Because I can...

Maybe it's because we clung so tightly to new photos from Gladney before we met in person and I can't get used to having as many photos as we want now, or maybe it's because he's pretty photogenic or maybe it's because I got my charger back in the mail today and I'm overdosing on camera-time, but I took about a thousand photos of our boy today and this one is my favorite:
This smile just gets me. I'm such a goner.

Father Goose and toot-toot Neighbors

Caption Contest Winner:

"Abe channels Hedwig."--Carrie Hoffman Spell

Congratulations, Carrie, for making us officially LOL. Expect your prize in a few days. Thanks to all who participated. These contests are truly fun for us.

On to other things. Abe met one of his uncles plus some cousins in Germany one day last week, courtesy of Skype. We love skype.

I know I've said it a thousand times already, but one of the biggest surprises in the adoption process has been the blogging community we've found. My favorite thing is when we get to meet in person, which happened for us this morning. We got to meet Decemberists-loving Autumn and Rhett at our favorite coffee-place in town.

As I was walking out the door to go, our neighbor and his boy were right outside our house on their way to the same coffeeshop. So we walked down together where we ended meeting another neighbor and her daughter. I think I had another glimpse of heaven there. It had started raining outside (imagine that), and we were all snug and cozy inside this shop, sitting on the leather couches, playing with each other's kids, and I had the thought that this is what it's about. I feel extremely blessed to live where I do with such amazing neighbors and a few blocks from a warm oasis from the rain and cold (yes, it's cold here again). On the way out, we noticed that someone had thrown away a laptop computer in the trash. And I so love the fact that my next-door-neighbor, the one who says 'goodbye' by saying "toot toot," dug it out, through the dog poop and spilled vanilla yogurt to salvage it. We Portlanders are salvaging folk.

I'm still waiting for my camera battery and charger to make it up here from L.A. where I forgot it (thanks for mailing it Susan!). It's been difficult not being able to take pictures. I feel like I'm a crippled blogger without my camera. In the meantime, here's a video taken last week of Abe figuring out how to jump. He really goes for it these days, especially with good music, like what was playing here, It's a Bam Bam Diddly by Father Goose. Father Goose comes up with lyrics like this:

By and by oh when the morning comes
When all the saints of God are gathered home
We'll tell the story of how we've overcome
For we'll understand it better by and by.
We are tossed and driven
On the restless sea of time
Somber skies and howling tempests
Oft succeeds a bright sunshine.
In the land of perfect day
When the mists have blown away
We will understand it better by and by
By and by oh when the morning comes...

Kind of heavy for a children's CD? Well, you also get stuff like this:
I want someone to give me a pony
With a jig jog, jig jog, jiga jog gee
Not too fat and not to bony
With a jig jog, jig jog, jiga jog gee.

Sitting in the Middle of This Ecstacy

I had another dream about lions at the door
They weren't half as frightening as they were before

Last summer, Ted got a glimpse of what he thinks heaven's going to be like. When all of his side of the family was in Portland for a wedding, we all gathered for dinner one late afternoon at McMenamins Edgefield. A few of us got there early for a wine-tasting, but by at least an hour before sundown, everyone was together ordering food and pitchers of beer on one of the sloping lawns where picnic tables were set up. The cooking was going in an outdoor kitchen while kids were running around playing. The temperature was perfect and everyone was swapping stories of recent hiking adventures and family updates and jokes and laughter. I looked over at Ted and he was teary. He said this is what heaven is going to look like.

I felt that way today for a moment. Today was the warmest day of the year so far with completely blue skies (in a Portland spring, we relish these days), so all the doors in the house were wide open. I was in the kitchen cooking up batches of home-made babyfood with my favorite kitchen utensil, my hand-held mixer. I love this thing. I have a mild-obsession with soup (okay, more than mild: we have a dream of opening a soup restaurant one day), and this mixer is perfect for making creamy soups.

