Ethiopia Flashback #2

Sunday, March 6, 2011
Finally, we got up to dress and prepare for our day!  On a humorous note, Pat thought she would investigate the Ethiopian-style bidet.  Just as she was saying, "How does this thing work?" she squeezed the handle and sprayed herself in the face!  I was rolling on floor laughing!

Breakfast was served in the Guesthouse basement and seemed more American  than Ethiopian--fried potatoes, toast with butter and jam, fried eggs, coffee/tea, oatmeal and real fruit smoothies with mango and banana.  We leisurely walked up to the lobby to wait for our guide and driver, who were expected at 6:00.  Much to our surprise, we discovered that our trip was to be an overnight trip and we were to stay in another city!  So much for our leisure!  We rushed up all four flights, huffing and puffing, mind you, threw our suitcases together and rushed back down.  No one seemed too disturbed by our tardiness and we hit the road.

There were three Ethiopians with us, Mulu, our host and a social worker with Holt, Ciyun, our driver, and another gentleman who also worked with Holt and just needed to travel down to the South care centers.  Then there were the three families: Me and Pat representing our family, Emily and Steve, and Liam and Melanie.  The van was large enough that we had room between us and felt quite comfortable.  Heading out of town on the main road, we saw people already out, sweeping and cleaning the road or just walking to their place of work.  


Sunrise over Addis Ababa



The sun was just coming up and, being Sunday, the traffic  was lighter than usual according to Mulu. 

Herding cattle along the road

As we drove further into the countryside, we noticed more and more people walking by the road, herding cows, donkeys, goats, carrying water containers to the local well, and many carrying Bibles on their way to church.  Mulu said that many people were on their way to church.  We saw children everywhere and so many toddlers without an adult in sight and so close to the road!  Some children looked only 5 or 6 years old, yet were waving sticks to guide several cows or donkeys across the road.

Local residents on their way to church

Our group having our first rest stop

We drove for a couple of hours before stopping at a hotel/cafe to use the restroom and have a cold beverage.  We were beginning to get to know the two other couples who were travelling with us as we shared our adoption experience thus far and took turns bragging on our children.

We continued south toward the towns  of Durame and Soto, the locations of the two care centers in which our children were residing.  At a junction, we met another van and Pat and I along with Steve and Emily, moved to the second van and continued down to Soto, while Liam and Melanie remained with Mulu and Ciyun and drove up to Durame.  Our new guide was Wolde, another Holt case worker in the Wolayita zone.  They took us to a hotel/restaurant in Soto to get some lunch, but when we found out that the care center was only 1 kilometer from the restaurant, we were all wishing we could just skip lunch and go straight there!  Sigh! 

It was hard to know what to order on the Ethiopian menu so I just had spaghetti with vegetable "sauce."  Service is different there--timing doesn't seem to matter so much.  First Steve got his meal, then about 10 minutes later, Emily got hers, and another 10 minutes later I finally got mine.  By that time, my stomach was in so many knots knowing that I would soon see my little boy, but I forced down a few bites.  While we were waiting for our lunch, Wolde asked with which children we had been matched.  When I told him ours was Yoseph Simon, he grinned and nodded his head and told me that Yoseph is "very active boy."  When I asked him what that meant, he told me that Yoseph was a little ringleader and would organize his little friends and get them to sing and dance together.  When I asked Wolde how much Yoseph knew about me and about his adoption, he made a phone call to the care center and asked the head nurse.  She told him that they had told Yoseph that we were coming and that he was "very excited."  I felt such relief upon hearing that as I had already played out every possible scenario, good and bad, in my head and had been praying that he would receive us well.

