Sunday with Em and Elsa

I dropped by after church today to visit my "girls" who are all doing better. Miss Elsa is figuring out when to sleep and when to play. Em is getting some much needed rest and everyone is getting healthy. It was so wonderful to see the baby playing happily on her new play mat and basking in the afternoon sun. God is good and prayers have been answered for healing and sleep. Here are the first photos that I have taken on my family here in Marin.

Porter post on March 24

Embassy appointment went swimmingly - despite having a bit of a hard time finding Sintayehu (the “parking lot” is somewhat hidden) and the fact that he appears to be coming down with the same plague that Clare is now getting over. (We had plans to take him out to dinner, but he could barely make it through the Embassy interview, and needed to go home to bed.)

We asked for expedited treatment, and got it - so tomorrow morning I’ll return to the Embassy to get the all-important visa and we can indeed leave for home in the evening.

Update from Porter from March 23

I just spoke to Sintayehu (my attorney here) and found out the timing of the Embassy appointment today.
Basically, he said to meet him in the parking lot of the U.S. Embassy, and to bring Elsabet Aden and my passport.
Sounds very much like some illicit transaction, no?

Video of Elsa from Porter

From Porter:

"Am attempting to embed a little video of Elsa Aden here - I don’t know if this will work.

And if it does, it will probably be the world’s most boring video, except to me. I can stare at her for hours, but I don’t expect that is quite as fascinating to anyone else but me."

Porter arrives back in Addis posting

Happy Easter!

We are back in Addis early, and very glad to be here.

Remember how I wrote that Clare seemed to be coming down with something? I thought it was the elevation up north, but it was not – turns out it was a full-on flu bug of some kind. She started feeling sick on the last night in Aksum, and by the time we got back to Addis, was really knocked out. She has been in bed for the last 4 or 5 days.

On Friday morning when I was getting ready for for the drive to Awassa for a few days, she thought she was over it and so decided to come with me. But, no such luck – she felt terrible by the time we got there, and again was totally bedridden. Poor thing.

It was especially bad because the hotel in Awassa (the Pinna - don’t stay there!) was pretty much a pit. Our room was hot and stuffy and we couldn’t open the windows at night because of the mosquitoes. Neither one of us is on Malaria prophylactics, so we had to douse ourselves in Deet, cover our beds in mosquito netting, and hope for the best. This made for a not-so restful stay, to say the least.

Yesterday after I was done with my explorations I got back to the hotel in the afternoon to find a pretty sad-looking Clare lying on her mattress on the floor. She was trying to stay cool and the bed was horribly uncomfortable. Solomon (our guide) and I took her to the “best” private hospital in Awassa. This was quite a scene, and somewhat scary, and involved a lot of waiting in crowded hallways with crowds of Ethiopians who were pretty shocked to see us there. Thank God our guide was there – he managed to expedite the whole thing, and Clare was seen by a doctor relatively quickly. That said, the medical care was not exactly cutting-edge. But we really wanted to make sure it wasn’t malaria (it is not) and it was somewhat reassuring that the doctor agreed it is in fact, flu.

After the nightmare of the hospital visit, we couldn’t stand to say another night in Pinna hotel, so we decided to cut the trip short and head back to the comforts of the Sheraton in Addis. We told our guide and driver, packed up our things in about 20 minutes, hit the road, and hightailed it back.

Driving in Ethiopia is terrifying enough in the daytime – you DON’T want to be on the road at night!
Among other reasons, the Ethiopians have a weird tradition - stubbornly adhered to - of not turning on headlights until it is pitch frickin’ black out. At one point, I just broke down and demanded that our driver turn on the lights. Many of the vehicles, including the biggest trucks, have no functioning lights at all. In addition, every 10 minutes of so, you come across a stationery object in the road - maybe it’s a broken-down truck (with - you guessed it - no lights) or maybe a donkey lying on the still-warm asphalt or maybe a drunk blind man on his hands and knees (I am not making this up).
In all cases, if it is daylight, you honk the horn at anyone in your path. This occasionally works, but usually you have to swerve. If it is night, you flash your highbeams at the offending object or being, temporarily blinding them.
I am including a few photos of some typical roadside sights.

