Life in Africa

From the very moment we flew over Addis Ababa, we knew we were in a different place. The landscape below looked like a beautiful patchwork quilt.

We landed, gathered our suitcases, got our visas and made it through customs. It was funny when we went to get our Visas. We were all standing there and the man was verifying who was whom. He got done and told me I was missing one. I looked at his stack - saw there were 5 passports so I politely told him he had all 5. He pointed to Owen and said that he didn't have his. Owen's passport is about to expire so his picture is nearly 5 years old. He's changed a lot during that time! The man had counted Ian twice - once as Ian and once as Owen. I didn't even think about that happening. So when we got to customs and it happened again, I was more prepared. The lady said "Big boy needs new passport." We got a pretty good laugh out of that.

After leaving the airport, our driver, Solomon, picked us up and took us to the guesthouse where we are staying. It's a very nice place and the people are super friendly and very helpful. Because we didn't have enough time to make reservations, we had difficulty in finding a place to stay. Traveling with 5 people presents a challenge. So, the lady here at the guest house was gracious enough to let us stay in a couple of rooms one night and then move to a bigger room once it opens up. Ryan and Owen are behind the house in the servant's quarters(nice rooms - just not in the house).

On our way to the guest house.

This is the view from our room!

We had been having trouble with the door sticking and being very hard to unlock. This morning Aiden's caseworker was going to be here at 9:30. Last night the hot water hadn't heated well so I decided to wait until this morning to shower. I set my alarm for 7:30am in order to have plenty of time. Well, when I got up at 7:30 we couldn't unlock the door! Ian, Alexa and I tried for almost an hour. We were on a floor alone so no one heard all the banging going on. Ryan's phone would not pick up the wi-fi connection in the servant's quarters. Finally, in a moment of desperation, I got the door unlocked (I just put all my weight behind it!) It was funny after the fact. I was more worried about not getting ready on time than I was about the door. Ryan felt terrible that he didn't get all of our calls and texts.

They were trying to figure a way out.
Their reasoning was quite comical!

I got ready in plenty of time. We went to the orphanage. We met the director and some other ladies that work in the office there. Everyone was so friendly. The caseworker on the way over told us not to expect much because he is extremely shy. We went into the room and he began to cry. His caregiver came over and took him out of his bed and sat with him on the floor. He was playing with some toys but didn't want to let go of the caregiver. If she tried to move away, he cried or chased after her. Eventually, he let me sit beside him and play a little bit. He tried to hand Ian a toy. After a bit it was lunch time and they offered to let me feed him. He let me for a while. He would get upset if his caregiver came back into the room. He started to cry and I picked him up. At first neither of us was sure of what to expect. He let me hold him and bounce him a bit. I got a few kisses in. Then our hour was up and he was ready for a nap. We have our court date in the morning so hopefully, I'll be able to post (or Emily will) pictures tomorrow.