Ready to go home

By the time we got to Wednesday, we were ready to go home. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Ethiopia and I can't wait to go back but we were done. Both Dave and I had not been feeling super great. Eating was a little bit of a challenge and there was no electricity all day on Wednesday and it was our first full day with Peanut.

There were really no scheduled activities that day. There was supposed to be a hair braiding class but since a bunch of people hired a taxi and went shopping they didn't have it. We did order Metro Pizza that night and hung out as a group eating in the dark. It was a blast.

Peanut was doing well. She seemed to still be battling the upper respiratory infection from the previous week. She ate like a champ, slept through just about everything and has a smile that could melt your heart.

We went to bed early in order to face a full day of packing and getting ready to go home. The trip home was VERY tough as Dave and I were both VERY ill by this point and doing our best to just keep going. All the while Peanut was perfect. Really I mean it. On the flight from Addis to Amsterdam, she slept the entire flight. Thank goodness for the bassinet. She was awake for the whole flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Not fussy just awake and if you have ever tried to keep a 5 month old entertained for 8 hours when all you want to do is sleep or throw up--trust me it was less than fun.

Once in Detroit she decided to blow out her diaper before we got on the plane which was nice in a way and then she slept the short flight from Detroit to home.

We really have the best little girl and feel so blessed that she is a part of our family. We came home with a ton of extra diapers and clothes as she only blew out 5 outfits I think. She hasn't had a total blow out since the Detroit airport--knock on wood. I know enough poop talk but for those who are adopting and facing long flights it is a constant worry about how this will all work out.

We are still settling in to a new normal and I promise once I have more time I will find a way to put a bunch of pictures here. I will try and at least post a few later today.

Hossana yet again

Our day continued with a tour of the new school in Hossana, a look at the bakery project that helps families make bread so they can sell it and then to a traditional hut style house.

The school was amazing. It isn’t completely done but it is getting there and they are hoping to have it open for the next school year. They are also building some more offices and things there as well.

All the while we were photographing and videotaping the whole thing. Ethiopia is such a beautiful country. The people are so friendly and the children love having their picture taken and now with digital cameras you can show them right away.

There is such an extreme level of poverty yet everyone we encountered was so friendly and wanted to wave or have their picture taken. It was very moving and heartbreaking. The children are so beautiful, you just want to scoop them all up and yet they seem so happy. It makes you think twice about complaining about no hot water or electricity when these children are hungry and have no clean drinking water and yet can still walk around with a smile.

Once we left the school, they drove us to a family’s home. The family was gracious enough to let us come in and take pictures and look around. In the one hut was a family with 6 children, 4 cows and 2 goats and there were a couple chickens and a rooster outside. Yes the family and the livestock all slept in the same hut.

The women allowed us to photograph her with some of her children and her one son just LOVED having his picture taken so I would take his picture and show it to him and then he would shake my hand. It was so sweet. His little sister was just a beautiful little girl with braids in her and she too liked having her picture taken.

All in all the Hossana experience was beautiful and emotionally draining. I am so glad we were able to go on this trip and will be able to share the more rural aspects of Ethiopia with Peanut. The drive back to Addis was long. We were all exhausted physically and mentally. I would be naïve to say that I am walking away from today the same person as when I started. I gained a tremendous amount of perspective and was able to enjoy and absorb so much of Ethiopia in such a short time.

To decompress after the emotional day we had, a bunch of us went to Metro pizza for pizza and beer. It was nice to get out of the guest house and just hang out for awhile.
Tomorrow we are able to bring Peanut to the guest house so we can finally take pictures. We will have her here with us until lunch time. After lunch we are going to a museum, to see the CHSFS hospital, and the we are going out to traditional Ethiopian dinner and dancing.