The Sullivan Family

So in our case, we had passed court and it took like 5 weeks to even submit our paper work to embassy, while others that we were at court with from another agency we used with our first adoption were submitted with in about 8 days. That was a little frustrating. But then the submission was not accepted, was lacking something, then about 2 weeks after that it was accepted. Embassy then contacts us and our agency via email to ask for a missing witness statement. The statement needed to come from the court where our girls were from, in Adama (Nazret), and my agency said the orphanage director of the girls original orphanage had to take care of that with the local Adama courts. So after many many emails back in forth and my agency worker trying to get the lady in adama to get the right document, and several times getting it and it having the wrong or missing info, I was pretty frustrated. I had a contact in Adama, a social worker “B” that did the initial paperwork to help get the girls in the orphanage to begin with (they were living on their own 11, and 13). I had met him in person when I went for court and I was friends with him on facebook, but his english was a little difficult. So I was really praying and discussing with family about going to see if I could help facilitate getting that document.I was out running the day before thanksgiving, (we had just received news that the document was wrong again and they had to go back to the drawing board.. ) I was listening to Lecrae’s “Send me” That has a repeating part that goes “Send me! I’ll go!” and I kept thinking I should just go! At tht very moment my phone buzzes and I got a facebook message from another friend “L” who lives in Addis with his family and runs a pretty cool program there. He said, he thought I should come and and stay with him and he had a guy that could translate for me and get me around and he thought together we could get this thing knocked out! I sat down in a park and read the entire message.. I was a little blown away at the timing of that message! I returned home from my run and walked in the door just knowing Bridget would say that its a crazy idea, but I said “Hey I really think we should just pray about me going” I told her about the message from “L” and she said she was for it! So after that I talked with family at thansgiving dinner and all family agreed, so it couldn’t have been more clear, “I had to go”. So we booked the tickets to arrive on monday, and 3 return tickets for the friday, and sent out requests for lots of prayers.I was told later from Everyone, even my friends in ET they thought I was nuts with the 3 return tickets on friday, but that was more my wifes faith then mine! Lol. So the rest of the story begins with bascially God going ahead of me and softening hearts and opening doors, because the first 36 hours of hitting ground in Ethiopia was nothing short of a miracle. The document that had taken over a month so far and would have taken at least another 1 if not 2 was taken care of in 36 hours.

Day 1
I landed in Addis Ababa Ethiopia on Monday morning around 8am. Gathered luggage up, and so “L” waiting for me in the airport. We greeted and made the way to his car. We decided to go have coffee and discuss game plan, and hit internet cafe to check email. I exchanged money then we headed over to “L”‘s house to drop bags off. We then decided to just head to embassy and find out what was going on. We waited and waited as it was crowded, and realized we didn’t even have a number, we went to one window and told them we want to know what was missing in our case, he took down info, and we sat back down. We waited , then finally “L” suggested we go to the window with the American working, so we did, I stated the same thing and he went and got the American in charge, and she asked how she could help. She told us about the document that was missing from the file, and that it has taken so long to acquire that they would now also want to interview the girls aunt. This news hit me hard, I said wow, thats like the worst news I could hear today “I was thinking how are we going to find this person and get them her in the short amount of time I had?”. She said she was sorry, but had to be thorough, I said I understood. We left and called our agency guy, he was out of town but put us in touch with “S” one of the workers, we called and met him to discuss. We also called “L”‘s good friend “Y”. to help us translate.

“Y” is very smart, and knows the in’s and outs of the process and speaks very good english. We all had coffee and discussed. Verified that what the embassy was asking for was exactly what “S” had been working to get. The orphanage director in Adama was supposed to be working it out and getting it. She had said she had it and would deliver it on monday morning, but it was now late morning. We called her several times and got no answer. we then all went back to the embassy to talk with yhe American again and make sure we were correct on the document needs and if we could get an interview appointment this week. She said yes and gave me her number to call her when we find the Aunt.

We then decided to swap out cars and just go to Adama. I contacted my contact in Adama, a social worker named “B”. “B” is a very good guy and knew all about the case. We told him that we were coming to Adama, can not get a hold of Orphanage director, but need her to get the document finished with the witness statements corrected and to find the Aunt and tell her she was needed for an interview. 3 hours later we showed up in Adama, and met “B”. He guided us to the court. At the court, The Orphanage Director was already there along with all 3 of the witnesses and the Aunts husband. They all went inside and completed the witness statements. The Aunt was still not there. It was now 5:10pm and i was not sure if the aunt would really show up, but called the number American at the embassy gave me anyway, and she answered! She said all the slots were full for the next day but would fit us in at 1pm. so we booked that slot even thought the Aunt had yet to appear. We then went to the Orphanage to meet the aunt, and waited and waited, nothing, we then drove back near the court and found the Aunt in the street with her husband. She said ok to come to the interview if her husband could come along. The Orphanage Director also stated that the document will still need a stamp from childrens affairs, which was now closed. So we decided to all spend the night in Adama, meet The Orphanage Director at the childrens affairs office in the morning as soon as they opened, wait for the stamp and meet the Aunt there to take to Addis. Everyone agreed, We found a hotel with internet and got 2 rooms ate dinner and stayed the night.

Day 2
I woke up early could not sleep, internet was not working, went downstairs and waited for someone from hotel staff to wake up. Finally someone did and I got them to fix the internet so I could check email and status etc. “L” and “Y” came down and we had breakfast. A very good breakfast I might add.. This hotel was nice, and only 300 bir a night per room. Then we picked up “S” who stayed down the street and picked up “B”. We showed up and the childrens affairs office as it opened at 8:30am, The Orphanage Director was there and got the stamp and handed over the paperwork. The Aunt showed up and we got in the truck and were off to Addis. 3 hours later we dropped “S” off at the translation office with the document to have it translated into Amharic and english, and “L”, “Y”, the Aunt, husband and I had lunch. We then picked up “S”…. translation was complete and headed to the Embassy.

We made it in line at 12:47 for the 1pm appointment, but there was a long line. We did not make it in until about 1:05pm. I went ahead of everyone up to the windows and just asked to speak with the American I spoke with before, She met me at a window, and I gave her the document, and told her we had the Aunt. She had us sit and wait to be called for the interview. They called us and took the Aunt into a room for about 40 minutes. She came out and I asked how it went. She said it was boring, they they just kept cross examining her, askng the same questions over and over. I then went back to the window the American was at and waited for a family to finish with her then snuck up to the window and told her we were done. She said she was really busy but will look at the case later and email us the results. We then took the Aunt and husband to the bus station and put them on a bus back to Adama. We then went and met the girls at the care center. we called ahead, so they had about an hours notice. We got there and they were finishing getting ready. They were excited to see me! They said goodbyes, and we said would be backonce more before we left Ethiopia, and then left to go to “L”‘s house. I thanked “Y”, and he went home. Then “L”, and family and the girls and I went out to dinner at the family restaraunt. We then came home and I gave the girls their suitcase mom had packed and they were excited, trying on the clothes. We then all went to bed.

Day 3 We got the clearance email

Day 4 we had the Appointment

Day 5 We got the visas and Flew home!

Thanks for the prayers and thoughts everyone! We are now home and the girls are adjusting. The cold is a little cold for them! They are working on english with Rosetta Stone and doing very well. Our other children love them so much we almost have to limit their time with them so they can have some personal space!!!

Mark-