Apology

I know I have promised to write about each day of the trip individually but I just feel like it is such a daunting task... So I am thinking about just posting a summary for now. Although I remember us being thoroughly exhausted I remember about Wed. Starting to think "Hello Bethany you are in Africa!" Sure this is hard, Sure you have had to boil your tooth brush about 3 times because you keep forgetting to not put it in the stupid sink water, sure you have tripped over the little bump between the bathroom and the bedroom 1 thousand times, And Yes you have been thuroughly naseaus everyday so far but you know what this is a once in a life time thing! I remember thinking it was so strange to be visiting this new country, culture etc...and taking a lving souvenier home with me. I can't tell you how many countries I have been in where I joked about wanting to take a baby home with me. Here i was doing it! It's like that Disney commercial where the little girl looks up to a stranger in the elevator and says Mom and Dad call me their little souvenir. Well that's how it is with Liam. He is our Piece of Ethiopia. After about Wednesday things went so well. I really appreciated where we were and what we were getting to do. Plus Wednesday night was the night we got to go to the Ethiopian restaurant. Awesome!!! I wish we could have done that every night! Thursday was by far the best day. I knew we were going home and I couldn't wait to have our whole family together. That's all I have to say...But of course I will leave you with a few tips to ponder before I close. Tip #1 Bring Cup of noodles. It weighs absolutely nothing and it is fabulous for a meal when you need some comfort food for the old belly. Tip#2 Bring some peaches(fruit cups). the juice is good for settling stomachs and the peaches are a yummy addition for breakfast. Tip #3 have a premade list of everyone you want to buy souvenirs and coffee for. It will be very helpful later when your home and your garage is packed with coffee and you have no one to give it toooo....

Honesty Post

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. Things have been kinda rough in our world. Liam is amazing and Wesley is the best big brother ever! It's their Mom that isn't catching up. I guess that statement desserves an explaination but I don't have one. When we first came home I was sick as a dog. We are talking 4 prescriptions and chest x-rays...I know you've heard the sob story. I just feel like it set me off on the wrong foot. I don't know if it is hormonal issues or adjustment issues (for me) or what. I am trying! I am trying hard. I also feel like I hold myself to a standard of perfection. I had Wesley on a schedule and knew when to expect what. I want to be just that knowledgeable with Liam. I feel like I should know everything about him like I know Wesley. I realize I have had 3 1/2 years with Wes and just 2 months with Liam butI love him so much and feel like he has always been mine. I am hard on myself when I don't know something I feel like I should. For example: I knew when Wesley was teething..Totally oblivious with Liam and the poor kid was cutting 2 teeth. I knew or suspected ear infections with Wesley...With Liam he went who knows how long with a double ear infection:( The doctor even said "didn't you notice he cried when you put him down, Or pulled at his ear etc..." I said no I thought it was attachment issues. Well I am letting go of all the rules. There are no more attachment and bonding "rules" in our house. (this has helped the stress level a lot.) Wesley and Liam are my boys and God designed it that way before the begining of time. He knew that for one reason or another I was the perfect Mom for them and that is why they have been intrusted in my care. Happy Valentine's Day to all. God has given us the 2 best Valentine's day presents ever...Our 2 boys true gifts of our love! Bethany

