ok. So where was I? Oh yes, giddy! I was so excited to be getting ready to travel home! Even the thought of Jake and Em brought me to tears...yes, I was a total mess all day Thursday. But I was ready and more than willing to tackle what Ryan and I had agreed for 18 months was the most terrifying step in this journey....the plane ride home!
Our guide had assured us that arriving at the airport 2 1/2 hours early would be ample time to get through with minimal stress...WRONG! I guess there was bad weather in Washington DC that affected the delicate balance of the Addis Ababa Airport. When we pulled away from the guest house that evening it was raining...hard. I had no umbrella or rain coat. Luckily the baby wrap completely covered Desi. The airport was packed! The line for ticketing was long and slow! By the time we made it to the ticket counter we were nervous. The agent kept talking to other people the whole time he was helping us and then when he was done he looked us in the face and told us we were on STAND BY! Oh, my friend, you did not just say STAND BY! There was no way we were going to be on stand by! He assured us that we would get on this plane, but we would have to wait until we got to the gate to get our seating assignments. Deep Breaths!
So, if you were standing there with us and you looked to the left, you would have seen a line that could easily have been a mile long. And that was the line for immigration, which was just where we needed to go. By this time we only had an hour until our flight would start boarding and this line was not moving. Somehow, by the grace of God, we were ushered to a very short line along with the 2 other couples we were traveling with. Maybe 6 frantic looking Americans with Ethiopian babies tipped someone off that we needed help? After making it through immigration and finally to the gate the agent there asked us to sit and wait while she could "see what I can do..." My heart was racing and I don't even want to describe what Ryan was like! When there was not a single person left in the gate area because they all had boarded the plane, the agent finally handed us a couple of boarding passes for, get this, BUSINESS CLASS. Really? Well at least all the panic and fear landed us in the first row! We arrived at our seats as the flight attendant was offering champagne. As much as I probably needed a drink, I passed.
Since it was almost 10:30 at night, Desi fell asleep after take off and I thought we were off to a good start for the 17 hour flight back to Washington DC. About an hour into the flight I made the mistake of letting the flight attendant talk me into trying to put Desi down in the bassinet that was available for our seats. Now awake, she wouldn't let me put her down, nor would she let me sit down. So I stood in the first row of first class swaying...and yes, crying. I could feel the eyes on me and I felt so silly. I didn't want everyone thinking I was having a nervous break down or didn't know what I was doing, even though I would say that both scenarios were true.
Out of nowhere, another mom from our travel group was at my side. She was experiencing a lot of what I had been going through with her new son. God must have told her to find me because I needed someone to look at me at the moment and say that they understood and that I was going to make it. I knew I would make it home, I knew God would help me get this girl home, even if I had to stand and sway for 12 more hours in first class.
We flew on Ethiopian Airlines, which was a blessing since the flight attendants are Ethiopian. A very nice woman offered to hold Desi for me and I quickly agreed. She was able to get her to sleep in the bassinet. Praise God! I fully reclined my extra spacious seat, kicked out the foot rest and cried myself to sleep under my blue velour eye mask. The rest of the flight was still hell-in- the-sky for me, but she did take another nap in the bassinet and by the end she was pretty stir crazy so she got off my lap a little and walked around some...the first time she was willing to do this in the presence of Ryan...so that was a little breakthrough right there. I don't think that we terrorized anyone who had actually paid for their first class tickets, so by the time we landed in DC I was feeling okay that it didn't go worse...she could have screamed for 17 hours, I guess. And...we were stateside! Finally! Back in the USA! Now we just had to get on one more flight and get home to our life and our American babies!
Getting through customs in DC was like everything else...slow. But we didn't have any trouble and so we were off to say goodbye to our travel com padres, find our gate, and have some familiar tasting food. After a big fat juicy cheeseburger that tasted like Heaven, we arrived at our gate. There was no one working at the gate, so Ryan went to buy some Dramamine. While he was gone I was hearing an announcement that was stating that our flight had fully checked in an to watch for your name to appear on stand by list....yeah, you read that right...STAND BY! United Airlines overbooked our flight! It's actually worse, because one of us was on stand by and the other was going to be the lucky recipient of a $400 travel voucher and a seat on the next flight to Indy in about 5 hours. The minute an agent appeared we were pleading for our seats on this fight. No travel voucher was going to make this okay. Of course, the waterworks started flowing. It was not my intention to be manipulative, I really couldn't hold it back. It must have hit a soft spot because a few moments later, both our names appeared on the confirmed passenger list. We profusely, and very secretively thanked that agent as we boarded the plane. He was an angel, albeit a rather rude one. But he came through for us! We could feel the prayers being said on our behalf. There was not way we would have made it through these obstacles without the prayers of our friends and family. It felt like God was personally guiding us home.
