Last Day

Lots of rain this week, as it is the rainy season.

Dreamland is a beautiful, scenic view of a crater lake about 1 hour south of Addis toward Awassa.  It is a nice early dinner with all the families in country for court.  The drive gives you a view of the countryside.

A few comments for traveling families.  Visit #1 is a little long with lots of time (your choice) to see Addis and around.  There are a number of places to eat, sites to see and places to shop to fill this time.  The drivers are the best.  They can help you along with the in country staff or guest house hosts to help you plan your time.

Special NOTE for Visit #2.  Gladney will not book guest house reservations for the 2nd visit until you have your itinerary for your second trip.  All of us here this visit have had to email USA back and forth or call to get this plans confirmed then request our housing through Gladney.  We all hope this process changes.  It would be a very good idea if you know your tentative embassy dates to have some plans with an agent in process.  You can obviously see the quest houses while you are here!

I have had the blessing to travel to many countries (including other African).  Ethiopia (Addis) is a unique blend of mild European influence, middle eastern influence and lots of Africa.  The people are wonderful.  They value family, friendship and kindness - kind of like an African Texas.  I have felt unsafe in parts of the world but not Ethiopia. 

Unfortunately, the poverty of Africa exist in Ethiopia which generally pulls at your heart strings.  Visit #1 is tough on emotions.  The silver lining of the new system is visit #2 will be "familiar".  As we have been in the Bjoe with another family on visit #2, it has its own struggles and joys.

We look forward to seeing Texas again but not the flight!
AB

Tummy Trouble

My sister and I woke up and let's just say our stomach's were rumbling! Thankfully my dad had medicine with him and so he was able to give it to us but our stomach's still ache. We stayed in all day except for my mom and brother who went shopping. Everyone was supposed to go to Dreamland (a restaurant with a great view) but Abby and I were too sick to go so my momma stayed with us. We leave tomorrow. This has been a great trip.
- Rebekah Bentley

Holy Cow

Ok well be prepared, this is going to be a long post. Yesterday we went to the zoo! The coolest thing ever. PETA would've had a cow but hey its' Africa! They have tons of lions at the zoo. We found out that they have lions with black manes. They're only indigenous to Ethiopia. It was really neat to see them. The zoo also had baboons and it even had an antelope just roaming about. No big deal. After the zoo, we went to the national museum. You must go to the national museum! Lucy is there and basically all of the revolutionary archaeological discoveries are found there as well. They had several things from the 4th and 5th century and even a few things from the 1st and 2nd century. It's just full of rich history. We also went to the leprosy hospital. Extremely interesting. In the Bible, it talks about Jesus healing the lepers and this trip it became totally real. We don't really experience that disease in the United States, but to see it up close in another country that dressed in the traditional garb that you can totally imagine the Israelites dressing in, was really surreal. What also amazed me was the fact that all of the women were embroidering things. This is really surprising because leprosy really affects the nerves in your hands. So the fact that they were hand sowing beautiful things was just jaw dropping. In the hospital, they have a gift shop where they sell gorgeous dresses, table clothes, hand carved crosses, and some other great stuff. I really encourage you to go in there, because the proceeds go back to the people in the hospital. The one things though that I could not believe was that these women had their small children living with them. Leprosy can't be spread through direct contact if you just brush against someones arm that has it. It's spread through a continuation of interacting with it. So basically they were dooming their kids to be lepers as well. Totally shocking quite honestly. We ate lunch at the Hilton with the Thomases! Their compassion child that they support came with her mom and nurse to eat lunch with them and they invited us to come. This seven year old was from the bush (the country) and she was the most darling girl you have ever seen! She had never been to the city before and had never seen an elevator, and she was totally amazed at the view from the balcony. It was really humbling to meet her and interact with her. The most precious girl ever. They told us that usually girls from the bush won't look you in the eye and are not outgoing at all. She was very smiley and outgoing because of compassion. Compassion is a great ministry and you should definitely check it out. Later that night, we ate traditional Ethiopian food. Spicy and the bread they eat with, called angara (don't know how to spell it), is sour unless you eat it with a sauce or something. At the restaurant they played traditional music and they even had some dancers. I have never seen people dance like that in my whole life. Holy cow! They had skills. They pulled me up with them to dance :D I dont' dance, period. It wasn't pretty lol but I had a lot of fun. That was pretty much our day yesterday. Ok so today, we went and saw Samuel this morning! He sobbed and screamed when he saw us at first again. He prefers the women there instead of us so that was really heartbreaking to watch. I know that he just has stranger anxiety with us but still, ugh! He got better towards us though towards the end. They take great care of all the kids.We ate lunch and then we went and saw three government orphanages. They are in really rough shape. Gladney does a lot and because of that they are TONS better than what they used to be but it's still really sad. The second orphanage we went to really upset me. They had like 30 ribs in one room with all these babies and had two caregivers for the whole room. My dad checked them out and several had pneumonia. They also had bronchitis and colds. This one baby had a rash that was just... words can't describe it. My father said that he's never seen anything quite like it before. Here private area was just raw basically. It was just so sad. Basically every kid in there was sick. I got attached to the cutest little boy in the world and I held him for the whole hour that we were there and when I had to leave, I put him down and he wouldn't let go of my jacket and I literally had to pry his fingers off. He started sobbing and he kept calling me momma and as I left he looked at me with the saddest eyes. I just broke down when I got outside. The conditions that these children/ babies live in is just awful and that little boy will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I wanted so bad to just take him home with me. I would have, but of course, I am not an adult. But even though these children have no parents and live in just crap, they still smile and I have to remember that there are no orphans with God. So after three hours of heartache, we went back to our guest house, took showers, and ate. Africa has changed my life.
- Rebekah Bentley