Pictures for last post

To answer a very valid question.... I was wearing two pairs of pants because we were leaving the frigid midwest and I didn't want to be cold....It makes no sense... Monday: So Almaz came and helped with our paperwork. Tip#1 wait to fill it out until you are there. There is plenty of time and then you can ask all the questions you want. Then around 10:30 we were off to see our little ones. As soon as we walked through the gates I was completely overwhelmed. Not so much with love or excitement, just this feeling of total panic. Like "this is it...it's do or die...and what if he sees me and wants to die?" Well We all thought this was going to happen in a very organized fashion HAHA...We thought we would take pictures for each other HaHa. Well It was actually really chaotic. Some babies were sunning, some babies were upstairs. Some babies were being handed to their parents and cameras weren't ready. It was not what my organized picture ready self was expecting. I had envisioned us walking while camera's were rolling. Taking our every emotion. Instead it was more of a ..."wait that's him over there, someone catch my camera I just threw at you and start snapping this priceless moment." Oh well: Tip #2 take in every moment and take mental pictures. It is so much better that you soak up each second and treasure it. It is such an important part of their story. Pictures are nice but the story is priceless. We saw our babies for about 40 min. and then we hopped into the vans and drove to the Italian restaurant. Yes this is the restaurant where you can buy the art work. tip #3 make sure you can see an entire piece of art work before you tell your husband it's your favorite. I was sitting in a chair and from my view I could see (somewhat around a corner) this beautiful painting that had a moon and stars...kind of a night shot. I said "Aaron look at that piece it's beautiful I think it's my favorite..." He said "Bethany it's of a naked lady...." oooops. The food there was delicious. I don't recommend the Haiwian Pizza it has lunch meat type Canadian Bacon ...The Pasta Carbonara Yumm! Good pick Melissa. After that we went shopping. It was very anti climactic. Not a whole lot there. Tip #4 Ask Yohannes to pick up an Amharic Bible. We did and we now have an awesome gift for someones 18th B-day. We went back to HH and picked up Liam. We then went home changed his clothes and started what ended up being the longest night of our lives. We had no idea when he had eaten last. He had just woke up from a nap at 7:30 p.m. So I was pretty clueless when he needed what. So around 8:00 we fed him what ended up being the first of 2 oz. feedings every 1hour and a half. Yikes! We got him to sleep pretty easily around oh I don't remember all I remember is Aaron and I had just laid down and Liam started the most horrifying cough ever. Well we made it through and thus started our Tuesday.

Sunday/Monday

Sunday: Sunday didn't really happen...It was lumped in there with Saturday...It got lost somewhere over the ocean. Or maybe I dry heaved it down the airplane toilet? Sunday night around 10:15 p.m. we arrived in Ethiopia. Once off the plane (no it is not polite to run out of air craft gasping for air...) we tried to find the customs area. Once said customs area was found we proceeded to stand towards the front of a terribly long line (tip #1: run off the plane! if not for fresh air at least to get in the front of this line!) As we stood there, my terribly patient and sweet husband notices two "ambassadors" getting very heated over the fact that they can't just skip waiting in line and pass through customs. I can tell that he is getting upset at their rudeness and impatience. Well come to find out these were the very people that signed and stamped our papers at the U.S. Embassy just 2 days later. So tip #2(keep all rude comments about impatient people to yourself, you never know who they may be!). Well we headed to the luggage area and here comes tip #3 Pee on the plane in the nasty bathroom before you start to descend! There is no bathroom once you are off the plane until you are in the baggage area. I did not know there was a bathroom there until about 30 min. into looking for our luggage. I was at the point of contemplating peeing on myself and wondering how long it would take to dry when I overheard someone mention a bathroom. I ran to them begging for the exact location and sprinted to relief. Tip #4 if you do not think ahead and you have to use these bathrooms there is NO TOILET PAPER. So you will find yourself like me trying to "drip dry." Good thing I was wearing 2 pairs of pants they gave me a little buffer.... Back in the chaotic luggage area I found Aaron and was dismayed that after almost 45 minutes we were still missing 3 of 4 pieces of luggage. Well Tip #5 Don't just check the conveyor belt. Check in other people's piles of luggage. There are so many "helpers" getting other people's luggage that a "green suitcase" is a green suitcase whether it is the right suitcase or not...It doesn't matter what's in it right? Just as long as it's green....So Tip #6 Put Ribbons or very Distinct tags on your luggage. It makes it easier to spot! Well once we had everything we headed to the hotel. Where I did whatever normal person does at 12:30 a.m. after 30 hours of no sleep...I ordered a cheese burger. It was awesome. I then headed upstairs where I thought I laid down on the bed no the floor no the bed no the floor, no seriously it was the bed but I debated whether the floor would have been softer. Monday we awoke (I woke then woke Aaron :) at 6:00 ish. I was so nervous/excited to meet the little man I had been looking at, thinking about, praying for... I took a shower..Mistake #1 my hair looked so cute pre shower. After shower it was a big frizzy fluffy mess...Anyway we ate breakfast and then we waited for Almaz. She came in all smiles. We filled out our paper work and she told us that due to an Ethiopian holiday we would go see our little ones, then go shopping then eat, and then go back to get them... So I would finish but I need to go to bed...Yes I know it is only 9:42.... Sorry hopefully I can finish tomorrow.

Saturday

Oh Saturday. Did we have a Saturday? I can't remember much of it...but here is what I do recall...