All this time, Desi is doing fine, by the way. She's awake in the baby wrap and she's starting to show more and more of her personality. Lots of smiles and playfulness...but she was killing my back and neck!
On the United flight I sat next to a really wonderful older lady from Kenya who had been on our Ethiopian flight as well. She's an English professor at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana and she played with Desi a lot. It was really nice to talk to her. She had adopted a child herself a long time ago and understood the journey that still lay ahead of us. (I also sat 2 rows behind Senator Evan Bayh...seems noteworthy. )
As we stepped off the plane into the Indianapolis airport I was giddy again. We could not walk fast enough to get to the area where I knew Sandy and the kids would be watching for us. I would have sprinted if I didn’t have a baby strapped on! It was the longest walk ever! But when I saw those 2 little faces….ahhh, words cannot describe it. Kneeling down and hugging Jake and Em made it all worth it. Of course I was bawling and Em said in her sweet voice, “don’t cry, mommy!” They were meeting Desi for the first time. Emily called her an “it” which was funny, but they each gave her a kiss and we were finally complete. Together. Our, now, family of 5. The end of one crazy journey leading right into the beginning of another. Hopefully this journey to come won't be so crazy!
Our guide had assured us that arriving at the airport 2 1/2 hours early would be ample time to get through with minimal stress...WRONG! I guess there was bad weather in Washington DC that affected the delicate balance of the Addis Ababa Airport. When we pulled away from the guest house that evening it was raining...hard. I had no umbrella or rain coat. Luckily the baby wrap completely covered Desi. The airport was packed! The line for ticketing was long and slow! By the time we made it to the ticket counter we were nervous. The agent kept talking to other people the whole time he was helping us and then when he was done he looked us in the face and told us we were on STAND BY! Oh, my friend, you did not just say STAND BY! There was no way we were going to be on stand by! He assured us that we would get on this plane, but we would have to wait until we got to the gate to get our seating assignments. Deep Breaths!
So, if you were standing there with us and you looked to the left, you would have seen a line that could easily have been a mile long. And that was the line for immigration, which was just where we needed to go. By this time we only had an hour until our flight would start boarding and this line was not moving. Somehow, by the grace of God, we were ushered to a very short line along with the 2 other couples we were traveling with. Maybe 6 frantic looking Americans with Ethiopian babies tipped someone off that we needed help? After making it through immigration and finally to the gate the agent there asked us to sit and wait while she could "see what I can do..." My heart was racing and I don't even want to describe what Ryan was like! When there was not a single person left in the gate area because they all had boarded the plane, the agent finally handed us a couple of boarding passes for, get this, BUSINESS CLASS. Really? Well at least all the panic and fear landed us in the first row! We arrived at our seats as the flight attendant was offering champagne. As much as I probably needed a drink, I passed.
Since it was almost 10:30 at night, Desi fell asleep after take off and I thought we were off to a good start for the 17 hour flight back to Washington DC. About an hour into the flight I made the mistake of letting the flight attendant talk me into trying to put Desi down in the bassinet that was available for our seats. Now awake, she wouldn't let me put her down, nor would she let me sit down. So I stood in the first row of first class swaying...and yes, crying. I could feel the eyes on me and I felt so silly. I didn't want everyone thinking I was having a nervous break down or didn't know what I was doing, even though I would say that both scenarios were true.
Out of nowhere, another mom from our travel group was at my side. She was experiencing a lot of what I had been going through with her new son. God must have told her to find me because I needed someone to look at me at the moment and say that they understood and that I was going to make it. I knew I would make it home, I knew God would help me get this girl home, even if I had to stand and sway for 12 more hours in first class.
We flew on Ethiopian Airlines, which was a blessing since the flight attendants are Ethiopian. A very nice woman offered to hold Desi for me and I quickly agreed. She was able to get her to sleep in the bassinet. Praise God! I fully reclined my extra spacious seat, kicked out the foot rest and cried myself to sleep under my blue velour eye mask. The rest of the flight was still hell-in- the-sky for me, but she did take another nap in the bassinet and by the end she was pretty stir crazy so she got off my lap a little and walked around some...the first time she was willing to do this in the presence of Ryan...so that was a little breakthrough right there. I don't think that we terrorized anyone who had actually paid for their first class tickets, so by the time we landed in DC I was feeling okay that it didn't go worse...she could have screamed for 17 hours, I guess. And...we were stateside! Finally! Back in the USA! Now we just had to get on one more flight and get home to our life and our American babies!
