We set the alarm early in order to be there by 8 AM. Up until this day our morning rituals had been loooong and slooooow. This day was a glimpse at reality and how challenging it is to get two little boys ready under a deadline, even when you give yourselves two hours lead time!
Taye was pretty fussy that morning and at first I thought it was an emotional hangover from the day before. Then he indicated that his tummy hurt and shortly thereafter we all realized that it was much more than a case of the blues.
By the time we got to our embassy appointment the poor little guy had already thrown up three times (yes, most of it landed on me!). We were bumped to the front of the line and our embassy appointment went by in a blurr. For those anticipating this moment here are a few comments:
1. I was sooo glad I had a baby carrier with me.
2. Bring food, water, snacks and toys. Even being bumped to the front of the line we had a bit of a wait.
3. The interview itself was short and sweet. When they call your name you go upstairs, stand at a counter and speak to a person behind a window (think DMV), raise your right hand and swear you are telling the truth (which felt so "American" that I got a lump in my throat), then tell them what you know of your child(ren)'s story. They want to know things like where they are from, the circumstances that led to the adoption, who you have met. You sign a few documents and voile! Your child(ren) are Americans!
OK, in all seriousness it was not "voile". It took us two years to bring our boys home and we feel confident that our adoption is ligitimate thanks to the due-dilligence of many parties involved.
The whole embassy appointment thing is pretty unceremonious but in spite of being worried about Taye, and covered in vomit, the significance of it all was not lost on me.
When we got back to the guest house he fell asleep and slept soundly for the first time all day. With diagnosis, antibiotics and sleeping child in hand we started to breath a little easier and decided to attend the cultural dinner that evening. The restaurant was only 10 minutes from the guest house and Solomon, the amazing Solomon, offered to call and check in on him, so off we went.
For the next couple hours we relaxed a little, enjoyed the company of the other families in our group, and dined on delicious traditional Ethiopian food.
We were also entertained with traditional Ethiopian shoulder dancing. I loved watching these dancers. The video doesn't do justice to their talent!
Toward the end of the performance, one of the dancers came to our table and challenged us to this amazing, and difficult shoulder dancing. We had all heard how good Travis was and he did not disappoint...
It wasn't a surprise to see that Belay was good at it too!
Lisa and Travis did a great job! So did Eryn but I was still recovering from my own performance so I didn't get a picture of her, but no one could hold a candle to Mark! Watch this!
He received a loud round of applause for that performance! Who knew??
We were relieved to learn that both boys had slept the entire time we were gone. Exhausted ourselves, we fell straight into bed. We now refer to that enjoyable evening as "the eye of the storm", but more on that tomorrow...
