Day 8-Shopping, Coffee, & fancy dinner

Daddy and his sweet girl

from my journal:

We spent the morning at a local church bazaar doing some souvenir shopping. It's on the last Saturday of the month, from 8am-12pm at the evangelical church. All the vendors are african non profits, benefitting various causes. It was so great to get handmade items and know our money was going to a good cause. We bought most of our souvenirs there. We got these really cool wooden salad tongs/bowls, coffee ceremony items, a few toys, and a clay nativity set.

We did a little more shopping at some souvenir shops for a few more items, like silver crosses, tshirts, other Ethiopian goodies. We also went to Tamoca again, and got some coffee beans for home as well as a few macciatos. Delish.

The three of us!

one of the suites at the resort

 

 

In the afternoon, we headed out in a van with the other families and Travis to a resort for dinner. I can't for the life of me remember the name of it (it wasn't Dreamland). It was beautiful, delicious, and so nice to relax, breathe fresh air and enjoy some good company. I would love to spend a few days there someday! It was about an hour drive out of Addis, but the van we rode in had A/C which was SO nice! It was really really nice, the food was excellent and about 450birr per couple.

Previous posts on our trip, in case you missed them!


Day 1-Hello From Addis!
Day 2- Gondar 
     I also had two jet lagged attempts at blogging Gondar, if you care to read)

•      Gondar Part 1
•      Gondar Part 2

Day 3- Lucy Day!
Day 4- Family Bonding Day
Day 4-Life with Lucy Melat
Day 5- Gladney Care Center Visit and Top View
Day 5-Life with Lucy part 2
Day 6-U.S. Embassy , Holy Trinity Church, & Fasika
Day 7- Birth Family Meeting 
Day 8- Souvenir Shopping and Resort Dinner

Day 7- Birth Family Meeting

From my journal:

This morning we met Melat's maternal Aunt. She seemed very very happy to see Melat, although baby girl didn't seem to remember her at all. She hadn't seen her since her relinquishment in November, 6 months ago. She traveled all the way from Sudan to meet us and say goodbye to Melat. She was returning immediately to her work in Sudan on a plantation.

Melat was very nervous to be out of my arms!

She seemed much younger than we expected. She seemed like a teenager to us, although our paperwork said otherwise. She seemed to love Melat so much. She said Melat had her mother's nose. We think she also has the family feet, because her Aunt had the same long narrow feet Melat has.

(I am editing some here, becuase there's just some of the story we feel is just to private to publish for the world to read).

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and recovering from the morning family meeting. It was wonderful and hard. So glad we had the opportunity, but it was exhausting. So much life our little one has already been through.

We made a quick stop to the Kechene girls shop and the Gladney care center to snap a few photos of one more babe. Turns out, he was in Melat's old room, and the caregivers, in their very broken english, asked me who's mother I was. I said, "Melat" and they lit up and said, "May-lie, Oh, May-lie!" and made kissing noises, and I got the gist that they wanted me to give her their love. They obviously had loved her well, which makes my heart so full.

one of Melat's former caregivers

another one of Melat's caregivers...she was especially giving the kisses and loves to her!

Our little girl is so sweet- a little bundle of sunshine. She's so smiley and happy, we are totally enjoying getting to know her.

previous posts:



Day 1-Hello From Addis!
Day 2- Gondar 
     I also had two jet lagged attempts at blogging Gondar, if you care to read)

•      Gondar Part 1
•      Gondar Part 2

Day 3- Lucy Day!
Day 4- Family Bonding Day
Day 4-Life with Lucy Melat
Day 5- Gladney Care Center Visit and Top View
Day 5-Life with Lucy part 2
Day 6-U.S. Embassy, Holy Trinity Church, and Fasika

Day 6- U.S. Embassy, Holy Trinity Church, & Dinner at Fasika

Notes from my journal (it was a full day):

We got up early to depart for the US Embassy. We arrived there at 7:30am and the place was already filling up. They started calling folks from our group just after 8am. I think we were the 2nd or 3rd family and we went upstairs about 8:30. The Embassy office reminded me of the DMV only with security check points. We went up to a window with an american agent behind the glass who asked us to raise our right hand and swear to tell the truth (like what I've seen on court tv :) A few questions and we were on our way. We were asked where Lucy was born, how she became an orphan, who relinquished her, basic stuff about her story.  We were at the window 5-10 minutes. We had decided that I would be the one to answer the questions, since I practically had the paperwork memorized. I got incredibly nervous for some reason, once a the window. My hands started to sweat and shake. I kept thinking, "THIS is the final official thing! Stop shaking, or he's going to think something fishy is going on!" But, he was cool...I'm sure I wasn't the first goofy adoptive mom to stand in his window.

