First Month at Home

Wow, how time flies... It has been 3 weeks since we last posted.  We have been home for almost a month now.

Eli is settling in very well.  Other than a recurring ear infection, he is healthy.  We have been seriously lagging behind in finding him a doctor, but hope to remedy that shortly.  He has visited 3 doctors already, and has been great for them.

Sleeping has been a bit difficult as he seems to feel that we have gone away when he wakes up and we are not in his room.  One of us has slept in his room virtually every night so far, and it seems to calm him a bit when he wakes up and looks around.

Eli loves his grandparents.  He has spent lots of time (relative, I suppose, to how much time he really has spent with anyone other than us) with his grandparents.  He loves to play Duplo/Mega Blocks at Grandma and Grandpa Dycks.  He loves to play with a wide variety of toys at Grandma and Grandma Dueck's (especially the little monkeys in a barrel - who knew that could be so much fun).

Eli has also done a bunch of activities, in our first month home.  He has visited the Zoo, the park (a couple of times), swimming at the Y, attended a cousins baseball game and going out to my parents country yard.  He has also visited our workplaces, and our church.  Eli has also had an outing with a dear friend and her 3 children (2 adopted from Ethiopia), and who have been anxiously awaiting his arrival for quite a while now.

Getting up close with the animals

Eli was enthralled with the Caimans (in the alligator family)

The obligatory picture with the polar bear bank at the zoo.

Taking a break from gardening at Grandma and Grandpa Dueck's

First visit to St. Vital Park

The playground at the park.

The first time Eli enjoyed the swing.

Eli has learned that Daddy isn't always home, as I've had a few days where I've been gone for most of the day to take care of some items, including this week when I was in a 4 day golf tournament just north of the city.  He is very excited when one of us has been gone for a period of time, and returns.  He runs to us, and always wants to hug us, and be held for a period of time afterwards.

Eli is making the most of the sign language which Hilary has been teaching him.  He can sign "Please", "More", "Water", "Thank You", "Eat", "Garbage" and a few more.  He can say many words, albeit pronouncing them incorrectly on occasion.  Some of the words that he now says are: Mama, Daddy, Namna (Grandma), and Nampta (Grandpa), Pease (Please), Deet (Zeke), Come (usually used together with Deet, "Deet Come"), Poop, A Dam (Down - working on getting this almost 4 letter word converted to Down, but it is a long process :)), Up, Bekest (Breakfast) and a few more.

Eli and Zeke are getting along quite well.  Although, I'm not sure whether Zeke is all that thrilled that he has lost the priority attention position, he probably does like the fact that he gets a few more walks out of the deal.  If the either of the 2 are a bit cranky, or antsy, one of us will usually take them both for a walk, and this sometimes happens 3 or 4 times a day.  Zeke will often come up into Eli's room when we are getting ready to put him to bed, and will lie at the foot of the bed.  I think these two will be very good friends in the future.

Getting comfortable with each other

Zeke and Eli snuggling in for nap time.

As we move into August, we are hoping to take a little vacation to visit some more cousins, and try a couple of camping trips.  We can't wait to experience all of these things as a family of 3 (4 if you include our dear Zeke in the mix).

It has been a whirlwind month, but we are feeling more and more comfortable daily with our new roles and responsibilities.

Thank you everyone who has been supporting us, and praying for us as we make this transition.

June 29 - July 6, 2013 - The First Week at Home

So you're all probably wondering where we're staying...  I'm not that ambitious to actually keep this updated on daily basis, so we'll work on trying to keep it updated on a weekly basis from now on.

We had a great first week at home.  We were incredibly blessed by a group of our friends here, who had arranged to keep us fed as we transitioned home.

We had rotisserie chicken, KFC chicken, Hamburgers, pizza, chicken burgers, soup and buns, pulled pork, ethiopian food, Lasagna, and more.  It was an awesome week of food, and we thank all of you once again who contributed.

Even though we are in a process of cocooning, and ensuring that Eli is attaching well to us, we felt that we needed to get out and spend some time outside the home.  As a result, we had a busy week of connecting with some family and some friends, and introducing Eli.  Eli has been showing some real good signs of attaching to us here.  He loves both sets of grandparents already, and really enjoyed spending some time in the pool with Grandpa Dueck.