We made only one stop (for fuel) and ate in the car so we made pretty good time – about 4 and a half hours. By the time it was dark, we were on the outskirts of Addis, so it wasn’t too scary (well, it WAS scary, but we survived).
Checking into the hotel and an air-conditioned room and clean sheets was a huge relief –
this morning as I write this, Clare is already feeling and looking much better and I’m so glad we decided to come back.
For a while there, I was pretty scared that I’d get sick too, but it’s been long enough now that (thank God) it appears to have passed me by. Now it’s looking like she’ll be in condition to travel on Tuesday night, when we plan to leave for home.

As of today, I’ve been in Ethiopia for 2 weeks and it has been (obviously) challenging, but also great. The best part - of course - is getting to meet the wonderful Elsabet Aden.
Tomorrow I have my Embassy interview and the next day (I hope) we get Elsa’s visa. I’m taking her out of the orphanage for good tomorrow, now that I’m done with running around the countryside. I ordered up a crib for our room at the Sheraton - can’t wait to have Elsa in it!

Awassa Trip update from Porter

The drive down to Awassa from Addis is quite scenic. We left Addis in the morning after a quick visit to see Miss Elsa.

After only about a half an hour, dropped down into the Rift Valley. The scenery changed almost immediately, and I could feel the difference in the air. Vast expanses of dry grasses and acacia trees, and then the Rift Valley Lakes appear, one after another in a string.

After a few hours we got to a town called Mojo(!) and turned off the main road for the road heading South-west toward Awassa. The other road continues on East to Djibouti.
We stopped for lunch at beautiful Lake Ziway and had a yummy lunch of fish (tilapia) and soup.
This is a photo of the shores of Lake Ziway. Check out the massive Maribou storks, which are about half the size of the horse!

Then, back on the road to Awassa, where we arrived about 2.5 hours later.

We checked in to the Pinna Hotel, which has a decent recommendation in my Lonely Planet book, but which I thought was a hole. The first room they tried to give us was hot and loud (right on the street) and the second room was slightly better. We had asked for two beds and this one had a big bed and a cot-like thing, but we were tired enough to just accept that. Only the big bed had a mosquito net, and it took quite an effort to get a second net, which was not exactly clean.

Speaking of clean, the room was not. The bathroom was moldy and smelled pretty rank. We sprayed the room with pesticide at dusk to kill any mosquitoes that may have been hiding away and when we came back in, there were dead cockroaches on the floor. Charming.

So, we had to sleep in a hot closed room that still smelled slightly like the pesticide spray. It was too hot to sleep for some time, so I lay awake thinking about how much I didn’t want to get malaria.

Anyway, enough of the bad news. The good news is that Awassa is lovely, and the best part is that I got to meet up with Mary Anne L-G, the person who works for the Yale-Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. She is an amazing person - former successful fine artist who went into hospital management and then wanted to do something meaningful with it and ended up here. She is making a huge difference in Ethiopia, and now manages the entire Southern region for the Initiative.

Not only that, but she’s a very cool chick! We got along fabulously, and it was so fun to meet her. We went to a great restaurant in the Lakeside hotel called La Dolce. Had gorgeous grilled aubergine (eggplant) and fish with a really nice balsamic sauce. And a glass of Sangiovese - the real deal. Very very good. Like me, she has a soft spot for Ethiopian orphans and has adopted an orphanage in Hosanna (southern Ethiopia) and is trying to help them out. It was a wonderful evening, and I’m thrilled to have connected with her. (thank you Si!!)

I got up earlyish on Saturday to go see the Awassa fish market before heading off to Aleta Wondo.

The morning fish market is on the shores of Lake Awassa, and is a pretty amazing sight. Hundreds of people, of course, but also masses of birds - Egyptian geese, Sacred Ibis, and massive Maribou storks - and also Vervet monkeys and of course the standard Ethiopian fare of goats, dogs, donkeys, sheep and cows.

