First Trip to the Aquarium

Last week we all ventured out to the aquarium for Haley's first trip and Hope's 59th trip. Hope has always loved the aquarium, but she had much more fun exploring with her grandparents than just plain old mom. She enjoyed reprising her role as "Julie" (cruise director from The Love Boat) as she guided Roberta all around. Her are some photos of the morning shot by Papa Ken.

Al Fin

We were scheduled to fly out on Friday of our week-long stay in Addis, but not until 7pm, so we had time to visit a coffee factory that morning. Ethiopians are quite proud of their coffee heritage, and apparently Starbucks gets much of its coffee from the eastern coffee-producing region of ET, Harar. We came away with several pounds of coffee and a nice aroma clinging to our clothes: a mixture of roasted beans and Haley's spit up.

This ends my slew of photos that I'll post from our trip. I did not have my camera out nearly as much as I had hoped because of Haley and I being so sick on the trip, but we still got enough photos to bring back all the memories of an exhausting and life-changing week.

Oops - we got separated from the tour group. So what do we do? Take pictures, naturally.

Waiting for mom and dad to buy their coffee.

Parenting is a kick in the pants!


Give her 18 more years and she'll be a good little coffee snob!

These women earned $1 per day in wages.

Sorting through the beans for quality control.

A few random shots from our first meeting day. Looking just a bit tired . . . my allergic reaction to antibiotics I was taking was starting to get worse here.

T was our guide for the first half of the trip. He was always patient and kind - incredibly helpful (even when I embarassed him by asking him to translate some poopy questions I had for the nanny!)

A meal at a restaurant specializing in traditional Ethiopian cuisine: injeera. I could do without the sour, spngy bread, but everything in the middle was soooo good. Spicy!



Robel was our guide for the rest of the trip: an incredibly intelligent man! He was an excellent guide with a heart for Ethiopia's orphans.

Shopping in Addis.

This boy is an orphan living on the streets - one of 23 taken in by Robel. Robel has taught the boys how to earn a meager living by shoe-shining or selling gum instead of begging. He also pays for all of those boys to go to school.

More from ET

Yeesh - life got busy! But I'll try to post highlights of the rest of our trip over the next few days.

Our first family picture - outside our hotel in Addis Ababa.

Bath time was an event in our hotel! Little peanut fit nicely into the kitchen sink. She loved the water and still does.

Interrupted

So I just had to interrupt the flow of our trip pictures to show how our little peanut is doing now. It is amazing to see the transformation of this little girl in just two weeks, and hopefully it is an encouragement for other families to consider adopting just one of the millions of orphans worldwide.

When we took custody of Haley, she had an ear infection and a sinus infection. This all caused her to vomit (projectile!) at every feeding with a horrible, gagging cough. And, yes, this continued on our 30+ hours of plane rides. Let's just say we where not the most valued passengers on those cramped planes. Eight of her outfits later, I gave up and just decided to let the smell engulf me, praying for a quick trip. At first, Haley was a bit lethargic and would not look at me. She could not sit up by herself, and she exhibited certain self-soothing behaviors whenever she got upset. My sweet girl was gorging constantly. Then vomiting it all up.

But two weeks later, she is a different child. And I'm getting to know her all over again. After several doctor visits and an indulgence in modern medication, she is now happy and healthy. She lights up when David is around and gets pretty cranky if I'm not holding her when I'm around. She no longer gorges, but instead seems to have built a confidence in her surroundings that I didn't expect for another few months. She sleeps through the night - sleep, glorious sleep! She not only sits up on her own, but she has also started to crawl. And my favorite part: she stares and coos at me all day long.

Someone once told me that I was lucky to get my children "the easy way." It's a ridiculous statement, really. But in the end, it is always worth it. The years of paperwork, jumping through someone else's hoops, the sickness, the travel, the horrific plane rides that drive you to the edge of madness. But we know a truth that will never change: God created Haley to be our daughter from the beginning of time. Her story and ours is neither a coincidence nor a surprise to Him. We went to Ethiopia because that's where our daughter was. And we would walk through that fire again and again, as many times as it took to bring her home.

A Half Pint Birthday Present

The day after our long trip to Kambata, we got to meet Haley in person for the first time. It just so happened to be my birthday! They brought her out to us and we just sat with her in the courtyard for 2 hours. She had just woken up from a nap and was quite lethargic; she opened up a bit, but we could tell she was sick and needed medical attention. Leaving there that afternoon without her was the hardest thing we had to do all week. We knew we would be back the next morning to take her, but we had a long 12 hours ahead of us. Here are a few of my favorite photos from that day.

A Little Late

As you can see, blogging did not go so well in Ethiopia. We had sporadic internet connection and no power on some days. Sooooooo, now that we are home, I can post a few of my favorite photos from the trip.

The first set is from the two day trip after my initial post. We traveled south of Addis Ababa to the Kambata region and stayed in the "town" of Hosanna. From there we traveled into the countryside to see the village that is important to Haley's past. What was supposed to be a three-hour trip turned into an eight-hour trip, swerving along as we dodged goats, mules and cows wandering in the one and only long road. I won't go into detail on how I lost my lunch and dinner along the road; as curious Ethiopians gathered around watching the foreigner vomit, I couldn't help but wonder if I would retain any dignity by the end of this trip. The answer came over the course of the next few days: no.

I regret not being able to take more photos, but the camera was the last thing on my mind at the time. Hope and David traveled well, and although they were tired from the trip, they did not get sick at all. In fact they sat in the back of the bus and played Go Fish!

Beautiful faces.

Dennis Roth visiting the wandering cow as we stopped along the road for a break.

A variety of dwellings throughout the Ethiopian countryside.

The view from our hotel "suite"in Hosanna.

Shoe shining for a living.

Traditional grass hut.

Recycling?

Hope coerced T and Dawit into a game of Uno at lunch.

One very tired little girl!