He met most of the friends that showed up with food, and learned that he may have to start sharing with friends when certain little friends closer to his age showed up to have a look at his stash of toys.  Speaking of toys, we were happily surprised when another adoptive momma and her dear daughter showed up during the week with some toys for Eli to play with. He has really enjoyed those toys, R, and I'm sure you'll see many a picture in the future with familiar toys :).

We went on a little excursion to visit our dear dog, Zeke, who is still being looked after by our friends R&P and their 4 boys.  Eli was a little unsure of Zeke, but as we played and visited with P and the boys, it seems that he warmed up to him just a little bit.  It will take some adjustment, but we think that it is almost time to introduce Zeke and Eli in our house.  This will happen this week.

On Friday morning, the 3 of us went strawberry picking.  We met many friends and even a family member who had been unable to meet Eli until now.  Eli got his first golf cart ride.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself and it was great to show him off again to others, and we got lots of freshly picked strawberry's.

Finally, this afternoon, we went to watch our nephew Z in a baseball tournament.  Eli was happy, and content most of the day, and was able to meet his cousins again, and get to know them a bit more.  It was an exciting baseball game, and he was tuckered out by the time we went to bed this evening.

We learned this week, just how positive our transition has been for Eli.  He has been so very happy, and has traveled so well.  We are blessed to have Eli in our lives.

One of the rare times Eli has fallen asleep in his car seat.

Thanks ASI.  We appreciate our "family" of co-workers

Exploring a new toy from Grandma and Grandpa

Mom and Dad, this water is coooooold!

Thanks to all of our friends who contributed to our meals.
They were all delicious!  Thanks everyone!

June 28, 2013 - Day One at Home

Today was our first day at home.  Eli and Hilary woke up around 7:30 this morning, and had breakfast, and the usual routine.  Once Sheldon woke up, we did a little bit of playing, and acclimatizing to our house.  By 11:30, Hilary and Eli were ready for bed, and they had a nap till almost 2:30.  While they were sleeping, I went out and got some groceries, and made some lunch (KDWP), mowed the lawn, and chatted with the neighbors.  It appears that Jet lag has not affected me quite the same way as the other two up until this point. Once Hilary and Eli had woken up, we had some lunch together, and slowly got ready to go out for a bit.  First of all, we went for a walk to re-register our vehicle.

First walk in a stroller

We drove to our church to check in, and then decided to go and visit Grandma and Grandpa Dyck.  We spent some time there, just watching Eli play, and doing a little bit of playing with him as well.  We went out for supper together, and had some good quality visiting time with Hilary's parents.  It was a great opportunity for Eli to get to know his grandparents a bit more as well.

We got home at 8:00, and promptly put Eli to bed.  He once again slept in our bed, but this time with Hilary, while Sheldon slept in Eli's bed.

It was a great first day, and we are still adjusting to the fact that we are actually home with our dear son.  It all still seems a bit surreal.

June 26 & 27, 2013 - Travel Day(s) - Part 2

....continued

We boarded the plane around 9:30, and were delighted to find that the plane was less than half full.  This meant that we would be able to take up seats around us, so that we could "stretch" out a bit more, and hopefully sleep.

We took off, and Hilary made the comment a number of times, just how smooth that take off was.  The staff was very friendly, and even though Eli started off quite agitated by the prospect of being buckled in (this was really his first seat belt experience), the staff gave him a couple of toys/games that would keep him busy for a bit.  When it came time for takeoff, we made sure that he was ready to eat, and we fed him cheerios and puffs.  He kept on eating these as the plane took off, and we had no issues with his ears.  He was happy, and didn't seem to realize that we were moving.  What an answer to prayer.  We tried to put Eli to bed, and he again cried, and was a bit upset at the prospect of sleeping on these uncomfortable seats, but he was willing to sleep on Hilary, and after a while he was fast asleep.  We transferred him to the seats,and he was out almost until our first little gassing up stop in Rome.  Hilary was also able to catch some shuteye.

