EscherSketch

After he was discovered by the police last year, little Escher (who may have only been a few days old at the time) was taken to the “market orphanage” in Addis Ababa. We had a chance to visit the orphanage during our time in Addis. It was bittersweet to see the place where Escher was first cared for.

The orphanage- as indicated by its appellation- is located behind a Soviet style marketplace (very similar to the one by Mamut Mall in Budapest) in the midst of a shanty town. The “facility”, consists of three cement buildings behind an enclosure of corrugated steel which seems to be the construction material of choice in Addis.

Our group- Dena and I along with two other adopting couples- first visited the rooms with infants. It was crowded with little emaciated babies: many two to a crib. It was heartbreaking to realize that Escher spent his frist three months of life in this room sharing a crib with another little baby. I could tell that the ladies working at the orphanage were doing the best that they could to care for these little ones. There simply isn’t enough resources to go around.

Afterwards, we went out into the ally between the buildings and horsed around with the older kids. They all wanted to have their pictures taken and then view themselves on our cameras. It must be rare for these little ones to experience something like vanity.

One little girl was quite the entertainer and showed the group the Ethiopian shoulder dance.

Dena tried to learn…

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Sorry for not explaining our current status…

Yes, we are back in America (hence the ability to access the internet and blog). Unfortunately, our minds are still en-route due to the killer combo of new baby and jet-lag.

We returned from Addis on March 11 via Istanbul and Chicago. It was about 28 hours of travel that little Escher handled very well. We were a little concerned about getting through immigration in Chicago (legally, Escher is an immigrant that we are sponsoring until we adopt him in Georgia) but Dena coached him on the flight over so that things went smoothly.

So, we’re now back safe and healthy in Roswell. The girls absolutely adore him and he his been amazed y them since that forst moment Thursday morning when they gave im his first teddy bear.

So now we’re still trying to catch up on life with baby: doctors visits and many sleepless nights. I’ll be sure to post more about our time in Ethiopia along with more Esche pics in the days ahead.

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Well they “technically” have wireless at the guest house where we are staying. Technically in the sense that they have a laptop with a usb device that connects to the internet through the local cell phone network. It does work 5% of the time and tops out at a screaming 200kps. Hence it took about 30 minutes to update my Facebook status the other day.

(Scott- what were you thinking?!?)

Anyway, we’re heading over to the Sheraton this evening which apparently has a business center with a fast conneciton to the internet. So… enough background. Lets get on with the story.

We arrived on time at Addis on Wednesday morning at 3:30AM. No issues with immigration and all of our luggage made it despite being re-directed through different countries. This has done much to restore my faith in the goodness of God. Seriously.

Akim picked us up from the airport. We we’re parched so we paused for soda and coffee at the airport cafe and got to know him a bit. Pretty cool guy.

Anyway, we go and crash at the guest house for aout 4 hours before getting picked up by a driver to be taken to the House of Hope to meet little Escher. It was a pretty magical moment. I suspect that he was coached to act partiularly cute and adorable.

Well, it’s taken me more than 30 minutes to get this much posted. There’s more to show and tell but it’s getting late here and we need to get back to the guest house.

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Check in for the flight in Atlanta went rather well despite our insane itinerary: Atlanta - Chicago - New York - Istanbul - Addis Ababa. Don’t ask why… it was just several hundreds of dollars cheaper to do it this way, Istanbul doesn’t require a transit visa for the baby, and we would have a 10 hour layover in Istanbul on the way out (ahhh… fantasies of hot chai and shisha in the Sultanhamet).

Then there was the snow storm.

When we landed in Chicago we learned that our flight to JFK (New York) was cancelled. This was interesting since the five or so flights to Laguardia were still running. Oh well.. who can fathom the ways of airlines. So I promptly called American Airlines re-booking number and had a very helpful agent. At first we would be re-routed to Detroit - Amsterdam - Karachi - Addis.

I told her to try again. 

She agreed that this routing was ridiculous and kept looking. Then she uncovered Frankfurt to Istanbul and then back onto our original flight to Addis. We would lose the 10 hours o fun in Istanbul but be back on track. So on to the new route. 

We shared the flight over the Atlantic with a village of Hmong. Seriously. They took up about 12 - 15 seats in the middle of the plane: 3 adults, a clear village elder, and several loud and obnoxious kids. But I decided to be very nice and helpful. Its hard to travel with young kids and I know I’ll need some of the Karma for the trip back.

Got into no frills Frankfurt this morning without a hitch. Dena and I amused each other in the transit line by observing the young man sitting at the desk staring aimlessly into space instead of helping the long line of passengers. We debated as to whether he was a) kick’n it, b) hold’n down the fort, or c) keep’n it real. We both immediately agreed that he surely wasn’t “kick’n it” but we quickly discovered that he was “keep’n it real” when he walked out from around the counter to observe a random smudge in the corner.

So we made it into Istanbul withot a hitch this evening and we’re spending our 4 hour wait in the Sky Lounge. I discovered this nice and classy resturaunt during my trips out to Almaty when we lived in Budapest. A friendly staff, free wifi, decent salads, and comfy couches. Perfect.

So we’re “hold’n down the fort” here in Istanbul waiting to commence the final leg of our journey to meet Escher.

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In three days we will board a plane to see our son for the first time. He is nearly six months old, but we have still never held him or even laid eyes on him. We know of him through just seven photos.

That’s it. Seven. Seven snapshots to know our son.

And he is still our son- our little boy. It’s weird, unsettling, and sublimely beautiful in an odd way.

We got our first glimpse of little Escher the week before Thanksgiving. We received a note from the adoption agency. A little boy had been found on the street on September 15 by the police. They estimated that he was 4 days old.

Incredible- four days old. Horror and mercy. My mind still tries to understand the cruelty and ultimate grace in all of this.

The police who found him named him Esmael and deposited him at a government orphanage. His initial medical exam at 2 months of age indicated that he was about 21 inches long and weighed just over five pounds.  All indications were that he was completely healthy but malnourished.

I remember when Dena was pregnant with Elise (our wild and wonderful four-year old) and we went in for an amniocentesis. The image of her little hand reaching out towards the needle invading Dena’s womb. The fear and panic and concern. This is my little baby. Will she be OK?

The feelings with Escher at this point were so similar to me. This is my little boy: my only son. We knew that the state orphanage would care for him the best it could, but we also knew that this facility wasn’t as resourced as the private orphanage. Unfortunately, the private orphanage did not have any room and Escher was stuck. The anxiety was hard. We wanted to rush to Ethiopia and rescue him at that moment, but we knew that that would be foolish. It was a tough Christmas as we waited for room to open up in the private orphanage.

Then in the middle of January we received beautiful news and three more pictures of Escher.

He had just been moved to the House of Hope: the private care center affiliated with our agency. The pictures were a breath of sweetness, refreshment, and comfort. His look of wonder up at the camera. Does he know what’s in store for him? Do we know what’s in store for us? His laughter mocks our anxiety. This “special pregnancy” would end up OK. Our litle boy was fine.

So the court date was set for February 10 and on that day Ethiopia declared that we were his parents. The laws of Ethiopia had caught up with our hearts: little Escher is ours and we are his. Two more baeutiful pictures arrived three days later. Our little boy waiting in a crib in a distant land. We can’t get there soon enough.

So the visa appointment has been set. We are to arrive at the US embassy on Thursday March 5 in Addis Ababa. The following Tuesday we expect to get his US visa and then fly home on Wednesday, March 11. I can hardly desribe the anticipation that we have to explode these seven photos into a lifetime of joy.

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