Huge Day!!!

The day started off a bit slow. I was up with Will several times throughout the night, and he was still feeling a bit green around the gills. After some time to wrap his mind around the idea, he decided to take a shower and try something small for breakfast. Since the bathroom trips were much further apart, this seemed like a good idea to me.

We went to the restaurant in the Hilton. It has a wide selection of things to choose from. We figured he would be able to find something simple. It turned out, we got there right between breakfast and lunch. Since breakfast was not an option, they had us order our lunch, and come back to the restaurant in about half an hour. The food was great, but I can't say I approved of Will's choice. After a day and a half of stomach issues, he ordered BAKED LASAGNA!!!!!

After lunch, we spoke with Nate (the adoption agency director's son, who is volunteering for a year in Addis) about going to AHOPE. This is an orphanage for children that are HIV positive. He said he would be at the hotel at 2:00pm, so that left us plenty of time to sort through the sports equipment we brought. The mission today, was to teach the children how to juggle.

We had a wonderful time with the kids at AHOPE. It is amazing to me that they can find such joy in their circumstances. We could learn a lot from them. The loved everything we did with them, and they even figured out creative new ways to play with some of the things we brought. A few of the older boys really started to get the hang of juggling. With all of the kids tossing the scarves up in the air, it looked like a circus, instead of an orphanage. We were lucky to get to be a part of it.

The biggest news of today, came at the end. We were just up the street from Layla House (Grace's orphanage), when we were at AHOPE. Nate offered to take us there to get her today, instead of us having to wait until tomorrow. That was all we needed to hear. We didn't get a chance to see too much of Layla today, as dinner was about to be served, but we were able to pick up Grace. After all the paperwork and waiting, it was rather uneventful, but I will still never forget it.

Right now, Will and Grace a napping together in the hotel room. I think they have both had a very big day!!