The interior of our house is painted. I have been putting the furniture back in order and trying to figure out where the pictures and paintings were all hung. Chloe says it looks like we just moved in our house and she's right. It's pretty much a disaster. Our wood floors will finally get restained/repaired next week and I can concentrate on Oliver's room and putting up some Christmas decorations inside the house. A tree would be nice at this point too.
I am so thankful that my parents, sister and brother-in-law will be here for the holidays to help us get ready and to calm me down. My sister is staying on to keep Chloe and the dogs while we are in Ethiopia. She will also stay a short while after we return home with Oliver. My friends have organized meals for us on our return, much to my disapproval---I hate to ask for help or anything. Its very nice of them and will be appreciated.
I made Oliver's pediatrician appointment yesterday. He goes to the doctor for his checkup the Tuesday after we get back. My sister will still be here at that time to help.
I am trying to figure out what to take to Ethiopia. My friend who traveled to Africa a few years ago told me the people would ask for sneakers and American t-shirts. I don't think I am going to be handing out sneakers in Addis Ababa but I'm gathering some shirts with NYC area logos and teams and my friends are too. I am also trying to figure out what donations I will take for the orphanage. I have to put a call into our agency to find out what is needed. When we went to China we donated a crate of formula we purchased in town while visiting the orphanage. I am trying to find out if we can do the same in Ethiopia.
I had a complete spaz out today because I couldn't get our travel agency to call me back and book our flights and hotel which were on hold. I emailed our travel agent yesterday afternoon to tell them what we decided on our travel plans and that we wanted to book a.s.a.p. I never heard back yesterday (and they are 3 hours behind us on the west coast). I thought for certain they would call me by noon today because our flights were on hold until 1 p.m. today. When I still hadn't heard from them I called and left a message for our agent to call us so we could book. Three hours passed and not a word. I called back and left a message and then sent an email just to get my point across. Another hour passed. Just as I started to call another travel agency, the phone rang. It's all worked out and we our flights are booked. I just got the confirmation.
Our travel plans are to leave on December 31 and fly to Dubai. We want to see Dubai, so we opted to spend two nights before we leave for Ethiopia on Sunday, January 3. We should see Oliver that day! We then spend the week in Ethiopia before we fly out on Friday, January 8. We are unsure when our U.S. Embassy appointment will be right now because January 7th is Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas. What a great time to be in country! We're back home on January 9th. That gives us a whole weekend at home with Chloe and Oliver.
1 comment:
It will all fall into place. Even though it seems like there isn't much time to get ready we have almost three weeks...sometimes I wish it were a week:)
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