While I was pureeing peas, spinach, green beans and carrots for the boy, Abe was in his bouncy jumper thing, wearing one of those one-piece summer outfits with a giraffe on it and no shoes. The sound of his feet hitting the floor with each jump felt like the sweetest sound I've ever heard. I could look out the french doors to the backyard to see Ted digging in the dirt and the cats rolling in ecstasy in the fresh holes. The mix CD our friend Carolee made for the L.A. shower was playing, and when I heard these lyrics about being up in the firs where it smells so sweet and being together in eternity, my throat tightened and tears started to spill in the peas.

Have faith, have faith, have faith. Sometimes the heavenly ecstasy grabs a hold of us here in this life, and I think these moments happen more than we realize. It's all around us. He really is.

One of these days we're gonna sail away, sail into eternity...
--Bruce Cockburn

The Gladney Caregivers

One of the best things about our trip was being able to meet the women who took care of and loved Abe until we could bring him home. I consider these women some of his first mothers, and I am so thankful for this special part of his history. I look forward to showing him these pictures when he gets older, to show him how loved he's been throughout his life. I hope that this post and these pictures help to reassure any waiting parents of the love your children are getting while they wait to meet you.

This lady came during her off-hours to give Abe a gift. She was very emotional saying goodbye to him and spent a good deal of time with him while we were there.

Sem came to babysit the night we went out to the traditional restaurant.

I want to say thank you again to all of you who sent cosmetics our way to give to the caregivers. We were able to make up more than 20 bags that were packed full of amazing lotions, perfumes, etc for these women. We were not able to give them out personally, as they all work different shifts and handing them out this way would have been too complicated. It was suggested to us that we leave the bags in the house for them to pick up during their shifts, which we did.

*

I'm never sure how much it's in poor taste to brag about one's child. I'm not sure I can help it right now though. The boy is gorgeous. I've known it for a long time from his pictures, but then love kicks in blurring one's judgment. Then he meets our friends and family, and they all say he's gorgeous too, so after a while, you start to wonder, "Is he really as cute as we think he is?"

My answer to this question comes each time I take Abe out in public somewhere. Every single time, people approach us to ooh and ah over him. Yesterday, someone told him that he is, "Ridiculously cute. Really--it's ridiculous." Today in our favorite grocery store, he was called "delicious" and a few minutes later, a woman came up and started speaking to him in Italian. I understood at least the "bellissima" part, so I think I got the point.

Besides the cute-factor, the personality has really been kicking in these last couple of weeks. He still sleeps 12 hours every night and spends the days happy, catnapping here and there. We call 7-9 pm the "happy hour" because no matter how tired he may have been earlier, something kicks in and he becomes this ball of energetic joy. We've got to get this recorded. In the meantime, here's a video taken at the Ayat House demonstrating the joy Abe feels when he wakes up from a nap (he's sitting up much better now).

A boy and his cats

Our friends keep asking us how the cats are coping, and we just say "Each in his own way." Bang Bang is already a fan of the new kid in town:

Yes, that's one of my fuzzy socks that Abe cuddles with for sleep. We left his favorite snuggly blanket in California, and at least the sock is clean.

Buddy (the black and white one) only comes in the house after Abe has gone to sleep. Last night, we found these two snuggling, a very rare occurrence:

Our first night home in Portland, we caught Chitty in a compromised position with Abe's fish:

(Love the blanket, Samantha!)

I've had lots of thoughts going around since getting home, and there's still more to share about our trip, but boy, having a little boy around all the time is a bit tiring, both physically and mentally.

For now, I'll leave you with my favorite picture taken so far in Portland. I guess it makes sense that Abe meets a little girl in a pink dress and a feather boa all at the same time:

Caption Contest, anyone? There will surely be a prize involved!

Travel Tips, Rooney-style

While the boy is asleep, I thought I'd include some the things we found useful while we were in Ethiopia. They appear in no particular order.

1. It comes in really handy if your seat on the plane to Addis is near the front. It will put you right in the front of the line for getting your visa (assuming you didn't get one beforehand). The visa office is directly to your left as soon as you come down the stairs/escalators for baggage claim. Another mom had told me where to look, so we found it right away and ended up close to the front of the line. It took a while even being at the front, so I recommend high-tailing it to this office.

2. Get a good night's sleep your first night and eat a good breakfast your first morning. We were thankful to be well-rested and full bellied for our first meeting with Abe.

