Journal Entry from April 1, 2009

Okay, so first you might notice... why is this from April 1? Where did the end of your trip go? Yes there was a 3 month time span during which I did not write out the conclusion of our trip, but at least it did eventually get written. So here we go back to our final day in Ethiopia...

As I indicated before, we were instructed to arrive 4 hours early to the airport to guarantee our bulkhead seats. So the CWA driver picked us up at 3:00 for our 7:30 pm flight. When we arrived a man approached us to help with our luggage. Our driver asked if that was okay. We told him we didn't have any money left and he nodded like he understood, and then loaded our luggage onto a cart for the man to push up to the airport.

Jeff got out a couple of dollars to give the man (ok so we didn't exactly have NO money left but we were running VERY low). The problem here was that the man saw what was in Jeff's wallet and insisted on the $10 he saw. We were aghast but felt put on the spot and handed over the $10 bill. Then he said "another one." Jeff said no, but he also saw we had 50 Birr ($5) and he demanded that too. We were keeping it as a souvenir for Eli's scrapbook. I felt violated. Even now as I type this the whole thing makes me sick.

After arriving so early, it turned out that the check in was not open yet! We had to wait an hour to check in. BUT at least we got the bulkhead seats. Eli was not at all interested in sitting still. We walked around with him a bit. After we checked in, I found a quiet place to sit and gave him a bottle. Jeff went and purchased one final gift: a hand-painted (usable even) coffee pot for his folks.

As a side note... we were checked through security twice before we boarded the plane. However, security in foreign countries is not like here. We could go through with food and water just fine, for example. Sometimes we had to take our shoes off, sometimes not. It was all very different.

Our plane took off fine but we were sitting next to a mother with her two daughters, approximately 9 and 2 years old respectively. They were up and down the whole flight (approx 3 hours). We had a meal and even though night came, Eli did not want to sleep. He finally fell asleep at about 9:30 and slept about an hour before we arrived in Dubai. Unlike flights in the states, the lights were kept on (at full power) the entire flight even though it was night. When we arrived on the ground in Dubai we taxied 20 minutes right on past the airport and de-boarded outside. I carried Eli - asleep to the bus to be taxied back to the airport. It was ridiculous... but not as ridiculous as what came next.

When we arrived, inside there were hundreds of people all waiting en mass to check through security... people who just got off other airplanes, who had already done this in the previous airport (twice). It felt like we waited forever. I so wished I had brought an umbrella stroller. Once we were at the front of the line, we had our first "race" question. The security official asked us "Can I ask you a question?" It was midnight... I was tired... I said "sure." He then asked (referring to Eli), "Why a different color?" I was taken aback, not sure what to say. It was the first such question... though many more were bound to come. I said simply "Because there was a need." I felt proud of my answer, especially having been put on the spot. Jeff spent the next hour thinking of other responses. My favorite one was "Because you wouldn't."

We were in the Dubai airport for about another hour when we boarded our trans-Atlantic flight. At about 1:30 am (Dubai time) we flew out. Again we had bulkhead seats. This time we were next to a mother with a 3 month old daughter and a 5 year old son. Her husband was behind us with an empty seat next to him. They were from India, now living in the US. The only issue besides the kind of fussy 3 month old was that the mother was nursing and brought a boppy! I was sitting next to her and the boppy took up the armrest and a part of my sitting space. Why the son could not sit next to the husband and the mother move over to give both me and herself more space still baffles me.

Overall the flight was uneventful (though long). Jeff watched a few movies. I just slept and tended to Eli... which Jeff did too. Eli did extremely well! Remarkably so in fact. We arrived in New York City at JFK at about 7:30 am (NYC time) after a 14 hour flight. We were tired.

When we arrived we had to check through Immigration and customs. First we got in the wrong line. One line said "U.S. Citizens" the other said "Visitors." Since we were citizens and Eli was not a visitor, we got in the citizens line, not the right one apparently, but they let us skip to the front of the other line after we had already waited so long in the wrong one since Eli was an infant. Here they reviewed Eli's documents.

My arms were killing me. Even at 20 pounds, as much as I held Eli he was so heavy! I was quite remiss I did not bring a stroller.

Next we picked up our luggage and rented a cart to push it through the airport. Then there was customs, which was quick, and we were off to Northwest Airlines (NWA) for a flight to Detroit, then home to OKC. We were supposed to arrive in time for Clifton's wedding that night at 7:00 pm. We only had an hour layover in Detroit scheduled.

Checking in through NWA was chaos, things in NYC at JFK are not well-organized. I found myself wondering if we really were back in the U.S. We finally did make it through check in. Then we each changed clothes and freshened up. Then we had an early lunch at Sbarros in the airport terminal. Then we went through security... for the last time (we thought) to catch our flight. At the point when we were supposed to be boarding our flight to Detroit, they informed us that our flight would be delayed... the plane was still on the ground in Detroit. I started crying, exhaustion caught up with me, and I knew this would not let us catch our last flight from Detroit to OKC.

