June 3, 2013 - Passport Application Day

We had a great day today, but it was a long one...

We woke up this morning with plans to be picked up at 9:30 to go and apply for Eli's passport.  We got to the government building, and there were crazy amounts of people there.  Apparently some people come and wait in line for days to get in.  As an adoptive family, it seems like we can get in very quickly, and we were inside the gates in no time.  As we were walking up the stairs to enter, I felt my zipper on my shorts being zipped open... pickpocketer's... Luckily, my first reaction was to reach down there, and nobody was actually getting into it.. In the only other instance of someone trying to get into my pocket, I actually had a hand in there... Very unnerving feeling, and it made me a bit on edge for the rest of the Passport application process. We got in, and waited until our agency representative showed up.  Sadly, he was about 1/2 hour late, so we sat just inside the gates until we saw a nanny from the orphanage, along with a child that is about the same age as Eli (Rebecca, if you're still reading the blog, it was your son. As an aside, Rebecca, can you please let me know if you got my email, I saw 2 addresses in your profile, and one of them came back undelivered, and I don't know how else to contact you), and we chatted for a bit.  Eli was very shy of the nanny, and I take this to mean that his attachment to us is working well.  We waited for a few more minutes until the representative showed up, and then we walked back to the room where the passport application was to take place.  We were once again, just ushered right in, while our rep filled out our paperwork, and got everything in order for our application...  Eli needed to get his picture taken, and was not impressed with this.  The worker there seems to have dealt with kids like this before, and before long there were a couple of pictures taken.  Once both boys had had their pictures taken, we were done.  The entire process took 1/2 an hour once our representative showed up.  Some things that shocked us about the sheer amount of people and the desire to get into the building was how the guards treated the people.  There were some times where there were people pushing to get through to the gate, and during those times, the guards would start walking through the crowds, and start whipping the people back with some sort of stick.  It was almost like herding cattle.  Very sad, but seemed to be a normal occurrence there.  Also afterwards when we were waiting for our ride, we were standing in the same place where some Ethiopian's had been standing, and had been shooed along because the guards didn't like them standing there, but the guards left us alone.  That's a bit of a double standard it seems, but it's the norm.

We were picked up by Markos and driven to the Sheraton to meet up with A,B&I, and D,C& family, and the shoe shine boys (for more on the shoe shine boys, visit this blog post by our friends).  We spent the day visiting and relaxing beside the pool, and in the pool.  We were all just a little bit burnt.  Eli really loves the water, and it was again tough to keep his head out of the water.  He was able to nap a little bit at the pool as well.  Around 4:00, the clouds were rolling in, and it was looking more and more like it was going to rain, so we packed up, and headed to the gate.  By the time we got to the gate, it was raining cats and dogs.  We were all a bit soaked as we got into Markos' vehicle, and we drove through the rain.  It was raining so hard, that it was at times difficult to see where we were going.  Not fun when you're going through crazy intersections where everyone seems to drive however they want..  We got back to the guesthouse, and as the others were leaving, Markos' car had a blowout... So they changed it and were on their way.

A Miniature view of the Sheraton and the pool

We got upstairs, and were very tired, so we started getting ready for supper.  We decided to order a pizza for Hilary, and I would make Kraft Dinner for Eli and I.  What a treat to be able to make KD (everybody, let's groan together).  It was a blessing that our friends brought us KD when they came last weekend.  It was nice to have a meal that tasted like back home.  Eli didn't complain today when we put him to bed, but still seemed to have tough time falling asleep.  After about a 1/2 hour, he was fast asleep.

Hilary's Hawaiian Pizza.  Love the Ham!

My delicious Kraft Dinner!

We had a great day, and look forward to a few more as we start winding down our time here in Ethiopia.  We feel like we MAY now have passed the halfway point of our stay here.  We expect to receive our passports in one week from tomorrow (Tuesday of next week), and then we can apply for our Travel Visa for Eli.  Our outlook has been growing more and more positive in recent days, and we definitely want to thank all those who are praying for us, but also for those people who are regularly encouraging us via email, Facebook, and comments on this blog.  We thank you!