Awaking in Addis

We didn't sleep very well the previous night. The Ambien helped us to fall asleep but not to stay there. We both woke up around 4 a.m. and never really went back to sleep. We were so messed up from the jetlag and so excited that we couldn't relax. Today was the day we were to meet our new son. We had hoped to leave right away in the morning but we had to wait until afternoon for the other family that would be going with us to pick up their child. I wasn't feeling too well from lack of sleep and eating at such strange times. I got out of bed excited to have a nice warm shower, maybe even a bath. Then we discovered there was no hot water in our bathroom. It wasn't working. We asked Keenan about it and he told us we would just have to use the other bathroom...more on that later. I jumped in and took a quick, very cold shower.

We decided to go over to the main house then for breakfast. While there we met all the other families staying at the house. There was a lady from Chicago with her adopted daughter Abigeya, a couple from Denmark with their baby boy, and a lady from Las Vegas with her son Immanuel. They were all very friendly and it was great to be able to spend time with others going through the same process. We especially got to spend time with the couple from Denmark and really enjoyed getting to talk to them. We will try to stay in touch through email.

We ate our continental breakfast of toast and tea or coffee. I. also ordered an omelette everyday which was about 3 dollars extra. We spent sometime on the internet at the house. It was a very slow dial-up connection but at least we had something. We watched some TV. They had quite a few English channels with news or movies. When Jonathan arrived he took us on a walk around the surrounding neighborhood. That was a very cool experience. We were able to see so much of the culture and take some amazing photos. Everyone we met was really excited to have their pictures taken and then to view them on the camera. The people are all good-looking and very friendly though one man whose picture I took grabbed my arm and asked for money. I walked away quickly. We were so fortunate to have Jonathan with us to help us navigate and feel safer.

I felt a lot better after a lunch of spaghetti and bread, and then we headed out to pick up the other couple from the Hilton and then go on to the orphanage. It was a very surreal experience that even now feels like a dream. On the drive we were able to see a lot of the city. We saw the presidential palaces, slums, the Hilton, and the Sheraton, one of the top ten must luxurious hotels in the world. When we arrived at the orphanage Dan and Karen's child Haile was standing outside with one of the staff waiting for him. They saw him and exclaimed, "There he is", and I started to cry. It was very moving just to experience it for someone else, and then we got to meet our own. We all got out of the van and were immediately told we weren't allowed to take pictures because the other children in the home could end up in the photo which is illegal as we do not have permission from them or their parents. We met Haile and were told he only answers to Mandela. He actually looks a lot like Nelson Mandela and won't answer to anything else since he was told that. Very cute.

We were then directed into one of the four small buildings where a lady was holding Ashenafi and kissing him goodbye. The man guiding us, Robel, said "Take him. He is yours". We were ushered into the baby's room where we sat and talked about the children's routine and our schedule for the next week. We wish we had been given more information but understand that it is very difficult. The orphanage was in good condition and the children looked very well cared for. We got to meet all the nannies who helped take care of him and formally thank them: Desta, Raquel, and Hannah, and we got to see his crib. Luckily all the children in this home are just waiting for their families to travel to get them so it wasn't so hard to leave them there.

Ashe fell asleep on me before we even left the orphanage. It was precious. We said goodbye to the staff and waved to those kids watching us leave. We returned to our room for a much needed nap while Ashe continued sleeping. Afterwards we introduced him to the others at the main house. He was crying partly because his teeth hurt and partly because he was frightened by all the "ferenji" (white people). He wanted to be right with us the whole time. If he couldn't see both of us he would cry. We went back to the house and I treated us all with cream for scabies. He had it and we wanted to prevent getting it. Fortunately you only have to treat is once and we never caught it. We laid him down at about seven. He was exhausted. We ate a late dinner and also went to bed. It was almost impossible to stay up past 9 there though we never slept all the way through the night. Jet lag is killer.