Munchkins & Mayhem

Saturday morning:

It’s very early in the morning here in Addis. I can’t sleep and, apparently, neither can all the stray barking dogs. It sounds like an aerobics class is also going on out there, but I haven’t figured out exactly what that is yet.

We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a very long journey. We had spent the night in Dubai during our 12-hour layover there, so it was helpful to have it broken up somewhat. Still, all three of us were pretty exhausted. The 12 hour flight from JFK to Dubai went amazingly fast – Hope slept for most of it since we had boarded at 11pm. By the time she woke up, they were serving breakfast and we only had three hours left. She was pretty spoiled by the cabin crew – when we told them we were traveling to Ethiopia to adopt our daughter, they thought we meant Hope. (Yeah, not sure about that calculation either, but . . . ) They kept coming by every 30 minutes with new gifts for her. This kid left that plane with 2 backpacks, a lunch box, 3 stuffed animals, markers, coloring books, candy, socks, tooth brushes and more. Then one flight attendant told us he had ordered a “special gift” for us on the return flight. I’m afraid we’ll need an extra suitcase for it all!

When we got to Addis we threw our stuff in our room and headed out for sightseeing in an effort to get acclimated quickly to the time change. So our guide, “T” (Hope calls him Mr. T) took us to a local museum of anthropology where Lucy’s bones are kept. As we walked around, several school groups came in, and we soon became the major attraction. T said they rarely ever see foreigners, so we were quite a sight. They loved Hope! Three of the girls practiced their English by asking her name; when she responded and asked them their names, they ran away giggling. Hope couldn’t understand that they were just embarrassed about speaking another language, so she thought they were laughing at her. But in the end, she warmed back up to them. And by the time we had left, 30 children were lined up to kiss her cheek! I stopped it after 4 and waved goodbye. Hope took it amazingly well for a child who – as many of you remember – needs her personal space. Not too mention the jet lag. She’s a trooper!

Our driver, Dewit, is very kind and a little shy. But he loves Hope and is always holding her hand and trying to show her different things. He and his wife are expecting their first baby – a little girl. So I think he’s enjoying imagining his new life as a dad.

After braving the paparazzi at the museum, we headed on over to the lion zoo. Let’s just say that Tote-Em-In zoo in Wilmington looks like a 5-star hotel in comparison. After lots more stares, a few more kisses on the cheek, and a ferris wheel ride, we headed back to the hotel. We met up with the Roth’s, who arrived yesterday. Their son and Haley are the same age and from the same village out in the country. Tomorrow we’ll all take the 3-hour drive out there to visit. We are still on schedule to meet Haley on Monday.

Driving round the city was fascinating. The people are beautiful despite the remarkably impoverished surroundings. T told us it is common for friends to hold hands or walk arm in arm, women with women and men with men. There was something so refreshing in seeing crowds of people being so affectionate like that: warm and open. Of course, it’s probably even more attractive to me since we did just come in from a 2-day stay in NYC. Not so affectionate there.
We’ll be staying overnight in Haley’s village, so I won’t post again until we return. Here’s a few photos:

I only snapped a few shots on our first day; I was a little warn out from the travel and just decided to take it all in before pulling out the camera every other minute.
Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! Please continue to pray for our health. We want to be strong for the upcoming days so that we can take care of Haley and Hope.

Beautiful faces!