July 16

Ok, here’s the post you’ve all been waiting for . . . . it’s Denver Day!!! Thanks for following along – your comments are making me smile. Bear with me . . . this is a long post with many pictures. It was really hard to choose just a few out of the hundreds. So here we go:

I was up at 4:30 am and decided to type again (journal on my laptop). I had lain awake for two hours after only sleeping for three. Will get downstairs for breakfast and then meet Solomon so he can take us to the baby home. Can’t wait to see my boy!

I had breakfast at the guest house – dry cereal. Today is a blackout day so there’s no power which means there was no toast. I could have had bread but the jam was just in a big bowl and I didn’t trust it. (Yes, I’m picky!) I’m trying to be so very cautious about what I eat and drink.

Yesterday a fellow adoptive mom found out that the plan for Kids Link here in Ethiopia was to move all the babies from the baby home to the toddler home and close up the baby home (since there’s no money coming in). I got nervous about that because I didn’t want Denver moved again – I wanted his next move to be to me. But I was assured that this wasn’t going to happen right away – it would be a few days or even in a week or two. Phew.

When I got downstairs, I found out that the babies were being moved today! So my plan was to see if I could take Denver today even though the policy is to visit your child on the first day and then take them on the second day when you come back. I was hoping they would make an exception because of Denver’s age and because of the situation, I thought it would also be one less mouth to feed. I had my fingers crossed.

Solomon said he would come get us at 9:30 to take us to the Canadian Embassy and then we would go from there to see our kids. Unfortunately Solomon had a hard time getting the van because they were moving the babies so it took forever. He didn’t come until after 10:30 to get us. He had arranged to use a different van for us.

We headed out to the Canadian Embassy where we had to go through a security check and then we were given badges – to prove we were allowed to be there. We had asked to see someone about our situation so they said the Immigration official we needed to talk to was busy and probably would be for an hour. So they said we could come back later in the day or even tomorrow. We discussed what to do but I wasn’t ok with leaving. I said I would be willing to wait and so that’s what we did. As it turned out we got to talk to the Consul himself – Mr. Nick Furlotte – which was even better. He was a very friendly man and seemed genuinely concerned about our situation. He knew all about what was going on in Canada with Imagine because his mom told him via MSN the day prior. Mr. Furlotte actually recognized my name because of all the work our MP’s office was doing back home. He knew I would be there that day to see them and knew that our MP’s office had spoken to Foreign Affairs as well. Unfortunately Mr. Furlotte was not really able to help us out too much. He did say that he figured, because of all the media attention and the pressure the government in Canada was getting, that something should be done sooner or later. He is unable to issue emergency passports for our children because they’re technically not Canadian citizens yet. He did take down our names, our children’s names, our file numbers (the “A” number) and our phone number at the Weygoss. That way he said he could call us directly when our visa’s come in so it doesn’t have to go through Martha at Kids Link. So even though we didn’t get a concrete answer or a solution to our problem, we did feel a bit more optimistic when we left there.

So now it was time to see our kids! We were feeling a tad hungry so we stopped at Kaldi’s (Ethiopian Starbucks) on our way. I had a croissant and some merinda (orange pop).

After that we headed out to the toddler home. There were many cribs and items from the baby home just sitting in the courtyard there. Solomon said that Denver was still at the baby home (hadn’t been moved yet) so we would first bring the other families to see their kids and then we’d go see Denver. So we went inside the lobby (reception area) at the toddler home and waited for a bit. The other two families that were there got their kids first. It was neat to experience that with them. Then Solomon told me that Denver was on his way – they were going to bring him after all. I waited and waited and waited – well over an hour.

See how patient I was??? Pacing, looking out the window, pacing, more pacing . . .

Finally Solomon said, “get ready”. And in he came.

What a sweetie. He was so happy and content and came to me no problem. He was actually very tired and just kind of hung out in my arms. I found out that he had been sleeping on the way over so I think he missed most of his nap. We just hung out for a long time there snuggling and staring at each other. He gave me lots of nice smiles and even did some “raspberries" with his tongue. So cute! It was great to finally meet our son but I was so disappointed and sad that Mike wasn’t there with me.

I had a meeting with Martha (the director at the transition home) and told her that I wanted to take Denver home with me today. I told her my reasons and I saw her really thinking about it. I told her that I understood the policy but was looking out for the best interest of my son. She was a little bit concerned about what other families would think if she let me. I told her that we had all discussed it and they understood my take on it. They also thought it would be better for their children to stay the first night after meeting them because they’re that much older than Denver. After chatting for a bit she said it was fine with her but that she would have to get it passed by the social worker first. She said Denver looked really content and comfortable with me already. So I went back out to the lobby to wait. The head nurse came out and went over his schedule with me and told me what to feed him and when. That was very helpful. Although unfortunately I didn’t get a bottle to take with me and had no idea what kind he was used to having. The nurse told me that Denver is a very happy baby and she also said he has great hair. She said it’s the kind of hair that Ethiopian’s like. A lot of Ethiopian’s have really coarse hair but because Denver’s is really soft, it’s easier to care for. I asked her if it would stay like that and she said yes, his hair would always stay soft like that. Yay!

On our way out, the caregivers from the baby home had come over and were all standing in the court yard. They all came over to say bye to Denver and many of them had tears in their eyes. It broke my heart to think about how the bankruptcy is affecting them and I knew that they were going in to have a meeting and that many of them would be out of a job immediately.

On our way home we stopped at a store so we could buy some supplies. I bought some cereal, small pasta, formula, water and a bottle.

I called Mike as soon as I got back to the guest house to tell him that I had Denver . . . in my arms . . . forever!!! He was shocked and couldn’t believe it. I told him what had happened.

Then we decided to go out for dinner. We ate at the Ice Blue restaurant which is close by. I had pizza and it was really good. (Reminds me of China where I lived on pizza). I can see ourselves going out there more often. The pizza could feed at least two people (with 1 – 2 pieces leftover) and only cost about $5.00 US. Denver ate his cereal in no time and even wanted a second bowl. He was really good there, looking around at everything.

I spoke to Mike again on the phone. I also talked to Victoria, Austin and Samara. Our MP’s office called while I was on the phone with Mike to say that she had just spoken to the High Commission in Nairobi and they have everything they need to process our file. But unfortunately they couldn’t tell her when that would be done.

When I got back to the guest house, I got some water boiled (had to go to the front desk so they could do it in the kitchen on a kerosene stove since there was still no power). Denver had a bottle – he drinks really, really slow but I wonder if the hole in the bottle is too small. I’ll have to experiment with that later. He fell asleep as he was drinking his bottle. He slept really well until 2:18 am and then had another small bottle and back to sleep until 6:20.