Travel Part II

Even better than the crazy Christians are the exuberant adoptive parents. It's pretty obvious who the parents to be are and who are not. Ethiopian Airline's flight from Dulles to Addis is the preferred choice for traveling families. It's a direct 15 hour flight with only a short stop for refueling. ET Air requires check in at the gate before departure. So in the incredibly long line at the counter are Ethiopians, other Africans, humanitarian workers (they have matching shirts and/or nametags) and a few white people. I felt like I had a huge arrow blinking above my head that said "Adoptive Mother".
To make it worse are the Julies. I call this type of woman a Julie in honor of a former roommate who was just tooooo PERKY! There were a couple of Julies running around so excited they couldn't sit still and they were working the line looking for other families they might know. As one approached us, I could literally feel every muscle in Jason's body stiffen. He really loved my roommate more than I did. We just wanted to be left alone. We were tired. It took all day to fly across the country and we both just wanted to sleep.

There is a song about pioneers that goes: Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked. There should be a song that goes: Airport travelers whine as they walk and walk and walk and walk. There's a lot of walking in airports and sitting and waiting. For the most part, people are nice. I remember walking through the Denver airport on trip#1 with Efa. Efa was this tiny little skinny guy with a huge belly and huge eyes. He was so quiet and literally clung to us. As we walked and walked and walked, I would watch people look at us. We would get smiles from everyone, even the biggest baddest looking biker guys. That's what a cute little Ethiopian baby will do, warm hearts.

On the second visit to ET, we flew Lufthansa. I could not do the 15 hour flight on ET airlines again, especially after the 16 hour return flight turned into 19 hours. By the time we were ready to depart Frankfurt for Addis, I was tired. The waiting area for the flight was entry only with no exiting so we waited until the last minute to go in. As we handed our boarding passes to the agent, we were given new passes. It only took me a few seconds to realize we were upgraded! This can be the part where I thank Jesus. We were given the most wonderful seats in Business class. We didn't have seats we had pods, individual areas where I didn't have to touch anyone else, climb over anyone, step on my backpack or force my seat to recline. I immediately reclined my seat, elevated my feet, threw the comforter over my head and went to sleep. Oh it was wonderful. When I woke up, a few hours later I felt so much better. I wish we didn't have to fly coach everytime!

When we landed in Addis, we were the first off the plane and the first in line for visas. I kept thinking to myself, this is too easy. I had the quick fleeting thought that there will be no one to pick us up. As we made our way to get our luggage, I was prepared. Learning from our first experience, we found our luggage quickly and moved through security. As we exited security, I scanned the crowd looking for our driver. No one was holding a sign with our name and no one looked familiar. I knew that I needed to call someone, I just didn't know how to use a payphone. I approached the first person I saw with a cell phone and asked him to call our agency's facilitator. He did.

Traveling to Africa once is a dream, traveling twice in one year is a blessing. Ethiopia is beautiful and has some of the most humble, integrity filled people I have ever met. We plan on going back, giving back and raising these two beautiful boys that Ethiopia has given us to be wonderful Ethiopian American men.