Update #3 from Denise in Africa

It sounds like Denise and the Smith family are on the way back to Oklahoma quicker than expected. Denise left on Thanksgiving Day and expected to be away for 3 weeks so I know they are all very happy that the adoption went both smooth and fast.




Hi everyone -

Our mini-safari on Saturday was fun. We traveled about two hours out of Kigali to Akagera National Park. The lands we passed were filled with pineapple, banana and coffee plants. There was also lots of corn and gardens filled with flowers of all colors. I dawned on me that when I buy little plants in the spring and the tag shows a range of how small/large the plant will get, I need to remember that the lower end of the range is the expected growth in Oklahoma - - the top of the range is how the same plants will grow in Rwanda! Wow, talk about beautiful roses, cannas, lantana, ferns, daisies, etc.

At the park we saw graceful giraffs - large and little babies, cape water buffalo, lots of zebras that had a red tint to them because they would roll in the red dirt, impalas/deer/antelope (they all looked much the same), and baboons that had very bad manners. There were also beautiful butterflies, birds of all kinds, and quite a few mosquitos. We drove to Lake Ihema, which stretched along the horizon as far as we could see, and learned that Tanzania bordered the other side of the lake. There were about a dozen hippos in one area of the lake, but all we could see were the tops of their heads as they came up for air. I took pictures of the hippos anyway, but they just look like rocks right along the surface. Our guide warned us about closing the doors and windows to the van when we got out to take pix of the hippos - - apparently there is a sneaky family of baboons that lives in the trees near our stopping point and they like to try to crawl into vans and steal food! As we were getting back into the van, they were emerging from the trees and coming closer to the van.

Sunday we spend most of the day here at the hotel. The three families had tried to switch flights so that we could get to Ethiopia one day early. The family of three was able to leave, but we could not get enough tickets switched for all members of the other two families to travel so we are leaving on our regular flight this afternoon. We should be in Addis late this evening, by way of Entebbe, Uganda.

The children are all adjusting to their new famlies - - it's almost like they've been together forever. Grace loves to put on her pretty clothes, pjs, sock and shoes; she sings (we just don't understand what she is saying!), and laughs all the time now.

If flights go as expected, this will be my last message from Kigali. Next stop Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!
I hope you all have a wonderful week!

d.

another update from Denise in Rwanda

this is part 2 from Denise, Nina's MIL, as she accompanied a family to Rwanda as they adopt a little girl named Grace.Hi everyone,

It is strange to think that you still have an afternoon of work to do and it is almost 11 PM here! I hope the weather in Kansas/OK has not turned too bad. It was beautiful here again today, and the full moon looks so bright in the clear sky.

We were at the US Embassy first thing this morning. It was a bit stressful for each family, but after several hours most of the paperwork was completed/accepted. The plan is for the parents and adopted children to go to immigration on Friday for the childrens' visas that will be distributed at the earliest @ 1:00 PM, and then to the embassy that closes at 1:00. The consulate agreed to keep the office open until the three families get there so that they can finish the paperwork. If this happens, we hope to be able to fly out on Sunday for Ethiopia rather than waiting until Monday. Then on Monday the kids can have their TB tests done and, if flights are available, we can fly out on Friday. That would mean that we would fly back with Rande, Casey and baby David, another couple from our church who are adopting from Ethiopia.

We visited the National Genocide Museum this afternoon - it was very well done but emotionally draining. To think that so many people lost their lives and the rest of the world pretty much ignored the situation. You would think we, as fairly intelligent people, would find a more peaceful and constructive way to overcome such strong biases/discrimination, but instead horrible situations continue to exist around the world. There are over 258,000 bodies buried on the museum grounds in mass graves filled with coffins of bodies that continue to be found. I read an account of Rwanda's rocky history in one of the travel books that Ryan brought, and he indicated he has one at home that is filled with personal accounts of the uprising and aftermath. Probably not light reading, but I think I'll borrow it.

This evening Nyanja told us about her family's story and how she escaped Kigali in 1994 when the genocide began and the UN forces were at the Kigali airport. Quite amazing, and it truly showed how God has worked miracles in her life. Her passion for helping families adopt children that have probably been abandoned by children orphaned during the 1994 uprising is certainly a result of her struggles.

Cannon and Kaylee are in the room with me again tonight, and are still not asleep. Hopefully they will be soon because I am about ready to go to bed.

Tomorrow Nyanja is going to take us to the locations that the babies being adopted were found, which will probably be very difficult for the families.

Last night at dinner I got to hold little Zachary - he was found beneath a tree and weighed just a little over two pounds. He has been adopted by two docs who spend about three months volunteering in Rwanda and other places around the world. He truly is an amazing little boy. Ash took a pix of me with Zac so I'll try to get it to send. The other children are adjusting wonderfully to their new families. It is amazing to see the transformation - today they were smiling constantly, handing out hugs, and playing with their siblings. Grace Elina (the Smiths' little girl) is starting to talk - - she speaks Kinyarwandan but today said "Elmo" when picking up a book and said 'papa' to Ryan.

