I sobbed and did the ugly cry. I’ll never forget him turning to look at us as we backed out.
By the time we got back to the hotel, I suddenly felt a strange sense of peace and had stopped crying. That morning at Hannah’s Hope, Almaz had given us a disc of pictures of our little guy with his birth mom and little sister. When we got in our room, I popped the disc in my laptop. As we looked through all of the pictures and read the interview that was done with her, I just cried and cried. Honestly it was far more emotional than saying goodbye to him. I believe God allowed me to have perspective in that moment and realize that my goodbye was NOTHING in comparison to her goodbye. She said goodbye for forever, and I was only saying goodbye for a few weeks. Her pain was far more agonizing than the pain I felt. My heart broke again for her and for him. In the pictures, he looks so content and comfortable with her. He looks so happy. There are ones of just him and her and ones of him holding and kissing on his little sister. I just sat there and grieved for all of them and thanked God for her and her sacrifice. She loves him so much that she made the decision to let him go so he could live and thrive. She wasn’t able to provide for him, and so she made the choice to give him life. She most certainly did not abandon him. She made the hardest decision of her life because she loves him more than she loves herself. I’m so thankful that we have the pictures, and we will always treasure them and her.
We left the hotel around 4:30 and headed to the airport. As we drove there, I just couldn’t believe that our time was over. I began to realize how much I would miss being there. Our flight from Addis Ababa to Dubai left late, so we had the joy of sprinting through the Dubai airport trying to make our connecting flight to New York. Thankfully we made the final call and then ended up sitting on the runway for over an hour before flying off into the night sky toward the United States. After 14 hours on that plane, we landed in New York early yesterday morning. We felt soooo rough and were just ready to get home at that point. We made it back to Nashville around 1:30 PM and managed to stay awake until about 9:45 last night. It felt SO good to sleep in our bed and get a full 8 hours of sleep! We got Riley & Cole back this afternoon, and it was really good to be back together! It’s strange to know, though, that we have a son half way across the world, and I cannot wait until we’re all under one roof. I’ve thought about him so many times today and wondered what he was doing and what is going through that little head of his. We believe he really understood that we’re coming back, and I’m hoping he’ll trust that it’s true over the next days and weeks until we can get to him again.
We’re hoping to hear about our Embassy appointment this week, and then we’ll have a better idea about when we’ll travel back to Ethiopia. Stay tuned . . . I’ll keep you posted!
* (Almaz & me . . . she is so wonderful & we are thankful for her! My hair looked crazy all week because I fried my flat iron the second day we were there . . . oops!)
We have THREE boys!!!
We found out this morning that our case was approved in court yesterday, so our little guy is legally our son now!!! We’re officially a family of FIVE! We had a good visit with him this morning. He was playing inside because it had rained, and he ran up to greet us when he realized we were in the room. We stayed for about 2.5 hours, and tears were streaming down his cheeks when we left – broke my heart. We’ll see him one last time tomorrow before we fly out later tomorrow evening. I can’t believe our time in Ethiopia is coming to a close already. The week has flown by, and tomorrow will be a hard day for sure. The group that was here last week before us already has travel dates for their second trip/Embassy appointment. They will be coming back in about TWO WEEKS! We don’t know yet if our second trip will happen as quickly, but we’re ready for our little man to be HOME and for our family to be under ONE roof!
Tonight we went to dinner with Wass at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant. It was a cultural experience for sure! There was a live band, and traditional dances were performed for entertainment. I’ll post a video from tonight here on the blog once we get home. We got to Skype with the big boys back home today, and it made me miss them! As incredibly hard as leaving will be, I’m really ready to see Riley and Cole! They’ve been such troopers throughout this whole process and especially during our time apart.
I’ll leave you with a few pictures from today. This is our hotel . . .
Wass & Brad . . .
There’s a lot of new construction going on in this part of town (and all over Addis Ababa really). The scaffolding is made out of wood . . .
There are goats, sheep, cows, donkeys & horses all over the place here! They just hang out beside or IN the roads and even nap while cars and people steadily pass by! At night they all leave the streets and go home!
This is Hannah’s Hope – such a wonderful place! I took a lot of pictures inside of the buildings today and will do a separate post on them sometime soon . . .
This is the van we’ve been riding around in all week. Wass has been a great chauffeur!
Please pray for us as we say goodbye to our little boy tomorrow. I’m going to try REALLY, REALLY hard to not cry in front of him. I want his memories of our last day together to be happy ones. Pray that God fills his heart with peace and that we’re able to bring him home soon. We’ll fly out tomorrow evening and arrive back in Nashville Saturday afternoon. Thanks for following our journey as we’ve been in Ethiopia!
court & pictures
Wass (Hannah’s Hope staff) picked us up at the hotel this morning at 7:30 to drive downtown for our court appointment. We had some extra time, so we stopped by a CD store to pick up some traditional music from our son’s region. We also went to visit the largest church in Ethiopia (see pictures below). Then we headed to court, where Haile (our case processor) met us. We walked up four flights of stairs and into a small room lined with chairs where we waited for two hours. There were LOTS of people crowded into the little room at times, and we saw the couple I mentioned a few days ago from Texas that we met in the Dubai airport. It was good to see them again & hear about their visit with their babies! Finally we were called in, and we spent about 3 minutes sitting in front of the judge (a lady behind a little desk). She asked us some basic questions, and then we were done! We haven’t heard about the results of court yet, but hopefully Almaz will know something when we visit Hannah’s Hope tomorrow.
