Update on the Sherrells in Ethiopia

The Sherrells have been unable to update their blog while in Ethiopia, so I thought I'd share how they're doing with their new little man, Kidus! Here's an email we received.

"Hello Everyone,

We tried to send an email yesterday, but the Internet connectivity here is sporadic at best, that goes for cell signal as well. It is Wednesday, a little after 9:00am, 10:00pm your time. We have had Kidus for almost two days now. We picked him up Monday afternoon. We were a little disappointed in how the pick up went as we were only given 30 minutes at the orphanage and the entire situation seemed very rushed. We still cannot figure out why. The goal was accomplished, which is the most important thing. There will be time for feedback later. We could tell he was very well cared for and was much loved by the nannies (caregivers).

Kidus is definitely 14 months old and appears to be in very good health, minus a cold and an ear infection. We have antibiotics to combat the ear infection. He’s walking and talking a lot. He’s taught me more Amharic than any book I’ve read so far. He’s also started to say a few English words, “bye-bye” and “mama” are pretty clear now. Kidus has bonded with us pretty well and has definitely attached himself to his mom, as well he should. He is a tough little guy and extremely determined in everything he does. To quote Star Wars: “The force is strong with that one”. He reminds us of Ethan (our middle son) quite a bit. He had a horrible night last night, mostly due to the ear infection. The looming plane ride home is causing us a little anxiety.

Yesterday, we had our appointment at the US Embassy, which turned out to be a non-event. It took less than half-an-hour for all of the families to be approved. It took longer to go through the two layers of security than for the appointment itself. We should hopefully be getting Kidus’ papers on Thursday before lunch. We may explore leaving Ethiopia early if his paperwork comes tomorrow. We’ll keep the Saturday flight from Dulles to LAX. It will be good to be on US soil again.

Ethiopia is a very interesting place. There are people here from all over the world, including some countries that despise the US. I have a few good stories on this when I return. The Ethiopian people are extremely friendly and they adore the children and the elders. There’s probably a lesson in there for us somewhere. We broke down and started eating the food at the hotel yesterday and so far so good. Driving here is more intense than any video game you’ve ever seen. There are no stop lights and it is an absolute free for all. One honk means I see you and two honks means we are inches apart and about to collide. About half the roads are paved. I tried to film the driving, but couldn’t because I needed two hands to hold on.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to send another update tomorrow. Please forward this on to anyone who might be interested because it takes so long to update the recipient list."


We can hardly wait to meet you, Kidus!