The Trip to Our Daughter....
Where do I begin? After what seemed like hurdle, after hurdle we were finally told we had our official court date! The day little Fennet (Aliyah) would legally become our daughter - June 24th, 2013. We jumped for joy, were so thrilled! We did some last minute shopping for the trip, packed as quickly as possible, and planned Alexa’s stay away from us for the first time (thanks to both of our parents for being willing to help us out). Then, come Wednesday night, the night before we were to leave, we randomly checked our email to find an email saying to NOT GO! That there was a problem! Our hearts sank, we felt frustrated, upset, angry, all in one! Our flights were already booked, Brandons vacation time already used ….we were so upset. Our agency consultant and the head guy in Ethiopia worked VERY hard to help make the courts KEEP our court date....This entailed an appeal to the court (with a letter written by us … errr my sister Carrie cuz I was to upset to write haha)! The courts accepted our APPEAL and our plans, although delayed by 2 days, were a GO!!! With some slight changes to our flight plans (we were now scheduled to leave Saturday, instead of Thursday) we were SET!!
With some nerves in place we kissed Alexa goodbye and headed to the airport. We traveled to Washington first, and stayed the night there. We went swimming and had a delicious dinner. The next morning, we work up very early to get on the airplane. We took Ethiopian Air, and left at 10:15 am our time.
We arrived in Addis, Ethiopia 7:45am the next day (their time). The plane ride was pretty easy, nothing out of the ordinary. We pretty much watched Friends the entire time haha! When we arrived, we immediately were sent to our hotel.
We were greeted by VERY nice people. We were just about to head to our room to get a few hours of sleep when we were informed we were GOING TO MEET OUR DAUGHTER IN AN HOUR! We couldn't believe it! With very little sleep, we got dressed, and drove to meet her!! THE MEETING was INDESCRIBABLE! A nice nanny brought her out, and handed her right to me! She was just everything we've imagined and dreamed about. She is just super laid back and SO SO SO beautiful. She giggled very quickly and loved to cuddle. Anytime she got excited she would stick out her little tongue and squeal! WE WERE IN LOVE!!
After lots of giggles, they took her back because we HAD TO GET READY FOR COURT! (Yes, we still haven’t slept...at this point we were living on pure adrenyline). We went back to our hotel for about an hour, to meet up with another couple! Within a short time we were all on our way to COURT! We both had some nerves, for we didn't know what to expect. BUT EVERYTHING WENT PERFECTLY. With a few questions by the judge, FENNET WAS DECLARED OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is OURS! FOREVER! It was such an amazing moment! Alemu, the head AAI consultation in ET took us back to the orphanage to spend some quality time with our daughter!! We spent several hours loving on her...getting her to giggle, laugh, say dada, and hi! We had such an amazing time!!! Brandon and I also spent some time playing with the other kiddos! He played soccer, tickled them, played catch, blew bubbles, had such a life changing experience. It was really such an AMAZING DAY.
That night we slept....and woke up really early the next day to get ready for a traveling day of Ethiopia! We went to many museums and learned the culture of Ethiopia! Ethiopia is a beautiful country, with beautiful people...but the experience was still quite difficult! It was definitely a culture shock! Seeing how people live everyday there, really made us want to give away our stuff! I will NEVER complain again about the roads, or my cell phone being out of service... or anything! I do have to say, that although Ethiopians don't have a lot of physical ‘stuff’ they make up for that with such amazing culture and love for one another! They truly are so genuine! The experience can only be described as LIFE CHANGING!!!!! We loved going to our Ethiopian dinner and dance....learning their way of life! It was such an amazing experience.
Our trip came to a conclusion with a trip to the Market. This was difficult on us in a lot of ways, seeing children begging for food and money. But the market was still amazing! We were able to get some beautiful pieces of art and figurines.
After our trip, the day ended with us taking our baby girl to get passport photos (with her falling asleep on my lap LOVE)! When our driver came we had to give her a kiss and say goodbye! This was NOT easy, but we KNEW she was being cared for and loved tremendously...and we KNOW we will be back to pick her up forever VERY soon!
Our baby girl- Aliyah Fennet Hawrot Declared ours on June 24th, 2013....home forever VERY SOON!! Pray for us, that this SOON is REALLY SOON! For we miss her so much already!!