Finally, it was time to go.  We all piled back into the van and then...the driver couldn't get it to start!  Soooo, we all piled out again and started walking up the street.  Apparently seeing white people is still unusual enough that most everyone stared at us as we walked by, friendly though with some offering a greeting or a welcoming gesture.  We crossed a deep ditch and turned on a narrow dirt road with shacks lining it.  A pair of mothers with their children saw us and smiled.  One little girl, brightly dressed in a yellow African dress, came up to Pat and said "salem", the word for hello (meaning "peace") and shook her hand in the Ethiopian tradition with the left hand at the right elbow and right hand extended.  As we crossed the ditch and began the uphill climb to the Care Center, she fell in beside me and offered me her hand to hold.  It was so endearing, but frankly, all I wanted at that moment was to see my Joseph and hold him.

We turned right one more time and a few yards up and on the left was the Care Center compound.  As the gate swung open and we stepped inside, we were greeted by a whirlwind of a boy hopping from foot to foot and calling out something in Wolayita language, who was unmistakably Joseph!  His smile was radiant and his expression clearly said he was thrilled to see us.  I couldn't have imagined a better reception!
We took off our shoes and were given some "indoor shoes" to put on and then we were ushered inside and joined Joseph on the floor, where the doctor and a nanny introduced me to him as his mommy.  I pulled out my bag of toys and let him discover them while I peppered the doctor with questions.  Joseph kept trying to stow everything in a small box and couldn't make it all fit, so finally I gave him my little backpack so he could keep it all in one place.  His nanny kept teasing him that she wanted to have his toys but he was clearly insisting they were his.  I asked, through an interpreter, if he would sing me a song.  He didn't want to sing but he offered to pray.  He stood up, folded his hands, closed his eyes and prayed.  The doctor told me afterward that he had asked the Lord to bless the guests and the time there.  Wow!

As I showed him his photo album of our family back home, I said Jack and Beth's names and he repeated them so quickly and his pronunciation was excellent!  I think he will pick up English very quickly.

Joseph's backpack

We were served Ethiopian coffee with the traditional popcorn while we visited and played and took photos.  One of Joseph's friends begged to be allowed to come in and meet Joseph's new mommy so the nannies let him come in and greet us.  I hope that he will be adopted soon, too! 

  

 When we had finished our coffee, I asked Joseph to show me where he sleeps.  He jumped up and started to put on the backpack, not wanting to let it out of his sight, I guess.  Then he scampered out the back door without waiting for us to follow.  We had to change from indoor shoes to outdoor shoes again before we could catch up with him.  He was in the room  where he sleeps with 4 other young boys and the other boys were all hugging him and kissing him when we poked our heads in.  I asked if I could take a picture and then had someone take a photo with me and Joseph together.  I think I leaned over to give him a little kiss while my arm was around him and then one of the nannies apparently told him to kiss me.  The camera operator was having trouble and so they kept having to tell him to do it again and again.  I didn't care if it was staged or not, I was eating it up!  Oh, those kisses were sweeter than chocolate and melted my heart!  We ended up with me tickling him and laughing together. 



Joseph's not much for standing still, though.  As soon as he heard that it was time for the guests to leave, he started running for the gate and told the nanny he wanted to go with us.  Before they could even respond, he had run back to the room with the other boys and was starting to say his farewells.  They finally caught up with him and explained that I was his mommy, but I had to leave and take care of some paperwork and that I would be back.  Apparently he accepted that fairly well, as I didn't see any tears while I was there and he and I blew each other kisses as I backed out of the gate.  Oh, it was all too quick!  It felt like we had just arrived and then left again.  And boy did I wish I could have scooped him up and brought him with me!  What an amazing afternoon!  What an amazing little boy!  What an amazing God we serve!

P.S. I cannot post recognizable photos of Joseph until we officially adopt him, so if anyone wants me to email a photo, please email me at margwoff@hotmail.com and let me know.  And if you do, please don't post any either. :)  Thanks!