3. Kaldi's Coffee: It's called the Ethiopian Starbucks. While it's obviously modeled after Starbucks on the surface, there are some distinct differences. Their ice cream is wonderful, and you can even get it to go. Their breakfasts are yummy: I had the "mixed juice" everytime we went. It's almost a meal in itself. It's all hand-squeezed/pureed from fresh in-season fruits. In fact, most restaurants offer fresh juices. Order them wherever you go. They are amazing. Oh, and Kaldi's also has really good cream-puffs. (by the way, the name Kaldi's comes from the folk story of "Kaldi and the Dancing Goats" about the boy who discovered coffee while out herding in the pastures of Ethiopia--really cool story).

4. Alternate internet places: My favorite was the Limetree cafe, upstairs from the Boston Day Spa. The Limetree has free wifi, though it's turned off certain times of the day, mainly during lunchtime. I had success there accessing my yahoo account, though Ted had trouble loading websites for our banking, flights, etc. For email, it works great and is decently fast.
I forget the name of this other place, but we had success there too. It's around the corner from Bookworld bookstore (a big English-language bookstore) and has a cafe next door where they'll bring you coffee and treats into the internet cafe. Belay's wife uses this place pretty often, which is how we heard about it. It's not free, but it's extremely cheap, so no worries there. There are computers there you can use, or you can bring your own laptop.
Swiss Cafe--We loved the atmosphere of this place, and we heard that when their internet works, it's the fastest place in town. However, the whole time we were there, it was always down. But go try it out. It's free too. Their coffee and treats are really good, and their servers are the nicest ever. They'll take your baby for you while you eat and work! Awesome!All of these pictures were taken at the Swiss Cafe. Not seeing much of our child was a regular occurrence here. Oh, and if you can, sit near the flat-screen TV that shows videos of various big animals stalking and eating smaller animals. All that gore really made us work up an appetite for meat!

5. Though it may feel like it's going against all the safety precautions you've grown up with in the U.S., let people you meet hold your baby. Ethiopians treasure children, and you can truly trust people who come up to you wanting to ooh and ahh over your child. Don't let it freak you out when they clap their hands in front of your child and say, "Come." Just hand them over. We did every single time, and I came to really value this aspect of Ethiopian culture. People were curious about the adoption and about us and Abe, and they were all so kind about it. Most of them would say, "God bless you" as they handed Abe back to us. Oh, and in restaurants, the servers will often want to take your baby from you while you eat. At first, I wanted to at least be able to see Abe, but there was one place (a traditional Ethiopian place Tefese took us to one day for lunch) where the servers took Abe, and I didn't see him again until we had to leave. When I did, I found him here, holding court with these women:
6. The Gladney drivers: These amazing men will be your greatest resource in-country. They are so much more than drivers: they are tour-guides, security and babysitters too! Tefese speaks excellent English and is hilarious. He has family who live in California, so he's very familiar with American culture. He's full of jokes and anecdotes and is happy to show you "insider" places in Addis if you ask him. Yasu was our other driver, and while his English isn't as good, he's quick to call Travis or Tefese if you or he have a question. Everyone calls him the "gentle giant." Here's why:We really loved our drivers. They're punctual, kind, helpful, funny, and love babies.
Tefese even chided us one day for complaining about Abe's throwing up on us. He furrowed his eyebrows when we were complaining and scoldingly told us, "In Ethiopia, we consider children a blessing, so if they spit up on you, that's a blessing too. You should really see it that way."

Here is Tefese with Abe at dinner one evening.

7. Places to eat: As I wrote about before, if you stay at Ayat House, Hill Bottom is convenient and good. My favorite place was probably Limetree because it all was so fresh and healthy. I loved their "unlimited limejuice" and chocolate cake. Seriously: you've gotta try the chocolate cake, amazing stuff. Limetree is also really family-friendly and they have a Sunday brunch there that seems yummy (we never ate there then but saw the offerings). Next door to Limetree is a cool bookstore with an interesting selection of books, including a lot about Ethiopian culture. I bought several of the ones for children, including Kaldi and the Dancing Goats. You can also find there Donald Trump's Why We Want You to be Rich! Weird.
Ask your drivers for places they recommend. You'll hit the jackpot a few times if you do.
Castelli's Italian restaurant was the best tasting meal we had (the Pitt-Jolie's ate there, as well as a couple of presidents), but the only one that made both of us ill, interestingly. Just be forewarned. Hopefully, they've gotten that worked out.