He woke up in Rome, and we entertained him in the plane on the ground in Rome.  Eli and I walked up and down the aisles a few times, and just generally stretched our legs.  Once we were ready for takeoff, Eli was getting tired again, so it did not take much to get him falling back asleep after that.  I was also able to take a bit of a nap, and Hilary made sure that Eli didn't fall off the seats :).

Finally around 7:50 AM EST, we arrived in Toronto  We were in Canada.  This was a great feeling to be back in our home and native land.  We were all a little bit cranky, and we were not sure exactly what we would do as we had a 14 hour layover in Toronto.  Thankfully, a friend had recommended that we should go to the Sheraton and pay a day rate, and unwind there.  We had a little bit of trouble getting there, but after a quick breakfast at Swiss Chalet (mmmm bacon), we were ready and had a ride.  We got to the Sheraton, and checked into our room.  Eli and Hilary went right to sleep, while I worked on the computer a little bit.  After about a 2 hour nap, we decided that we would enjoy a swim.  We went to the pool, and enjoyed the water.  Eli wasn't quite as impressed with the water here, as he had been in Addis, but we think it was because a) the water was generally a bit deeper, and b) there was much more chlorine in the water here.

After the swim, we leisurely began packing everything back up again, and making sure that we had everything we would need on the plane in our carry-on's.  We checked out around 5:00, and shuttled back to the airport.  We were quite early, so we went back to Swiss Chalet for supper.  We then dropped our bags off, and went through security.  We were early enough that we didn't know exactly which gate we would be boarding at, so we just picked a gate, and Hilary and Eli slept on the floor, while I watched the bags, and made sure that no one stepped on them.  They were both able to sleep for almost 2 hours here, and it helped them feel a bit more rested as we traveled on.

At 10:50 PM EST, we departed Toronto, and Eli fell asleep almost right away on the plane.  He slept for the entire flight, while I dozed in and out of sleep on this flight.  We arrived in Winnipeg at 12:30 AM CST Friday morning, and were greeted by our parents, my sister and her family, my brother, and 4 or 5 of our close friends.  It wasn't a huge welcoming party, but it was a great welcoming party for us as we had missed these friends and family.  It was nice that the welcoming party wasn't too hige and overwhelming to Eli.  he warmed up a bit because his vousins brought some toys. We were absolutely exhausted, so our parents brought us and our luggage home.  Once home, we fell asleep almost right away.

We were ecstatic.  Our little family of 3 was home.  We had finally completed this part of the journey.  Now we would need to adjust to the time differences, which is apparently not that easy to do.  BUT... WE ARE HOME!!!

Checking out the clouds somewhere over the Atlantic with Mommy

Sleeping with Mommy on the plane.  Good thing we could stretch out!

Eli, checking out his new bed, BUT...

...Night #1 was spent in Mommy and Daddy's bed!

June 26 & 27, 2013 - Travel Day(s) - Part 1

We are coming home.

These two days are a jumbled mess in our minds at this point.  We spent Wednesday mostly laying low, although we were able to connect with two sets of friends that we have met out here, and had our little farewell meetings..

First of all, we met with F,C&L for coffee in the morning.  This again was great, as we have many things in common with this family, not the least of which is having children from the same orphanage at the same age.  The two kids seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with each other, and interacted a bit more again than we've seen thus far.  It was also great to have another chat with like minded friends in Ethiopia.  We are blessed to have them as friends, and hope that we can stay in touch whenever they can get back to Canada.

2nd, we went out for lunch with another adoptive mother, and her step daughter and family friend.  We went again to Makush, and had a lovely meal with them.  She has just returned to Addis to pick up her little boy.  We hope that she too, will soon get to travel back to Canada.  We were able to share some of our little tips on how we had adjusted with Eli, and she is hoping that this will help her as well as she takes custody of her son (again, who is a similar age as Eli).