When we got to the airport on Sat. morning to fly out of Saint Louis I was a WRECK!! I was so sad to be leaving my little boy and had a lot of nervous excitement about meeting our new little boy. Basically the whole time we were in the airport I held my breath literally. I knew if I exhaled to quickly the sobs would come and scare the snot out of Wes. So I would hold my breath. At one point Wesley looked at me and said "Mommy my tummy hurts." I said.."do you think it is because you are nervous?" He said "yeah." I think having him at the airport the 45 minutes before we left was hard on him. I don't think he knew what us leaving was going to look like. Well we said our goodbyes at security and then I turned to the police officer and burst into tears. It was sweet though because he just gently whispered "leaving loved ones is hard..." Wow I didn't expect to have a therapeutic moment with the man who could easily have to frisk me. Anyway we left Saint Louis and arrived in DC. We eventually met up with Kami, and Melissa and met some knew families. It was so fun. Then we all boarded the plane and I dry heaved my way to Africa. Good times.

Oh my I almost forgot to write about the luggage. We had 3 checked bags at 48-50 lbs each and one bag that was 70 lbs. We prayed and prayed that we wouldn't have to pay. I explained to the luggage lady that why it was over in weight. She said that she had just seen something on the news about Ethiopia having the formula shortage. God is good. Anyway she waived the overweight charge. $60 in the bank.

And I can't close without another travel tip....

Bring slippers to wear on the plane. I hate wearing shoes so I wore the little socks they give you on the plane. Gross! They are perfect for soaking up the urine on the floor in the bathroom. Uhh I just threw up a little in my mouth just think about it. So on the way home I wore slippers and they were comfy and the bottoms were urine proof.

#2 it is

DAY 1 I decided day 1 for me was actually going to be Friday. Although we left for Ethiopia on Saturday, we had to leave for Saint Louis on Friday. When we found out our travel dates I had begun to slowly pack and put things together, clean the house, shop etc. I was bound and determined that the last day I was home I was going to be doing nothing but sitting on the couch and snuggling my soon to be oldest son. Well God must have known that sitting around hugging on Wesley would have been even harder on me then had I had the day that I ended up having. Friday morning 12:00 a.m. I finally decided that I had to stop the madness that I called packing. Let's just say Aaron and I had 2 carry on bags packed and 2 checked bags. I thought "wow this will be nice, traveling light, less headache etc. Haahaa. Wed. morning I got a $500 check in the mail to purchase what would turn into 70+ lbs. of formula. 2 checked bags who were we kidding. Well All of Thursday night and early Friday morning I was rearranging, weighing, arranging again. Ahhh. We found out and here is tip #1 having an overweight bag = $60 whether it is 51 lbs or 70 lbs. So in my opinion load that overweight sucker up. Don't pay the $60 for a couple of lbs. Throw in the family dog if you have to. We thought about dispersing everything by using an extra bag...Bad idea tip #2 extra bag = $160. I can't wait to tell you how our overweight bags went over at the airport, you have to wait until day #2. So anyway I was done packing by about 11:00 p.m. This left me just enough time to do a little cleaning and vacuuming etc. by about 4:00 p.m we were off for our 3 hour drive to STL. When we arrived before going to my parents house, we stopped at Target (we don't have one.) First I have to tell you that when I get anxious it affects me physically. By physically I mean hello Target toilet. Anyway, I found myself standing on the baby aisle in Target completely overwhelmed. I don't know if I was nervous that I didn't pack everything or that I was forgetting something, or if it all seemed more real....Anyway I burst into tears. Literally. Then I panicked. Had I packed the right bottles? (playtex with liners Awesome and easier to clean then the Avent with liners same size of nipple...There is your tip #3) Anyway I only know what the Avent ended up being like because I bought $30 worth of Avent bottles and supplies. I was in serious panic mode. When we got to my parents house it was late enough that we put our sleeping boy to bed and then I enlisted the help of the super packer. I do believe this super packing is a gift and it is also genetic. I myself posses this gene but I am still in the apprentice stage. My Dad on the other hand has perfected the skill. Within the next 30 min. (it took me 5 hrs) He had unpacked and repacked all 4 of our suit cases with 3 of them hitting at exactly 48-49lbs and 1 of them being exactly 70 lbs. Awesome! I did have organization that got thrown out the window when he took over but heck it was a beautiful scene to watch the master at work. Then my parents gave me a prescription that they said would help me sleep. (Don't judge me lol). Next thing I knew it was Sat. morning and officially day #2.