Saturday, September 11, 2010

Aug. 31: U.S. Embassy Appointment, Lion Zoo, Bonding

Our appointment at the U.S. Embassy to sign paperwork for obtaining the boys' visas to bring them home was on Tuesday at 1pm. So that morning, Brian and I decided to stay at the guest house with the boys while our moms went out to see Entoto Mountain and to visit the Lion Zoo.

Here is my mom posing with one of the lions.


This zoo houses Abyssinian Lions native to Ethiopia. They are known for their black manes.



Meanwhile, back at the guest house, we gave Jeremy a bath in a little toddler tub the guest house lent us to use to sit in the bottom of our stand up shower.


Jeremy really started to relax and enjoy himself with us that day, and we could see the bonding/attachment process beginning. While we were at the embassy, he called me "Mama" for the first time! I was so surprised and happy to hear it!





Our embassy appointment was pretty uneventful. We were briefed by Joanna (one of Gladney's staff) as to what we should expect. After hanging out in a waiting area for about an hour with the other families from our agency, we were called upstairs where we were asked a few questions by a kind American woman working there, then we signed a couple of documents for each child, and we were sent on our way!

As a fun side note, Jeremy and Zachary flew home with Ethiopian passports that had the cutest photos of them in it. Their passports had a special visa in them issued by the U.S. Embassy that insured that the moment they entered the U.S.A., they would become American citizens! So now that we are home, my boys are already U.S. citizens!!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOVE the smile on Jeremy's face in that picture with your mom. LOVE that he called you "Mama" at the embassy. And would you believe that I can already see your own and Brian's facial expressions being mirrored by your precious boys? It's true!

Anonymous said...

That is AWESOME they are U.S. Citizens! That is definately a plus to the travel 2 times rule! We did our readopt and it is a long process! So many steps to ensure they are Citizens!! You are very lucky!!

God Bless,
Sandra L.

Dana Cheryl said...

I'm just loving each and every post! It's been such a wonderful experience to share in your journey... Thanks for taking the time to blog! I know that you don't have a lot of spare time these days... :)

J said...

I love that you are my bloggy friend (and real life friend), because I love reading this story. It's an amazing journey that you're on. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Sharon said...

The boys are beautiful - it was a true JOY to see all 4 of you yesterday. Can't wait to get over our colds and hug on them!