I sent Jeff, with Eli, up to the counter, hoping for some compassion from someone. They could not find us a flight that day back to OKC. Eventually they decided, because of Eli, to put us up in a hotel in NYC (without Eli we'd have been on our own to find accomodations and to pay for them ourselves). Then they changed our flight to Continental the next day, connecting to an American flight with a 1 hour layover in Chicago.

So next we had to wait around to collect our luggage. It took awhile for it to arrive. We got yet another cart to move it all. Then we had to catch the Airtrain - like a subway to the pickup spot for the hotel shuttle. It was cold outside and we could not see the shuttle from inside, so I periodically went to see if it had arrived - Jeff did not bring a coat.

We waited about 20 minutes for the shuttle to take us to the Courtyard Marriott. When we arrived we realized... we left the diaper bag in the Airtrain terminal. I finished checking us in and got a crib in the room. Jeff used the ATM to get cash since we had virtually none left. We also knew we were going to run out of formula and baby food, but we weren't sure what to do about that yet.

Jeff left by taxi to see if he could find the diaper bag. We didn't feel we could wait for the shuttle because it only ran on the hour. I tried to get Eli to sleep but after being held to sleep for nearly 24 hours, he did not want to sleep in a crib. I was exhausted, so I laid him on the bed with me and we fell asleep. Jeff came back sometime later. The taxi ride cost him $40. Now we really freaked out about finding formula because of the cost of another taxi, and although it was only 3:00 pm, we all just went to bed... exhausted. I figured that when we woke up we'd figure out the formula situation and the laundry situation: we had no more clean clothes.

About midnight we were awake but there were issues with laundry. There was a washer & dryer (stackable) in the hotel, but we had no change to feed it and no laundry detergent. The front desk told us we could get both at the gift shop... at 7:00 am! We needed to leave at 8:30 am for the airport. We also got the hotel to agree to have the shuttle take Jeff to get formula when the driver was between airport runs.

Jeff left around 4:00 am. He remembered to get formula, baby food, and change for the laundry... but not detergent. At 7 am he got detergent and washed two sets of clothing for each of us... just in case. However, the dryer did not dry well so we let our damp clothes dry while we ate breakfast. Eli slept (as did I) on and off from midnight to 8:00 am, when we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I had not eaten since lunch the day before (at 10:30 am) in the airport. So, I was hungry. This was the 2nd most expensive breakfast of our lives $42! We just kept saying "our trip insurance will cover it" just to keep us from coming unglued at the costs.

We dressed, left for the airport and checked through again. Our flight boarded a little late, but we did have a pleasant surprise. We were booked on first class! The seats were bigger, the flight attendants more generous. But the plane was flown in empty and had to be reloaded with water for the restrooms and food and drinks. We knew now we were cutting our next connection very close.

When we landed we had to change terminals. We were hustling as fast as we could through the terminal. When we arrived at the gate, the plane was still there, but the doors were closed and they would not let us on. Another delay. However, there were 2 seats left on the next flight out... 4 hours later to OKC. We would arrive home about 9:00 pm. So, we took the new seats and went to get an early dinner to make the 6:30 flight.

We found a Chili's to eat at and enjoyed ourselves. Eli sat in a high chair for the first time and did quite well. We stuffed my coat behind him for support. After the meal we went back to the new gate. We waited, there was a flight before ours that had not left yet. Then quickly the whole airport turned into chaos! Essentially all the planes docked at the gates were waiting on pilots or attendants to take off, but the folks they were waiting on were in other planes, which had landed, but were unable to de-board because there were no empty gates! (Again I wondered if I was really back in the U.S.) They finally changed our gate but it was 9:00 before our plane finally took off. Eli slept the entire final flight - starting at about 7:00 as we waited for the chaos to be fixed. We finally landed in OKC at 11:30 pm. My parents, Jeff's parents, my sister, and Abi were there to greet us. It was surreal to be home. We were en route for 65 hours from the time we left the guest home in Ethiopia until we arrived in OKC.

Abi was in great spirits, especially given the hour, and greeted us with hugs and kisses. And when I picked her up I almost could not carry her! My arms were so tired from carrying Eli and Abi was twice as heavy.

We went Jeff's parents that night. We stayed up a little while giving gifts and chatting about our "adventure." We also heard about Clifton's wedding that we missed while we were stuck in NYC. We finally went to bed at 1:00 am, and did not get around until 9:00 am the next morning.

This concludes the adventures to get our son. Now he is here and we are so thankful to God for the amazing story he has given us to give to Eli of His love for Eli and of our love for Eli and what we went through to bring him home.

Stay tuned for the next adventures of Abi & Eli!