March 25, 2009

Day 6

We went for a traditional Ethiopian dinner! It was amazing! Such a fun night.

Sweet little Mose just slept through the whole thing.

March 18, 2009

Day 5

Day 5: Today we had to go to the dutch embassy to see about getting Moses a visitors visa so we could leave the airport in Amsterdam. After we drove up Entoto mountain. This was probably one of my favourite things we did in Addis. It was so nice to get out of the busy city and see green and breathe clean air. But it was also so heart breaking to pass all the women carrying firewood literally looking at you begging you for money. Solomon told us that they would go up and down the mountain and make 1 dollar a day. At the top of the mountain there is a small museum that we visited, an Orthodox church, and Menelik's palace.

Day 3 and 4

Day 3: Sunday

Today we asked Solomon to take us to his church. We thought it would be fun to experience an Ethiopian church service, but honestly, if you had told me we were in Canada I would've believed you. It was so westernized. It was a great service but not what we were expecting. After church we went and picked up more diapers, ordered in lunch from Ice Blue and changed rooms into a room that had a bigger bed and a balcony. We were so much more comfortable in this room!



Day 4:

Today we went to the museum at the Addis Ababa University. We did some shopping for traditional clothes and visited a place where women that previously were fire-wood carriers were able to now be employed doing something less back-breaking. They now were weavers and we bought some gorgeous scarves from them. I asked Solomon to take us to a doctor today because my altitude sickness was not feeling any better and Moses' cough was sounding horrible. It was so funny, the doctor basically just looked at us and laughed and said we'd be fine. Thanks. She offered me tylenol for my altitude sickness. I said no. Luckily, this was probably the last day where my symptoms were really bad. I never thought I'd be affected by this so future travelers: be prepared! I think there is a medication for this, and I really wish I had brought some.

March 11, 2009

Day 2

Hm... I may need to re-think this. I thought I could post about a day in Ethiopia each day I was home. Ha! I've been home for 2 weeks and am still barely finding time to shower let alone blog. But I'll try.... Moses is currently fast asleep.

On our second day there we returned to the transition home to pick up Moses and bring him home for good. It was Valentine's day and I couldn't ask for a better memory to have now for many valentine's to come. Moses seemed to remember us when he saw us again that day.

We were able to meet another care-taker and were able to ask her lots of questions like what does she love about Moses and what would she want us to tell him one day when he sees her picture in his baby book. I will never forget this. She just looked at me and said "Tell him I love him very much and that I hope he comes back to Ethiopia one day." We took a picture of the two of them together (see below) and she burst into tears and ran out of the room. My heart just ached. I called after her and through some translation she came back and I was able to hug her and thank her through my own tears for loving our baby so deeply. I will never forget that. Her name is Meseret which is Moses' birth mom's name so I told her that I will also tell him about how she cared for him as well.

After we left we went and picked up a few essentials like formula and diapers and basically just hung out in our room for the rest of the day! When Moses woke up from his nap you could see a bit of panic in his eyes as he frantically looked around the room for something familiar. It was so sad! But he was quickly comforted and has seemed to adjust well ever since.
However, we didn't want to do too much that day and overwhelm Moses who was clearly quite wide-eyed and shell shocked just on the car ride home (he had probably only been in two car rides in his entire life), so we ordered in dinner and went to bed early.



March 6, 2009

Day 1

After a very long day (at least) of travel we made it to Ethiopia! It was an amazing feeling to step out of the airport and breathe it all in. I had dreamed of this day for so long! Solomon our country guide and Yuhalla (okay that is probably way off but I don't know how to spell his name!) our driver picked us up with a bouquet of flowers. We breathed in warm Ethiopian air and drove to Weygoss where we would be staying.

Our room was super small. The bed was a cross between a single and a twin and there was one window up so high you could barely see out of it. We couldn't close it so we slept to the sounds of dogs barking, car horns, construction, the call to prayer and more. We awoke to a very cold shower. It was an experience. Normally I'd be up for roughing it but the reality of taking care of a baby in this room wasn't going to work. Needless to say, a few days later when a bigger room with a balcony became available we moved!

The next day we woke up and had breakfast downstairs. The coffee was amazing! We met a bunch of CAFAC families that morning who were all happily united with their babies. It was strange to think that that would soon be us eating breakfast with a baby on our lap!

We anxiously waited for Solomon to pick us up.



We walked into the transition house took a seat on the couch in the lobby and within minutes a door opened and a women placed Moses in my arms. It happened so fast. It was an amazing day. We got to spend around five hours just hanging out with our son. I'll never forget it! As hard as it was to leave that afternoon it was for the best. We needed sleep and he needed some time to get used to us. We got to meet one of his caretakers that day as well. You could tell he was very very loved.



The rest is in pictures. enjoy. I know that is what you all want anyway! Just click on it to make it bigger.