We then went with Wass to do some shopping at a little market area. We got several things, and one of them is a traditional outfit for our little man. It’s something that would be worn for a special occasion – like a wedding or holiday. I can’t wait to do a little photo shoot with him wearing it! We also bought some berbere and shiro (spices used for cooking Ethiopian food). After shopping, we went to lunch at Makush, an Italian restaurant, and then we came back to the hotel and rested some. It was a good day, but we’re really ready to get back to Hannah’s Hope to spend some more time with our little guy tomorrow. Here are some pictures from our day . . . enjoy!
. . . and this last one describes how we feel about our little boy . . . he is just . . .
another great day!
Today we woke up, got ready, ate breakfast & headed to Hannah’s Hope. I wasn’t feeling great, so I took some anti-nausea medicine right before we left. Thankfully it worked, and by the time we arrived about 10 minutes later, I felt good (SO thankful we decided to get that prescription filled the morning we left Nashville!).
We didn’t know how our little guy (it’s so hard to not use his name on here – can’t wait until we can!) would react to us, but he was really happy to see us again!!! I spotted him as the gate opened, and he ran up to the van as our driver pulled in with a huge grin on his face! He jumped up in Brad’s arms right away and didn’t want Brad to put him down. Then he came to me, and I sat down and held him for a while. He was facing me with his head on my chest, and he just hugged me and wouldn’t let go. It was an incredible feeling, and one that I’ll never ever forget!
We stayed at Hannah’s Hope for about 2.5 hours and decided to leave earlier than yesterday so he could nap. He seems to do really great until lunch time and then he gets tired and a little more sensitive and emotional. We pushed him in the swing for a while, played soccer (he only wanted to use the soccer ball we brought yesterday and not any of the other ones – sweet!), played with Play-Doh, blew bubbles, ate lunch, and read a book. After lunch he didn’t want to share us with the other kids and got upset and started crying when they interfered with our play time. Almaz came out and invited us to go sit with him and read to him on the porch. She also gave him a piece of candy, which never hurts with kids! His tears soon dried up, but he seemed tired so we decided to leave and let him take a nap (which is part of his typical schedule). Both days we’ve left, Almaz has made the transition by letting him pass out suckers to the kids, and that seems to distract him pretty well.
We noticed several things about him today: 1) He’s really observant and takes everything in around him. 2) He did NOT want to “squish” up his Play-Doh and wanted to leave it in the neat little block it was in when we opened it. We eventually “squished” up another color and let him hold both of them. He seems to want to hold onto whatever we give him so the other kids can’t get it! I’m sure we’ll have to work on sharing once he’s home and it’s the appropriate time. 3) He built a little tower with big legos and wanted to make sure we both saw it. He even carefully carried it to the other side of the courtyard to show it to Brad. We made a big deal out of it like we were really proud, and he just lit up! 4) He’s a good eater. Yesterday they had injera and gomen, and today that had pasta that looked kind of like spaghetti. He ate well with his fork and has good coordination. He likes to drink mango juice, too. 6) He’s pretty quiet around us and doesn’t talk much like some of his buddies. There are probably a lot of factors behind that, but he’s pretty good about communicating what he wants non-verbally. The language barrier is definitely tough at times. He does talk every now and then when he gets excited about something (like when we replayed the video we had taken of him – he just chatted away pointing to the screen and telling me all about it!).
We did some sightseeing yesterday so I decided to include a few pictures. It’s so hard to not post pictures of him or of our time at Hannah’s Hope (which is most of our pictures), but we can’t legally.
These were taken in the airport as we traveled over . . .
The first one of these was taken on our sightseeing trip yesterday. The second one is the view from our hotel window . . .
Inside of Sisay’s taxi & a view of the city from the highest point in Addis Ababa. It was really cloudy & rained, but it was still beautiful . . .
We went to a really nice traditional Ethiopian restaurant with Sisay after we toured the city. I think we’ll be going back here Thursday evening, too, with a couple of staff members from Hannah’s Hope. (That’s Sisay with Brad) . . . .
Well, I guess that’s it for today. It’s getting close to 9 PM here, and we have our court appointment tomorrow. Pray that it goes well. We’ve been told what to expect, and it’s not nearly as intimidating as I had imagined. After court, we’ll go out to lunch with a couple of Hannah’s Hope staff & then do some shopping. We’ll be back at Hannah’s Hope on Thursday & I think we might get to go back on Friday – I’m hoping so anyway! Thanks to everyone for your prayers!