We left the Embassy, and went over to the Gladney Care Center for a quick follow up visit with Dr. Mikiyos. He wanted to follow up on her ear infection and diarhea (I can never spell this right!). He told us to hold the course with the meds. Lucy was NOT happy to see him. I think she's been given many many shots while there. She has scars on both upper arms that he told us were from medications and immunizations being given by shot. He said everything is administered by shot, antibiotics, immunizations, etc.

Belay's Father is in the light colored uniform next to the Emperor

inside the church, beautiful paintings and art

Belay in memorial, his father is pictured 3rd from left, middle row (can you tell?)

art depicting the massacre of the former Imperial Government officials

We had a little down time at the Bejoe before we left Lucy with a caregiver for a few hours and went to the Holy Trinity Church for a tour with Belay. It was amazing to get a tour with Belay (the director of Gladney's in country program). His father was the Commander of the Royal Palace Guard (or something important like that) for the last Ethiopian Emperor in the 1970's. In the Holy Trinity Church is where the Emperor Haile Salassie and his wife are entombed. There is loads of history, and it was interesting to hear about the Ethiopian Orthodox church. Belay told us that church services last 3 hours, and the members stand the entire time, men separated from the women (so they don't get distracted from worship and prayer). The church is filled with beautiful stained glass windows (from Belgium, I believe) and depict various biblical and Ethiopian events. Following the tour of the church, Belay took us across the road to the memorial for the 60 ex-officials of the Imperial Government who were massacred by the Derg regime in 1974 (of whom his father was included). It was very special to be given such a personal tour by Belay.

Later that night, we had a night out at Fasika with the other families who were in our travel group, as well as Belay and Travis and Joanna Norwood (Gladney in country staff). I think this night may have been one of the most fun moments of our trip. We had a traditional Ethiopian meal (which we really liked) and some St. George (local beer) and watched some traditional Ethiopian dancers. The real laughs came as we all gave our go at traditional dancing, when the pretty lady came and "invited" us to give our try at the Ethiopian shoulder shimmy dancing. It was hilarious, and fun, and I have to say, everyone was a good sport about being put on the spot. I think we all knew we'd look ridiculous, so why not!?! Except Matt. He somehow positioned himself outside our circle to "photograph the dancing" and got out of showing his skills.

Our traditional Ethiopian Meal

traditional dancers

Men with their Abyssinian Lion Mane hats, getting their dance on

This girl was BEAUTIFUL. Her hair rocked! That's me on the right, getting my shoulder groove on. It's like a game of Ethiopian Simon Says...you copy her moves.

Awesome hair lady, groovin' with Travis, girl has some neck whipping power.

Belay, such a good sport. I'm sure the Gladney staff must get sick of this meal and dancing!

Seriously, this girl was rockin' the house with her moves. So fast, hair whipping, it was awesome.

We also got a little surprise. We thought Melat's biological aunt was out of the country and we wouldn't be meeting with her. BUT tonight, Travis casually said, "you guys are on at 11 for the family meeting".  Um, What?? We had thought she was in the Sudan. We are feeling a bit unprepared, but really excited to have the opportunity to meet her.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more posts! If you missed my earlier posts (like, a month ago) here's the links to them:
Day 1-Hello From Addis!
Day 2- Gondar 
     I also had two jet lagged attempts at blogging Gondar, if you care to read)

•      Gondar Part 1
•      Gondar Part 2

Day 3- Lucy Day!
Day 4- Family Bonding Day
Day 4-Life with Lucy Melat
Day 5- Gladney Care Center Visit and Top View
Day 5-Life with Lucy part 2
Day 6-U.S. Embassy , Holy Trinity Church, & Fasika
Day 7- Birth Family Meeting 
Day 8- Souvenir Shopping and Resort Dinner

Finally, Ethiopia Travel Posts!

Hang on to your hats, folks. They are finally coming! My hubby is out of town fishing for the weekend, and AGAIN, my kiddos are sick with some virus/ear infection. Seriously, someone in our house has been sick every single week since we brought Lucy home. As minor as drippy noses, as major as ER visits. I.AM.TIRED.OF.GERMS. So, instead of the fun day at the North Clark County Relay for Life with our friends, the Jensens, we are laying low. Again. The silver lining is, I am getting caught up on ordering some long overdue prints of our travel to ET, and getting caught up on my blogging of our trip. Sit tight...I'm also doing a little blog housekeeping, adding pages, etc. So, you'll find links to all my travel posts on the Travel page.