It was all really interesting and I was digging it until a stepped on an acacia thorn which went right through the sole of my shoe and into my foot. I took off my shoe and forced the blood out to (I hope) keep any creepy-crawlies from getting into my bloodstream. And I wiped it off as much as I could with one of my antibiotic wipes, so I don’t think it’ll get infected (but if my leg suddenly falls off, you’ll know what happened). Man, that hurt! I was slightly gimpy for the rest of the day.

We next went to find the SOS Awassa children’s home – this is the local branch of the SOS Enfants Ethiopie (the orphanage system that I am adopting Elsa from), and the place where she was first brought. It is a lovely spot with super-nice people. There is a much bigger facility for the older kids, but this building was just for the little babies. Right now there are only two kiddoes there – one who is about 6 months old and one who is just two weeks old!

The people who work there were very nice, and really appreciated the gifts I brought them (candies and pencils for the kids), and the pictures of Elsa Aden.

I also brought them a letter and a photo book from Paige, with tons of photos of the beautiful Meklit, which brought exclamations of joy. It is so sweet to see how much they really care about the kids and how happy they are to see them growing up healthy and well cared-for.

After spending a bit of time there, we hit the road for Aleta Wondo.

Prayers and Paperwork Posting from Porter, Potentially Positive! Plus, Peaceful Pelican

From Porter:

"Just got the word that the US Embassy here in Addis finally has my paperwork - yay! So, everything is set for my new appointment date (Monday).

And, assuming they can get me Elsa's visa in time, we will be leaving for home as scheduled on Wednesday.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers on this one - I am so relieved and happy to be able to report the good news. xoxoxoox"

From Kate:

Just to add to the alliterative headline, I will report that I am staying at the Peaceful Pelican in Palacios this weekend. Really. :) Oops, just realized I already reported this. But still, worth it for the headline, no?

I spent a very happy 2 hours perusing the "Basic Texas Birds" book in anticipation of this weekend's birding with my buddy Gardner. There are at least 15 species that I would just love to see for the first time ever and add to my 'life list.' Geek out!

Day 12 for Porter in Ethiopia

Hello all!
The good news is that Clare and I are back safe and sound from our whirlwind trip to Bahir Dar (day 8), Gondar (day 9), Lalibela (day 10) and Aksum (day 11).
We had an awesome guide, Solomon, who made the whole thing easy and fun. We learned a ton, walked a ton, saw a ton, and feel totally happily exhausted from the tour. I took a gazillion photos and will bore you all with them later.
I can see now why people say it is important to get out of Addis, and I have to agree – Addis is not Ethiopia and Ethiopia is not Addis. I’m not saying I understand the whole of Ethiopia now, certainly. But just seeing the Northern part of the country has vastly improved my understanding of the place and of the people. I can’t wait to go South to Awassa to see yet another part of the country.
The bad news is that today was supposed to be my Embassy appointment, and it had to be rescheduled. The U.S. Embassy here STILL does not have my paperwork, which is incredible given the amount of work happening and phone calls and emails and everything else going on. It was originally sent to them last summer, but they never received it. The trick is to get the National Visa Center in the U.S. to resend the cable to the Embassy here. They have promised to do so. Several times. But so far, no results…
(And yes, for those of you paying attention, my original Embassy date was to be Thursday, the 20th – which is tomorrow. But, it got bumped to today, Wednesday, because Thursday is a holiday here (Mohammed’s birthday) and the Embassy is closed. All the Thursday appointments got moved up to Wednesday. This was problematic anyway, as I would have had to find a way to get back to Addis a day early from the tour up North, and there were no flights available. I’ll spare you the drama, but suffice to say that we were in the process of chartering a flight from Lalibela back to Addis in order to make it in time, but then heard that the paperwork is still missing, so there was no point in doing that.)
Anyway, my appointment is now Monday, which – with luck – will give us just enough time to have Elsa’s visa issued, pick it up on Wednesday, and fly out that night. That is really cutting it close, but we don’t have much choice at this point. I am choosing to believe that it will all work out.
So, it’s now Wednesday evening – we got back a few hours ago and have checked back in to the Sheraton – happier that you can imagine to have air conditioning, a bathroom with toilet paper, clean sheets, and a bathtub.
Everything I brought with me is disgustingly dirty, and I’ve quarantined it all to go to the laundry. Clare is taking a nap, having finally succumbed (last night in Aksum) to a bit of the elevation sickness that I was feeling throughout the trip… we had just gotten used to Addis elevation then went up! (Not so smart I guess… it was worth it, though - I’d do it again in a minute!)
The other good news is that I’ve taken a hot bath and washed my hair and sitting in a comfy chair next to my open balcony doors overlooking the fountain courtyard to a view the city and Meskel Square, while the sun sinks slowly into the murky haze of the horizon.
Tomorrow morning I will go and see my daughter again – hoping that she hasn’t forgotten me. I’m pretty sure that my four days’ absence hasn’t caused her any distress, but I do hope very much that I get the same smile I got the last time I visited – one that looked like she actually knew who I was.

