This was two days early because for some wonderful reason, his Visa was issued a day early, the appointments I had made were all on on the Wednesday and there were seats available on all of the flights home on Thursday. Friday's Delta doesn't offer flights out of Addis, so I was thankful we were able to leave on Thursday! Also, this gave us two extra days at home with Daddy and Dane before we had to start the medical appointments and then Daddy is only able to take three days off, so that gives us five days as a family!
One of the things I am really not good at is asking for help. I generally think I can do everything myself. So this trip was a bit of a social experiment, because I chose to say yes to ANY offer of help that was made.
So I thought I would make a list of the "Good Samaritans" along the way:
- Mike and Lauren for letting me eat meals with them in Ethiopia,
- Hareq for shopping for me, taking care of me, and helping me make decisions on the gifts when we didn't have enough for everyone,
- Mr. Allemu, our attorney, who made sure that all of my requests were met, and that our safety was insured,
- Tefasa, Mr. Allemu's assistant, for driving us anywhere and everywhere we needed and keeping us secure,
- Firegent for making sure I had clean clothes, cleaning my room and the guest house and helping Isaac feel more comfortable as he transitioned to me.
- Regatu for being like a Mom and making sure I got a good healthy breakfast to start the day,
- Sister B for helping Isaac and I make connections and allowing me to explain how to use the medicines I brought, as well as the medicines she already had,
- All of the caregivers at the foster home, the security guards, the servers at the restaurants, and the store owners who helped me select items for Isaac to remember his homeland,
- The KLM agent at the Hilton who helped me move our flights and got us great seats!
- The gentleman who helped me with my luggage, finding me a seat while I waited for the check in line, getting me to the front of the check in line, and kept telling Isaac everything was okay in Amharic,
- The customs officials in Ethiopia for letting me go to the front of the line because Isaac is not a huge fan of strollers,
- The bathroom attendant in Addis for holding Isaac while I went to the bathroom (those stalls are seriously small) and this was seriously the most nerve wrecking part. It proved to me that praying while peeing is okay,
- The security officer for helping me through the gate security early,
- The boarding agent who helped me to my seat on my flight from Addis to Amsterdam,
- The gentlemen who sat next to me on the flight from Addis to Amsterdam who helped me with everything and didn't complain that a person in the middle seat had a child in her lap,
- The flight attendant from Addis to Amsterdam that got Isaac a bassinet and let him sleep in it on the floor.
- Isaac for not crying on this flight, at all.
- The gate agents who helped me off the flight and helped me figure out the gate for our next flight was across the hall and where we could get a bite to eat,
- The Amsterdam restaurant server who brought me our food and drinks, even though that wasn't the norm and she was really busy,
- The AMS to SEA gate agents that let us through security and board early,
- The Ethiopian/US Citizen who helped explain to Isaac what was happening on this flight while in the boarding area,
- The next Ethiopian/US Citizen we met who sat next to us on the plane. He works for a company I work with and we were able to chat about the oil industry a bit. Then anything and everything he could do to help with Isaac, he was on it. For the 10 hour flight. He's a saint.
- The funny immigration officer in Seattle who made the two hour wait less painful with his wit, eventually making fun of a grown man who didn't want to wait and be patient telling him that Isaac was more of a man than him. It probably sounds awful, but it was actually pretty funny. The guy was being a baby.
- The customs agent who decided that we didn't need to go through an additional search. Not that he would have found anything, but we were tired and hungry and it must have shown.
- The Horizon flight attendants for helping us out to the plane in Seattle, then back in, then back out. And then when there were four people in the same seat as us, they fixed it and made it so that Isaac and I didn't have to move. Again.
- The nice lady next to me for taking all of my luggage while I carried Isaac to his Daddy and brother.
- For Kevin and Dane being right there waiting for us past security,
- For PaPa Jerry to be there to take pictures when we arrived,
- For the crowd of people with signs and there to welcome us.
- And the many, many people who prayed for up to and through this journey.
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