Ethiopia Trip Two: Traveling Home
Our trip home could be summarized in one word: grace! We felt God's generous grace on us in such a real way, and we knew that so many people were praying for us and for Israel during travels. Thank you for praying and thinking of us, you will see how smooth our journey was and we know it was because God heard and answered our petitions!
Friday night we headed early to the Addis Airport in hopes that we would get one of the coveted bassinet seats that airlines have a select few of. Luckily, we were the first in line- soon joined by two other baby-wearing sets of parents who were also racing for the bassinets. We thought our odds were good since we were there at 6 and our flight left at 11. We chatted with them about our adoptions and oohed and ahhed over our cute boys.
When we stepped up to the check-in booth (after waiting a LONG time in the line for it to open up) the lady said that they were already taken! We didn't think this was possible since you couldn't reserve them online, and we were the first in line! We were disappointed but she said that we could request again at the gate and see if something opened up.
So we walked through the airport and stood guard by the check-in for the gates. Let me see if I can try to explain to you the Addis airport. It is very unique... you have to go through a security screening (bags, etc) to get into the gate. Once you are inside the gate areas, you can't go back out... so most people wait outside the security area so they can have access to the {nasty} bathrooms and {interesting} concessions. There's a "smoking section" yet someone managed to light up a cigarette right next to my baby when we were clearly no where near it. The airport smells pretty heavily of smoke and urine and it is not a place that you want to spend an extended amount of time in, let alone with your new baby.
So Will and I found a secluded area and let Israel play for a bit. We waited until the Lufthansa guests were allowed to go through the security screen and went as fast as we could to the gate. Again, we were told there were no bassinet seats for us. We were disappointed but at that point we figured we'd just try to make the best of it. There were a lot of adoptive families on our flight, so that was fun seeing the range of families headed home.
Finally, we loaded the plane and by the time of take-off, Israel was fast asleep. He was snuggled in a blanket and people walking by would compliment us on our beautiful girl's hair. I guess it was my fault for dressing him in green and not blue, or maybe it is because his hair is so long! The Lufthansa staff were pretty funny- they distribute small gifts to children on the plane and one of the attendants offered Israel a coloring book. Weird. We were pleased to find out that we had an entire row to ourselves- a huge blessing because we could stretch out and had a bottle station as well as access to all of our diaper bag needs (instead of it being crammed under our feet). Israel was able to stretch out a bit too!
The flight to Frankfurt was about 8ish hours, and Israel slept for most of it. He only had about an hour total of being awake, and unfortunately, those times were spent crying. I think it was because he went to sleep in the airport and woke up on a very dark plane. I'm sure he was scared and it was hard to comfort him because he loves to move around and we were confined to our seats during the times he was fussy. All in all, Israel was a champ during the first flight and we were very pleased that he slept so much! Most of the people around us were very graceful towards us/him, with the exception of a foreign couple in front of us that kept turning around and giving us the stink eye if he made any noise at all- a coo or a cry. That was a bit annoying because they, too, had adopted children with them (they were older) and I thought we adoptive families stick together. Guess not!
Upon landing in Frankfurt, we found our gate and decided to camp out for a while. Israel took another nap in the ergo, then went on several walks with daddy to watch planes take off. Will and I got cornered by an overly chatty elderly woman. Normally, I'm all about older adults... but in this case we should have been warned. While Will was off with Israel, she approached me and said "Do you speak English?.... well great, I've been looking for someone to talk to!" and she proceeded to tell me all about every vacation she'd ever been on, her deadbeat son in law who couldn't get a job- so she would never get adopted children, and her new retirement home. For about 2 hours. Not exactly the way we pictured our time in the airport with our new son who needed some activity and bonding.
Thank goodness, we weren't seated near her on the plane, and we'd never been more excited to load a plane! The last flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta went even better than the first one. We had three seats to ourselves, and the space was again a great grace to us. Israel was awake and super happy for most of the plane- babbling and flirting with mama and the flight attendants. This time the flight attendant didn't offer a coloring book for him, but a soft toy; yet later she offered him pretzels. I told her that he only drinks a bottle and she seemed confused. Maybe six month old German babies are more advanced?
This flight was nine hours and much to our dismay, the "airshow" was broken so we couldn't track our progress overseas. We were becoming very giddy about being home soon! When there was about an hour left, we took turns changing into our airport outfits. I thought I'd timed it right, but as soon as we sat down, Israel spit up all over his onesie. Oh well.
Finally... we landed in Atlanta! We quickly strapped Israel in the Ergo and headed our way to the Immigration department, where we handed over our sealed packet of Israel's documents that we got from the embassy. After 20 minutes of an officer sifting through them, we were told that the information would be processed and our little man would now be a US citizen!