Finally, around 2:30 or so, we returned to the guesthouse for one final afternoon nap for Eli and Hilary.  I was able to go out and get another haircut from the barber here.  I had gone once earlier, and I really enjoy the style (although Hilary thinks that I look like a bit of a goof).  It was very busy when I got there, and so I thought it might take quite a while before I would be able to get in, but there was a young man who was waiting, who said that I could go in front of him.. When all was said and done, I was out of there about an hour and a half after I got there, and when it probably could have been almost 3 hours.  I tried to pay for his haircut ahead of time, but due to a misunderstanding, it did not end up happening...  But, as I was walking back to the guesthouse, I ran into one of the shoe-shine boys, so I was able to give him a little bit of money... Probably not the wisest way to contribute, but I felt that a connection has been made, through A,B&I, so I felt like being a bit generous here...

We ordered some supper in, and were almost ready to go at 5:30, but our driver was only scheduled to pick us up at 6:30.  I also had to deal with the last payment for our room for the last couple of weeks that we had been there...  I went in, and gave my mastercard, which has been used both other times I had paid for the room, but this time, it was returned "invalid transaction"...  We tried it 4 times, and each time, it was rejected.  I was not worried about there being room on the card, but I was more worried about the fact that Mastercard was rejecting it... We tried my Debit card... also didn't work..  I started to panic a bit.  I had a little bit of cash on me, but not enough to cover the room.. Were we going to miss our flight because I could not pay my bill?  So, I got out my computer to call Mastercard using skype or my gmail chat, but of course, the internet was freakishly slow, and actually cut off a call once.  That was a no go.  I could've tried calling from the room, but the connection is brutal on the phone, and we would be charged quite a bit per minute to do that...  Suddenly, I remembered that a friend had offered that if we needed some cash to pay for the room, we could always ask him...  So, I got the driver to quickly drive us to their guesthouse, I borrowed what I needed (You know who you are... Thank you so very much), and got back to our guesthouse to pay.  We were able to leave at just after 7 (about a half hour or so later than I had wanted).  We were stressed by this time.

We got to the airport and there was a huge line out of the front doors of the airport.  It seems that we were required to scan our luggage before even entering the airport.  We got through, but Hilary had to have something in her bag looked at, and it was just a package of AA batteries, so they saw this, and we were on our way.  There was another huge lineup to check in, but there were a couple of airport employees (at least I think they were), who were able to just whisk us to the front of the line.  I'm not sure how I feel about it all now, knowing what I know now, but we gave them a tip, and we were through the ticket lineup in less than half an hour (even though we probably skipped ahead of 50ish people in the lineup).  Other adoptive families, have you had this experience?  Others who have travelled out of Ethiopia?

Once through the ticket lineup, we went through another couple of security areas, and then we were at our gate.  Sadly, I had not realized that there would be no place to buy water, or snacks for this marathon of a flight, and so we sat there waiting, and getting a little tired without having our snacks (good thing Hilary thought ahead and brought snacks for Eli)...  Hilary had not been feeling very good all day, and the waiting didn't help the cause.  The stress of the final moments at the guesthouse, and the stress of the long flight, and coming home, were getting to all of us.

Finally at 9:30, they asked us all to board the plane.

....to be continued

June 25, 2013 - Packing Day

After the hoopla of yesterday, we were busy packing today.

We woke up at the regular time, and due to a misunderstanding between us and F,C&L today, we went to meet them, only to discover, that the plans we had made were for tomorrow.  It was a good excuse, though, for us to go for a walk, and soak in Ethiopia as we near the end of this journey.

I also needed to go and do a little bit of last minute shopping for some clothing for myself.  I love t-shirts, and I thought it might be time for me to get a few with Ethiopian colors on them, as well as a soccer jersey, and a little bit more coffee, cause the other bags we had bought smelled absolutely delicious.  We made arrangements that I would be picked up around 2:00, and Markos and I would go and do this shopping.  At around 1:30, Hilary received a phone call from a friend from her work in Winnipeg, who has been in Addis for a few weeks now.  As a result, Hilary and Eli went out with this friend and her husband for lunch.  They had a great time, and as usually is the case, it was a good experience to meet up with Winnipeg friends here in Addis.  They also gave us some beautiful traditional clothing.  It will be fun to wear this clothing all together as a family in the very near future... (There's a picture of what is for Hilary, but I can't get the picture isn't uploading)

