Family of 5

We are home, and officially a family of 5!!! Our trip to Ethiopia was terrific, until the last 2 days. Tuesday last week was Embassy day - the day we went to the Embassy to recieve our children's visas, so that we could all leave on Thursday. We were under the impression that the visas always go through - the interview was just a formality. Turns out - not so much! At first when the clerk said he didn't think we would be getting the visa, I actually thought he was joking. But then he started explaining it.

I guess there was a mix-up with the form that the embassy doctor had to fill out. She filed Ato T. as class A. Well, Class A visa is for someone who is a threat to the US (like someone with TB, for example). The form the doctor had indicated that anyone with CP should be class A. This would mean we would need a waiver to come home, which takes up to 2 weeks.

So we called around, and found that we needed to get the CDC here in the US to issue a statement saying that he would not need a waiver. The US Embassy in Ethiopia was closed on Thursday, so we would have to wait until Friday to find out. But the CDC assured the embassy that it would be the first thing they would do Wednesday morning, ans since they had 2 full working days to get it done, we didn't think it would be a problem. Ha!!!

We were extremely blessed with the best travel group ever surrounding and supporting us! Many of them left baby care things behind for us to use during our extra stay, and we are eternally grateful to you for that! Thank you all so much for your love, support and prayers! We wouldn't have made it emotionally without you, as well as our many chances to journel. ;)

Friday morning comes, and the staff of CHSFS in Ethiopia was kind enough to take us to another guest house to stay and feed us there. We called the embassy Friday morning, and they still had not heard from the CDC. To top things off, it was 9:20 and the embassy closes at 11:45 on Fridays. So it was looking like Heather would have to stay alone in Ethiopia with Ato T and Mike would fly home.

Well, the CHSFS Ethiopia staff worked their tales off on Friday morning for us! I'm not exaggerating at all. The president of the organization in Ethiopia ended up leaving a meeting early to call the doctor and request that she change the form. In the meantime, Mike and I talked with Scott at the embassy, who agreed to stay late for us if we knew the amended form would be coming in. After the president talked with the doctor, she wanted to talk with us, which we gladly did, and she agreed to change the form for us.

While she was working on that, the staff picked Mike up to go get the form and bring it to the Embassy. They also had to take the form for otarization. They finally got to the Embassy about 2 hours after it closed, and Scott processed the visa for us.

Friday morning was nothing short of a miracle! We are so thankful to the staff in Ethiopia and Scott at the US embassy in Ethiopia! However, we are NOT thankful for the stupid CDC, and our congress person will be getting a letter about that organization!

For now we are home and trying to settle in as a family. More about that transition in another post. Thank you all for your prayers!