Day 1

Hello from Ethiopia!! We finally made it! I just can't believe we are in Africa and only hours away from meeting the kids!

We are not able to access this blog from ET, so I plan on e-mailing my friend and hopefully she can update it for those that are interested in following our journey here. Internet here is pretty random. We did have one rolling black-out yesterday and the internet was out most of the night. Funny thing is, I woke up at 2:30 in the morning and can't go back to sleep. It works great right now :) I'll try to add pictures of our trip when I get home. I took some beautiful ones today.

Ethiopia is nothing like you've ever seen before! I don't even know how to describe this place. The weather is beautiful here and there are mountains around the city. The houses are very mixed. We saw some fancy ones that were made of stucko and they have large walls around them. When we drove out to the countryside today, we saw beautful little villages on the rolling hills that have the round hut houses with the grass roofs. There are many large buildings being built here and the scaffolding is crazy! They are just sticks that are stacked up against the tall buildings. It doesn't look stable at all.


It is hard to drive through the city. You see too many sad images that will be with you for a long time. Children will come up to your car and ask for food. I just can't resist those smiling faces and how they try to talk in English. I'll have to remember to keep my backpack full every day. I know some people say not to encourage them, but I have a hard time resisting. I do notice the people are very friendly and helpful. They all seem to be content and very focused on their family. They are a happy people, with things running on "Ethiopia time." No hustle and bustle like in America. I love it and wish it could be more like that where we live.

We were told that since the first day was on Easter Sunday, we would not be able to see the kids. So, we booked a trip to Debre Libanos. It was beautiful! Imagine a drive through rolling hills and then you come across a small Grand Canyon. There is a restaurant overlooking the cliff. You can hike down to the 400 year old Portuguese bridge that has a big waterfall during the rainy season. It was dry while we were there, and we didn't see any baboons. Oh well, it was a great way to get out of the hectic city and take some pictures for the kids to see how pretty their contry is. They even have cactus!! I was suprised to see the 7ft tall plants here - made me feel like we were back in Texas.

We are staying a really cozy hotel called the Yebsabi. There are several other families from our agency here and it will be a lot of fun! During the night there are lots of dogs barking. The roosters crow before daylight and you can hear singing and instruments from the mosque.

You won't believe the amount of donations we are taking! I want to thank ALL my friends that helped contribute money and items for the orphanages. I'll try to post pictures later of the HUGE suitcases that were stuffed full of clothes, medicine, and toys. Thank you SOOO much for your generosity and your loving kindness to these children.

It is officially Monday morning now. We should be able to see the kids in a few hours. I think they are still at different places. Our boy is at the care center and baby K is at Sele Enat. It just doesn't seem real. We've waited for so long for this moment. It's like being in labor for 21 months. My nerves are pretty calm right now. I'm not sure how I will be on the drive over there. I'm so happy, I'll probably be crying. But, I don't want to scare them and they think I'm a crazy person, so I must keep it together. Right? We plan on just playing and loving on all the kids there. I hope we can get lots of pictures for the other families that are waiting and can upload those as soon as we can. We can't officially say the names or show pictures of our kids until we pass court. Hopefully, that will be on Wednesday.

Here are some things that I have learned today:

* The people of Ethiopia are beautiful...especially the women. They have the prettiest eyes. I can't wait to see what our baby K will look like when she gets older.
* There are lots of cows and goats and people that walk down the street.
* Pedestrians should be afraid of our driver...very afraid! I can't tell you how many people he almost took out driving like a mad man.
* Coke signs are even in the countryside of Ethiopia.
* It's ok to carry your goat on your shoulders.
* You can be so tired you can fall asleep mid-sentence.
* Being so close to the kids without seeing them is pure torture.
* Hamburgers should not taste like meatloaf.
* Mike had to boil my toothbrush because I accidentally stuck in in the sink water. When you boil a toothbrush, it gets very floppy.

I'll can't wait to write the next post! I can't wait to tell you about the kids!