Getting through customs in DC was like everything else...slow. But we didn't have any trouble and so we were off to say goodbye to our travel com padres, find our gate, and have some familiar tasting food. After a big fat juicy cheeseburger that tasted like Heaven, we arrived at our gate. There was no one working at the gate, so Ryan went to buy some Dramamine. While he was gone I was hearing an announcement that was stating that our flight had fully checked in an to watch for your name to appear on stand by list....yeah, you read that right...STAND BY! United Airlines overbooked our flight! It's actually worse, because one of us was on stand by and the other was going to be the lucky recipient of a $400 travel voucher and a seat on the next flight to Indy in about 5 hours. The minute an agent appeared we were pleading for our seats on this fight. No travel voucher was going to make this okay. Of course, the waterworks started flowing. It was not my intention to be manipulative, I really couldn't hold it back. It must have hit a soft spot because a few moments later, both our names appeared on the confirmed passenger list. We profusely, and very secretively thanked that agent as we boarded the plane. He was an angel, albeit a rather rude one. But he came through for us! We could feel the prayers being said on our behalf. There was not way we would have made it through these obstacles without the prayers of our friends and family. It felt like God was personally guiding us home.
All this time, Desi is doing fine, by the way. She's awake in the baby wrap and she's starting to show more and more of her personality. Lots of smiles and playfulness...but she was killing my back and neck!
On the United flight I sat next to a really wonderful older lady from Kenya who had been on our Ethiopian flight as well. She's an English professor at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana and she played with Desi a lot. It was really nice to talk to her. She had adopted a child herself a long time ago and understood the journey that still lay ahead of us. (I also sat 2 rows behind Senator Evan Bayh...seems noteworthy. )
As we stepped off the plane into the Indianapolis airport I was giddy again. We could not walk fast enough to get to the area where I knew Sandy and the kids would be watching for us. I would have sprinted if I didn’t have a baby strapped on! It was the longest walk ever! But when I saw those 2 little faces….ahhh, words cannot describe it. Kneeling down and hugging Jake and Em made it all worth it. Of course I was bawling and Em said in her sweet voice, “don’t cry, mommy!” They were meeting Desi for the first time. Emily called her an “it” which was funny, but they each gave her a kiss and we were finally complete. Together. Our, now, family of 5. The end of one crazy journey leading right into the beginning of another. Hopefully this journey to come won't be so crazy!
I’m happy to report that Desi didn’t scream the whole way home from the airport in her car seat! Yay! And the last few days, while very trying and hard, have also brought some great breakthroughs and progress, especially where Ryan is concerned. On her second full day home she walked over to him and he pulled her onto his lap and they played. She threw her arms around him and hugged him. Every day since then has been better. Today she even let him change her diaper! (This is a personal victory for me as well!) Seeing her look at him with smiles, and knowing that she is bonding with him makes the work easier…not easy…but easier.
We know that we have a long hard road ahead of us...probably harder than we thought. But God called us to this, so I keep praying for His strength, patience, and wisdom as we help Desi become one of us!
We know that we have a long hard road ahead of us...probably harder than we thought. But God called us to this, so I keep praying for His strength, patience, and wisdom as we help Desi become one of us!
7 comments:
Sitting here bawling Shannon.. so happy for you guys and praising God for His faithfulness, while I pray that we will get to experience this scary but amazing adventure you have of bringing an orphan (or two :)) into our home soon!
Kelly, that is awesome! I love to hear of families who are stepping out in faith with adoption! I'll pray for you!
She is very beautiful. Glad you are home and settling in!
Fighting back tears through your entire story! What a beautiful, amazing journey. I am so thankful that you are home and that Desi is doing so well. I can't wait to meet her in person!! Much love, Stacy and the rest of the Wasmuth boys :)
You did it!! Welcome home. She is such a beautiful addition to the family.
Welcome Home! Thanks for sharing your journey. I have to say I am a bit jealous of the business class! We had to sit in coach the whole way and Sitota only slept 2 hours out of the ENTIRE trip home (32+ hours). Looking back now, it was such a fun adventure :)
Can't wait to meet Desi!
Thank you for being open and honest about your journey! You are wonderful parents to Desi and I'm sure she is realizing how much you love her! Praying for you guys!
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