Super Shirley Settles Me Into My Nest

Shirley worked non stop along with me to get me settled into my new home. What a gal! And she did it in good humor as you can see in the next photo.
Monday was St. Patrick's Day. Shirley had brought two sets of funny head gear for us to wear for the day. I am Irish and I needed to be wearing green. Beth Michaelson came over with a wonderful picnic lunch for us to enjoy. She had everything... even Peligrino water and home made brownies...YUM. So many people have come over to welcome me and to help. I am feeling very loved and appreciated.
This is the view from my deck. It is so peaceful to sit out and look at the scenery. Below is Corte Madera Creek and then further out is Mt. Tam, a very special place to me. The other end of my deck is right by the top of a large oak tree. There are so many birds. My neighbor upstairs has a bird feeder and I get the benefit of his generosity by seeing all these little critters. My bathroom window opens onto the deck. Yesterday, as I sat on the throne a little Titmouse perched on the window. I said good morning. What a great way to start a day!

Sadly, I bid Shirley farewell yesterday. She is off visiting other friends. I will miss her deeply. The one thing that makes our parting bearable is that I know she will not let the distance affect our friendship. I got unlimited long distance on my phone and will be using it to stay in touch with my dear Jacksonville buddies.

Today, I'm off to Target to buy a bunch of stuff for my home.... this is the fun part... I need lamps as there are no overhead lights. Those of you who know me, know that I like lots of light. I had order a new lens for my glasses to the tune of $200! gasp.... I dropped my glasses and I have a big chip on the right lens.... It will take 2 weeks so I am walking around somewhat cock eyed for awhile.

I am writing this early in the morning. I am still waking up around 5 because I am too wound up to sleep later. Hopefully, that will change soon.

I'm a peaceful pelican, n'est pas?

So this weekend, I'm going to head down to the coast and visit G and J for Easter, staying at the enchanting-looking Peaceful Pelican. It's about a 3-hour drive.

I found a great book about birding along the Texas coast and look forward to a little hiking and bird-watching - J has kindly offered to watch Lulu for us while we girls take off for this nature romp.

Makes me wonder what birdies Clare and Porter must be seeing in Ethiopia. Probably with all the baby concerns, they are not really keeping an eye out for birds.

They come pick up the empty POD today - hurrah!

Last night, I was watching TV in my new Austin casa and saw my first "tornado alert" scroll along the bottom of the screen. Luckily it was for a distant county.

Lulu went dashing happily into doggie day care today, without so much as a backward glance... which is good news. She seems to love it there now that she's got the routine down.

Back On Line

I am so very happy to finally be back on line and be able to read and see these wonderful posts from my "darling daughters". My move has gone really well. Shirley, my dear friend and major helper has been simply wonderful. We drove down to Greenbrae on Thursday, the truck unloaded on Friday. We worked non stop all the rest of Friday, all day Saturday, Sunday afternoon and just about collapsed as we carried the last box into the garage. So many people came by and pitched in bringing food and encouragement and hands on help. Nancy and Dave were here ... they helped me get Porter's big TV over to the apartment and then stayed to hang paintings. Nancy worked hard unboxing ... Grace Emori and her friend Lynn came over from the East Bay with fresh flowers and wonderful healthy produce and Acme bread for us to enjoy. Beth Michaelson came today with lunch for us even including wonderful home made brownies.

