He’s leavin’ on a jet plane
...and flyin’ halfway around the freakin’ world
My friend Pete and his wife Melissa are getting on a plane in the morning to fly to Ethiopia to meet their adopted daughter, four-month-old Iona.
There’s no describing Pete in words. He’s a philosopher, he’s a network engineer, an evangelical Christian, an urban bicyclist, an Obama supporter, he’s an artist… I don’t know what makes him tick (I don’t know what makes anyone tick). But they’re not just adopting a child, they’re going all the way to Addis Ababa, a city of 3.5 million people in Ethiopia.
They’ve been studying Ethiopian culture, and ramping up their tolerance for strong coffee. The bureaucratic complications of an international adoption have been staggering. Sometimes the courts are closed there because of no electricity in Addis Ababa - but the city keeps working. Imagine an American city of over 3 million people - roughly the size of Los Angeles - without electricity for a few days.
You would have to anaesthetize me to get me on a plane for a 15,000-mile round trip, and they’ll be doing half half of it with a four-month-old. When they get back, they’ll be taking family leave time.
You can track their journey here, complete with liner notes, photos, and whatnot. Drop by and give them a shout.
In the last couple years I’ve grown close to a family with two adopted kids. It’s a good feeling. The old saying, “it takes a village” is so true! I’m glad for your friend.
Posted by Still Me on 11/14/08 at 10:56 AMOne that young might sleep most of the journey; let’s hope.
”...and flyin’ halfway around the freakin’ world”
Is that a subheading? I ask just to let you know in my mobile browser, I don’t see those on your home page; they do show up on the individual post pages. Not sure if that’s on my end or yours…
Posted by Justice on 11/14/08 at 01:31 PMI hope she’ll sleep. Imagine the Juvinalls hope so even more
The subheading is a post description field, which I show on the comments page but not on the main page. So you are seeing it correctly. What mobile device do you use?
Posted by George on 11/14/08 at 02:22 PMIt’s a crazy journey for sure! But one they will never forget… I can’t wait to read more about it.
Posted by webs05 on 11/14/08 at 05:53 PMLet’s hope (for their sake) is what I meant by that.
Ah, so those of us who comment are special
Cool. I’m using a BlackBerry, sometimes with the default browser, other times with Opera Mini.Posted by Justice on 11/15/08 at 10:09 PM
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