"So, what did you do there all week?"

I need to start writing before I start forgetting...that's for sure! Here's a super brief outline of what our week+ of travel looked like:

Thursday: We had to fly to D.C. a day early to ensure we made our connecting flight on Ethiopian Airlines on Friday. Since neither Jim nor I have been to D.C. before, we opted for an early flight so we could spend the afternoon walking around a bit and relaxing before the journey ahead. Walking around a bit quickly translated to miles and miles, and we really had a nice, distraction free time.

Friday: We boarded the flight for Ethiopia in the morning and spent the.whole.day. on the plane. As in they fed us three full meals and snacks while we were on the flight.

Saturday: We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the morning, and were picked up, along with 5 other families on our flight, by our driver, Mulat, and taken to Horizon House. After arriving, we were shown to our rooms and Jim and I headed down the block (with a few other families and a guard) to the "big kid house" to meet Alexa Aster and Liana Burtu for the first time. We saw them a couple of times that day for a couple of hours each time.

Sunday: We, along with one other couple and our driver, Solomon, left Horizon House at 6 a.m. for the Sidama region to meet our children's birth families. We had a 4ish hour drive on pavement to the city of Awassa followed by a 2+ hour drive off-road to Arbegona to meet our children's relatives. We then had another 45 minutes into the highlands to so Irena and Matt, another couple in our group, could meet their son's family. We ended up back in Awassa around 5:45 p.m., and after a wonderful dinner, got some sleep!

Monday: We departed the Lewi (our hotel) at 6 a.m. to head back to Addis. We had lunch and loaded up all of the children on a bus to the embassy. During that visit, our children received their visas for travel back to the U.S. In the evening, the Wide Horizon's staff took our whole travel group to a wonderful restaurant for traditional food and dancing.

Tuesday: This day was play day nearly all day. We spent the bulk of the children's "awake" hours with them at the big kid house! During their nap, we went to the business center at the Sheraton hotel to send a half-time e-mail to our fam.

Wednesday: Jim wasn't feeling so good, so he rested in the morning; after a quick visit with the girls, I joined some other members of our group on an outing to the markets. After nap time, we had the girls brought to the guest house so we could play with them outside of the big kid house setting for a couple of hours and really enhance the transition.

Thursday: Jim rallied, and we both joined fellow travelers on another outing to the market. After the girls' nap, we had them join us at the guest house to play AND spend the night!

Friday: We played with our girls and the children joining the other families at the guest house and took part in a coffee ceremony. At that time, we also received all of our children's official paperwork and passports for travel. After dinner, we boarded the bus to Bole and boarded that plane once again.

Saturday: We landed at Dulles on time and had some Wendy's at 9 a.m.! Our flight to Chicago was delayed a couple of times and we finally landed at O'Hare around 3 in the afternoon!

Hopefully that'll give you some context so that my stories about days or events make a little more sense as I continue to write...well, as much as can be expected, anyway! We're so glad our girls have joined our family and look forward to sharing lots more!

A week already?!?!

We're home and we're doing really well! Tomorrow will mark one week since we arrived at home. (Like the awesome banner Uncle Rick ordered for us?!) Our adjustment as a family has really gone smooth. The four Melton kids interact pretty well; I'm anticipating more challenges once they all speak the same language ;) Tessa is really enjoying the big sister role; she taught Alexa the ropes of dress up and pretty much is two inches away from Liana, the little one, at any given time. Mark is a patient, helpful big brother who enjoys running all around the house with Alexa and trying to learn new words from them both. Alexa and Liana are learning the names we've added, and like us, use Alexa/Aster and Liana/Burtu pretty interchangeably. They're sleeping relatively well and the time change didn't impact us quite as severely as we anticipated; 5 a.m. is a little on the early end for this house so we're working on that.

Don't get me wrong, there are challenges, and when they're having conversations and sharing laughs in their native language before bed, I really wish I knew what they were saying. Admittedly, I'm a little sad that they're going to lose that in a pretty short time and replace it with "Pop it, lock it, polka dot it". I'm so glad that they have each other and that we have them.

My plan is to outline our week in Ethiopia and elaborate on some parts of that amidst sharing our summer family fun. We had a good trip and met some really wonderful people; we were also glad to experience the country of Ethiopia itself. We sure look forward to sharing that with you, too!