Ethiopia Flashback #1

Friday, March 4: Was it only a week ago I awakened at 4:00 a.m. to check my flight status.  The travel agent had warned me that we needed to make it on time to Amsterdam for the third leg of the journey, and if there was any hitch it would be the Seattle flight due to weather or fog.  So, worse case scenario was to rebook on an earlier flight out of Eugene that was routed some other way than Seattle.  Alas, that travel agent robbed me of two precious hours of sleep!  Everything was on time!

At 7:15 a.m., we loaded up my Mom's Volvo and headed to the airport, thinking since it was an international flight, we would need to check in early.  Ha!  The ticket counter didn't even open until 8:15.  Another hour of sleep deprivation!  Oh well, we had a quick bite of breakfast at the restaurant and got to chat with my friend Renee, who works there and whom I hadn't seen for a while. 

Jack and Beth gave me hugs and were so somber as Grandma Louise led them out to the car and then to school.  I prayed for them to learn to trust Jesus no matter what happened and to feel like they were being held in His arms, to know His love a little deeper.

9:50 a.m.: We were finally in the air!  On the way to see my little boy, Joseph!  And I could finally relax, knowing that I had done as much as I could at home to be ready and to prepare Jack and Beth for a week with both parents gone.  So, a one-hour flight to Seattle, a 2-hour layover, a 10-hour flight to Amsterdam, another 3-hour layover, and finally an 8-hour flight, with a 1-hour refueling layover in Sudan, later, we deboarded in Addis Ababa.  Local time was 10:20 p.m. on Saturday, March 5.    Time back home was 11:20 a.m. on Saturday.  Tired was an understatement as, whether due to the uncomfortableness of sleep on an airplane or maybe adrenaline, neither of us had much success sleeping on any of the flights.

We headed straight for customs and were near the front of the line so it only took a few minutes to present passports, get our visa stamps and move out into the baggage claim area.  Since we had not checked any baggage, we went straight to the bank to exchange some dollars for birr.  Exchange rate was 1:16.66673  or something like that.  So when they handed me 3200 birr for my $200 it felt like a huge wad of cash, well I guess it was a huge wad, but anyway...we had to send our bags through one more machine before we finally broke through to the real world again!  Airports are such bubbles!

A man was there holding a sign with "HOLT ETHIOPIA" printed on it so we made a beeline for him.  We met another couple who had just arrived on a flight from Frankfurt and eventually a third couple who had been on that same flight but who had lost a piece of luggage and were filling out the necessary paperwork should it be found.  They weren't worried as it was a suitcase of donated items for the care centers not their personal belongings.

Walking outside, we immediately smelled woodsmoke.  Mitch says that every country he has been to has a distinctive smell and this time I really paid attention.  Yep, woodsmoke.  Anyway, as we trudged to what turned out to be the hotel van, several men started to follow us.  They had name badges on and were trying to get us to let them take care of our luggage, for a tip I'm sure.  As we tried to load the van, they just jumped right in and grabbed our bags, handing them to our driver, kind of pushy if you ask me, but I wondered if we should tip them anyway?  I asked the driver, but he didn't seem to speak English too well.  He shook his head, but I don't know if he really understood me.  Oh well.

It was a short drive, maybe 10 minutes, first on a 4-lane main road then on a narrow dirt alley/street,  to the Jemimah Guesthouse where Holt had booked our rooms.  There were several nice, walled compounds (one was even posted as the Cuban Embassy) with rolled, barbed wire across the tops of the walls.  And in between and everywhere were shacks thrown up, made of scraps of wood and corrugated sheet metal.  At the Guesthouse, the driver honked the horn and someone opened up the gate for us.  We checked in, arranged to eat breakfast in the dining room at 5:30 a.m., and headed up 4 flights of stairs (no elevators!) to our room.  By the time we got up there, Iwas so winded (lack of exercise or 8000-ft elevation?) I could hardly breathe, let alone speak for about a minute!  There was only one key, a real key, and we were informed that the front desk would hold it for us when we were "out." 

