Unconventional Family: Is it really over...

Well folks it has been a long journey, but it is officially over. I think my last post was right before I went to embassy. Well that was a day. The lady that I went to embassy with was adopting a little girl that is 16 months. Embassy day is the first real day that you have with your child. No nanny looking over your shoulder telling you what to do, no other families entertaining your child so you can go to the bathroom, it is only you and the child that you so desperately want and don't even know. Lennox did great, he was just sitting on my lap looking around. About 5 minutes into being there he had explosive diarrhea, which was no biggie. I took him to the bathroom and changed his clothes. I got back to my seat and the women I was there with, Julie, asked if I could watch her daughter Hiwot. I said sure and off Julie went to the restroom. 20 minutes later and 2 screaming kids later I asked an American lady sitting next to me if she could go check on Julie. Well Julie was sick and could not get out of the bathroom. My already semi-stressful day just went through the roof. I know had to watch 2 children that I did not really know. Julie's name got called my the embassy and I grabbed both kids, Lennox know in a carrier on my hip, up to the window to notify them that I would go get Julie from the bathroom. My name was called about 20 minutes later to which I had to answer a few simple questions. "Did you meet the child before court?" "Did you know the mother was raped?" "Do you know this is final?" and "Do not open the immigration packet, give it to immigration in Washington". That was it, the adoption was finally done, we just needed US soil for him to be declared a US citizen!!

That evening I caught the bug that Julie had and it continued into Wednesday and Thursday. We boarded the plane Thursday The plane ride was very eventful. Lennox explosive diarrhea continued onto the 17 hour plane ride. He screamed out of frustration and being overly tired the entire time. I was the crazy lady on the plane that could not get control over her child. By the time the flight was over, I had been up over 30 hours and still had a 4 hour layover and another flight. The layover was quick because of immigration and finally feeling good enough to get something to eat. I also accidentally checked the bottles for Lennox and had to hunt the airport to find a bottle. He was so hungry and frustrated with me that he slept on the 2 hour plane ride home.

We were met by my mother, sister Angie, and Kadin at the hospital. Kadin had the biggest grin on his face and he finally said Lennox's name. He has been insisting his name is Clinton and it was nice to hear that he said "My Lennox home".

It has been three days and Lennox and I are very sleep still. We have been going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 3am. Lennox is up from 3-5am and then goes down for nap from 5-8am. He then takes another nap at noon. His poor little body is still on Ethiopian time so he thinks that noon his 9pm and is ready for bed. I wake him up anywhere from 3-4 which does not make for a happy baby.

Well that is it for now, but I will leave you with some pictures.....