Party and News

We had a nice, slow, relaxing morning. This waking up in the middle of the night stuff takes some getting used to. After lunch and a little shopping, we headed over to Layla House. Today was the day for the Good-bye Party. It was a lot of fun. The children sat so nicely while they were waiting to get started. I don't know that the same size group of American children would have behaved so well. After a while, the singing started. It was the coolest thing. The oldest girls choose and lead the songs. They also drum on an old desk. The combination of the drumming and children's was awesome. We recognized some of the songs as children's songs that we sing back at home. After the singing, the children that were going home with their new families got to go get there cake first. After that, everyone ate cake and drank soda. It will always be a sweet memory for me.


Right before we were going to leave Layla, a social worker named Miriam, approached us. She told us that there are some of Grace's relatives that would like to meet with us and say "good-bye" before we leave. I had kind of hoped that we might have the opportunity to meet someone with some connection to her while we were here, but the reality of it is a little scary. The social worker told us that it is not her Mom and Dad, and that there is no risk of this meeting complicating our return trip tomorrow night. With those reassurances, we agreed to the meeting. We will go back to Layla House tomorrow afternoon, and with the social worker and an interpreter, we will meet these people that now have a complicated connection to us. This has been one heck of a trip!! Please pray that our meeting will go smoothly, and I won't cry too much. Ü

It's Official

The trip to the Embassy was pretty interesting. First of all, four families, and the director of Layla House, all piled into one van for the ride there. There was the usual honking and swerving on the way there. Ethiopian driving is just basically a series of near misses. Signals optional, horns mandatory! There are surprisingly few accidents though.

The security is pretty high at the US Embassy. We were not allowed to park in front, so we had to park about a block or so away, and walk back. We had to go through a couple security check points, and had to have our camera locked up in a locker. No pictures there! The room that we had to go to was upstairs. We learned the phrase "heat rises", is no joke. It was sooooooo hot up there!! The lady that we needed to meet with was in a meeting at first. Good thing we had Gail with us to move things forward. She just went about collecting the money from each family for the exit visas and made sure to let the people behind the windows knew that adoption takes first priority with the US Department of State, and that we would be waiting. That must have accomplished something, because it wasn't too long before things started moving. It was great to see each family walk away from the window with completed paperwork. It means so much more than it seems when you consider that a family has just been formed. The other families clapped each time one of us finished up.

After the Embassy, we went back to Layla House. We delivered some letters that we brought over for some of the children of the other waiting families. We also spent lots of time visiting with the babies and toddlers and taking pictures. They are absolutely precious. They love to see the back of the digital camera after we take a picture. I guess technology has officially made it to Ethiopia! After I finally wiggled my way out of the swarm of children, we had the chance to meet the film crew that is here to tell the story about older children that are adopted from Ethiopia. They will actually be following them back to the US and into their new families. It should be a pretty cool documentary.



We met a super nice family from Arkansas when we went to the Embassy today. They are here to bring their 13 year old daughter, Winchet, home. We ended up inviting them back to the Hilton to have dinner with us. It was great to have a chance to talk with another family that totally understands what we have been going through for the last year and a half. Grace was napping at the beginning of the meal, but when she woke up, she was ready to perform. We had three or four different tables of people talking to us and asking questions. She is quite a ham!

Embassy Day

Grace is definitely making sure that we don't sleep in. Her and Daniel should get along just fine when we get home. They both seem to be part rooster. She wakes up in a very cordial mood though. She is so full of smiles!!

We ran into Gail (the director of Layla House) today when we were having breakfast. She comes over to the Hilton two days a week to swim laps. She told us that two other families from our agency are moving over to the Hilton today, so we will have a little American company. I must admit, it will be nice to be able to have some conversation without having to explain so many of my words. Amharic and English are so different. My hat is off to all the Ethiopian people that try so hard to learn and speak English, but it is still hard to communicate sometimes.

We are scheduled to go the US Embassy today. We will be getting Grace's visa to travel home to America. Yeah!! All three of the families that are here at the Hilton now, and Gail, will be going together in one car. It sounds like it will be cozy. I guess seating arrangements can get a little more creative over here, since they don't use seat belts. I feels strange to travel in the car with Grace, with no car seat.

After the Embassy, we will be going over to Layla House to take a bunch of pictures of the kids. Many families requested that we drop off letters for their children, or take pictures for them. We plan to take care of those requests, and take pictures of as many other kids as possible. We thrived on photos taken by other families when we were waiting to come get Grace, so we want to try to return the favor.


We confirmed our flight to come home at the Ethiopian Airlines office here in the hotel this morning. I guess, if you don't confirm while you are here, you just get bumped. That didn't seem like such a good plan. I am so glad that we went ahead and bought a seat for Grace, because the only way we could have gotten one of the bassinets on the plane, was if we sat apart. That would be a bummer on such a long flight.

