I woke up at 3:00 this morning and decided that my body is not my friend in Ethiopia. I could NOT get back to sleep. I laid quietly, counted sheep, read, anything I could do to get myself to fall back asleep, but nothing worked. So, I laid awake waiting for Bek to wake up. I figured he would wake up crying, wanting his bottle, but he actually just stirred quietly in his crib after sleeping for 10 straight hours! I went and picked up my sweet baby and he cuddled up to me in our bed for another 15 minutes or so. He got a little restless at that time, so Trevor made his bottle and I fed him.
I then got up to take a shower and that's when we realized how attached he'd already become to me, as he cried while I was in the shower. Once I got ready and held him, he calmed down and we all went downstairs for breakfast. We had yummy mango smoothies, pancakes, and fresh banana bread. We tried to feed B oatmeal, but he would have none of it! He did, however, love the banana bread, so that's what we gave him for breakfast. He was not super interested in sitting in the high chair and got down and actually walked for us, showing off his fun, happy personality for all the other guests at our guest house.
After breakfast, we went shopping at a couple of stores. We got lots of souvenirs and then had our second strike-out at sole rebels...they had nothing in my size:(. However, we did get Bek a sweet pair of African kicks! His attachment to me was completely solidified during this shopping trip as he did not want anyone else, even Hermella, to hold him! It was great, except that I did not feel well at all. It was that same shaky, jittery feeling from yesterday, except today, I just couldn't seem to shake it!
We went back to Providence for lunch and a couple of hours of down time. Bek did not want his lunch and only ate a few bites. I was feeling so crummy that I just wanted to go lay down, so I didn't have any lunch either. B was super fussy, but would NOT lay down to take a nap and would not let Trevor hold him or even look at him at that point. So, I bounced him around and he finally fell asleep on me (and I fell asleep as well). After all that, we only had about 30 minutes to nap and then Hermella and Amara came to pick us up to take us to the Embassy.
The drive to the Embassy was kind of lengthy but B did great. He was in the Becco the whole trip and was super comfortable (plus, no one tried to take him from me, so that made him happy). We got to the Embassy, which is a huge building, and went through security. A gentleman checked our passports even before we were allowed to enter the building, then smiled and waved us on. We entered the building into this little secure room where they checked our passports, sent our bags through an x-ray, sent us through a metal detector, and took our cell phones, giving us a claim number for when we were done. I was so thankful to have Hermella with us (as I always am!). She led us through the next set of doors to this little outside area and then straight into the Visa processing building. We went through a metal detector and then sat down while Hermella let them know that we were there. We were obviously the only international adoptive family there, so we were called to the window pretty quickly. Before that, though, we asked Hermella about what all the other people were doing there and she told us that they were all seeking visas to come to America, many of them to visit their families, but that most of them would be denied. We asked her about if she'd like to come to America and she said that she would (her father and sister live in DC), but that she would have to be "invited" by her family and that the process to get the visa would take a year. It occurred to me that we Americans can go basically anywhere in the world that we want, but I never realized how difficult it is for people from other countries to get a visa to come to America.
Evan Elliot called us to the window to have our visa interview and I decided right away that Hermella was right, he did look like Trevor and was probably about our age, which surprised me for some reason. He asked us if we had both been there for court and we answered that we had. He asked when we were leaving and we replied "Sunday" and he stamped all the papers in our file. He gave us Bek's birth certificate and several other papers and then told us to have someone from our agency come get B's passport tomorrow at 10:00. And that was it. We headed back the way we came in, grabbed our cell phones, and walked out the door.
When we arrived back at the guest house, we gave Bek a bottle and played in our room for a while. Trevor worked really hard to get Bek to look at him and interact happily with him and there were some baby steps made...he allowed him to give him a snack, which was pretty huge.
We then took him downstairs to play for a while and had dinner. B ate all of his food, but was as slow at doing it as is brother and sister...a true Chase!;). We stayed in the living area for a while and let him toddle around. He smiled more for both of us and seemed to really enjoy playing. When he'd had enough of Trevor tickling or messing with him, he made a noise that sounded like "no-no, da-da", which of course cracked us up.
Poor B was so tired from not having a proper nap that we took him upstairs at 7:00 to give him his bath. He didn't care for it as much as he had yesterday, but really liked the lotion and toothbrushing after the bath! We read a book and put him down. He cried for a little while and I patted his back, and then he went to sleep. And so did we. At 7:30.
Special shout-out to my sweet Alaskan friend, Anne, for Bek's super cute "Worth the Wait" shirt!! Thanks so much, friend!
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