That's about all from here for now. I hope the weather does not get too bad. Let me know how things are - -

Lots of love to all of you
d.

it's time to move

I'm moving to a new blog - with a name that suits me better
I hope you'll come visit me at

If you do stuff

last day of November

One of the best parts of our Thanksgiving week was our house guests. My parents were here for a week, one of my brothers was here for 2 nights and our son Bobby and his wife stayed with us for 3 days.


Bridgette baked 2 delicious pumpkin and apple pies for our Thanksgiving meal but by Friday, the pie was all gone. So, she just went in my kitchen and baked another apple pie!

Bobby and my dad waiting on the pie to bake.




My Mom's celebrated her birthday at our house. Nina made her a "turkey" instead of a birthday cake - cute, huh?
It has a mini watermelon for the base, a funny pear for the head, cheese, grapes and bell peppers on skewers for the feathers.







The week before Thanksgiving week, I sewed new stockings for Christmas 2009. I used a pattern I printed free from a blog and all the fabrics were from my mom. I had so many nice fabric prints, I got a little carried away and sewed up 13 stockings - way more than we have family members. I will add names to the cuffs with iron on letters leftover from t-shirt projects from when Jimmy and Nina were in college.






I packed away all the fall decorations but will wait a while to put up Christmas things, except for this new wreath. My brother made it for me, I think this is the 3rd year he's made a fresh Christmas wreath for me. It is really pretty and it smells so good too.


This year's wreath even has lights on it - my video is not so hot but you can see how cute it looks blinking.

Greetings from around the world! - not from me but...

there is not much going on in my life that I want to blog about but I thought you all might like to read about some international adoptions going on first hand.
Nina's mother in law, Denise, left Thanksgiving Day to travel to Rwanda. She is accompanying another family that is adopting a 2 year old girl named Grace. They will be on this trip about 3 weeks and this is her first update about everything going on there.


in the picture is the family from Denise's church that will be Grace's new family.


Good morning from Kigali! All is well here, but I definitely know I'm not in Oklahoma!

Flights went relatively well. Our flight from Dulles Friday morning left almost three hours late, but since we weren't changing planes until we reached Ethiopia, it really didn't matter to us. We arrived in Rome for refueling about 2:30 AM so there was not much we could see outside the windows. Arrival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was about 10:30 AM (Ethiopian time) and then we changed planes for Rwanda by way of Entebbe, Uganda. We finally arrived at the Kigali airport about 1:30 PM (Kigali time)

The countryside is beautiful. Entebbe is on the northeast side of Lake Victoria and Kigali is on the SW side, so we saw a lot of the lake and the Nile river when flying.

The two other families meeting their children met us at Dulles and we all flew across together. As soon as we arrived and checked into the hotel, we were off to the orphanage to meet the children. You can imagine that the meetings for each family for each family were very emotional - lots of tears. The families got to spend about an hour with their children and then we had to leave, but we were back at 9:30 Sunday morning and the kids got to spend the day with famlies. One of the other families brought their three children, so I stayed with all the biological children when the parents took their adopted children back to the orphange for the night. Glad I wasn't there for that one - - again lots of tears, but that showed that the children were bonding with parents/families and were sad to go back to their 'home.'

All parents left at 6:30 this morning to go to the ministry office to begin the final paperwork, and all five biological kids were with me. We are now back in our rooms with the kids and will be going site seeing later this afternoon and will do some shopping later today.

We toured part of the orphanage yesterday. That was hard. There are so many babies (new born to 5 yrs) that need homes, but about 40 have been chosen for adoption. There are a reported 1M orphaned children in Rwanda, and because of the 1994 genocide, the population has an average age of 15. The nuns say that as soon as a child leaves, another is found abandoned and they take him/her in. The orphanage does not have electricity and is very basic. There are also several very elderly residents and special needs folks. Nyanja, our contact here, said that one of the woman we met is estimated to be over 100 years old.

When we went through the special needs area, it was very tough. Mental issues and severe autism were obvious. Nyanja said that many times families will kill a disabled baby when born because they cannot care for them - very sad, so those that were fortunate enough to live at the Home of Hope are very lucky and are cared for as best as can be.

I've attached a picture of the Smiths with Grace Elina, who was born on Apr 22, 2005 and found abandoned three days later. The other children adopted are Sonia, who is also about 2.5 and a darling little boy, Cooper, who is about a year old. I've been the resident photographer and have lots of pix, but it takes so long to try to attach a file so right now, you'll just get this one!

The countryside is beautiful. Our hotel (a nice Motel 6 w/o airconditioning, but complete with mosquito netting over the bed) is beatifully landscaped and flowers are blooming everywhere. The birds are colorful and they sing all day long, beginning in early morning.

All nice buildings have security guards around them with guns, including our hotel. There were security guards at the airports, along with military men in training.

It will probably be Thurs PM or Friday AM when Visa's are ready for the three children, so in the meantime we are going to go shopping, to at least one genocide museum, and on a short safari. Again, certainly not Oklahoma!

It is 12:15 PM on Monday here, and my clock indicates it is 4:15 AM in Stw. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and will enjoy the week.

More updates coming soon....I love you all!!
d.

And if you want to read about this adoption and other adoptions, the Smith Family has their own blog.