8. As for getting "sick": kind of count on it. It was never debilitating for either of us, just was mildly annoying when we had to make a run for a bathroom, once for Ted at the the top of Entoto Mountain which he says "was a hole in the ground with my name on it." I know some people have not gotten sick at all while others have been down in bed for several hours. We fell somewhere in the middle: fair amount of rumbling in the guts but never enough to knock us out. Just be prepared.

9. The Abyssinian Lions: Don't go around lunchtime. They'll let you in to the zoo but don't tell you until you're in that you have to wait until after lunch to get up close and personal with the lions. That was a real drag, as we had to wait for an hour and a half for the ten minute walk through. When we were there, there were some lion cubs you could see as well: super cute and sweet.

10. Things I wish I had brought: balm for chapped cheeks. Everyone thought Abe had freckles for a while because his cheeks were so chapped and the baby oil/lotion wasn't cutting it. Boudreaux's Baby Kisses worked wonders once we got home.
Cooler clothes: I think I was so worried about Abe being cold that I didn't bring enough clothes to keep him cool. Short-sleeved, one-pieced outfits are your friends.

11. Over-acting scares babies.

Actually, my favorite thing about this video is the reaction of Tefese and Yasu, two of the drivers, to the fake laughter. I love watching them crack up in the background.

Saveur Magazine and Home Part II

Just so everyone knows: this month's issue of Saveur Magazine features a long article on Ethiopian cooking. I haven't finished reading it, but it seems there's quite a bit about the culture in general as well.
Just putting the word out there.

Yesterday morning before we left town, Judah came to visit:
Judah: Pssst, Abe! Guess what I heard about your mama?

Abe: Whadju just say about my mama?

Abe: Yeah, I don't care that you're twice my size. Let that teach you to mess with my mama when I'm wearing my alien gladiator hat!

Before Danni gets mad, this clarification: Judah is a total sweetie. He and Abe get along great. So cute to see them play together.

Abe did great yet again on the plane ride, though the longer we're together, the more his personality is coming out. And that personality is squirrelly! He's a grabber. I punished the guy in the seat in front of us on the plane (for putting his seat all the way back despite it being in the middle of the day and knowing there was a lady with a baby directly behind him) by letting Abe shut and close the tray table about 500 times. Was this catty? Mm, maybe. I'm amazed both by how helpful some people can be to those with babies and how unhelpful others can be...

As soon as we got back to Portland, picked up by our friend Wendy, our friend Matt surprised us by bringing tons of food from his restaurant. If you're ever in Portland, go eat at Ohana Hawaiian Cafe and say hi to Matt.

Later, these guys came over to meet their new...uh, let's see what are they to Abe? They are the children of Ted's oldest sister's (my mom's age) oldest son. Their dad is Ted's nephew. Anyway, they are family and they are the ones who lit a candle week in and week out for three whole months in hopes and prayers of Abe coming home. Very wonderful to see them together.
As they left, our sweet sweet sweet neighbors Michael and Linda and their daughter came by to meet Abe. I forgot to get their pictures but will soon (I'm comin' atcha with a camera, Linda!).

Finally Abe went to bed and slept his first night an Oregon boy (and here we offer proof that we do take the hat off occasionally). Last night was 11 hours again. He's our miracle child, in many ways. I think because I did most of my longing for Abe here in this house, it's really hitting me hard these last 24 hours that this hard journey to bring him home has finally ended. I keep looking at him and saying, "I can't believe you're here!"

Oh, and we made an interesting discovery today: we combed Abe's hair completely out for the first time this morning (before that, I'd just wash it, moisturize, and run my fingers through it), and the boy is a little Don King in the making. Courtney: you're gonna have a ball with that this summer. Abe digs his sunglasses and alien shirts, Uncle Rusty and Aunt Carrie! (and his robe is hung right up next to ours).