We are happy to report that things are going great in Ethiopia!! The Embassy appointment took place today and went well. Kasshaun's visa will be ready for pick up tomorrow - just in time for the boys to fly out tomorrow night. With the visa that Kassahun will enter the US on he will become an automatic citizen once he hits American soil on Thursday. Praise God!
Dana actually flew home last week and is in St Louis enjoying girl time with Sophia. Everyone is looking forward to being together as a family on one continent soon!
Here are some pictures of the boys' adventures over the last week.
The first pictures are from their visit to Debre Libanos, a monastery in Ethiopia, lying northwest of Addis Ababa in the Oromia Region. Jack said the views were breath-taking, much like the Grand Canyon.
Solomon was very excited to visit his old orphanage. His friends and the nannies were so happy to see him. They all had the same question, "What are you feeding him in the US?!!"
Apparently Kassahun has made everyone an Arsenal fan. They scored some new jerseys at Addis Ababa Stadium.
A trip to Ethiopia is not complete without a visit to Mount Entoto, the highest peak overlooking the city of Addis Ababa. It reaches 3200 meters above sea level.
Well a lot has happened since our last update so I will do
my best to fill you in. We picked up
Kassahun from his orphanage last Friday and he has been with us since. His orphanage had a farewell ceremony which
included a traditional coffee ceremony with bread and popcorn. Kassahun was the oldest in the orphanage and
it was obvious he was a big brother to many of the kids. Some of the goodbyes were hard. He left the orphanage with only the clothes
on his back and the backpack that we had sent for him. When we asked if there was anything he wanted
to take from his room back to the US, he said he wanted his friends at the
orphanage to have his belongings. What a sweet boy!
After saying goodbye to his friends we headed to a local
lodge where we had lunch before heading back to the capital. Kassahun has older siblings who unfortunately
aged out of the orphanage so we were able to invite them to lunch with us. It was a special time for us to learn about
Kassahun’s life up to entering the orphanage and to learn more about his
siblings.
The boys were pretty excited as well because there were
monkeys running around everywhere!
The rest of our days have been spent completing all of the
necessary paperwork in order to bring Kassahun back to the US. Unfortunately for the boys this has meant
lots of riding around in the back of the car.
They definitely are bonding!
We have been able to obtain the adoption decree, and have
started the application at immigration for Kassahun’s Ethiopian passport. He will undergo medical testing this week
which is a requirement for submission of his case to the US Embassy to obtain
his US Visa. There have been a few
hiccups along the way but we are praying that Kass will be able to come home to
the US next week as scheduled.
Things seem to be going well as for our bonding as a
family. Kass is very, very quiet and reserved. He is SUPER polite and is constantly wanting
to serve us. After dinner yesterday we
found him with a broom sweeping from under the table. Those of you who know Jack know how quickly
this won him over. LOL! His English is minimal, but we know he will
pick it up quickly. English is actually
his THIRD language. He speaks, reads and
writes fluently in Amharic and Oromiffa.
We have been through this learning curve before and know it can be
painful for both sides at times, but we are working to put all the right
resources in place to make Kassahun successful.
We are not worried.
The last two days were very special for both Solomon and
Joseph, as we were able to travel to places and see people that were meaningful
to them before going into the orphanage.
Adoption almost always occurs as a result of loss, making it both a
joyful and sometimes painful process.
Therefore, while the last several days were exciting and fun for them, the
days were also filled with lots of emotion. In the end, both boys were grateful
to get a closer glimpse into the story that God has made for them. We’d like to
share a little about our journey, however I hope you’ll understand that we won’t
share many of the details of their stories as we feel it is important that the
stories of their past are kept for them to share if and when they would like
to.
With Joseph’s permission, we want to share a little about
our journey to his birthplace. What an adventure it was!! Our day started early as we hopped into a van
for our travel down south. We drove about
4 hours south on a paved road (with LOTS of potholes)…. and then the
off-roading began. Next, we took a dirt
road path on another 1 hour adventure.
We thought we were going to get stuck multiple times, and at one point
one of the locals had to bring over an axe to help clear the way for us. As we passed each small area of gojos (traditional huts)
we received lots of stares of wonder. It
was not common for a car to come through this area, much less with white people
inside!! As the van made its way
through the terrain, the local villagers started to follow the van – wondering of
course what was going on!!
