News from Addis Ababa

Our first full day in Addis is done. We went to the care center twice to see the kids. Both times Mirabelle was reserved with us. She enjoys being held and cuddled and is curious about us, but she wasn't smiley. However, her face lit up when her nannies interacted with her, and she smiled at them. We were happy to see that. Tomorrow we will see the children in the morning again. On Sunday we take our trip to Hosanna, and then Monday the kids come to the guesthouse for half of the day. Tuesday we take them into our care 24/7. I have to say, even though we've spent a few hours with her now, it doesn't seem real that she's coming home with us yet - that she's our daughter. Pretty much everyone else in the group has expressed similar feelings, so I guess it's not abnormal!

We take a bus from the guest house to the care center (and anywhere else we are going). The driving is crazy and cutthroat, with no stoplights or stop signs at all and seemingly no traffic rules. Add diesel fumes and tons of pedestrians and goats to the mix and that's Addis transportation.

Honestly, the city seems even poorer or third world than I expected. Beggers knocked on the windows of the van on the way from the airport every time it slowed, and there are tiny, falling down corrogated metal shacks all over the place. You see ragged people sitting on the streets everywhere. Where there are "nice" neighborhoods, such as the one where the guesthouse is located, every home without exception is a compound, with high concrete walls surrounding them. There is razor wire at the top of every wall, even at the guest house. Some homes have broken bottle glass embedded in the concrete at the top of the wall to deter thieves.

We slept hard last night, but, like many others in our group, we are definitely fighting jet lag. It's 7:15 pm and I feel ready for bed.

I love seeing Addis, and despite the poverty, everywhere you look provides an amazing visual. These dilapidated shacks are framed by vibrant bouganvilla and hollyhocks, with palm trees and mountains in the backgound. Randy is taking tons of pictures. But we are tired, too, and feel run down. Everyone seems to be dealing with some level of stomach issues, headaches, colds or fatigue. So far we've been lucky, although I do think I might be getting that head cold the girls had. We are taking tons of Airborne, Zicam and Pepto (preventatively). So that's a bit stressful.

We're retiring early (it's about 8pm here) but tomorrow we see the kids again in the morning along with some meetings, then some shopping, money exchange, tour type things in the afternoon.