Day 9-Embassy

We have had one busy day!  Two nights ago, the girls slept through the night!  We praised God for that!  They didn't let us get too comfy though as last night was one of our roughtest.  I woke up this morning, and thought, "This can't be a new day, the last one hasn't ended yet!"  I was able to take a nap around noon while Adia slept and Jada played with Grandma...It was needed!

Yesterday we went to see Dr. Bollier and I cannot say enough good about that man!  At the end of a very long visit, the girls, grandma and me were EXHAUSTED.  We did hear that Adia had gained 13 ounces and Jada had gained 12 ounces...in SIX DAYS.  Whoa.  I am gonna have some chunky babies!  :) They are drinking 15 ounces more here.  They went from about 16 ounces a day to about 30. 

Day 9
As many of you know, we had our Embassy date on April 21st and were nervous about it based on information on how to answer that questions that was not the truth.  We had prayed and prayed about it and know that our team of prayer warriors was praying too! 

Wednesday finally arrived...

I was getting the girls ready and thought I would capture their difference in size.  Jada is on the left, Adia on the right.

Jon and Jada ready for the embassy...

I rushed around to get Adia ready. I am slowly learning to plan A LOT more time to get out the door with two little ones. :)

We couldn't take our camera into the Embassy. There were six families from our agency to go to the Embassy and it was super busy.  We waited and then Jon and I were called in first.  The lady who interviewed us asked us about 12 open-ended questions.  Including specifically, ""What happened to the birth parents".  We told her everything we knew.  There was also a little hiccup that she was unaware that we had changed agencies (which could have been a huge problem) but by the grace of God, we passed!

We came out rejoicing and our arms raised in victory.  The next two families also passed. We are so thankful and went to a waiting room to sit down.  The next three families didn't pass for various reasons.  It was so sad.  By the grace of God,the families handled it very calmly and learned what they had to do to move forward.  It was a huge hassle, U.S. Homestudy agencies had to be reached, congressmen called, etc. 

We returned to the guest house very subdued, I think our driver was a little confused as this trip was supposed to be exuberant, but no one really said anything and no one was sure what this meant for the families who didn't make it through, but we knew it meant hassle, more expense and more time in country.  The other families all also had other children at home, so it was not ideal.

Praise the Lord, the families are now all home and though it was a hard extra time, they are transitioning and adapting in their U.S. homes now.

By Wednesday night, I think we all wanted to return home.  So ready for vegetables and beef and so ready to start transitioning to a routine! Brian did find this great place that blended fresh fruits that we could eat, so I did feel like we started to get some good nutrition from the fruit!  Their is lots of fruits and veggies in Ethiopia, we just had to choose carefully as we couldn't drink the water or eat anything rinsed in the water.

A late night meal while the kids slept.  Jon and I had the bigger room and a table, so we would feast in our room.  :)  By this time, I had "injera'd" out I had some spaghetti. Heidi was also on the safe side and had fried rice.  I know, how boring, but don't worry, in Ethiopia, even the spaghetti is spicy!