When we finally made it to the village of 5 gojos where
Joseph was born, we saw that a small crowd had already gathered in anticipation
of our arrival. Joseph jumped out of the
van, and immediately was picked up and kissed by a number of people. The crowd around him grew large – he felt
like a movie star and said he had never been kissed so much in his life! They soon placed him on a seat made of wood in
the middle of the crowd and had us sit next to him. Then they began speaking kind words about and
to him. The local language is Hadiya,
therefore we had to bring a translator who translated to the national language,
Amharic, and then our guide translated to English for us.
Next, we were invited into their gojo where we were served
dabbo and bunna (bread and coffee.) This
is a tradition in Ethiopia when entertaining guests and even the young kids
drink the coffee! We spent about an hour
visiting in the gojo and the moments were so very special. We had lots of questions for them and they
asked us lots of questions as well.
After visiting, we headed outside for pictures. We brought a camera that was able to print
instant pictures and this was a huge hit!
We first took pictures of Joseph with some of the important people in
his life, and then we were able to take and leave pictures with some of the
crowd that had gathered. They all loved
it!
After several hours we had to say goodbye and head to our
hotel for the evening. It was the eve of
Timkat (Epiphany in the US) which is a large celebration and if we didn’t get
on the road soon we would be stuck in the middle of the celebrations in the
streets. We made it to our hotel in
Hosanna which was about a 2 hour drive just as the celebration was beginning
and then back to the capital the next morning.
If you knew all of the details of our kids’ stories, you
would see the obvious hand of God in each of their lives. They are stories of grace, redemption, and
love and we are very grateful to be a part of them.
Tomorrow is another big day as we will travel to pick up
Kassahun from his orphanage. Tonight
will be his last night FOREVER to spend in an orphanage. We are so excited to have him with us for
good!
It’s official!! Today
we appeared before the Ethiopian courts to finalize our adoption and I am happy
to say that we are officially a family of 6!
We made our way through the busy streets of Addis Ababa early this
morning and arrived at the courts after a short stop at a coffee house. Upon arrival at the court, we found several
other families from Europe, Australia, and the US who were waiting to appear to
finalize their adoptions as well. We
were one of the last families called in and the proceeding only took a matter
of minutes. Solomon and Joseph were also
with us. The judge asked us a few
questions and then asked the boys a few questions as well. He then asked if we loved K –to which we
replied, “YES!” And then he said, “Your
adoption is now considered final in the Ethiopian courts.”
So without further ado, let us introduce you to Kassahun
Galbraith!
So….what is next you may ask. Well, we have several more steps that have to
occur before we can come home to the US with Kassahun. We have to obtain the adoption decree, obtain
Kassahun’s passport with his new name, and appear at the embassy for the visa
hearing. The steps, we are praying, will
take only 2 more weeks. We have plane
tickets already booked for 2 weeks from now – so please pray with us that we do not
have any hiccups in getting the remaining process accomplished and can come
home as scheduled.
Kassahun is still at the orphanage, but we will get to pick
him up on Friday. In the meantime, we
will be going to visit some of Joseph’s birthfamily which we are very excited
about.
We are overcome with joy today to finally make our adoption official
and to introduce you to our new son. Thanks
for continuing to pray with us.
We were all wide awake at 400am local time this morning - not sure if it was the jet lag, the roosters that don't like to sleep in, or that we knew we would be meeting K today! After a wonderful breakfast and bunna (Ethiopian coffee) we headed to Waliso, about 2 hours outside of Addis Ababa, to K's orphanage. The scenery outside the city was gorgeous! The boys really enjoyed the drive.
When we pulled up to the orphanage we were barely out of the van, when we saw K waiting eagerly at the door for us. With tears in his eyes and a beautiful smile on his face, he gave all of us the BIGGEST hugs! I could never do this meeting description justice, but I will just say it was truly wonderful. Those of you who have kids know what I am talking about - the moment you lay eyes on your child - it's magical, right?
K then led us inside where we met the orphanage director and social workers. We knew that K was a big Arsenal soccer fan, so to break the ice we gave him a gift which included an Arsenal shirt. He immediately took off his shirt and replaced it with the Arsenal shirt. We then pumped up some new soccer balls that we brought and headed to the courtyard for a quick soccer game. We learned quickly when we adopted Solomon that soccer has a universal language and way of bringing people together. The same can be said of K. He really loosened up and had fun playing with the boys. He thought it was awesome to play 2 on 2 with Jack and the boys...which actually ended up having to be 3 on 1 - everyone against K!!! To say he is good at soccer is an understatement - we will definitely be looking for a team for him once we are back!