The Comcast crew left at 9 pm tonight after finally getting my internet and TV hooked up.. the phone was too complicated so ATT is going to be my provider. This is why I have a new phone number. Send me an email and I will give you the number.

It feels so good to be out of boxes and pretty much settled. I have a lot of "tweaking" to do. Shirley put a lot of things away for me and so it will be awhile before I can find everything. I LOVE my new apartment. The "Darling Daughters" really did a great job of finding just the right place for me. I will post some photos later. It is 10 pm and I am pooped. So it is off to bed and time for shut eye. Shirley leaves tomorrow to have the rest of her time here in the Bay Area be a little more restful. She deserves a break and a star in her crown.

"Shot Out of a Gun"

"Shot Out of a Gun"
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

This is Lulu right when she arrived this morning at "Red Bud Isle" dog park, a great little island in the middle of the Colorado River.

Thus the nickname.

Porter - Day 7 in Ethiopia

Sintayehu is the lawyer here who works for Dove and represented me in my adoption case in Ethiopia court last month. I saw him a few days ago for some paperwork, and he’ll be there when I go to the US Embassy with Elsa to get her visa (and no – no news yet about the paperwork… as of today, the Embassy told us that they still do not have it).

This morning I got to have a special treat – Sintayehu allowed me to tag along when he went to court. It was great – he gave me a tour of the building, and explained a lot about the Ethiopian court system. He was very generous with his time and it was really cool to get an insider’s view – although I felt like quite the spectacle there, because I was the only white person anywhere in the court compound and people were definitely surprised to see me.

He had a case to put in front of the judge, but I didn’t get to see it because the judge was hearing petitions in her chambers, not in the public rooms. But I waited for Sintayehu in a large holding room full of people who were waiting for their names to be called. Again, I was quite the curiosity, and many folks just openly stared at me. Slightly uncomfortable, but not too bad. Sintayehu’s case went very quickly – he was in and out of the judge’s chambers in about 15 minutes, with a successful adoption for a family who are adoption 3 siblings. He was all smiles – clearly really cares about the families, which is so great to see.

Afterward we went for a quick coffee, then he had to get back to work. I did some shopping for souvenirs and gifts, then went back to the Sheraton to collect Clare, who had had a great morning filled with some exercise, a massage, and some lounging by the pool.

We went to lunch at a great place called “Deli Roma” – superb pizza and again a great deal – lunch for 3 people, including drinks, was 75 birr (a little over 8 U.S. dollars). After lunch we went to the tour company’s office (to reconfirm our Historic Circuit tour which starts tomorrow).

Then it was off to Toukoul for a visit with Elsa. She was much more awake and lively than during the morning visiting hours… very vocal and just full of energy. We met two other families who are adopting from Toukoul, and all hung out in the visiting room together, which was pretty fun.

I find that I’m calling Elsa by her Ethiopian name (Aden, pronounced AY-dun) more than by Elsa… all the nannies and the orphanage director call her Aden, and so when we talk about her we call her that name. And she is familiar with it, and seems like an Aden… so I’m thinking I need to make that her middle name and keep using it alternately with Elsa…

After Toukoul we came back to the hotel to pack up our things and get ready to check out tomorrow and start our tour. We have a very early start – we’re meeting our guide in the lobby at 5:30 AM for the flight to Bahir Dar.

We’ll be on the road, and I’ll be offline and out of touch for the next 4 days… will post as soon as I can after we get back to Addis.

So long, and I’ll miss you all and all your wonderful comments!!!

Porter - Day 6 in Ethiopia

Today we took Elsa out of the orphanage for the day, which was great. After a quick run to the market (to get bigger bottles!), we picked her up around 9 and brought her back at 4 in the afternoon.

