Ok so first of all-- It's hard to find time to post when you have a toddler!!
It's been an amazing 36 hours getting to know each other. He is so sweet and has been so amenable to everything. Things we have learned:
- he's left handed
- he can eat with a fork(and is cleaning his plate twice per meal)
- he loves birds:)
- he fell right asleep last night, literally in seconds
- while shy and quiet, he notices EVERYTHING
- he has an amazing ability to sit and focus-- very particular about where things go and how things work
- he likes to figure things out, how doe sit work?
Anyway-- Lord willing our Visas will be printed tomorrow and we come. While we miss Patterson and William terribly, and the primitive living isn't ideal, we are blessed to have these few days with Israel to get to know each other. We are only a few hundred yards from the orphanage so all the sounds and smells are still familiar to him.
Please pray for our safe return, the 17 hour flight, and that he would continue to be unafraid and easygoing.
Love to all
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Spent a few hours with Israel
Arrived in Addis early and without incident. So funny how the second time around it seems like old hat. The city is still as crazy, as foreign, as totally unreal, but not as overwhelming at all.
We went straight to the guest house, unpacked and sat in the warm sunshine--- 70 degrees and sunny here. Very nice breeze. We stared out across the ravine at Help for the Needy(Israel's orphanage). Cant wait to get over there to see him, i mean we know where he is, we can walk there, he's our son, but alas, it's Ethiopia....let's be patient, lets respect the process, let's be patient. So we take advantage of an hour's downtime to recover from the flight. Then a quick lunch in the guest house and off to CHS office for a presentation on their in-country efforts---- money from adoptions is going to build three schools, a health clinic for mothers and children, drinking water/wells and electricity to rural areas. It is pretty cool, we knew all this but the adoption process is so frustrating it easy to forget all the good things they are doing for Ethiopia.
Then we head over--- it's the moment we have been waiting for. We are so unprepared!!!! What do you say the the nannie who's been caring for him for 6 months? What do we say to him?! He doesn't know english, he doesn't know us. Will he cry if we try to hold him? Will WE cry? Is it bad if we don't?
Said a quick prayer for God's grace.
CHS sends in a social worker with a video camera first--- so that Israel can see this day from older eyes. He will remember it.(another thing CHS does well).
We walk into the sleeping room. 10 kids are sitting and laying on the floor quietly, some smiling, some not, but ALL watching what's going on. Israel is off to the side-- the Nannie is gently talking to him, encouraging him to smile and come see us, which he does. clearly they have been showing him the little phot book and preparing him for this day. He flashes a shy smile and come sovereign and sits right in allison's lap.
We spent two great hours with him. Mostly outside. He is very cute, very quiet, and very small. He really enjoyed kicking the soccer ball! We peeked over fences, followed the flight path of various birds, rolled trucks etc. We sat quietly for a spell. He showed a mischievous side too--- he would take the ball, scamper out of sight and wait for us to come around the corner. When we did he would laugh and throw the ball down the stairs!
We are working on a few words in amharic--- No, Good job, Okay, toilet, Come---
Tomorrow we have our big Emabssy appointment, his going away party at the orphanage -- this is our last night without a toddler!
We went straight to the guest house, unpacked and sat in the warm sunshine--- 70 degrees and sunny here. Very nice breeze. We stared out across the ravine at Help for the Needy(Israel's orphanage). Cant wait to get over there to see him, i mean we know where he is, we can walk there, he's our son, but alas, it's Ethiopia....let's be patient, lets respect the process, let's be patient. So we take advantage of an hour's downtime to recover from the flight. Then a quick lunch in the guest house and off to CHS office for a presentation on their in-country efforts---- money from adoptions is going to build three schools, a health clinic for mothers and children, drinking water/wells and electricity to rural areas. It is pretty cool, we knew all this but the adoption process is so frustrating it easy to forget all the good things they are doing for Ethiopia.
Then we head over--- it's the moment we have been waiting for. We are so unprepared!!!! What do you say the the nannie who's been caring for him for 6 months? What do we say to him?! He doesn't know english, he doesn't know us. Will he cry if we try to hold him? Will WE cry? Is it bad if we don't?
Said a quick prayer for God's grace.
CHS sends in a social worker with a video camera first--- so that Israel can see this day from older eyes. He will remember it.(another thing CHS does well).
We walk into the sleeping room. 10 kids are sitting and laying on the floor quietly, some smiling, some not, but ALL watching what's going on. Israel is off to the side-- the Nannie is gently talking to him, encouraging him to smile and come see us, which he does. clearly they have been showing him the little phot book and preparing him for this day. He flashes a shy smile and come sovereign and sits right in allison's lap.
We spent two great hours with him. Mostly outside. He is very cute, very quiet, and very small. He really enjoyed kicking the soccer ball! We peeked over fences, followed the flight path of various birds, rolled trucks etc. We sat quietly for a spell. He showed a mischievous side too--- he would take the ball, scamper out of sight and wait for us to come around the corner. When we did he would laugh and throw the ball down the stairs!
We are working on a few words in amharic--- No, Good job, Okay, toilet, Come---
Tomorrow we have our big Emabssy appointment, his going away party at the orphanage -- this is our last night without a toddler!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Answered Prayer!!!!
First and foremost--- Praise and Glory be to God!
Allison and I are humbled by how richly he has blessed us---- the love of family and friends is overwhelming at times.
So we got "the email" from the US Embassy on December 15th, Israel's Visa and Passport were approved. Just like that---
AFTER ALL the back and forth with the agency, vague responses to our inquiries from the Embassy, a barrage of helpful letters from NC elected officials Shuler, Burr, Price, Hagan, contact through friends to State Dept officials, the tireless efforts of one persistent sister, conference calls with Immigration, more conference calls with our agency, help from an advocacy non-profit group, and the untold number of prayer requests from family and friends----- the Lord has decided it's time for Israel to be a Sheehan. We may never know the true nature of the holdups and delays or "field investigation", and for now only God knows why the sudden approval---
We are at Dulles ready to board the flight---- with a plan to get our son and be home by Christmas!
Please pray for Israel---- there is no way he can be prepared for the changes ahead.
Allison and I are humbled by how richly he has blessed us---- the love of family and friends is overwhelming at times.
So we got "the email" from the US Embassy on December 15th, Israel's Visa and Passport were approved. Just like that---
AFTER ALL the back and forth with the agency, vague responses to our inquiries from the Embassy, a barrage of helpful letters from NC elected officials Shuler, Burr, Price, Hagan, contact through friends to State Dept officials, the tireless efforts of one persistent sister, conference calls with Immigration, more conference calls with our agency, help from an advocacy non-profit group, and the untold number of prayer requests from family and friends----- the Lord has decided it's time for Israel to be a Sheehan. We may never know the true nature of the holdups and delays or "field investigation", and for now only God knows why the sudden approval---
We are at Dulles ready to board the flight---- with a plan to get our son and be home by Christmas!
Please pray for Israel---- there is no way he can be prepared for the changes ahead.
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