The beds looked so inviting when we opened the door and the shower was beckoning me, to wash off the travel grime.  The shower was great, but alas, the beds were hard as rocks!  Maybe it was all the strange sounds in a new place, maybe the stuffy heat of the closed room, maybe some of that adrenaline  still working overtime, but

neither Pat nor I got much sleep after all.  You'd think after a 30-hour flight and with getting up so early, we'd sleep soundly, but no, I must have checked my alarm clock at least 10 times until finally it was time to get up and get ready for breakfast.

Adoption is Awesome!

Well, here we go again! As many of our friends, and certainly our family, know, we are in the process of adopting our third child. He is an adorable 4-year-old from Ethiopia named Yoseph Simon (we call him "Joseph").
Our newest adventure started in December 09 when we filled out our application and sent it off to Holt International. Over the following 8 months, we took care of much of the paperwork and the homestudy, but by August '10 we had not quite completed our dossier. After receiving some info that seemed to indicate that our wait to be matched with a child would be longer than expected, we agreed to just trust God and be thankful that we had more time to save for the travel expenses of two trips to Ethiopia. Within just two days of that decision, we received a phone call at work from Holt informing us that they had a child to match with us and would we please get our dossier completed ASAP. Talk about a 180!!!
Per the phone conversation, Margaret was informed that he was 3 1/2 years old and that he would be 4 in September. An email would be sent containing information about Joseph and some photos. As Margaret drove home, her thoughts were spinning and the big question was, "Could his birthday possibly be September 11...a day already special to us because it is "Gotcha Day" for Jack and Beth and because it is Margaret's mom's birthday?" Unbelievably, we found out that, indeed, Joseph's birthday is September 11! We had no doubts then that he was meant to be a part of our family!
So, our lives suddenly clicked into fast forward and we hustled to get it all submitted. Now we are expecting to have Joseph home with us as early as May or June '11. Margaret is headed to Ethiopia in just two days to attend a court hearing in the Ethiopian Federal Court. And she will get to finally see and hug and play with the son who is already in her heart! Grandma Pat graciously offered to travel with her since Mitch is currently on active duty orders with the Air Force. He will finish his tour right before our next travel date which is yet to be determined.
Unfortunately, we cannot post facial photos of Joseph until he is relinquished to our custody and currently the only photos we have are of his face and upper body. But when Margaret returns, there are sure to be photos of her visit, so please check in again!
Please pray for:

• Safe travel for Margaret and Pat
• Peace of mind and emotions for Jack and Beth who will be staying home with a dear friend part of the time and with Grandma Louise part of the time
• Mitch's safety
• That Margaret will get everything done on the to-do list before she leaves!

We hope this new blog finds all of you well and blessed!

Our Second Christmas and...Disneyland!

Our Christmas Vacation 2008 started early with the 4 inches of snow we got during the last week of school. Jack and Beth couldn't wait to suit up and go outside to play in the snow and build a snow man. Christmas celebrations took several days as we spent time with various family members at different times. Christmas Eve was spent at a Candlelight service at church followed by our tradition of Mexican food for dinner with Margaret's Mom. Then the opening of the first packages! Beth was delighted with her new horse-embroidered bathrobe and Jack couldn't wait to wear his new Lightning McQueen p.j.s! (Yes, he's still a Cars fan!)

Christmas morning tradition is to open the BIG presents from Mommy and Daddy. Then we had a big breakfast with stocking stuffers to open. Late morning, the Wofford side of the family arrived with even more gifts! It was quite overwhelming for everyone! But we all had a lot of fun and sure appreciated the thoughtfulness that everyone put into their gifts!

As soon as the house cleared, we rushed to pack our suitcases for our trip to California. We had to take care of some business related to the finalization of the adoption and decided to have a mini-vacation at the same time.

It took us only a day and a half to get all the way to, you guessed it, Disneyland! We spent Saturday p.m. and all day Sunday at the park and had so much fun on the rides (Jack loved Autopia and Beth enjoyed the carousel with the horses) and visiting the characters!

