heading home

via Frankfurt Germany on saturday!

now you could say that we got our tickets because of dave's hard work and determination. . . OR you could say it is because we ran out of yerba. . . we brought a huge bag of yerba to ethiopia so that we could drink mate' in the mornings together and just think and talk and chill like we do at home.  it really is my favorite part of the day.  and often when we go on trips, i just pour a bunch of yerba into a ziplock and then it seems to always run out just as its time to head back home.  so our bag of yerba was getting low and finding plane tickets was turning into a debacle (and that is an understatement).  so yesterday dave was out on the hunt for tickets and i was back at the guesthouse staring at the very last dusting of yerba.  i poured it into the guampa and used it all up.  an hour later, dave came back and we had tickets!!!!!  the magical yerba strikes again :)

the final steps

we had our embassy interview today! little a's visa will be ready tomorrow morning at 10am! we are currently trying to figure out which flight to take home.  we have enjoyed our time here but are ready to make our way home and get settled in before big L starts kindergarten at the end of august!

submitted to embassy. . .and a little glitch

our paperwork has been submitted to the embassy! this is great news.  but apparently there is a global glitch in the visa processing system  so until they sort that out we will be staying put. . . at least we have a little apartment with a kitchen and new legos (thanks to my dad and his wife!) and well, we've been waiting to get to ethiopia for almost 4 years so we might as well have some fun while we're at it!

Medical clearance finished!

Tomorrow we will submit our pile of paperwork to the US embassy! Next step will be getting an 'interview' to get the travel visa. 

a good story

so last night we had quite an experience at Bata -- a restaurant with very interesting 'architecture.'

anyway, hopefully the story will be up soon on:
www.berberecoffeeinjeraplease.blogspot.com

getting closer still

started the visa medical today. . . tb test check on wednesday.  assuming all is clear with the tb test, we then move on to the very last step of submitting our papers to the embassy to get a visa to transport this little ethiopian to US soil. . . 

Making sweet progress

Birth certificate was issued. Passport is also ready. Next we have a 4 day medical clearance and then we submit to embassy for the visa! We have been so lucky with our process since we've arrived in Ethiopia!