Sugar. Baby. Sweetie. Lovie. Bubbie. Darling...it goes on.

We just can't get enough of THIS girl. I dragged her out into a nearby field this evening full of beautiful sweet pea's that I've been eyeing for 2 weeks. The evening light was golden, she was in a good  mood...the boys are at Grammy's. Conditions seemed good, so we went for it!This girl turns my insides to mush. She cooperated pretty well, only ate a few strange plants, and drooled like a son of a gun. I tried everything to get her to grin for me, and in the home stretch, you know what did it? My shameful attempt at Ethiopian shimmy shoulder shakin' dancing! Totally cracked her up...at least there was no one else to see it, and she seemed to fully appreciate my effort.

Cat's out of the bag...

No, I'm not pregnant, THANK THE LORD.

There is two little things I haven't told you. I have hinted at them on facebook, but haven't officially announced them to the world. Mostly, because I'm a weenie.

#1- I'm training for a half marathon. It's scary to even say that out loud. Never EVER did I think I would utter those words. Or that I would even entertain the thought, but here I am. Shortly after returning from Ethiopia with Lucy, and spending most of our days in lockdown, I realized I needed to run. I needed to burn some stress, frusteration, and honestly, some calories. It needed to be something that didn't take long. So, I started running. I have done the Couch to 5K program a couple times, but never really been able to wanted to push past two miles before quitting.

This time was different. I got to 1.75 miles and I wanted to know if I could go further. 35 minutes of time listening to whatever music I wanted, and 35 minutes of nobody touching me, and 35 minutes of nobody  asking me to get them a snack, or anyone pooping their diaper...it was bliss. I decided to just go for 3 miles and see if I could do it. Turns out, I could.

One of my dearest friends, was talking about needing a partner for her long runs for an upcoming half training schedule. Her friend was no longer able to do it...it was crazy to even consider, but I began to wonder, could I do it? And, I wanted to find out. My husband has been so supportive, giving me my time to run and cross train. I'm loving it. I am feeling healthy and strong. I've lost a few pounds and I think a couple inches...my waist is begin to appear. So far, I've had two long runs, a 5 miler and a 6 miler. Both felt FANTASTIC! I never ever thought I could run that far, or that I would ever WANT to. But I do and I did. I can't really think about the 13.1 yet, it's too scary. But, I can think about 7. After that I'll think about 8...you get the picture. I've been kind of afraid to actually say I'm doing it, because what if I fail? What if I CAN'T do it? That would be embarrassing. But..in the words of one of my favorite Glee Soundtrack running songs.."What do you say to taking chances, what do you say to jumping off the edge?" Here I go, right off the edge. I'm going for it and hoping I can hack it. If nothing else, I'm getting some amazing quality time with one of my dearest friends every week and burning some extra calories trying.

#2 - I am going to homeschool this year. AND, I'm really excited about it. I've tossed the idea around for a while now, but there's been a million reasons why NOT to. A big one was the crazy change our family has been through these past few months with bringing Lucy home.

BUT, after being home so much these past two months, and seeing how much good it's done for my family has really inspired me to reconsider. After praying and researching, I am feeling really REALLY good about it. I think it's going to be a great fit for my kiddos this year. We have been through alot of change. Our local kindergarten is all day 5 days a week. I was feeling like Hayden would do fine with that, but Jack, however would not. I think it would be incredibly hard for Jack to have another huge change like that, and lose his best buddy all day, all week. I'm excited to able to spend intentional time with my boys, teaching them and training them in our family values and foundations of our faith. It was really hitting me hard, that if Hayden was suddenly gone from our home for 6+ hours a day, I would be losing a lot of time to influence his heart in the things that matter most to us. I am feeling called to take advantage of this time and this season of our life, in our little nest to build into my kiddos hearts. I'm super excited about it. We are not committing to a lifetime of homeschooling, but this year, it's a good fit for us. (and for the record, I don't say this with ANY judgement for families who put kids in public school, private school, whatever. I'm just saying this is what we feel God's leading us to do this year and that looks different for every family.)

So, there it is. The cat's out of the bag. No more secrets. You can keep me accountable.