Jack was so excited to see Pooh Bear that he ran to him and gave him a huge hug as soon as it was his turn! Beth enjoyed seeing the princesses and got her picture with Minnie, Jasmine and Belle.

Monday was our day to visit the Thai Consulate. We had blocked out the entire day (just in case), but our business only took about 15 minutes! So we headed down to Station 51 (well, actually its Station 127) of Emergency! fame. It was cool to see the real place that we used to see every week on t.v. as kids! We even drove by Rampart Hospital! Then we headed toward the ocean and ended up at the Santa Monica Pier.

The weather was sunny so we headed for the beach. Beth and Jack were thrilled to get to wade in the surf. We told them just up to the knees, but as soon as Jack lost his balance and ended up soaked, well, that was the end of keeping dry! After a quick return to our motel to change clothes, we headed back to the pier to get some seafood.

Tuesday, we drove through Hollywood, Beverly Hills, down Rodeo Drive and over to Thai Town to have lunch. Yummy! After that we headed West again to Venice where we had plans to meet Margaret's Swedish host family, whom she hadn't seen for 18 years! It was quite the coincidence that they happened to be there at the same time! We had a wonderful dinner together and had a hard time actually saying goodbye. We headed back toward Oregon that evening and drove as far as Fresno before stopping for the night. We made excellent time on Wednesday and even got home in time to celebrate New Years Eve with our friends! Now our little vacation is over and tomorrow is back to school and work. The kids are excited to get back to school and we are glad to get back to a routine! It's funny to see Jack at age 4 and realize that he is the age that Beth was when they first came to us. So much has happened in just one year and so much growth! We hope that 2009 will be even more blessed, not just for us, but for all of you, too!

What a year!

As you have probably guessed by my lack of blogging, this year has been BUSY! So I thought that I would just pass the highlights on to you...Our first Christmas with our children was delightful! It was so fun to watch them experience Christmas for the very first time! And of course they got royally spoiled by all the aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas, not to mention mommy and daddy! They didn't really catch on to the real meaning of it all, but they sure had fun decorating the Christmas tree, wrapping presents (although they couldn't keep a secret!) and of course the unwrapping.

In January, Beth and Jack experienced SNOW for the first time--and loved it! It only lasted a day or two but for two weeks after, Jack wanted to know when we could make a snowman again.

As their English language skills increased, they both became much more outgoing and confident around other people, especially friends their own ages. We tried to arrange play dates to help them adjust socially to their home as well as consistently attended Sunday School.

So by the time we flew out to Washington DC in April, they were ready for an adventure. Both of them loved flying in an airplane again and were so excited to finally meet the cousins we had told them of for so long. By the time we drove up to their townhouse, Jack and Beth were so ready to run around and play that when they saw their cousins riding bikes on the sidewalk, they jumped out and joined right in. No introductions needed! We had an amazing week visiting my sister and family and seeing some of the sights of DC. The highlight for Mitch was attending the NASCAR race in Richmond, VA and I was happy just to spend time with my favorite sister :)

Back home in Oregon, our next major event was Mother's Day. My first one with Beth and Jack. They took me out to my favorite breakfast place and spoiled me with flowers, and of course lots of hugs and kisses.
At the end of May, we took a trip to the Oregon Coast--the first time for Jack and Beth. They had so much fun splashing in the surf and trying to find little fish in the waves in spite of the chilly water! We looked for starfish and sea anenomes at Heceta Head Beach then wrapped up our day at Mo's resturant, where the kids loved their famous clam chowder!
Father's Day was a mini family reunion as Mitch's brother, sister and parents as well as my mom joined us for a backyard BBQ. The kids had fun splashing and "swimming" in the new pool and gave their Daddy pool toys for gifts.
July 5 was my brother's wedding and the kids added a new aunt to the list of new family members. They didn't mind one bit--just another person to spoil them, right?
More firsts for them included swimming in a lake, pony rides for Beth and motorcycle rides for Jack at the county fair.
The highlight of Beth's summer was her princess birthday on August 15! We celebrated at Grandma Louise's house and had a huge water slide for the kids to play on. Beth was definitely the star of the show and thoroughly enjoyed every minute!
We went camping at family camp for the Labor Day weekend and they thought sleeping in the camp trailer was a lot of fun. The weather wasn't the best, but we still had some fun family times. Jack learned to ride his bicycle without training wheels while we were there and was quite the celebrity, being still only three years old!

