This is a view of the Ethiopian countryside.
Addis Ababa is in a high elevation area of Ethiopia
and the mountains are beautiful.

On the other side of the cars is an area where they

had their millennium celebration last year. They

celebrated the millennium in September of our

2008. We follow the Gregorian calendar and Ethiopia

follows the Ge'es calendar of 13 months. They have 12

months of 30 days and 1 month of 6 days. It's hard to

see but there is a large sign of lights right beyond the car

that says 2000.

This is the lion of Judah. The lion is represented in

many places in Ethiopia.

This is a woman carrying a large bundle of wood or

something along the mountainside road. Many women

do this job everyday. Ephrim told us that Ethiopian

women are very strong, most of these women are very

old and they go up and down this mountain everyday doing

this hard physical labor.

This is a former king's house.

This is another view of the Ethiopian countryside.

Day 5

Thursday Dec. 18

This was Embassy day! Other than meeting Meron, this was the most important part of our trip for the adoption. It is an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa to ensure that we are indeed Meron's adoptive parents, that she was legally an orphan and to start the process for her to get a travel visa. Unfortunately, nature was against me starting the night before. Wednesday night I woke up with wrenching stomach pain which soon turned into double-ended unpleasentries I won't go into detail about. I was so careful with what I ate and drank, I thought for sure I would avoid contracting any kind of sickness from the food or water. We even used bottled water to brush our teeth. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I could have gotten something from our eating utensils, because the plates, glasses and silverware were washed in regular water. Anyhow, I started popping pepto pills hoping to start feeling human again before our visa appointment. We had taken a prescription with us for this kind of sickness, but the day before we left I read about another family that had traveled before us and the husband had gotten sick and had a terrible reaction to the medication. He ended up in the hospital because of the antibiotic. So, the thought of having a reaction and being hospitalized there freaked me out. That was a big mistake, I should have started the prescription as soon as I got sick, but I continued with the pepto which did nothing. Noon came and it was time to go to the Embassy. Rescheduling or missing your appt. is not an option. I felt terrible, the car ride to the Embassy felt like an eternity. We finally arrived and stood in a short line to go through security, all the while with my sickness bag in hand. I probably looked like quite the picture, pale-faced and all hunched over holding my stomach. After a short time, we got through security and they took us to another building to wait to be called for our interview. We went upstairs to a small, hot, overcrowded room and sat down. It was only a matter of minutes and I needed a bathroom fast! Upon asking Tsegay were the ladies room was, he informed me that the only one was back in the other building! So the next hour entailed of going back and forth between buildings until we were called for our interview. Finally it was our turn, and we were called up to a window like a bank tellers and asked to raise our right hand and say an oath, although I couldn't say what it was because all I was concentrating on was not throwing up on the Embassy official. I'm assuming I must have looked pretty terrible because upon finishing the oath, the official told me I could go and Brandt could finish everything else. Needless to say I immediately started the prescription, because at that point I couldn't imagine that any reaction I had could feel any worse. The rest of that day and night are kind of a blur for me, I spent most of it in bed and the bathroom. Brandt was amazing through it all. He completely took care of Meron and all our paperwork that day. I also forgot to mention that Meron had SEVERE diarrhea and was going through entire outfits every hour and Brandt was a trooper through it all. Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty miserable and didn't think to take pictures of anything that day.

Earlier in the day, before our appt. Ephrim took Brandt out of the city so he could see some of the countryside. I wish I could have been there, it seemed pretty amazing. He was able to get some pretty amazing pictures though.

Journey to Ethiopia

Day 4

Wednesday, Dec.17

This was our first full day in Ethiopia. After breakfast, Ephrim took Brandt and I and Amy and Jennifer to Lion Zoo. It was a small zoo, about the size of a park, but we were able to get extremely close to the lions. A chainlink fence was about a foot out from their steal bars and that was it. I suppose if you were crazy enough to try you could reach out and touch them. It was kind of funny to see rabbits at the zoo. They also had monkeys, some in cages and wild ones on the outside. The wild ones hung around the outside of the cages visiting their buddies.

After the zoo, Ephrim took us to the national museum. It was very interesting. We had a great guide who was able to share a lot of cultural information with us. He did drag things on a bit long in the evolution section, and lost us with a lot of details, but the rest of the tour was spectacular. We were able to learn about some of the different tribes in Africa, as well as see ancient artifacts. There was also a section full of crowns, robes and furniture from past kings and queens. There is a lot of history of Meron's country that we didn't know about.

ancient dice

After the museum, we went back to the House of Hope and spent time with Meron. Tsegay also gave us a tour of the House of Hope and we were able to take some pictures because the children were napping. We were not allowed to take pictures with other children in them because they were matched up with other families and we didn't have their permission. We would have liked to take pictures of the other children Meron was there with for her to have someday, but we were at least able to exchange photos with the two other families that were there when we were.

Journey to Ethiopia

playing with dad

Meron's day nannies

Meron's night nanny (she had a special bond with her)

This is Tsegay, who represented us in court.

This is Selay, our amazing cook, roasting beans for coffee.

courtyard at house of hope

Meron's nursery at house of hope transition home.

This was our room at the transition home with Meron.

Playing with Meron our first day together.

The other part of the courtyard at house of hope.