I'm off to go hand wash some clothes. We splurged and had the Hilton do the bulk of our laundry, but I just couldn't justify paying someone to wash socks and undies.

Sele Enat

We all made it through our first night together. Grace doesn't sleep through the night, but she goes about four hours at a time. I have no complaints though. She is seven months old and still a little under 14 pounds. The girl needs to eat and grow!!!

We got up nice and early, and stared to get ready for our first day out with a baby in a while. The whole bottle thing definitely adds some extra steps. It makes me even more of an advocate for breastfeeding. Convenience is king!! Grace loves to be on her tummy, so she can push up her shoulders and take in the world. She was absolutely fascinated with the TV. Even the basketball game in some foreign language didn't dampen her spirits. Of course,by the time we were all ready to go, she had worn herself out, and had settled in for a nap.

We were picked up by Dawud (one of the drivers from Layla House). He took us over to Layla to meet up with a wonderful volunteer named Betsy. She is a feisty old lady from Denver, that is here to help with the kids for a month. We headed over to Sele Enat. That is the orphanage where Grace was abandoned., andd spent her first month in care. The director, Hana, was wonderful. She remembered Grace right away, and made sure to show us the room and bed where she stayed when she was there.



Betsy had planned an activity to do with the kids, but since we were there, she had us take over. Will read a big book about an ENORMOUS watermelon and some Mother Goose characters. Thechildrenn didn't seem to understand everything, but they definitely understood what was happening when Betsy brought out a real watermelon. The oldest boy at Sele Enat helped to cut it and served the younger children. He even made sure they all got napkins and threw away their trash. The children all drew pictures of a watermelon, and then I took there photo with their new artwork. They were so proud!! Before we left, the children all decided to give us their pictures. I was touched. These kids are great!!





We stopped back by Layla House to drop off some supplies that we carried over for them from the US. We had a chance to meet a couple more volunteers and a film crew that is here making a documentary about older children being adopted from Layla House. Every volunteer seems to know Grace. They say that she is their favorite, and that she is the "Star" in the baby room. Everyone comments on how pleasant she is, and they are going to miss her very much. We are so blessed to be chosen to parent such a sweet girl.

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!!

Hilton and Time in Bed

We had more trouble at the Ghion.  This time, there was no hot water for a shower in our room.  We were fed up, and decided to see if we could move to the Hilton.  It is more American, but better quality.  We lucked out.  They had room for us, and the cost was only a little bit more per night.  We found a taxi driver that was able to figure out how to get us and all our luggage in.  That was no small feat.  We got checked in, and enjoyed a nice lunch in their restaurant.  Unfortunately, that was the last time we saw the outside of our room until now.  Will has what is lovingly referred to as Traveler's Diarrhea.  Yuck!!!  He has had a pretty rough 24 hours, but seems to be turning the corner a little bit now.  I am so glad we took the time to get the proper medications before we left the US.  Hopefully, he will continue to improve over the day.  Until then, my mission is to keep him drinking water and rehydrated Pedialyte to keep him hydrated.

The Ghion

Overall, I would say that this is a very family friendly hotel. The rooms (or suites) are very spacious, and for $80/night you get your room, taxes and breakfast. I have to admit that we haven't made it to breakfast yet as we have struggles a bit to get our bodies switched over to Ethiopian time. Everyone in a service postition here has been marvelous. It is somewhat reminiscent of being on the cruise ship for our honeymoon. We really do feel spoiled.

There is a wonderful pool area off to the side of the hotel. There is a smaller pool and a humongous pool. The big pool has staring blocks for racing and both spingboard and platform diving. They even have the 30m platform. We saw a couple very brave teenage boys dive off yesterday. Yikes!! Around the pool, there is a childrens area. It has a playground, Merry-go-round, rides like at Chuck E Cheese and a Santa Clause that you can go visit 365 days/year. We have found that we really enjoy eating at the cafe by the pool. The temperature is always so pleasant here. The food is pretty good too. We'll have to try out the ice cream soon.

We have had some interesting issues with our hotel. We had reserved a "Riviera Suite", but since we got in so late, we had to take a suite in the main hotel the first night. It was a nice room, and was very convenient to the grill and bar for our late dinner. The next morning (well, actually afternoon), the staff got us switched over to the new room. They were so gracious about it, and refused to let us lay a finger on any of our luggage. The room was upstairs, which was a little bit of a bummer since the altitude is getting to us a little bit, but it was very spacious. All was well until the clouds burst open during the night. The entire bathroom got soaked. The side room where we were storing our luggage got a bit damp too, but no damage. We were only given two towels. Linens are in short supply here because laundry is done by hand and hung to dry. That was not near enough to take care of the wet, slippery marble tile. After speaking to three people on the phone to find one that spoke enough English, they brought us two more towels. The man that brought them to us was appalled at the conditions, and assured us that we would get a new room. We'll cross our fingers, and hope for the best when we head up to the front desk after our visit in the Cyber Cafe.