Day 13 Wednesday-
Only 2 more wakeups until we leave!!! (PRAYING). I am now an early riser…who would have known…..I hear the shock from those that know me well over here in Ethiopia!! I wake at first light and lay there thinking. At 8am I called Dr. A here in ET who is in charge of BFAS to make sure everything was in order for the Embassy tomorrow. He said the medical Dr. will send the results of the chest x-ray at 4 today to the embassy and our appointment is for Thursday morning at 8am. I am very very anxious for the appointment hoping everything falls into place and we can leave on Friday. Torrey called ET airlines for me yesterday because I had a sneaking suspicion that they only changed my ticket from Tuesday to Friday and not Sifan’s. I was right when he called they forgot to do Sifan’s ticket. He is still trying to get me into an earlier flight from DC to Indy so we don’t have to wander around the airport for 14 hours. I may just have to be on standby at the DC airport….
I spent some time packing today separating things into piles of donations and everything that is coming home, hoping to fit it all into one suitcase. I think it will all fit! I also spent some time writing thank you notes for those that have a huge blessing to me throughout this LONG journey. Specifically Gutu, for teaching more about Ethiopia and taking me out when I needed a break. Bethelehem, for translating for me, and making such fabulous food. Abynish for helping to care for Sifan while I was out with Gutu and letting Sifan help her throughout the day to keep her busy. Atagu for playing games with her and letting me video her and Sifan playing a few traditional ET games for Sifan’s life video. The gatekeeper for running out for water for us and fixing things around the house. These 5 have been lifesavers here for me. I really appreciate their help as I am sure I would have lost my mind by now without them.
After lunch Sifan and I walked to the Care Center. The children were laying down for a nap….there was 1 twin size bed and about 4 cribs for about 15 children. The children were talking and singing. I looked in on the babies and most were sleeping. I feed one of the babies who had a bottle propped. I checked the toy shed and most all of the toys were gone…only a few remained.
The good news is that Sfan allowed me to put her down this time when I was there and only had to hold my hand. She still would not let any of the nannies touch her. I think this made them upset but they have to understand that she had been through a trauma there as they ripped her from my arms and what was to keep them from doing it again. She is too small to understand the politics of it all.
At 4pm I called DR. A (in charge of BFAS) to make sure that the clinic sent the results of the chest x-ray to the embassy. He said I needed to let them work and it would all be there for me tomorrow for the 8 am embassy appointment. I asked who would be picking me up and he said Korsa. I asked again to make sure that my appointment was 8am and that the medical would be there on time….he said yes…I will call to make sure. He never called me back.
Sifan is so bored here. There is only so much you can do here for 2 weeks. I finally pulled out the not so proper child busyness techniques…..we did somersaults on the couch. She loved it and it killed another hours worth of time. We played blocks again and basically watched the clock. The height of entertainment was a bird trying repeatedly to fly through the glass door….and watching the cats walk slowly through the barbed wire on top of all of the walls and gates.