The morning included a tour of the orphanage and his room, playing with some of the other kids at the orphanage, and some question and answer back and forth with K through our social worker who translated. (K's English is minimal.) The morning concluded with us saying goodbye and K presenting us all with necklaces that he had made specifically for each of us. It was very sweet. It was hard to say goodbye, but it will only be for a week as next Friday we get to pick him up for good and bring him back to the Guest House with us.
We are all so in love with K and can't imagine the day going any better. Thank you God for the way you have formed our family. You have planned this day since the beginning of time and for that we are so grateful!
Until they are home,
Dana and Jack
(We can't post pictures of K until we pass court on Tuesday - then we can share our first official family photo!)
On the road to Waliso
Beautiful scenery on the way
Teff bales- a grain native to Ethiopia and used to make injera
We are here!! Our
journey has been long, so it seems almost surreal to actually be on the ground
in Ethiopia. Our flight was LONG (13
hours to be exact!) but good. The boys
were in heaven with their own personalized movie screens on the seat. Solomon watched SEVEN movies on the plane
ride – didn’t sleep a wink. The rest of us tried to at least get a little shut eye. It was
awesome stepping off the plane into 75 degree weather ; a nice trade for the
teens and snow/ice! We headed straight to
the Guest House for a nap and then off to dinner. Dinner was quite fun for the boys. We had traditional food and experienced some
traditional Ethiopian dancing.
Tomorrow we will travel a few hours outside the capital to
Waliso, where K’s orphanage is. We are
so excited to finally meet him in person.
He will not come back to the Guest House with us for another week as we
have to appear in court first and also have a trip planned to see some of
Joseph’s birthfamily next week.
The internet is SLOW - but will try to post as much as possible!
Christmas came a little early at our house this year. This week, we received word that the approvals that we have been waiting for (FOR OVER A YEAR) have finally come through. Praise God! We know this is a direct result of the prayers of so many of you!
So what does this mean?
"K" received the final approval from MOWA that we needed to receive a court date in Ethiopia. Tomorrow our agency will have the assigned date (usually 2-4 weeks later) and then we travel to Ethiopia to appear in court and bring him home. We could travel as soon as next week! Eeeekkkkk!!
"D" received an important approval (regional approval) that we also needed to move on to the next step in the process. This was huge!! We are likely a year from bringing him home still, but happy to see that there is some movement.
We are beyond thrilled to finally be in the final stages of bringing "K" home. As soon as we pass court we can tell you his real name and post pictures. Please pray for him as his life is about to change in a big way and we know from past adoptions that these transitions are difficult. We also ask for prayers for good health and safe travel as we will be taking Solomon and Joseph along too!
If you don't hear from us in the coming weeks, it is because we are frantically packing and preparing for our adventure. Hopefully the next post will be from Ethiopia!
First of all - wow - thank you all for the support and prayers. This past few years of waiting have been hard, but you all have really picked us up again. Thank you for that!
Now for some good news......we did have a breakthrough on K's case this week! We received a phone call from our agency Friday afternoon telling us that MOWA had reviewed our case and planned to give us a POSITIVE letter. This.Is.Huge. This is the first time in a year that we have had positive movement. Your prayers answered! Now our agency does not actually have the letter with signature in hand, because the person that needs to sign the letter was not in the office, but our hope is that the letter (which they said they have drafted now) will get signed this week. Once the letter is in hand, our agency will submit it to court and a date will be assigned for us to appear in court in Ethiopia (likely 2-4 weeks later) to finalize the adoption. We've taken a huge step forward this week and we are praising God for that.
Changing the subject, I wanted to answer a question that a lot of you have been asking. Do K and D know that we are adopting them? The answer is yes - K does know. He had to appear in court a year ago to state he wanted to be adopted. He was told about us at that time and we have been communicating with him through letters and videos via our agency's social worker since that time. Below is a picture of K's wall at the orphanage. He has posted all of our letters and pictures on the wall in his room. :) As for D, he does not know that we are pursuing his adoption. Since we are still so unsure of what will happen, he has not yet been told about us.
Please continue to pray them home with us. We have seen movement this week, but we are not done yet!
Alright y'all. It's time to let you all in on what has been going on in our life the past few years. Some of you already know what I'm about to share, others may be surprised. But we feel the need, now more than ever, to garner your support and ask you to storm the doors of heaven on behalf of our family.