The deets

So my last two postings were a little, um, brief, so I figured I'd post some more about how this week unfolded! I was really optimistic that we'd pass court soon, but knew that it could still easily be a month. Tuesday morning, I was standing at the copier in the school office trying to scan in an order for the copy center in the midst of 8th grade Recognition Night practice. My phone buzzed and the first things I noticed were a missed IM and missed call from Rachel, who I was currently helping; then I popped over to my e-mail, which is what made my phone buzz to begin with, and saw GOOD NEWS FROM ETHIOPIA e-mail. Needless to say, I was totally surprised! I headed into Rachel's office, told her and tried to call Jim; I managed to knock the phone off the desk a couple of times, too :) (It also happened to be Jim's birthday on Tuesday.) I made a couple of other phone calls and tried to return to productivity, which consisted of more 8th grade activities. I was thinking we'd travel the 19th or the 26th. Later that afternoon, I got a "Congratulations!" e-mail from another parent who is adopting; she had already seen the weekly update from our agency that showed groups travelling the 12th and the 19th; the way the numbers fell, it was apparent that the three families picking up sibling pairs were all slated to do so on the 12th- WOW!!! We got confirmation of that from our agency later that afternoon, and were able to confirm our correct visa status with the National Visa Center to ensure we would be able to travel. A quick call to our travel agent followed and the plans...real, actual, for sure plans...were underway!

ONE WEEK!!

Jim and I leave for Washington, D.C. one week from tomorrow! We head on to Ethiopia on Friday morning and will be home right in time for Fathers' Day!

WE. PASSED. COURT.

We may be travelling next week!!! Oh, boy! More later when we're certain...

Relief...and tasty food!

Jim and I have been waiting for our I600A extension, which is essentially our immigration approval to adopt children from the United States government. It is good for 18 months at a time, and we recently resubmitted ours as that time had come. While we logically knew (hoped) that the extension would be a formality as nothing had changed about our situation since our initial approval, it sure was a relief to find it in our mailbox this weekend. See, we could pass court at really any time (although it will probably be a bit longer) and in order to issue our embassy appointment and travel dates, the National Visa Center needs to have a current approval on file...and they do!!!

Sunday we headed up to Evanston to dine at Addis Abeba with another couple, Stephanie and Tom, who are adopting an Ethiopian baby from our same agency. Our agency is on the east coast, and it is not uncommon for families who live in that area to gather. It was fun to meet people in person here in Illinois where there aren't quite as many Wide Horizons families...or at least ones that we know just yet. The food was fabulous and we really enjoyed the company. It is amazing that we four sat dining here while having daughters all the way in Ethiopia who have shared a roof. Hopefully we'll all be getting news of successful court dates soon!

Hanson...Party of 6!

This lovely photo, taken on Kim's iPhone, of course, depicts her (on the left) and me (on the right) at the close of our final full day of special education meetings together for the school year because a) there's only 3 weeks of school left and b) Kim and her husband, Steve, leave for Ethiopia TOMORROW to pick up Luke and Ava to join their family. As you can see, Kim's enjoying some celebratory ice cream as well! (Note: Before anyone comments on hair and make-up, know it was a rainy, windy day. ) This picture of Kim, our technology devices and I will remain one of the big symbols of this adoption process for both of us, I'm guessing.

We've been on this adoption journey together for what seems like forever, and I am amazed that tomorrow Kim and Steve will board the plane. I am excited that there are 4 children in Ethiopia that, between our two families, will live only minutes away from each other here in Illinois. And I am so thankful for Kim's friendship through this process. We have had overwhelming support from so very many people, as have they; there is such great value in sharing this experience and all the excitement, anticipation, anxiety and despair it can bring with another family in process, too. We're all really blessed! If you want to see the Hanson clan, head over to http://hanson6.blogspot.com/! I can't wait to see them all together.

Congratulations, Kim, Steve, Cady and Jake! You continue to be in our prayers; we're sad we won't be there to send you off and can't wait to see you when you return.

In other news...

• After a crazy day of running Mark and Tessa around, I'm also thinking Kim was pretty smart to add to the fam after her oldest, Cady, got a drivers license.
• Our passports came back from the Ethiopian Embassy today, so Jim and I have our visas!
• A bunch of people waiting ahead of us passed court this week, some earlier than expected! Talk about panic and excitement all at once on this end :) Now I really have to get those shots.....