We had a really mellow day, which seemed to fit everyone’s mood very well. We came back to the Sheraton and just hung out in our room. I got to feel Elsa her lunch (which was vegetable and chicken baby food) and man, that girl can chow down! She got a bit cranky when she was hungry, and it was oddly comforting to see that she can be in a bad mood sometimes too.

After her lunch, she was very happy again and VERY vocal. At Toukoul, she has always been really quiet – she smiles and coos but really doesn’t do any talking. Today she was yammering away with the occasional squeal – really talking up a storm. At first I thought something was wrong, but she was smiling away so I think she was just expressing herself.

Pretty soon she sacked out for a 2-hour nap – here is a photo of the sleeping beauty. I am SO happy to see that the rumored 2-hour nap indeed exists. Clare and I spent the time just chilling out – doing email and writing in journals and (on Clare’s part) a little napping, and (on my part) a lot of just staring at Elsa.

We took her back to Toukoul in time to do some shopping at the little store there. The prices aren’t the best, but the money goes to the orphanage, so how can we complain? Got some beautiful linens and a few things to sell to raise money for Toukoul when I get back home.

We went for dinner at a great local place in the Piassa called Pizza Corner. Pizza for three of us, plus beers and bottled water came to a total of 40 Birr. Which is about 5 bucks. Now THAT’s a deal!! Fun to hang out there at an outside table and watch the busy sidewalks… we were the only ferenges (foreigners/whites) there, which was an added bonus.

Then, back to the hotel for a nice hot bath (did I mention the awesome bathtub?) and an early bedtime.

Austin update from Kate

Gardner and Joel rolled into Austin last night via Roswell to present me with a little alien spaceship and to dine with me at Trudy’s. We had the queso, which was decadent and delish. G & J are on their way to Joel’s next gig in Palacios.

Depending on their timing, I may take a weekend trip down there to check out the coast and visit them there. It was great to have my Napa buddy (although now she's my gypsy buddy) here and seeing my new (albeit still fairly empty) house. And I could offer the Winnebago road warrior Gardner the option of using my bathtub for a nice long soak, which she seemed to love. She actually had a Lush bath bomb at the ready!

They parked the "rig" in front of my house since SXSW is here and I guessed that an open campground spot for the RV might be hard to get. Hopefully my neighbors don’t think I’m going to do that regularly. My goal is to get the POD completely unloaded over this coming weekend and then that semi-eyesore can be removed and I can be a good citizen of my little hood again.

Long long week. Everyone seems to be thrown from the daylight savings switch. I know it threw me - even more so this year since I’d already scooted my time zone two hours from California. My poor body thinks it’s getting up at 4 a.m. No wonder I march zombie-like to the nearest Starbucks for that Americano every morning.

People at my work continue to be great. I’m feeling very glad about my choice to move here. Lulu seems to be digging it too. Her new doggie day care has very lovely people, although nothing could ever compare to Every Dog. I miss them.

Today it’s supposed to reach 90 degrees in Austin, breaking records. Crazy. I need to go shopping for cotton garments. That is, if I can find my iron in the boxes in the garage. Very jealous of mom and her fully inventoried move. :)

Tonight I'm having dinner with a work buddy who is out here from Washington DC.

Fifth post from Porter in Ethiopia

Day 5, part 2

After the morning visit with Elsa, we were off to explore the city a bit. Our driver was really helpful and pointed out lots of interesting things as we drove through town.Addis is choked with smoke and diesel fumes, and it gets really overwhelming on Bole Road or one of the other main drags… after about 15 minutes of it, I get kind of nauseated from it. Luckily we were not on Bole Road very long.We drove though the Piasa neighborhood which was fun to see – it's a charming older part of town with lots of shops and tons of people. Very bustling and happening.

Then we drove out of the city up Entoto hill to the church of miracles (I forget the name of it), which was very cool. It was shocking to see the women carrying firewood down the hill by foot in giant bundles, which were literally bigger than they were. They carry it all the way down to the city to sell (for very little money). It was a great view from the top of the hill – we could see all of Addis, cloaked in smog but nevertheless a nice view. It was great to be in the fresh air, too. :-)

After we came down from Entoto, we went to the National Museum where "Lucy" is usually on display (the early human skeleton discovered in Ethiopia). Sadly, Lucy is on a world tour right now, so we didn't get to see her. But there were lots of other things to see.