Another Day

Visit 1 is full of highs and lows.  The week is formatted to provide structure for cultural events, 3 visits to see your child (children) and LOTS of free and explore time.  The weather is cool to cold and wet (either raining or high humidity).  The overall opinion is bring "comfort foods" and things to keep you occupied if your day of exploring is done.

With jet lag, seeing your baby, adjusting to a new culture, meeting other families and COURT - this trip is an emotional rollercoaster!  The first family that has traveled twice is with us this week for placement - they concur this is the case.

Our time with our older kids has been very nice.  They have done great with minimal arguments.  The very essence of Africa and one week in Addis is probably work a semester of education or more.  The judge asked our kids a question during the court proceedings "Do you know about the adoption and have you met your knew brother?"  They smiled and said yes together.  We were proud of them and glad they could be a part of Sam's history of memory of events.  Words fail to describe showing your children an older blind man relinquishing his 9 year son (obviously extreemly poor and from the bush).  Or another father bringing his son with suitcase in hand.  I love our children and are proud of the strength they showed yesterday.

We hope to explore some more today.  The zoo is on the schedule and hopefully a visit to the leprosy hospital.  Tonight is a cultural meal and dance!!

We continue to thank you for your prayers.

AB

It's Official!

We had court today! They took us to some building (not the courthouse) and we waited in some sort of a conference room where we chilled and the attorney told us the kind of questions the judge usually asks. Very simple questions. Why did you choose Ethiopia? Have you visited your child? Do you know that this adoption is permanent and can't be changed? Those types of things. Really the whole thing is a huge formality. MOWA is honestly the biggest challenge. So after we waited in this conference room our driver took us to the court room. You go up three flights of stairs and wait in this really tiny room. They have about 10-15 chairs along the walls but they were all full when we were there. Be prepared. The people adopting aren't the only ones in there. They also have parents reliquishing their rights. So it was really sad. There were people with their kids and they had suitcases with them and when we were there there was this man who was blind and he was giving up his son. So mentally prepare yourself. We waited/ stood for 2 hours until we went into this adjacent room where the judge was. But seriousely, you go in and then you go out. It took 2 minutes. After the questions, she said, "He's yours." We were super pumped! After court we ate lunch with other families and then went on a tour of the church. It's been a fantastic day and it's just been amazing to see what God has done. After two years of waiting, it's official! He's ours (Question: if he is ours why can't we take him home??) Very frusterating let me tell you. Our embassy date is Sept. 2. My parents will travel to get him. None of us kids will be accompaning them. Praise the LORD!
- Rebekah Bentley

Ethiopia :)

We saw Sam again today! Thankfully he did not sob and scream when he saw us. In fact, he gave my mom a big kiss on the mouth and he fell asleep in my dad's arms. He is such a cutey. After we saw him, we went to see a church in the highest point of Ethiopia. It was freezing but really cool. We ate lunch at some Italian restaurant and it was surprisingly good. Mom really wanted to shop today, so we went to the market and shopped for jewelry and clothes. It's been a great day!
- Rebekah Bentley

Sammy Wammy

Hello! This is Rebekah (The eldest daughter, and I wanted to write the blog so here I go!) The journey started in Dallas. We got through security and had no problems which is a shocker because my family is always tagged as terrorists and we always get searched. We got settled and we met an Ethiopian family! Sweetest family ever and we hit it off immediately. From Dallas we went to DC and had a 4 hour lay over. 18 hours later, we arrived in Addis about 7:30 last night. The plane ride was absolutely horrendous, let's just be honest. We went through immigration and customs, got our 8 bags of luggage, and had to x-ray our bags. Who x-rays luggage coming into the country?? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but that's Africa for ya. After we got to our guest house, I crashed immediately and slept throught the night quite peacefully. My family on the other hand woke up around 4 am with the sound of dogs fighting. In the morning, we ate a great breakfast and then went to the orphanage!! We were super excited to finally see Sam. Unfortunately, we only got to see him an hour. So it was a bittersweet visit. We get to see him two more times, each time being only an hour. We go to court Wednesday! On a side note, I have found that there is such a sense of family here. Everybody takes care of everyone. They truly value what is important and that is something that I wish our country had. We are doing great, but please keep us and Sam in you prayers.
- Rebekah Bentley :)