Ethiopian meal~kind of

This was not our first attempt at making an Ethiopian meal, but I have to say it was the best! Kyah, (Hirut) {she decided she wanted to change her name}, impressed us all with her culinary expertise! I'm so excited since cooking is my #1 hobby!!! All of us in our tiny little kitchen was a bit crazy, but we had fun and got very full and that's what's important:) It was great to see her so excited to teach us about her culture....she was very patient with us as we tried to pronounce each spice and dishes name. Yummy!

Where is she???

As the gates to Hannah's hope were opened I had to remind myself to breath. My eyes darted from one beautiful child to another, but I couldn't find my girl! I looked at Stacy and he too was searching for that sweet little face we had grown to love. Ahh, finally there she was, standing shyly by the swing set staring patiently at me. Our eyes met and then I think I waved......the next thing I knew I had these little arms wrapped ever so sweetly around my neck. Then the tears came and the weird laugh I always seem to get when all my emotions get a little confused with each other, (I really hate that laugh) Then she spotted Stacy and snuggled into his embrace. I never thought it would be this wonderful, I truly thought we would shake hands nervously and she would be scared of us. God is so good!

The rest of the day was a blur of pictures (Hirut took over 100 just herself!) and then on the the embassy for our visa interview. I won't bore you with the details of that, but basically it reminded me of the prison visitations through glass you see on the movies. I had envisioned more of a court room situation I guess.

Later that night just the 3 of us and the drivers went to a wonderful Ethiopian restaurant and had an absolute blast! We had no idea what was being said, but that night we learned that our little girl can talk, and I mean talk!!! I'm not sure I have laughed this hard in my life.

Christmas What!?!

I'm not sure that Hirut quite understood what in the heck the tree and all of the presants were, but when Stacy read the Christmas story in the bible she knew exactly what he was saying. Again, the lessons I am learning from this little child are priceless!

Dec. 17th, 2007 (Monday)

Looking back on my life I feel that I have had some pretty emotional days, this day just might top all the rest. (or at least I felt that way on this day)

Thanks to the un-friendly neighborhood rooster who's clock is severely off, I was wide awake at 3:15am. I of course had to see if Stacy heard him, so then both of us were bright eyed and bushy tailed in the wee hours of the morning:) We quickly remembered that it was after 2:00am we dozed off. It is amazing though how you can function on adrenaline!!! Next the beautiful chants from the Muslim prayer call began. By the end of our trip I seemed to have incorporated these noises into my daily schedule as normal, weird! Anyway, with all of this ruckus I decided I needed to shower and have my coffee, just like a true American.

I noticed the hot water heater hanging on the wall by my head, so hey I should have hot water right!?! Think again..... Interesting shower, but as I said before, you get used to these things.

In the hotel lobby there is a little dining area and sitting there were a few of our new friends also adopting. They too waiting for the morning pick me up of coffee and tea. (I still hadn't got the whole "Ethiopia time down") So after politely asking for coffee and a 20 min. wait, my pot arrived. The wait I then realized was because each and every cup is brewed individually as espresso, and many pots needed to be filed. WOW, what strong,strong and did I say strong brew!!! We love strong coffee, but sadly I have to admit we asked for a pot of water to weaken it a bit, our server got a chuckle from this, Yum..... just simply delicious:) And the day begins!

Around 9:30 Almaz came to the hotel to pick up 3 of the families to meet their children, we were one of these families to go first. Sheer terror, excitement,giddiness,wonder, and again more fear were some of the emotions running through my head. I had waited for this day for so many months and I had memorized her little face, but AHHHHH this was really happening and I couldn't really wrap my brain around it. It was a good thing my sweet husband has such a level head and a steady arm for me to cling to or I'm not sure I would have made the two block walk to Hannah's Hope; the home to our little girl for the last 9 months. (I'm out of room, so I guess I will write more later, see ya soon!)

Dec. 16th, 2007

We arrived! (almost in one piece!heehee!) I think it was close to 9:00pm when we finally landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Wow, was that a long flight!! Stacy was able to catch a few z's, not me, I just sat and let my mind wander and cried on and off for almost the full 18hrs:)
Amazingly all of our luggage made it, halleluja! Now was the fun part... trying to load 6 families luggage onto the top of a van!! God bless Danny and Yohanas(sp?) They are master packers if you ask me! All of us then crammed into another van and off we went through the city to our hotel. I really was dilusional by thinking that I had read and seen enough pictures of Ethiopia to be prepared to see the city. I don't think you can truely prepare your heart and mind for seeing small starving children running along side of speeding cars, barefoot, begging for one burr(about 9 cents). It broke our hearts to say the least. But even in the midst of such poverty, these beautiful people were so lovely. Every single child and adult I met eyes with gave back the most heart warming smile. What lessons we Americans can learn! That was about it for that night..... and no, we did not sleep!

Dec. 15th, 2007

Our day begins at 3:00am with the always obnoxious noise of the alarm clock, but we weren't asleep. This night started the string of 2-4hr nights of sleep! We lugged the 6 gigantic bags through the airport with many curious stares and to the ticket counter where to our amazement the lady never weighed or charged us the extra bag fee!!!! God is good!
2hrs to Denver, 4hrs there, 3hrs to D.C, 6hrs there, and the Ethiopian time began. I say Ethiopian time because time is not rushed for their culture!! We stood in a line of around 25 for over 2hrs!!! There we met the other 6 wonderful families traveling with us. Then up to the ticket counter here. Now keep in mind, we had only our carry on's for Hirut's and our luggage, to say the least we packed light!!! The other bags were full to the brim with donations. Anyway, Ethiopian Air carry on's can only weigh 20lbs each!!! Ours were 40! Then the woman said the words that brought my sleep deprived self to tears.... "That will be $387.00"! What! After me crying like a baby and explaining the donations we only ended up paying $50! Again, as always, The Lord had his hand in all.
On to Rome, and Finally Ethiopia. Just a heads up, they feed you the whole way, so come hungry!!! Again, Ethiopia time, one meal ends then coffee, and then almost right away comes the next meal,heehee.
I know I'm long winded, anyone who knows me knows I can talk!!!!! Ill be back soon:)