Catch up

Our trip to Ethiopia in April was a whirlwind tour. As before, we arrived late in the evening, waited for our luggage, obtained our visas and took in the smoky, spicy smell of Addis Ababa. We did not know if we would meet Soly that night, or sometime the next day. But, this time we were ready to go with the flow. Tired but exhilarated to be in Ethiopia again, we boarded a taxi and made our way to the BFAS guesthouse, Nootol.

It was a beautiful house close to the airport. We ate a late dinner and headed to bed. Sleeping into the early morning hours, we awoke to the enchanting sounds of the call to Prayer. We had arrived the week of Ethiopian Easter. At 4 am, the sounds of soothing chants pulled us slowly awake and lulled us back into sleep. At 7 am we awoke for breakfast. At 10 am, we were picked up and escorted to Kidane Mehret Orphanage to meet our baby girl.

We knew Soly had been ill multiple times while in Ethiopia. Each time parents returned, we asked for pictures and updates of our dear daughter, and were repeatedly, month after month, told that she was in the hospital. Each time, we frantically called the agency who did not know and didn't have updates for us. Finally, 4 weeks before traveling, our friends traveled to pick up their baby girl and demanded to see Soly in the hospital. She was able to bring us back detailed information about Soly, along with pictures and video. She was small, frail, ill. Born at 6 lbs and 19 inches, at 5 months, Soly was a mear 9 lbs and unknown number of inches. The 6 month clothing we sent for her was so large you could barely see her body.

We received our court approval and officially became her parents on March 27th. Knowing she was critically ill, we pushed for an expedient Embassy date and were rebuffed by the agency, who repeatedly told us she was "healthy" and didn't require an expedited date. I'd had enough, emailed and called Senator Amy Klubuchar's office and pleaded for assistance to get Soly through Embassy quickly. Amy's office staff were miracle workers, jumped on the case and had an answer for us within days: they would expedite our case, we could go immediately. 36 hours later, we jumped on plane to Ethiopia to get our baby girl. Little did we know the adventure, heartbreak and reward we were about to incur.