Birthday Girl

I can't believe Lucy Melat is ONE! In a way it felt like suddenly saying a two month old is one and throwing a party...since that's how long she's been a physical part of our family.

We had a fun day celebrating our precious girl. We started out with the traditional trip to Build-A-Bear with Grammy...she takes every grandkid on their first birthday for a new friend. Lucy picked a sweet grey kitty. Then later, we celebrated at the park with family. (Tip for new parents of Ethiopian little ones, we've found that Lucy does much better in a new environment if it's outdoors. The noise isn't so overwhelming, and generally, kids are running around playing and less is focused on Lucy. We've opted for a few new places when it's outdoors and passed on ones that are inside...although we've still hardly been anywhere with her.)

I found myself throughout the day, feeling pretty emotional (and I have tears now as I type this!). Several times I found my mind wandering back to this place, the hospital in Gondar where Lucy was born. The room where she entered the world.


I thought of her birthmother, what her first moments with little Melat in her arms would have been like. I'm sure she was pretty tiny (in comparison to my biological 8lb 11oz and 9lb 12 oz boys!), when we first saw her picture at 4 months old, she was just over 11lbs! Jack was almost that big at birth. I thought about how her birth mother would have nursed her, and had those blissful moments a mother has when the life she's carried inside her for 40 weeks, is finally tangible and in her arms. How you look in eachother's eyes, and marvel at how your sweet little one seems to know your voice, and it soothes them so much to hear you speak. *sigh*. Those are some beautiful moments that a mother cherishes in her heart all of her days.

Honestly, I didn't and don't feel sad that I missed those moments in Lucy's life, because they were not mine to have. I did feel sad that here she is, one year old, and her Ethiopian mother is not here to see the joy on her face as Lucy dug her long fingers into the frosting on her cake (although, I don't think they have frosted birthday cakes in Ethiopia, anyhow). I was thankful for the gift of Lucy's life, that only her birth mother could have given. She would not be Lucy otherwise. If I'm totally honest, I even had a few conflicting thoughts as I rocked her last night, savoring the last few minutes of our special girls first birthday. I thought, "this isn't fair! Sweet girl should have her first birthday with the one who gave her life." Those thoughts were followed by, "But, our amazing Lord, has a plan for her life. When life happened, and her birth mother could no longer be in her life, he gave her a new family." The good news is, our heavenly Father is a redeemer. He can redeem terrible situations, and turn them into blessings. We are thankful everyday, Lucy Melat is no longer an orphan, but a member of OUR family. The verse came to mind all day yesterday, "God sets the lonely in families" (Psalm 68:6). Often when we introduce Lucy to someone new, they (the new person) will say, "She is so blessed to have you." Which I instantly reply, "We are ALL blessed!" Everyday, we are blessed to have the opportunity to parent this amazing girl.


As I rocked her, I marveled at the amazing courage and resiliency our girl has. From her perspective, her life in Ethiopia was comfortable to her. We arrived, dragged her thousands of miles away to a new place, with new food, new smells, new people, new sounds. She has embraced it all with generous smiles and few tears. I am literally amazed at how well she has taken it all. Don't get me wrong, there are hard days....change is hard for all of us Keslers. But, Lucy, has been so strong. We are the 5th set of "caregivers" in her short life. Changing of the caregiver is not new to her, sadly. But, she has embraced us. She calls us MaMa and DaDa. She lights up when we walk into the room. She claps when she's been away from us for a few minutes and we come back. I dare say, she loves us (and holy moly, do we love HER!)

I struggled, just before going to Ethiopia, about changing her name from Melat, to Lucy Melat. Melat was all she had. Melie (May-lee, was how Ethiopians sweetly sung her name!) But, after a few months of knowing her, and daily seeing her resilience and courage and joy, Lucy "bringer of light" feels more and more perfect. Melat, I've since heard (since being in ET) means "wonder"...the combination feels so right. She brings so much joy and light into our home. She literally lights up, when we say "Lucy-girl!" and we often wonder at how amazing she is handling all the change.

Lucy Melat, you are an amazing girl, so strong and so sweet at the same time. You bravely enter new situations, and every day you trust your new anchor (our family)a little more, and let it sink a little deeper. Your smile melts us. Your new laughter is emerging...you've always been generous with the smiles, but true belly laughs are now surfacing more often (especially when your brothers are pretending to be quads). We cherish everyday you are here with us, and look forward to every day with you in our family!