We had our cultural fix, and it was time to relax a bit so we asked Henok to take us to a local coffee place – somewhere that we could go himself and not somewhere that a foreigners would go. And he did an awesome job . we were on the side of the road, on little 3-legged stools, and drinking the most delicious coffee I think I've ever had. It was awesome. A friend of his joined us too – a graduate student at Addis Ababa university who is studying Public Health. Really cool guy and fascinating to talk to.
Internet is slow now, so will try again later to post photos…

Fourth post from Ethiopia

Day 5, part 1
Today we finally both felt a lot better – I was given encouragement to drink lots of water and I think that was a big help.

We got up and decided to splurge on a real breakfast in the restaurant downstairs (I thought there was a breakfast that came with my room, but there is not). It was a fabulous spread, but at nearly $18 each, it was also the last time we’ll indulge in that. We had poached eggs with spinach, croissants, fresh fruit and yogurt, and delicious fresh coffee – Ethiopian of course.

Then we were off to visit Elsa at Toukoul (the orphanage). Our driver from the past 2 days was sick, so he sent his cousin, who was also super nice and very helpful.

Today we brought all our donations with us. It was fun pull all the giant bags out of the car and unload clothes and diaper pants and toys and bandaids and all kinds of other great stuff that generous people at home gave me to bring. The secretary at the orphanage was very happy.

Elsa was again very smilely and mellow, and again took a little nap on my chest.

We were able to meet with the head nurse and get Elsa’s feeding schedule and sleeping schedule. She also showed me how to make FaFa, which is a common Ethiopian baby cereal.

Elsa’s schedule goes like this:

6 a.m. she wakes up, eats FaFa
8 a.m. she eats 150 – 180 ml “Nan2” formula
9:30 she has some sun
10 – 11 nap
Noon she eats vegetable porridge “with protein like smashed fish, egg, meat or chicken”
1 – 3 p.m. nap
3 p.m. she eats 150 – 180 ml “Nan2” formula
7 p.m. she eats 150 – 180 ml “Nan2” formula
8 – 9 p.m. goes to sleep for the night
Midnight she is awakened to eat 150 – 180 ml “Nan2” formula (after this feeding, sleeps through to 6 am)

If this is true, it is pretty dreamy!!

We were also able to see the baby room and Elsa’s crib.
It was great to see Elsa with her nannies and the nurse – they are so affectionate with her, and she is so happy with them.

Elsa with her nurse - Elsa has a scratch on her nose with ointment on it - just in case you thought it was a booger, it is not.

Third Porter post from Ethiopia

Sorry for the delay in posting - the combination of sleep deprivation, travel, 11 hour time change, altitude, and a pretty massive emotional event kind of knocked me out.

After meeting Elsa, we drove to the Dove guest house to pick up a loaner cell phone (which is super helpful to have) and then brought Sintayehu, the lawyer, back to his office. Then we headed back to the hotel for a small bite to eat and a major nap. We had planned on heading back out to explore Addis, but were both just exhausted. So we took a little walk around the Sheraton grounds (lovely!) and then had massages (fab!) and then called it a day.

Yesterday was a bit better, in terms of energy - we went to visit Miss Elsa in the morning (visiting hours are from 9 to 11) and she was in a good mood again… am hoping against hope that she actually is this agreeable! She was alert and happy then started to get a bit drowsy, and actually took a nap on my chest when I laid down on one of the couches in the visiting room. So wonderful just to get to watch her sleep! She woke up smiling, which is quite unlike her mother, who is a major grouch upon awaking…

I was surprised to find out that she is eating some solid food! According to the feeding schedule they gave me, she has cereal in the morning, and some kind of vegetable baby food midday with “smashed fish or egg or chicken” added in for protein. From the reports by some other moms, I assumed she’d still be on all formula.

After visiting hours, Clare and I went to lunch at a traditional Ethio place, which was good. My stomach wasn’t really cooperating, I’m afraid, but Clare enjoyed it and the atmosphere was great.

