Ethiopia 1st Trip - Day Four!

(I never had a chance to journal about this day while we were in Ethiopia, so I am going to go back now and try to remember all the wonderful details!)

Sunday, July 21, 2013

We woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of children's voices, talking and laughing, and the sound of kids playing basketball.  Our room at the guest house was the only bedroom on the bottom floor, and one of our windows faced the courtyard where the kids and special mothers would hang out.  It was really a precious sound to wake up to, and it made me feel right at home.  I was totally surprised to look at my phone and see that it was already 8:30 a.m.!  I had slept so late, and I felt so much more rested!

It was Sunday, so our "itinerary" really didn't have anything on it except for spending time with our child and the "Ethiopian cultural restaurant" (which we had already done the night before with the other families, so we knew we wouldn't be going back again).   So, it was looking like we were going to have a pretty relaxing day, which sounded really great to us!

I got up and showered and put my hair up in a ponytail.  Jody and I both felt like I should wear it pulled back the rest of our time with baby girl.  As silly as this may sound, we both felt like my long, blonde hair scared her a little.  (And yes, I already have a hair cut scheduled! :) )  We just wanted to do anything we could to help her feel more comfortable around us.

We walked over to the babies/kids' house, and the babies were all downstairs in the "play room". We were pretty surprised (and so excited!) when she let me hold her in my lap!

Again, we offered her fruit puffs, but she still had no idea how to eat one!  Her favorite thing (like most babies) was to just play with the container! :)

She let Jody hold her for a few minutes too!  We were so thankful!  The day before we had posted on FB that we had made it to Ethiopia safe and sound, and we had asked people to pray that she would begin to warm up to us.  Jody looked at me, and said, "You know why she is doing better, don't you?"  I said, "Yep...people are praying for us!!!"  We totally felt God's presence and felt so prayed for!

The special mothers then let me try to give her a bottle, but that was NOT happening!  She refused to eat when I tried to feed her, and it made her really upset again.  I gave her back to the special mothers, so that they could calm her down.  It was hard to see how upset she got, but again, we understood how she was just so scared and unsure of us.  Even though we already looked at her as a beloved daughter, she still looked at us as complete strangers.  It was a lot to process for her...and for us.  We already loved her so much, so it just broke our hearts to see her afraid and sad.

Well, it was getting close to her nap time, so one of the special mothers took her upstairs to finish her bottle.  She wrapped her up all tight in her blanket (with it over the top of her head) while she finished feeding her, and then it was nap time.

She looked like a tiny, angel baby asleep in her bed!  So PRECIOUS!!!

Since, she was sleeping, we decided to walk with Chris and Emma down the street to the new Kaldi's coffee shop.  We had heard so much about the famous Kaldi's and couldn't wait to try it out!!!

We took a quick picture outside the famous black gates of Hannah's Hope!  Honestly, it still felt a little surreal to be there! :)

Hannah's Hope...a view from outside the black gates!  To the left of the picture is the guest house where we stayed, and to the right is the home of the babies and older children!  The buildings and the architecture are really very beautiful!

Then we kept walking down the cobblestone street, and up to cross the main road to make our way to Kaldi's.  This was our first time to walk this way, and we saw lots of interesting sights...

new construction using the wooden scaffolding 

 a local market/fruit stand

 the butcher shop with the hanging meat

horses just walking down the middle of the road in oncoming traffic

 they later found a patch of grass to eat as a snack

the little blue taxis, and the dirt roads with building after building on the horizon

I just loved taking in all the sites and sounds of our daughter's birth country!  It was so neat to walk those streets just trying to soak in the moment.  And then we made it to Kaldi's!!!

Kaldi's Coffee has the BEST caramel macchiato that I have ever tasted!  So sweet and delicious!  It was like drinking a dessert!  Haha! :)

 We were lovin' Kaldi's!!! :)  One of our favorite things in Ethiopia!  (Can't wait to go back!)

After Kaldi's, we all four walked back down to New Look for some lunch.  After lunch, we walked downstairs (in the building that New Look was in) to a little grocery store.  It was really cute, and we bought some soap for our shower at the guest house and some Ethiopian candy to take home to our kids.

We got back to Hannah's Hope to see that our little love was eating one of the suckers we had brought for the older kids!  As far as I know, this was her very first little blue lollipop, and she was a sticky mess but she was loving it!!! :)

Jody loved playing "baseball" with some of the older boys out in the courtyard!  So fun!!!

We played with the older kids out in the courtyard for a little bit longer, and gave some of the staff guys the Ole Miss t-shirts we had brought them!  Oh yes, we spread some Ole Miss Rebel love all around Hannah's Hope! :)  Then, it was BATH time for our baby girl!  This was our first time to see her get a bath, and it was so fun!!!  She LOVES her bath, and we loved seeing her smile and splash in her little pink tub! 

Then Wass asked us if we wanted to go with the mission trip families up to Entoto Mountain.  We said yes (we wanted to see as much of Ethiopia as we could on this trip!) and went to grab our jackets!  You never know if it might rain! :)  We piled up in the big bus with all 4 families, and Kiersten, with Wass driving, and we set out on our adventure!

The views of Addis from up on Entoto Mountain are breathtaking!  Even on this cloudy day, it was gorgeous!

We also got to tour a beautiful Ethiopian Orthodox church on the mountain!  It was so neat to hear more about the history of this church, the traditions and the church services.

The paintings on the walls inside were so intricate and detailed as they depicted different Bible stories.  They went all around the inside of the church!  So neat!

We were so glad we had gone out with the other families.  It was fun to spend time with them, and get to see some new sights!  After we got back to Hannah's Hope, it was getting late, so we went to kiss the babies good-night, and then went back to the guest house with Chris and Emma to make some dinner there.  We were all too tired to go anywhere.  Well, thankfully, Chris loves to cook, so he made us all dinner that night...mac & cheese, soup, and leftover pizza from New Look!  It was really good, and it was nice to have some down time just hanging out, talking and processing the day.

Then it was time to get some sleep...another great day in Ethiopia!!!  So thankful!