Ethiopia Part 1

Now that I've let Ethiopia sink in I think it is time for the reflection post.  As I wrote earlier I am in love with Ethiopia, the people, the kindness, the beauty, and the struggle.  I know it is hard to understand and trust me it is hard to explain but it's all very real.  I've always read the posts that families put up after their trip about their love of Ethiopia and wondered what that was about and would I feel the same.  I knew my experience would be different because I was not adopting a beautiful bundle of ethiopian goodness but I feel just as affected as all those who went before me.

So here is the recap of our (Renee & I) trip to Addis with my commentary in between ...

The flight over was long but nothing we couldn't handle we ended up sitting next to each other in the middle section and spent most of the trip leaning on one another.  The movies weren't very good but they were playing Marley & Me which ended up people a horrible idea!!!  haha. I cried more on that flight than the entire trip!  We made it into Addis on time and since we were pretty close to the doors we raced out "Amazing Race" style and headed to the visa line.  We made it to the front of the line with ease and made it through within 5 minutes. The luggage was a breeze and we cruised out to meet our driver, Solomon!

The drive to the guest house was INSANE my first dose of driving in a third world country!  I screeched and held my breathe for most of the ride (only 5 mins but felt like 45 mins!).  When we made it to the house our driver apologized or being "A Horrible Driver" I felt bad and realized I prolly made him feel bad with all my screeeching!  We quickly met the lovely ladies at bejoe house and found our beds!  

In the morning Marta made us eggs and she was still very shy.  We spent that early afternoon out to lunch and preparing to meet Kidus. At 1 o'clock Travis pulled through the gates of the compound and we knew it was time! We were about to meet Kidus!  We had a meeting in the house with all the other families for a Q&A session which seemed to drag on forever but only because we all knew the beautiful babes were all outside in the driveway waiting for their forever families. We all retreated to our rooms to wait and Renee and I got super giggling and excited.  At one point on of the Gladney volunteers brought Ava down the stairs looking for Karen & Tim and all i could get out was "Wait thats not Kidus!" haha she quickly turned around and made her way upstairs!

It wasn't long before Travis came around the corner with Kidus! I got it all on video and once Renee gets her camera situation sorted I hope she'll post the video.  It was a very special moment and I loved being there to experience it all. we spent the rest of the day loving on Kidus and meeting all the other families and their sweet babies.  The lawn turning into a play date and we let the kids loose on each other. It was a great afternoon.  When the sun went down we went inside to find that the generator was broken and the power was off due to government mandate.  We cooked mac'n cheese and went to bed early!

Ethiopia part 2 coming soon....