The Gorge

The Gorge was beautiful. We hiked down to the waterfall and that is where the baboons were. I was so excited!!! I am a huge animal lover..even if they are wild and would most likely rip my face off if I got too close. But it was so cute to see the mommies carrying the babies on their backs.
Ryan and Darren went down to the Portuguese Bridge, but us girls stayed behind and watched. It was quite a haul and a rocky one at that. The guys got super close to the waterfall and the baboons.
I hope to one day be able to take the girls back to see their beautiful country.

Day Trip to Blue Nile Gorge

We were on our way to Blue Nile and we were in the middle of nowhere. We jokingly asked Alazar if we could pull over and take pictures of a little boy playing along side the rode. Alazar pulled over, so we climbed out and were instantly swarmed by children. They came running from all over. They wanted money, but we gave them cheese crackers instead. They all loved getting their picture taken and looking at themselves in the viewfinder. The children were beautiful. Once they got close enough, we also noticed they were all very dirty and their clothes were just rags hanging on them. It was very humbling. And it solidified that feeling that we were called to adopt and we were definitely doing the right thing in bringing our girls home.


These are all pictures of the countryside on the way to the Blue Nile Gorge.

Bringing Our Girls Home

These are pictures of us going to pick up the girls from the Transition House. I would love to show more pictures of all the children but I am not sure who all has passed court, so I can't show most of them. The kids were so fun. We brought dum dum suckers, which were a huge hit. And Meggan sent stickers for us to give the kids, as you can see in the pictures....another huge hit.

This is Eliza and her nanny, Hiwot.


Hannah meeting the girls for the first time.

This little boy is Abenet, I think he is from the same region as our girls. He was the sweetest boy. On our court date trip when we had to take the girls back the the transition home I was a mess saying good bye and Alazar was trying his hardest to explain to Ava what was happening. Abenet jumped down from his bunk bed and came over and started talking to Ava--explaining that I was her Mommy and I would be back soon to get her. Of course, I cried harder. I gave him the biggest hug and kiss, and he smiled from ear to ear knowing he helped us.

This is Yonni...his father Tony, stayed with us at Addis Flower, so Ava and Yonni got to play together all week. He was so tiny but hilarious. Ava loved playing with him. She recently saw his picture on FaceBook and yelled "Hi Yonni"


This is the sister of the little girl above with Abenet.

We're back.......

So, we have been home a week and seriously, this is the first time I have been able to sit down and type. I have two leaches that are attached to me at all times. Which is great, but also a big change for me. My other kids are fine on their own. Ava and Eliza need our full attention at all times. I will try to catch up on pictures and more details later. I just wanted to let everyone know that we did make it home safe and sound.

The trip to Ethiopia was much more draining for me this time. Not sure why, it just was. We had a wonderful time. Everyone we shared the guest house with were just amazing and so fun to hang out with for the week. There were Ryan and Meggan, Doug, Ben and Teresa, and Tony. We had so much fun. Kids all over the place!!!! We all went out to eat at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant, I somehow ended up eating cow intestine.....so that was a great laugh for everyone...everyone but Meggan who almost tossed her cookies :) We took the 3 gals and Yonaton who work at the guest house out to eat with us that night. They were so wonderful to us while we were there. The girls took great care of our babies when we needed to go somewhere and Yonaton was wonderful with them also. He would play basketball and soccer with the bigger kids.

We took a trip to Blue Nile Gorge with Meggan, Ryan and Alazar. It was beyond beautiful. It was a full days trip but so worth it. We stopped in small village along the way. We just pulled over along side the road and kids ran up and swarmed us. Ryan had crackers and gave them to the kids. They were so sweet. And we also stopped along side the road and Darren bought me a Injera basket. It was very cool and the basket is amazing. The gorge had baboons running around so I was thrilled. I know they are mean and would probably rip my face off, but I still got the biggest kick out of seeing them out in the wild.

The plane ride home was ok......first 9 hour leg was about a 5 on a scale of 10. I cried taking off just because I was sad for the girls leaving Africa. Ava slept most of the time, Eliza did not...she was almost impossible to keep in a seat belt...one that is strapped to mine. My whole body hurt from trying to hold her down. The next 9 hour leg was torture. Ava was not happy. Cried pretty much the entire time. I cried about the last half hour out of pure exhaustion and frustration. Nothing could console Ava. She was hysterical. The other people on the flight were not so happy either. Once we landed in Chicago and they could get down and run around they were both fine. Came home to snow....they weren't really sure what to think about that.
We also came home to a wonderful welcome from the boys and friends. It was so nice to see familiar faces and to hug my boys. I missed them so much. And they both look like they grew a foot since we were gone!!!

The adjustment has been hard on all of us, but honestly we are hanging in there. We all seem to have a rough day here and there. Speaking of adjustment...both girls are finally napping so I better run and get my shower in now!!!
More updates later....a shower wins out over adding pictures :)