Then we went shopping - no good souvenir shopping yet, but we went to the grocery store (Bambi’s) and the “mall” to get some baby supplies and food and bottled water. Had to get a baby spoon and feeding supplies for solid foods.

Came back to the hotel for another nap, then I went to dinner with the fabulous KH and family, who are here adopting M. It was great to finally meet her in person, and get to meet her husband and kids (who are all stunners and so well behaved!). With M, they have 5 kids - but somehow they make it look easy. We had a fun dinner in a restaurant that is shaped like a bit airplane. Unfortunately, Clare had to pass on dinner as she was feeling a bit under the weather.

I think the elevation is getting to us more than I expected - I have had pretty consistent headaches, which are really really rare for me, and feel pretty out of sorts. Hoping that will ease soon, and I think it will - last night I got a solid night’s sleep for the first time (yay!) and I ate a good breakfast and feel much better.

Second Porter post from Ethiopia

Porter wants me to remind everyone reading this blog that she can't read comments you leave here until she gets back to the states (Ethiopia blocks blogger.) But you can email her directly!

Here is her latest:

"I met Elsa today. She is perfect.
Not sure if the photos will get through - I hope so. But if not, trust me when I tell you she is lovely.
I am exhausted, but very very happy. Will be back to visit her tomorrow and get more photos. :-)"

As you can see, the photos DID come through. And they definitely made me tear up - amazing amazing.

Porter's first post from Ethiopia

Well, we made it safe and sound to Addis Ababa. The flights went well and even the cramped middle coach seat situation was improved slightly by a nice fellow passenger who swapped so Clare and I could sit together. yay!

We arrived close to 10 PM Ethiopia time, so hard to tell what Addis looks like. But the Sheraton hotel is SUPER nice and we are very comfy. I just took a hot bath and am in my jammies about to hit the hay.

Tomorrow is - I hope! - a very big day. Hoping to get to meet miss Elsa!

Will post a longer/better post tomorrow when I have slept a bit.

xoxoxoox Porter


(Disregard the thing that says it's Kate posting - I am cutting and pasting this from an email to this blog for Porter - some weird thing in Ethiopia doesn't work well with Blogger.)

Kate

Papers are signed!

I just returned from signing the papers and escrow closes on Wednesday. This is really happening. I have done a lot of packing. My dear friends, the Bears, are coming for one night tomorrow. They are on their way home from Washington state where their son, Tom lives. We are being hosted at dinner by Mae and Gene, Shirley is coming too. My fridge is getting bare as I am eating so many meals out in the next week. People want to say good bye and it is very nice that they are so loving. I really do not like the good bye parts of all of this. I plan to drive down to Marin with Shirley on the 13th or 14th. The movers still need to notify me of the exact day. Then I will move into my new apartment any where between the 15th and the 17th. So it is all happening very soon.

Saturday, I listened to Othello on the live MET broadcast and packed all of my paintings. I did not realize that I had so many. It took most of the day and I had a great sense of accomplishment when I was all done. There remain 16 paintings that I did not sell. I am donating them to the church. They will store them and use them in their next auction. It feels good to be giving away my art to a good cause.

Stuff must grow in the dark. I have given away so many things and yet every time I open a drawer or look into a cabinet, there lurks some more. I have reduced my book collection to what I consider the real keepers and I still have 10 boxes of books to move. I must have given away at least 100 or more.

Emily has sent me her travel plans. She and Clare take off on Saturday for Ethiopia. I will be moved into my new digs and will be ready to give Elsa a big hug when she arrives 3/26. After being in process for over two years with this adoption it is now just a matter of weeks before Elsa is home for good.

If Wonder Woman was a dog, she'd be Lulu!

If Wonder Woman was a dog, she'd be Lulu!
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

I'm running out of laptop battery and am at a coffee shop, but wanted to share this great pic of Lulu taken by Susan with her killer diller camera.

This was Lulu's first encounter with the Bull Creek Park's off-leash area and you can see, she is seriously digging it.