The only thing left to do now was to make a quick pit stop (diaper change) and then we'd see our family and friends!
Friday night we headed early to the Addis Airport in hopes that we would get one of the coveted bassinet seats that airlines have a select few of. Luckily, we were the first in line- soon joined by two other baby-wearing sets of parents who were also racing for the bassinets. We thought our odds were good since we were there at 6 and our flight left at 11. We chatted with them about our adoptions and oohed and ahhed over our cute boys.
When we stepped up to the check-in booth (after waiting a LONG time in the line for it to open up) the lady said that they were already taken! We didn't think this was possible since you couldn't reserve them online, and we were the first in line! We were disappointed but she said that we could request again at the gate and see if something opened up.
So we walked through the airport and stood guard by the check-in for the gates. Let me see if I can try to explain to you the Addis airport. It is very unique... you have to go through a security screening (bags, etc) to get into the gate. Once you are inside the gate areas, you can't go back out... so most people wait outside the security area so they can have access to the {nasty} bathrooms and {interesting} concessions. There's a "smoking section" yet someone managed to light up a cigarette right next to my baby when we were clearly no where near it. The airport smells pretty heavily of smoke and urine and it is not a place that you want to spend an extended amount of time in, let alone with your new baby.
So Will and I found a secluded area and let Israel play for a bit. We waited until the Lufthansa guests were allowed to go through the security screen and went as fast as we could to the gate. Again, we were told there were no bassinet seats for us. We were disappointed but at that point we figured we'd just try to make the best of it. There were a lot of adoptive families on our flight, so that was fun seeing the range of families headed home.
The flight to Frankfurt was about 8ish hours, and Israel slept for most of it. He only had about an hour total of being awake, and unfortunately, those times were spent crying. I think it was because he went to sleep in the airport and woke up on a very dark plane. I'm sure he was scared and it was hard to comfort him because he loves to move around and we were confined to our seats during the times he was fussy. All in all, Israel was a champ during the first flight and we were very pleased that he slept so much! Most of the people around us were very graceful towards us/him, with the exception of a foreign couple in front of us that kept turning around and giving us the stink eye if he made any noise at all- a coo or a cry. That was a bit annoying because they, too, had adopted children with them (they were older) and I thought we adoptive families stick together. Guess not!
Upon landing in Frankfurt, we found our gate and decided to camp out for a while. Israel took another nap in the ergo, then went on several walks with daddy to watch planes take off. Will and I got cornered by an overly chatty elderly woman. Normally, I'm all about older adults... but in this case we should have been warned. While Will was off with Israel, she approached me and said "Do you speak English?.... well great, I've been looking for someone to talk to!" and she proceeded to tell me all about every vacation she'd ever been on, her deadbeat son in law who couldn't get a job- so she would never get adopted children, and her new retirement home. For about 2 hours. Not exactly the way we pictured our time in the airport with our new son who needed some activity and bonding.
Thank goodness, we weren't seated near her on the plane, and we'd never been more excited to load a plane! The last flight from Frankfurt to Atlanta went even better than the first one. We had three seats to ourselves, and the space was again a great grace to us. Israel was awake and super happy for most of the plane- babbling and flirting with mama and the flight attendants. This time the flight attendant didn't offer a coloring book for him, but a soft toy; yet later she offered him pretzels. I told her that he only drinks a bottle and she seemed confused. Maybe six month old German babies are more advanced?
This flight was nine hours and much to our dismay, the "airshow" was broken so we couldn't track our progress overseas. We were becoming very giddy about being home soon! When there was about an hour left, we took turns changing into our airport outfits. I thought I'd timed it right, but as soon as we sat down, Israel spit up all over his onesie. Oh well.
Finally... we landed in Atlanta! We quickly strapped Israel in the Ergo and headed our way to the Immigration department, where we handed over our sealed packet of Israel's documents that we got from the embassy. After 20 minutes of an officer sifting through them, we were told that the information would be processed and our little man would now be a US citizen!
The only thing left to do now was to make a quick pit stop (diaper change) and then we'd see our family and friends!
Welcome Home! So happy for you!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Amy
SO glad you are home! We are traveling in the next 1-3 weeks to bring our beautiful daughter home from Taiwan. We couldn't be happier! God Bless your family!
ReplyDeleteTara
Thank you for your wonderful blog! I just recently came across it, and my husband and I are in a very similar circumstance as you and your husband. We are in our late twenties and felt a calling to adopt from Ethiopia. In fact we are adopting through AGCI as well! It is amazing to see and hear that there is light at the end of the paperwork tunnel. thank you again, and keep the blogs coming! We need all the advice we can get before our little one is brought home.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless.
Ileah