We made it! The flight was very uneventful…if you count “sleeping” as an event. Both of them fell sleep early on and things were looking to be smooth sailing (err, flying). However, both woke up within a few hours due to reorienting, some bumps, and other annoying plane noises. 🙁 The last 6 hours seemed more like 16…

BUT we survived and are in the van towards Eldoret! Both kids are sleeping and both parents wish they could!

After waking up Andy caught up on some emails…

Operation Get Eden Adopted is underway! We got all of our oversized checked bags onto the plane, maneuvered the car seats + carryons + kids through three airports now and we’re about to head off towards the final flight to Nairobi. God has been watching out for us: they almost checked a bag through without a tag, they lost Andy’s paper lap ticket, and the room reservation here in Amsterdam was booked for tonight instead of today. But all of the potential snafus worked out without causing any major problems.

The kids have been doing better than expected, we’ll see how they do on this next 8 hour one with only 5 hours of sleep and a few missed naps.

How is it possible to both hate and love the Kenyan court system at the same time?!!

I met our lawyer (Daniel Were — pronounced “Wear-ay”) at the lower courts at 9am this morning. We were seeing a new magistrate because our previous one was transferred to Nakuru back in the spring. The new magistrate’s office was all business and very quiet. There were 3 other lawyers in the room and about 12 clients like myself. There was a very small amount of Swahili spoken back and forth before Were started things off by announcing our case, etc. After some shuffling of papers Were stepped out and beckoned me to follow. (Uh oh, not good!) He tells me we somehow fell off the docket! The problem with that is our official file is off in another building and not in the magistrate’s chambers! 🙁 Some disorganization with the changeover of magistrates must have caused it…so frustrating! Argh!!! Kenyan courts drive me crazy!!

Because I leave on Monday and because I was not able to stay in the courts all day we had to be seen this morning if I was to attend. …and now Were thinks its very important that I be there because “Baby Eden” is not. So Were started to work his magic: He called an assistant to go and fetch the papers and bring them to us at the building ASAP. Only 15 minutes later we go back to the chambers and see everyone waiting outside because the magistrate received an important (and private) phone call. Were chatted with some of the other lawyers there in Swahili but otherwise everyone is perfectly quiet while we wait in the tiny crowded hallway. We’re let back in a few minutes later and I found out that Were was getting himself pushed back to the front of the queue! So he just reads off what the magistrate should say while she hand writes it out for our file. She doesn’t even bat an eye at any of it! Were suggested April, she said mid-April was fine, and we’re done! I love the Kenyan courts!

We slip out and now I’m back at the training I’m giving this week with an hour to spare! I had arranged for several other guys to give all the talks this morning so I had plenty of time to type up this prompt update for you all!

Our unofficial “backup lawyer”, Milkah, was one of the other lawyers in the room because she had other business with the same magistrate this morning. So if Were had not been able to convince the magistrate I am sure Milkah could have! 🙂

On Thursday, Sept. 2 Ben goes to court with our lawyer for the next step in the adoption process. This is the court date that we set in November 09 when we were granted our travel order for Eden. We were supposed to present Eden to the magistrate at this court appointment. Ben is taking documentation to show that we have complied with the stipulations of the travel order and that Eden is still in our care and thriving, but that she has latent TB and should not travel until the treatment is done. Hopefully, the magistrate will grant us an extension until March. Our lawyer seems to feel confident that this will happen, but we would appreciate prayer.

The magistrate has the power to do anything from put Ben in jail (obviously that would be VERY drastic and is unlikely) to sending Ben on to the high courts to apply for the adoption (the other extreme). Please pray that the magistrate accepts our documentation and at the very least grants our request for an extension. God has done awesome things in our adoption process on the Kenyan side and we know that with God, all things are possible. We appreciate your prayer and support!

On another note, both kids are sick.  We went to the doctor yesterday and Eden had to do a breathing treatment.  She now has an inhaler that she uses every 4 hours.  It hasn’t moved to Andy’s chest yet and we are hoping that it doesn’t!

Ben will post an update after he goes to court!

We’ve made it halfway home! The three of us are now sitting in our hotel in Amsterdam for the next 20 hours or so. We had a slight scare getting checked in because they had to try a few times to add Eden onto Meghan’s ticket. Eventually I think they just brought somebody over that was more competent and she got things done. We also had a scare trying to get into Holland. Apparently Kenyans need a visa to get in…so they wouldn’t let us out of the airport. Luckily theres a few hotels attached to AMS and one had vacancy. (Unfortunately the other room I booked via Priceline.com is non-refundable.)

Eden did very well on the plane. She was cranky for about 10 minutes before her nap, but then settled down and slept for 3 hours! The rest of the time she played with her toys, practiced her standing skills, or showed off for other passengers.

The flight was operated by Kenya Airways. I’ve never flown out of NBO in the morning and so never flown this leg on a KQ plane. The other times I’ve flown on KQ they’ve had amazing service…and this trip was no exception. The food was 100 times better than KLM’s, the attendants were nicer, and the plane was not as crowded. In fact, because the plane was so empty we were able to switch up to the bulkhead seats so Eden had some space to play and a bassinet to sleep in.

I took a quick video of Eden sitting nicely and eating her breakfast on the plane: http://blip.tv/file/2917189.