After we got Eli on Wednesday afternoon we went back to the Sadula because on Thursday morning we had to attend a hearing at the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia to state that we were finalizing the process and taking him home. We had to appear at this appointment in person with Eli, so, after a pretty good nights sleep on Wednesday, we headed off to the Embassy on Thursday morning. This was the first real indication that Eli would be a GREAT traveler. (More on that in my final day 9 post tomorrow) He fell asleep on the way there and slept all the way until the appointment was over. At this point as I am sure you can understand, we just wanted to get home with Eli. We still were struggling finding food that we could eat and we had already seen and done so much already, it was time to take our precious lil' E back to Michigan. So, we were called to the counter, answered all the questions they had for us and we were cleared to take him to the United States. So, after that we headed back to the Sadula, had some noodles for dinner and took a few pics of our beautiful little Eli over the course of the rest of the day. It was a great "veg out" day.
So, the next day was Friday. THE DAY WE LEAVE FOR HOME!!! We were so very excited.
However, at 10:30 AM we got a call from our agency rep that we had to go back to the embassy. I nervously ask him why, and he responds that there is a picture mistake on our documents and Eli's final paperwork to get him back into the US is not valid unless we return to the embassy. Little did we know that the embassy CLOSES AT NOON! We get into the van, already a little nervous and our driver is frantically driving (which in Ethiopia is basically like driving like a COMPLETE lunatic since they already drive like crazy there) to get us there. We had to stop to take new photos of Eli at a small little photo shop and we finally arrive and we walk into a practically empty embassy office. I'll save you all the details, but basically our reps in Ethiopia made a mistake and put 2 different photos of Eli on 2 documents that needed to have the same photo. So, after forcing the entire US Embassy office to work overtime, the situation was resolved and we got new documents for the E-man. It was seriously one of the most stressful situations of my life because at one point I was nervous that they would not stay open for us, possibly forcing us to stay until Tuesday. (They were pretty upset about staying open late.)
This process took up most of Friday, as we didn't get back to The Sadula until late that afternoon, so we watched the World Cup, Eli took a nap while we packed our bags and got ready to head to the airport.
The trip home was an adventure in and of itself, and moreso for Mark and I than for Eli. My last trip recap post along with pictures and video of our return to the states will be up tomorrow.
However, at 10:30 AM we got a call from our agency rep that we had to go back to the embassy. I nervously ask him why, and he responds that there is a picture mistake on our documents and Eli's final paperwork to get him back into the US is not valid unless we return to the embassy. Little did we know that the embassy CLOSES AT NOON! We get into the van, already a little nervous and our driver is frantically driving (which in Ethiopia is basically like driving like a COMPLETE lunatic since they already drive like crazy there) to get us there. We had to stop to take new photos of Eli at a small little photo shop and we finally arrive and we walk into a practically empty embassy office. I'll save you all the details, but basically our reps in Ethiopia made a mistake and put 2 different photos of Eli on 2 documents that needed to have the same photo. So, after forcing the entire US Embassy office to work overtime, the situation was resolved and we got new documents for the E-man. It was seriously one of the most stressful situations of my life because at one point I was nervous that they would not stay open for us, possibly forcing us to stay until Tuesday. (They were pretty upset about staying open late.)
This process took up most of Friday, as we didn't get back to The Sadula until late that afternoon, so we watched the World Cup, Eli took a nap while we packed our bags and got ready to head to the airport.
The trip home was an adventure in and of itself, and moreso for Mark and I than for Eli. My last trip recap post along with pictures and video of our return to the states will be up tomorrow.