September 10 was their first day of school--Beth started kindergarten and Jack started preschool. Beth was especially excited since she has a couple of older friends who go to school and she thought it sounded fun. She loves her teacher and is picking up so much language and math every day! Jack is having a lot of fun at preschool and has a best friend with whom he is inseparable, especially if they are playing cars. I went back to school, too...as a long-term substitute teacher for a trimester. After Thanksgiving I was offered a half-time position at the same school for the remainder of the school year. It's been quite the adjustment for all of us, including Mitch, who has had to pick up a lot of the slack (and do a lot of laundry!)
Jack and Beth both got to attend a Duck football game with Daddy this fall, we all made apple cider again and the kids got to go trick-or-treating for the first time since last year was a little too soon for them to be able to understand. Jack was Spiderman and Beth was a princess.
We enjoyed lots of family time for my birthday and Thanksgiving.

And then it was finally Jack's long-awaited four-year-old birthday! We celebrated with family, then at school, and then with a kids' playdate! Whew! Needless to say, Jack is proud to finally be FOUR.
Today we finished our Christmas tree sales at my mom's farm and are now in the midst of the crazy last-minute shopping. This time around, I hope to update everyone much more frequently. We all, the Woffords, wish everyone a blessed Christmas and a fruitful New Year!
Margaret

Flashback to November

Yes, I am trying to fill in the gaps, so bear with me. I'll get to Christmas pictures soon enough!

...Here are some pictures of Beth and Jack at the wonderful shower that Connie Kulick hosted for them. We had a wonderful, intimate little party that started off with delicious holiday eggnog while we waited for all of the guests. Jack and Beth got to meet their cousin, Rachelle, for the the first time and enjoyed playing with Miss Connie's toys together.

We all enjoyed a delicious luncheon of chicken and rice, Jack and Beth's favorite, followed by a scrumptious cake topped with chocolate-dipped blackberries. Connie really made us feel so special with all of her wonderful preparations!

The kids especially liked to help Mommy open the presents and wanted to carry them all to the car all by themselves.

So much for catching up...

Well, it's hard to believe so much time has flown by. Here it is almost Christmas already! And I hardly said anything about November! So I guess a quick update is in order...

At the beginning of November, we had an apple cider pressing party with the Kulicks. Beth and Jack were anxious to help, especially if it meant "playing" in the water. We ended up with 40 gallons of cider by the end of the long day.

On November 7 (Mommy's birthday) we were invited to feed the ducks with Anna and Cheryl Johnson at the park. Unfortunately, the geese thought they were pretty special and scared all the ducks away. We had a very nice outing anyway.

Back at home, Daddy was mowing the lawn for the last time of the season and Jack thought he wanted to help. The matching outfits was unplanned but turned out pretty cute (Shhh, don't tell Mitch I said cute!)

We also had a fun day with Mai, our Thai friend who taught us what little Thai words we know. We started out at the Asian market where she showed me the best brands to buy and helped me choose some things to make real Thai food. Then we drove over to the UO campus and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The weather was beautiful so we took a walk on campus, where we got this great shot. It was wonderful to see the children warm up so well to Mai! They were still a little bit shy about talking to her and would only nod or shake their heads when she spoke Thai, but she quickly became the favored hand-holder when crossing the street!