Traveling through Frankfurt, Germany from Ethiopia to the US

NEW NOTE****** I read the letter from another adoptive family preparing to travel in the next few weeks. They recieved an official notarized letter from the German Embassy in Ethiopia regarding this issue: This is what it says:
"Ethiopian citizens holding a US-American, Canadian or Japanese visa no longer
require an airport transit visa when flying via an airport in Germany or The Netherlands. This decision of the EU-Council will come into effect on 18 January 2010."

For peace of mind I would still get confirmation on this if you are going to travel through Germany.
Web site.

So, if you find that for some reason  you still need that transit visa for Germany for your Ethiopian citizen child, here is how to do that:

If you are going to be traveling through Frankfurt, Germany on the way home to the US with your adopted Ethiopian child you may need a German visa for your child. It is FREE. You do not need one for yourself if you are a US citizen. Lots of people have questions about it so I am posting the answer we just gave to our agency about how it works. It was a bit of a pain, but worked out fine. We did not have good directions for doing this but my awesome husband did figure it out!

1. At the Wednesday (our agency has this day) US Embassy appointment they have to tell them that they need their papers NO LATER than Thursday morning BEFORE noon. You will need to tell them they have to get a German visa.
2. After the US embassy appointment you will need to go get biometric photos of you child, you just get them when they are taken it takes hardly any time to get, and they are not expensive. This can only be done at Erat Kilo photo studio, it is a Kodak studio on Erat Kilo. THE Awesome driver Terefe knows where it is too. His number is on our blog for driver recommendation, look for that post. He is awesome and drives only adoptive families. I believe that some adoption agencies can handle the photo getting for you before you go. It is the same photo they use for the visa and if you can get copies of that it will work out fine. I believe you need 4-6 photos.
3. Thursday pick up the US embassy papers and then take them directly to the German Embassy. You HAVE to take the kids. Stand in line and fill out the papers, give them the kids passports. They need to have the passports and they have to have the American visa stamped already. It takes a bit to fill out the papers, take something to entertain the child in a very happy and pleasant manner. (No messy treats, messy is bad PR for adoptions. Make sure your child is dressed nicely, and appropriate for the season. Rainy season wearing layers, at no time/season should the child's legs or arms be exposed if an infant and if an older child pants are the best bet for boys and a dress for girls, plus a jacket in rainy sesaon.) You will have to tell them that you need it by 10 am Friday, or it will be a full day from when it is requested. You will have to tell them when your flight is and that is why you need it that early.
4. You do not need to take the kids to pick up the visa on Friday. Then you are good to go.
5. When you land in Germany because you have an Ethiopian citizen traveling with you, you have to go through customs and have the visa checked and then go check back in to the terminal.

That is it! Not too bad if you know what you are doing and start asap!
You can not wait to get this rolling it will cost a lot in time and effort and maybe a delayed ticket/flight, and the German embassy is not that nice to deal with if you are late. They are very nice and work with you if you give them time and flight schedule. Just get it done asap. They speak English, and that is very helpful. They have selective hours so you should call them to make sure of the times that they are open, it varies. Your guest house host should be able to do this for you or get you the number. It is good to plan your return flight with this in mind.

Germany (Frankfurt) has a great play area up by the Mc Donalds. It is a life saver. There are lots of restaurants and a pharmacy.

Hope that this is helpful!

Ark of the Covenant

Just heard amazing news and looked up the article. The Ark of the Covenant has long been an item of interest to many. Some believe it has been taken up to heaven, others say it is burried in Jerusalem. Still many, and even many scholars, believe it is indeed in Ethiopia, as the Ethiopians claim. Kept in seclusion and under lock and key for centuries, they are now announcing that a museum will be built in Axum which will house the Ark for all to see. This is amazing because they have not allowed anyone but the select priest to see it for centuries, only the guardian of the Ark could see it. Now, they are unveiling it. I personally would like to go see it, real or not.
Here is a link to the story if you are interested.

Family going to live in Ethiopia

A family who is on one of the groups I am with is going to live in Ethiopia. They will be working with SIM and Wycliff, both organizations are dear to us. We know several missionaries with Wycliff and SIM and we served in South America with SIM. Aser will be a construction manager with Wycliff and Kimberly will be teaching at Bingham Academy which is related to Carachipampa Christian School which Dave taught at when we lived in Bolivia. Each thing highlighted is a link and you can check out a bunch of cool stuff. They have five kids, the littlest one was adopted in Ethioipa. This is a YouTube of them and their blog if you are interested.

Talking to a friend and blog usefulness

The boys just got to have a skype conversation with their best buddy from Sele Enat. They were shy! I guess this is after all their normal response to a new event, person, situation. But, they had a good time and recognized Gabriel and were excited to see him. They did some talking, mostly Gabriel. :) They did ask if they could do this again and are excited to talk to him again.
I am so glad to be in contact with his family.

I have been encouraged to learn that my blog is coming up on google searches for Ethiopian Adoption info. In fact, my packing list has been declared the best there is. Our agency is even using it to pass out to families traveling. :) That is good confirmation for me. I had such a hard time finding anything when we needed it I thought, I will do what I can to have the resources out there for others. I am so glad it is being found and used and apprecitated.