As I write I am in Dubai. Our November 13 court hearing went through and Eli is our SON! We went home for Thanksgiving on November 22 and flew back to Cleveland on December 2. Then one week later we went back to Oklahoma City. It was an eventful week. Jeff put together a musical Christmas concert and I finalized all grades.
Before Thanksgiving, though, we had a run-in with our church board. We were cleared by the pastor to send out letters allowing donations through the church for our adoption. However, when the checks were turned in one of the money counters at the church threw a stink about in and out funds not being legal. Jeff called his sister (a CPA) and the IRS directly to find out how to handle it appropriately. Basically the board needed to set up a fund, deposit the checks to the fund, then issue a check to as as a recipient of the fund. No one who actually knew the process seemed to consider it to be difficult.
However, one of the board members started the discussion with "My brother-in-law works for the IRS..." and we were done. Despite the fact that this brother-in-law had nothing to do with this issue, etc. The board chose to send back all our checks. I was hurt and mad. I have never felt so angry at a church before in my life! I talked with the pastor about it for an hour, crying periodically. The pastor encouraged me to write a letter to the board, which I did. The letter was presented a couple of days ago. I don't know the result. (Note: the result was not much ... as I expected. I received an apology of sorts, but no real concession that they handled the situation inappropriately.) We were fearful that the money that was sent back would not return; however, most of it did come back at in the last couple days before we left. We received back all but $40. For this we were extremely grateful.
On Monday, December 8 was my big finally. I left the house at 7:45 am and did not return until 9:15 pm. It was quite a day. I went to give exams, grade exams and turn in grades (for around 75 students). It was such a long day. But I finished and that was what counted.
Then Tuesday, December 9 we left Medina to Brunswick to have the pastor take us to the airport, where we had baggage issues. When I made reservations in June, I got the reservation made in a window of time before baggage fees applied. But that was not registering with our reservation. So, we had to get a supervisor. Then we told us that the window in which we reserved our flight charged for the 2nd bag but not the first. So, we were charged for 1 of our 4 bags, with 1 carseat being free. But the lady did charge us at the 1st bag fee rate of $15 instead of $25, which was nice.
After that, the trip home was good as far as technical matters. Abi did well from Cleveland to DFW, then we had the missed nap and it was difficult the rest of the day. She was spanked a couple of times and disallowed to watch the DVD from DFW to OKC. Jeff stared her down until she fell asleep on the plane.
(Note: Abi stayed with Jeff's parents for the nights and weekends while we traveled to Ethiopia, spending the weekdays with my mom who watches my sister's kids)
The next day December 10 was the biggy. We left for Houston at 1:00 with no hiccups. Then in Houston we had to go back out of security to find the Emeriates Air counter. Houston is a huge and confusing airport, but we eventually found the ticket counter. We had to do this to pick up hotel vouchers to spend the night in Dubai. After leaving at 6:30 pm we were to arrive at 7:25 pm in Dubai, after a 14 hour flight for an overnight stay. Then leave out the next morning at 8:30 am for Addis on a 4 hour flight.
We boarded the plane fine, then began the wait. We boarded at about 5:30 and sat on the runway until 9:30. There was SNOW in HOUSTON! Furthermore our airline carrier couldn't deal with it. They kept trying to cut a deal with another airline but gave up trying at 9:30.
So, we deboarded and had to retrieve our luggage - over which there was MUCH confusion. We received a hotel voucher from the airline and proceeded to wait for a bus... forever. The ride to the hotel? 30 minutes! Then at the Hyatt we waited again for the line of passengers to get rooms. It was 1:30 when we went to bed.
We were up at 7:00 am the next day. The bus was to arrive back at 8:30. We ate at the hotel. $48 for our breakfast! The airline had given us a $60 voucher for meals, thankfully. Then true to their word, there was a bus at 8:30. BUT only 1 bus. The night before there had been 4 buses. We finally took a taxi at 9:30m, only to arrive at the airport to stand in line for 2 1/2 hours. (Note: we thought our trip insurance would cover the $5o taxi ride... they did not).
The new flight was scheduled for an 11:30 takeoff. Jeff and I *bet* on when we'd actually leave. I thought 12:30, Jeff guessed 2:00. He was closer... it was 1:30. Also this then meant no overnight in Dubai :(. We had calls in to the travel agent and our case worker at CWA. Originally we were to arrive in Ethiopia at 11:30am on Dec 12, now it would be 8:00pm on Dec 12. We were also re-booked on an Ethiopian Air flight (instead of Emeriates Air) because of the flight delay.
Now we are waiting in Dubai for our final flight. I am not scared, but I certainly feel out of place. Even the white people we see aren't Americans. Most everyone I hear is speaking a different language. The airport here is a nightmare. We were referred to 4 different desks to finally get our new tickets. And the airport here is huge as well. I am thirsty, but I don't know if I can drink the water. Purchasing it is difficult too, because we don't want to exchange currency here.
I am also exhausted, as is Jeff. The 14 hour flight was difficult. We had bulkhead seats, but gave them up to a family traveling with a baby. I am so tired of sitting. I watched 5 or 6 moves, I lost count. I slept some, but not much and not well.
While I know what is supposed to happen tonight, we'll just have to see. I will want to record it to see how the details really take place.
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