Our Trip to Ethiopia

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

We slept the sleep of peace and refreshing from the Lord.  We feel much better today!  We slept so hard that we did not hear the Orthodox prayer and singing that starts at 5:00 am.  Instead we were awoke by one of the ladies who helps do the cooking knock, knock, knocking on our door.  Jericho did not even wake up.  I am sure the changes for him are hard also.  He has slept all night each night we have been together.  We ate breakfast and took showers which consist of 15-20 seconds of warm water!  refreshing and exhilarating!  

Tesfu took us to a market today.  We bought several things for other people.  Then he took us to the soccer stadium to get a nice soccer ball for Gunner!  I think he will love it.  He will know Dad didn't forget about playing with him.  We went back to the HOH and ate lunch with Tsegay.  He is very interesting.  He told us some things about Ethiopia like Queen Titu and Ethiopia's relations with other countries around them.  We told him about the Pilgrim and Puritans, turkeys and the deterioration of religious liberty in America.  He was happy for the election of Obama.  

We rested then met with Tsegay to go over our papers for the embassy appointment tomorrow.  It sounds like all of the paper work is done.  Almas and Tsegay do so much work before the adoptive parents even arive!  We gave Jericho a bath- he needed one.  He has had diarrhea and we can't get rid of the smell so his clothes also got washed by the nannies.  They are great. 

At 5:00 we took Tesfu to the HIlton for supper.  He's such a nice guy, I wish we could adopt him!  He told us he wants to come to America and go to school.  I hope he is able to.  He loves country music so we are going to give him our Bart Millard CD and hope he likes it.  There were Rastifarians in the restaurant.  Tesfu said that they are Jamaicans who "Love Ethiopia".  You need to hear Tesfu say this with an Ethiopian accent.  It just looses something in translation.   I had chicken Teryaki, Chuck had veal parmesan and Tesfu had steak and french fries and Jericho smiled a real smile for the first time!  He also had mashed potatoes and bread.  did I mention he loves bread.  He and Gunner will have that in common.  It is after 9:30 and we are still up.  We looked at the stars and watched the nannies take down the laundry before crawling into bed.  The mosquitoes buzz around your ears but the breeze feels good coming in through the door.  You can also hear the soft quiet sounds of people in the courtyard.