Ethiopia Day Two: Meeting Our Daughter

~~The only stoplight we saw~~

This day will forever be etched in my memories. We awoke early to the sound of the call to prayer over the muslim speakers and to the sound of the roosters crowing. It was really awesome to see the city from the window of our room. We could see the mountains in the distance! The guest house that we stayed in had fence around it to keep us safe, and I noticed the fence across the "street" had a fence but on the top of it there were broken glass bottles used to prevent someone from climbing over the fence. One would think that the crime rate was high because of these extraordinary measures used to provide safety, but we learned that crime is in fact very low in Ethiopia. While we were there we never felt that our safety was in jeopardy. We felt very safe the entire trip. We had an amazing breakfast of FLUFFY pancakes and the best smoothies you have ever had! Every morning Birtukan made us fresh fruit smoothies that were out of this world. My mouth waters just thinking about them. After breakfast, Abel picked us up and took us to the shopping district for the morning. This was amazing too because nothing had prices on them. We bartered on price for everything, then we would check with Abel and he would get the price down even more. After a while, the beggars and kids started gathering around so Abel hurriedly got us back on the bus (we noticed one of the police officers holding a stick and she started shooing the kids away and even hit one of the with the stick). A very thin woman with a 3-4 year old child who was suckling her breast came up to the window of the bus and begged. The child would smile and then get his sad look on his face and start suckling again. My heart broke at this. I wanted to give her something, but Abel told us that it was illegal to give to them because they didn't want them to swarm the bus. Another thing I noticed was how many crippled people were on the streets. Nothing like we see here. When we arrived at night no one was around, but during the day the traffic was crazy and people were everywhere. I will never forget the driving strategies used! It was down right SCARY!!! No one used lanes and we only saw one stoplight. I took a picture of it! The exhaust was AWFUL and the roads were not very well maintained. CRAZY. We went out to a very nice lunch... the most expensive thing on the menu was only around $6 and it was really nice food. We enjoyed it. After lunch we made our way to the orphanage. When we arrived we noticed a herd of goats that were resting next to the gate. We all took pictures of the goats!!!! Abel knocked at the gate and we all eagerly awaited for someone to let us in. It felt like an eternity. FINALLY, the gates opened and we headed up to the door. I immediately noticed the window was open and all of the babies were lying on mats against the wall. I saw Olivia immediately and my heart jumped!!! We walked in the door and the nannies were in the kitchen area and stayed out of our way. I worried that I wouldn't recognize her, but we all knew which child was ours. We quickly walked up to her and I bent down and just looked at her in awe. I didn't really know what to do. Do I pick her up? Do I talk to her? Do I take pictures? I was just overwhelmed. So, I began to speak to her and told her that mommy was here and I was so happy to see her. Her face just lit up when she heard my voice and she started to kick her feet and wiggle. She was excited to hear me!!! It was like she recognized me. I heard Andy behind me say... Pick her up!!! So I bent down and lifted her into my arms. She was such a tiny little thing and she fit so snuggly inside my arms. It was as if she had always been there. She rested her head against me and then would pull back and look at my face... almost as if she was matching the voice she knew to the face she saw. What a God experience it was. I held her for a while and then Andy was dying for his turn. I had her to him and it seemed like she knew that he was her daddy. She looked at him in awe and just checked him out over and over. She would smile and then look back at me. Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with her. She is the most perfect little thing and has the most angelic face and disposition. I couldn't ask for anything more. We got to spend 2 hours with her. The time FLEW by and we were sad when we had to leave. That was the only time when I didn't want Abel to show up!!! What a great day. We left the orphanage feeling like we had just experienced a piece of heaven. CLOUD NINE!!! We then went back to the guest house for dinner. Birtukan was so gracious and was THE BEST cook. We went to bed fairly early that night. It was such a surreal experience.