Ethiopia Day Three: Meeting with Bethany

Abel... Our favorite guide

Picture from the Hilltop Restaurant where we ate lunch

Yet another day that will forever be etched in my memory bank!!! Amazingly we both have been feeling pretty well throughout this journey. Today was no different. Abel told us that he would be at the guest house at 8, so we had to make sure we were up and showered pretty early. Showers were pretty good, we had hot water but the outlet was in the shower on the wall so we were a bit watchful while we showered!!! That would be a horrible headline... "Adoptive Parent Zapped While Showering in Ethiopian Guest House!" It was nice to have hot water though. I made sure I kept my eyes shut tight and my mouth closed so that I didn't ingest any water. Abel said the water was 90% clean but 10% they were working on!!!! LOL. That 10% would likely get me for sure!!! Birtukan gave us a water bottle at the beginning of the week and I asked for water and she asked where my bottle was. She wanted us to refill them! I love her efficiency. She would boil the water for 10 minutes and then filter it for us. It worked great. I remember the first night we all had dinner (at midnight) and we were all sooooo thirsty but we sat staring at the water jugs because we weren't sure if we could drink it. She came in and saw us staring and said... "Drink... it's good for you!" We all sighed with relief. When Abel arrived we had just finished another FABULOUS breakfast. We loaded up, but I took some dramomine for the bus!! Andy and I both did. We were still amazed at the driving. Quite fascinating. Today we went to the orphanage first (after picking up other families at other guesthouses). It was not nearly as nerve wracking today. However, there was one family with us who had not met their child yet. It was fun capturing their first moments with their son. So precious. The goats were still at the front gate to welcome us!!! We spent the morning with Olivia and admired her precious attributes. She is the most beautiful baby you have ever seen. I am in love. Who knew you could fall in love with someone so quickly. I had brought some dolls for the girls and some cars for the boys so the head nanny let me pass them out to the kids. You would have thought I was Santa!!!! The kids swarmed me and just had a blast picking out dolls and cars. I had sooo much fun seeing the looks on their faces and watching them get a gift. It may have been some of the kids first gift they have received! Andy and I loved hanging out with the older children. There was one particular older boy who captured our hearts. If he did not have a family we would be starting the process over for him. What an amazing young man. He was the oldest child there, but he loved all of the children and was just awesome. He loved our camera! I sooooo want to find his adoptive parents to let them know what a precious kid he is. It seemed like our time with Olivia today FLEW by. We got to feed her oatmeal today and man did she love it. Yesterday we got to give her a bottle. Both days she fell asleep in our arms and we just stared at her beauty and loveliness. She is a tiny little thing. I had sent her an outfit earlier this summer that was 3-6 months. She was wearing it today and she is 7 months. It fit her perfectly. I totally thought she would be much bigger, but she is a tiny sweet pea. Abel picked us up again and took us to an amazing hilltop restaurant. I almost felt funny eating there because it was so fancy. You think I would have eaten something Ethiopian, but I didn't want to upset my stomach so I went with Italian! After lunch we went to the Bethany office to do our court day orientation. Sisay was our court representative so he had us all sit around a U shaped table while he gave a powerpoint presentation. The first thing he asked was if we had heard about the orphanage license being revoked. Well, of course we had. He then proceeded to say that one hour ago he received word that our license at been restored. Our group let out the loudest eruption of cheers. The next thing you know Abel pops his head in the door with a big smile and yells CONGRATULATIONS!!! We all laughed. I felt like crying because of how emotional the entire ordeal was. The rest of the time was a blur because I was so excited. We did get to meet with Olivia's social worker and nurse. Basically everything in her story is accurate and her health is perfect. Quick and easy!!! We were able to give some items to other social workers that we had brought from other families. After we had our meeting we went back to the guest house to rest and then later that night we got to go to a traditional Ethiopian meal at a special restaurant. Birtukan met us at the guest house and I was able to talk with her for a while. She was sooooo excited because she had just passed her written test to get her driver's license! She gave us a big hug. You would have thought she had won the lottery by the way she was acting. It made her so happy. I did tell her that I had heard so much about her and that I wanted to hear her story. This story is for another blog post, but hearing it changed my life. It lead to us sponsoring a child at her ministry. The traditional dinner we went to was quite an experience!!!! Lots of dancing, music, incense, food, and drink. The guys in our group had a good time trying to emulate the dancing. Quite entertaining!!! We stayed until we all felt like we needed to head back to get rested up for our court appointment in the morning. We had to be there at 9. To wrap the day up, we spent amazing time with Olivia and received wonderful news about the orphanage license! It was a good day. I think we all went to bed that night with great expectations for the morning.