Where do we start? Well, I won't go into all the details in this post, but to make a long story shorter.....we are in the process of adopting TWO boys from Ethiopia! The story is very complicated and honestly at this point we are not sure that one of the adoptions will end up going through. However, we have committed to adopting these two boys and are confident that God hears our prayers and His plan will be perfect in the end.
In February of 2014, our hearts were stirred and we started pursuing the adoption of a (then 13 year old) boy named "D". This was a boy very special to us and to our son, Solomon. We had met D during our previous trips to Ethiopia and he lived at the same orphanage as Solomon. Unfortunately, his paperwork has not been able to be completed for a number of reasons over the past 2.5 years. This sweet boy will turn 16 in 3 months, which presents a problem. If a visa has not been applied for by the age of 16, then children are no longer eligible for adoption to the US. In order for us to apply for a visa, he must first receive a local approval for adoption. We have been waiting on this approval for over a year. It is certainly coming down to the wire on this as D approaches his 16th birthday. IT'S TIME we ask you to pray for movement in D's case!
So where does child #2 come in you may be wondering? Well, about a year into the paperwork chase of D we realized that there would likely be a large delay in his case. In the meantime there was a (then 15 year old) boy named "K" on our agency's waiting child list. We knew that this boy did not have a great chance of being adopted simply due to his age. We also knew that there was a fight against the clock to file for his visa before the age of 16. After much prayer, we jumped on board and started pursuing K's adoption in addition to D's adoption.
The good news is that we have made a lot of progress with K's adoption. He has been given pre-approval for a US visa (PAIR approval) and K appeared in federal court in Ethiopia in November of 2015 to state that he wants to be adopted. We are at the point where we just need one signature (from federal MOWA) in order to travel to Ethiopia for our court date to make the adoption official. Once we receive this signature we will travel to Ethiopia for court in a matter of weeks. The bad news is that we have been waiting ONE YEAR now for this signature. This is where we need your help! We need your prayers friends. Will you pray with us that we will receive this signature THIS WEEK? Poor K knows that we are coming for him, and if the wait is this painful for us, I can't imagine how hard it is for him. IT'S TIME for K to come home!
Thanks for sharing in our excitement and joining us in prayer. In addition to praying for movement in our cases, will you please keep D and K in your prayers - that God would protect their hearts during this long process. We will update you all with more information as we receive it.
It's been pretty boring around this blog lately. Not that our lives have been the least bit boring, but my blog has fallen by the wayside. So for those of you who want a little excitement I am going to send you over to my sister's blog:
http://creatingthehanksfamily.blogspot.com/
Angie has had a heart for adoption for as long as I can remember. We are so excited for her to begin this journey!
It's that time of year for the obligatory back to school pictures! Joseph was so excited to be starting Kindergarten and to be in the same school as his brother. We are blessed that they will attend a great school with amazing teachers.
It is amazing how time flies with 3 kids. So often, we find ourselves hopping from one event to the next. Today, I thought it was time to slow down for a second and document some big moments over the past 6 months. We continue to be reminded just how much we have been blessed. Sure, we have had some ups and downs as a family, but God is so much bigger than any low that we have had. Let me show you the ways:
Joseph celebrated three years home with his choice of breakfast and a gift from Ethiopia.
And Solomon celebrated two years home with his favorite breakfast and a hat from Ethiopia. What a difference two years makes!
Joseph celebrated 5 years old with a reptile party with friends.
And then he said farewell to preschool! Off to Kindergarten in the fall!
Both boys had a fun season playing Upward Basketball.
Followed by a great baseball season for both boys.
And the Princess turned one and is thriving!
I'm not sure we can say it enough - God is so good!
Today, in the eyes of the law, we officially became a family of five. We ventured through the snow this morning to the Family Court, where Sophia's adoption was finalized.
This is certainly a big milestone and we are overjoyed that were were chosen to parent this sweet baby. We would be remiss, though, if we didn't also share that we struggle to reconcile the feelings of gratitude and joy with the deep loss that has been experienced to lead to this adoption. While we feel like we have gained so much today, we know firsthand the loss that has also taken place. As another adoptive mother has so eloquently put this, "A child born to another woman calls me 'Mom.' The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege are not lost upon us."
So today we remember, but we also celebrate.
Welcome to the family Sophia! We love you more than you will ever know.
