Are we there yet?

We were able to get a flight out of Addis on Sunday at 9:30 pm Ethiopian time. We flew to Rome for refueling which turned into a 2 1/2 hour lay over because one of the passengers had a panic attack and needed to get fresh air. Unfortunately she was the only one who was allowed off the plane while the rest of us waited. We were able to get some sleep, but Samuel (Abete) was a little restless. What seemed to be every half hour he would poke me in the ribs and ask "America"? it was hard to get upset because of the huge smile on his face. That portion of the flight was about 19 hours.



Next we went into Dulles for immigration and customs. At this point we were 2 hours behind schedule and my stress was starting to elevate. Of course we got behind a lady who did not fill out her paperwork until she got to the front of the line. The immigration people would not let anyone from that line move forward until she was completed. We finally got to present our paperwork and move through to get our baggage so we could recheck it to move forward to our next flight. Of course our luggage was the last to show. We were then running trying to find the spot to recheck our luggage. The very helpful people with the Dulles airport pointed us in the wrong direction three times before we stumbled onto the baggage area. Next we ran to the United check in (at the opposite end of the airport) to get out transfer tickets. We were put in the wrong line twice before getting a very nice lady who got us the tickets and we ran to the security.



At security they separated our family so Samuel would not have to wait in line. I explained that our flight scheduled to leave in 35 minutes and asked if they could move us through together, but the TSA felt if would be a breach of security to be helpful to our family. After Samuel and I were thoroughly screened for bomb making material we waited for Elissa, Zoe and Abigail to make it through there line so they could be thoroughly screened. We had 15 minutes to get to concourse D to board our flight. Dulls uses a weird bus transport system to get you to the different terminals so patience was needed while we waited for the bus to get us there. We sprinted to the Gate, but made our flight.



Our three hour lay over in Dulles was over and we were on our last leg home. Though our seats were scattered all over the plane we made to back to Denver. We were welcomed home by my mom, Jen and Jill. They delivered our car and left us to be alone as we introduced the kids to their new home and brothers. We all went to bed at about 6:00. I now know the meaning of Jet Lag!