We're back

Everything on the trip back from Ethiopia went relatively well. Of course we were packing our stuff at the guesthouse up until the last possible minute, but we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. While we were checking in for the flight we noticed a lot of other Americans that had Ethiopian children with them. It turns out that there were five other couples who were traveling together to pick up their adopted children. They were all working with an adoption agency in Minnesota. That made us feel a little more at ease that we would be enduring this marathon flight with other people in the same situation.
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In a nutshell, Mikias was awesome on the 17 hour flight from Addis to Washington DC. We were so lucky that we had a bulkhead seat with a bassinet. He slept a lot and when he was awake he was very content and playful. We made sure he was feeding on the ascents and descents and it worked like a charm. He was fussy a few times, but it was nothing that a couple laps around the plane didn't take care of. He got the attention of a lot of the passengers...probably because he is so darn cute. When we arrived in DC we thought that a 4-hour layover meant we'd have plenty of time to walk around and grab some lunch. We were definitely wrong. We had to go through customs, collect our luggage, go through immigration, recheck our luggage, check in for our next flight, go back through security, and find the gate. This left Joanna and I with about 5 minutes to eat a quick snack and left Mikias a little overwhelmed. When we got on the plane bound for Detroit he let loose. The a/c wasn't working on the plane and it was like an oven. He was drenched with sweat and I was soaked too. He screamed at the top of his lungs for the first 30 minutes of the flight. The a/c started working again and he finally fell asleep...whew.

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Seeing all of our family and friends at the airport on Saturday afternoon was unbelievable. They all had signs and flags. It was very emotional. We dressed Mikias in a traditional Ethiopian outfit to meet everyone. It was great that so many people took the time to drive all the way to the airport to see us for only 30 minutes or so. It was cool because there were so many children there...nieces and nephews and family friends. All the kids were so excited to see Mikias and welcome him to his new home. One of my good friends took video of the whole thing so I'm anxious to relive it through that. After collecting our luggage (except one piece that I still haven't received yet), our parents drove us back home.

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Once we arrived home we discovered that our family had signs waiting for us there too complete with a "Finish Line" on our driveway. More importantly, they had cleaned our entire house and prepared several meals for us. This has helped a ton. Mikias seemed to be really overwhelmed by everything and we had a hard time settling him down once we got home. Joanna and I were really sad about this because we realize how unfamiliar everything is to him...the people, the surroundings, the language, the smells. We were going through our suitcases trying to find anything (a toy he had played with in Ethiopia or clothes he had worn) that would help him feel a little more secure. Joanna finally walked around outside with him for a while and that seemed to help. Of course the 7-hour time difference was probably having its affect on him too.

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Since we've been home our moms have helped out by staying the night and allowing Joanna and I to get some much needed sleep. It will still probably take a few days to get our bodies back on schedule, but we feel a lot better. We're still trying to get Mikias on schedule too, but that has been a bit more difficult. We have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow so hopefully they can help us figure out formula and feeding and all that stuff. We're still using formula we purchased in Ethiopia but that is quickly running out. His sleep schedule is also a bit messed up but I'm sure that will straighten itself out in the coming weeks.

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For now we're still trying to unpack and settle in to our new family life. It is for sure much easier to do all this here than it was in Ethiopia.

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