Markos and I went shopping, and spent a very long time looking for a soccer jersey.  We were having a difficult time finding one that would fit me.  Markos and I had a good laugh many times during the day, as we would stop at a shop and ask if they had one that would fit me, and every single one said "Yes of course, let me go look".  They would go to the back, and come out with one that looked like it would fit, but it was always a bit tight... This may be a sure sign that I still have some weight to lose, but every single one was a bit tight, except for one.  Of course this shop was asking 7 times the price what the others were asking, and it was a little rich for my blood.  So, I ended up buying one that is just a tad tight, and maybe this will be my kick in the pants to exercise to lose a little bit more weight.  On that note, it will be interesting when I get home on Friday, to figure out exactly how much weight I have actually lost.  Early in our trip (I think it was after week #2), I had a bathroom scale, and found I had lost 20 lbs.  I'm not sure I've lost much more than that, but it does appear that I could be as light as I have been since high school almost 20 years ago.  

Finally, Markos and I returned to the guesthouse, and I thought Eli would want to say goodbye to his dear "Gorkos", so I ran up to get him before Markos left.  I was right.  We were walking into the courtyard, and as soon as Eli set eyes on Markos, he was just about jumping out of my arms.  He was ecstatic to see Markos again, and get another chance to sit in his blue Datsun.  Here are some pictures of them together as they were saying goodbye.

Finally, once we had been able to get Eli into bed, Hilary and I began packing everything.  Our room was chaos, as we had to try and get everything we had bought, and everything we had brought into the luggage that we had, and to keep it underweight.  In the end, we succeeded, with one small exception.  We had 5 checked bags, and 7 carry-on's (although one of the carry-on's was one of the paintings that we had bought, rolled up in a tube).  We were a little nervous about whether this would be allowed tomorrow when we travel home, but decided to just leave it alone, and deal with it at the airport if needed.

We finally went to bed around 11:30, and were exhausted, but found it difficult to sleep due to the fact that we are leaving tomorrow...  What a feeling.  We're coming home!

June 24, 2013 - VISA Day

Today was a great day.  We woke up at our normal times, and carried on with our routines as we have been doing all along.  We had made some arrangements to go for a walk with our friends (F,C&L), in the morning, but due to some circumstances beyond our control, it did not work to do that.  Hilary and I made the decision to go shopping at a local shopping centre.  We made all these plans, hoping that we would be able to receive that phone call saying that our Visa was in.

At 9:30, we put Eli down for his nap, and by 10:00, we were both thinking that we must not have gotten our visa because friends of ours, when they received their visa, had been told between 9:00 and 9:30.  We were both discouraged, but prepared for another week here in Addis.  We lay down with Eli, and were all dozing off at 10:30, when our phone rang, and it was Martha, informing us that our Visa had indeed come in.  There was dancing, and quite a bit of joy in our place, as the final piece for us to take Eli home, was done.

Hilary celebrating!!

We went and did our shopping, knowing that we were only going to be here for a little bit longer.  I think we both probably bought a few more things than was necessary, but it was a joyful shopping trip.  We went to Makush, and purchased some art work to decorate our house with, and came back to the guesthouse for lunch.  We also made arrangements to actually go to the agency office to pick up our visa.  We picked up the visa, and came back to the guesthouse to begin making the arrangements to travel home.  Of course, we had to wait for BC to wake up so we could get a hold of our travel agent, but in the end, flights were booked by 9:15 PM.

It appears that we will be arriving home during the night on Thursday night / Friday morning.  We will be flying from Ethiopia right to Toronto, and then hanging out there for a while, and then connecting and getting back to Winnipeg.

We would love for anyone who is interested to come and see us at the airport when we arrive home, before we go into a sort of lockdown.  Please read a previous post where we explained what the process would be once we are home.  If you do visit at the airport, please refrain from holding our dear son, Eli.

If you are interested in coming to the airport, please talk to either my parents or Hilary's parents, or send me an email (dueck21@gmail.com), for the exact arrival time, and the details.

WE ARE COMING HOME!!!