For some reason I'm mostly just business on my blog, but this post undoubtedly represents unique circumstances…
My blog has been a bit quite lately because my wife (Sarah) and I have been preparing for a trip to Ethiopia to pick up our two children that we just adopted. We got to Ethiopia last Saturday night (July 4th), and got to meet Molly and Noah the next day. It was so great to finally hold them in our arms… they are beautiful, and very happy! While in Ethiopia, we got to stay at a really nice "guest house" that our agency has set up over there… it was really comfortable. We got our own room and bathroom, and it had a common living room with fire place that we sat in front of each night. (it was actually colder there than in MN!) We stayed at the house with three other couples who were meeting their children that same day.
While we were there, we spent time with the kids each day, but didn't bring them home with us at night, as to give them more time to adjust to us, while being able to sleep in their familiar bed a few more nights before left. We had so much fun with them! We at our meals at another, newer guest house affiliated with our agency. We had our own chef, Wendy, he cooked us great meals all week… although it wasn't the traditional Ethiopian food I was looking sooo forward to… it was still good though!
One night we did go to a really cool Ethiopia restaurant called Fasika (there's actually one here in MN…weird). But, it was super cool…(see pics below). They had Ethiopian dancers and singers that were awesome. It is an Ethiopian custom that you eat with your right hand (no silverware) and that you feed your friends (weird, I know… but a tradition, none the less!) So, our friend, Astare, fed us all super huge bits of food all night long!
We drove around Ethiopia all week with our own personal drivers. They were so helpful, and fun! The roads were pretty bumpy and muddy (it rains there almost everyday in the winter – monsoon season). When we went to pick up the kids and bring them to our place, we had them sit on our laps in the car. It felt so wrong! But, that's how they do it there. The poverty is everywhere there. Even off major "highways" you could see homeless people sleeping in the medians and on sidewalks. There were just thousands of people EVERYWHERE we looked.
We got to meet Molly and Noah's nannies and see their room as we checked them out of the orphanage on the last day. Although there is much poverty there, they were well taken care of there. They were in a room with 13 other babies…so they can pretty much sleep through anything!
Our trip home was REAL long. Over 20 hours of travel with 2 babies… NUTS. Our flight left Ethiopia at 10:30pm… got delayed on the runway for over an hour… flew to Sudan, then Amsterdam (8 hours)… had a 2 hour layover in Amsterdam, then flew to Minneapolis (another 8 hours). I don't think I slept at all… although the kids did. They were GREAT. It was seriously the LONGEST day of my life though… I don't want to fly again for awhile!
Sooo, as you can see, I've been and will be VERY busy – however – I intend on keeping the blogging/speaking screws turning. My thanks goes out to all those who helped us with this adoption process! God is good!
Some pics:
[This is when Sarah and I first met Molly and Noah at the Orphanage…]
[Daddy's little girl! Introducing Molly Sarah Ayan Wicklund…]
[Africa is much greener than I would've guessed – VERY beautiful!!]
[Farming done the hard way…]
[I can't believe I have a SON! Introducing Noah Phillip Iskindir Wicklund!]
[Ethiopian food usually involved a big, thin pancake thingy with meat on it that everyone shares – family style!]
[In Ethiopia, it is tradition for your friends to feed you… not even my wife had ever done that to me back home!!!]
[Three's NOT a crowd!]
[My daughter Adalyn meeting Molly for the first time!]