An update...FINALLY!!

It’s been 143 days since we left for our trip to Ethiopia to pick up our son.

It’s been the best 143 days of our lives.

We haven’t been the best to keep our blog friends up to date, and we apologize.

Let’s try to sum this all up and get you caught up!

The trip to Ethiopia was very, let's say, underwhelming for me (Chad). I had a lot of expectations of what I was going to see in Africa, how it was going to change my life and how effected I was going to be by seeing everything. Well, to me, it looked like Papua New Guinea and the way I grew up, so that’s what I mean by underwhelming. We didn’t even get to see a zebra or anything!

We got to Ethiopia the night before Easter. Churches were broadcasting prayers all into the night. Of course we couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow we would meet our son!

We woke up the next day, and really, didn’t know what to do. We called the agency director and she told us that because it was Easter she had plans, but could come pick us up, take us the the childcare facility and then we could meet and take Gemechu (Clifford's Ethiopian name) back to our guest house with us. Wait, you mean today? Whoa. We (Candy and I) had previously discussed just going to AAI to meet our son, hang out and assess the situation first. We didn’t want to drastically take him away from the environment that he was used to if he wasn’t ready to go. How would we actually have known? I don’t know. But God had different plans.

Gail (the director of the childcare facility-Layla House) came to pick us up and took us to Layla. We walked up to the house where Gemechu was, told to take off our shoes, and walked into his room. BABIES!! Everywhere!! BABIES!!! We walked up to Gemechu's crib and there he was. Our son! We went to go pick him up, but were quickly told that he had a dirty diaper and to hold on. There he was. Right before our own eyes. He was smiling so huge, almost knowing that mommy and daddy were there to take him home. It was a precious moment and something I will remember for the rest of my life. Maybe it’s because he was dressed in pink – ha!

Our first time seeing our son!!!

Gemechu and Mommy!!

Gemechu and Daddy!!

Once we grabbed hold of him, he was part of the family, going to sleep instantly in Candy’s arms. Again, the word for this moment? Precious.

We were then able to take him back to our room where the staff at the Ethiopian Guest House had laid out rose petals, saying Congrats! They even had a little book for Gemechu. We instantly bathed him and took him out of those pink clothes. Never to be seen again. Pink is manly, but you know, we had cuter clothes for him.

We love the Ethiopian Guest House!

His first bath with us!

The next couple of days were just us getting to know each other, Gemechu getting to know us and sleeping...us trying to get him to smile, which wasn’t hard and for me, learning how to change a diaper. It was easier than I thought and I'm totally a champion now, btw.

His shirt says everything! :)

Our first family photo!

We had our embassy appointment a couple days later to get Gemechu's visa. It was the last and final step that we had to get through before being able to take our son home. A bunch of the AAI families met at Layla and we all drove together to the embassy. It was a tough drive through the city. It was really hot and Candy got car sick from breathing in all of the exhaust fumes from the other cars and trucks. Not fun! But we finally made it and proceeded to a waiting room where we waited with the other families and people not in our group to be called. Finally it was our turn! We walked up some stairs to a different room and met with an embassy employee (window 5!) who asked us questions like, where is he from, were we able to visit his home town, meet his biological parents, etc etc. After a few stamps on some paper work, Gemechu Chad Pearson (the name on his birth certificate) was now officially part of our family. Yeah, I cried, sue me.

A few days later we left Ethiopia and the flight was awesome. We flew on Lufthansa and had one flight to Germany, then on to Atlanta. We got the bassinet, which I have never seen before being a father. They sit you in the bulkhead and then they have a little bassinet that hooks up to the wall and then your baby can sleep. And sleep he did. He was awesome on the flights back. We had heard that with all the pressure of the flight, babies can sometimes have some tummy issues that result in some major blowouts. So we packed probably about 20 different outfits and about 30 diapers in our carry on. We ended up not needing all of those outfits though because we actually had the opposite problem. Our little guy didn't poop once during any of our travel!

After 2 super long flights and a 6 hour layover in Germany, we finally arrived home in Atlanta to family and a few friends waiting for us at the airport and again, another cry fest. Cliffy was home! (Gemechu's name will be Clifford Gemechu Pearson, once we change his name – Clifford after Candy’s Grandfather who had passed away weeks before we were able to go bring Clifford home.)

Lets see, what to tell next?

Cliffy's first restaurant experience was at the Flying Biscuit Café up in Sandy Springs, GA. He was literally the star of the show. This is when we started to realize that people would look, be curious and adore our baby. One lady leaned over and asked pretty matter of factly, “Where did you get him?” Like we picked him up on aisle three in Whole Foods or something. We had to remember that we might be these peoples first interaction with an adoptive family and to put on a happy face.

In Ethiopia at the childcare facility, there was an outbreak of the chicken pox. We thought that Cliffy had managed to stear clear of getting them. Boy were we wrong! Cliffy started breaking out in chicken pox pretty badly right after we got home. That was the worst week of our lives. Not being able to do anything for your new son and nothing you can do will make those damn poxes go away. Candy and I had to take turns watching him so he wouldn’t scratch the pox. At night we took 2 hour shifts to watch Cliffy. We were so exausted and at one point we had to call Candy’s sister, asking if she could just come by and watch him for 4 hours. She came over and was our lifesaver, I didn’t even see her, literally falling into a coma for 4 hours. The chicken pox were quite an introduction into parenthood!! Don’t worry though, Cliffy is totally fine, just a few scars remain.

Poor guy had about 500 pox all over his body!

A couple of weeks later we took Cliffy to his first Dr appt. and we found out that he was a little low in percentiles for his age. For example 11% percentile for height. BUT, we just took him in and the little guy has grown and now is around the top for his age, 70% for height! Our little guy is growing and thriving!

Cliffy now! Taken just a few days ago.

Anyways, this is just a little update, and I know there is MUCH MUCH more that has happened, and more that is going on, etc etc. For example…..CLIFFY IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!! Yep, soon after we got back from Ethiopia, we found out that Candy is pregnant! We are due Jan 26^th and no, we aren’t going to find out what we are having! I find it amazing that last January, we were a family of two, and now this coming January, we will be a family of 4! CRAZY and AWESOME!!!

Thank you for being so patient with us and our lack of updating our blog. We hope to start updating more, but honestly, it's so hard to pull ourselves away from our sweet little guy, but we will try!!!! :)

Chad

THE PEARSONS!!
(August, 2010 -Cliffy-10 months old!)