Our Second Day of Bliss

First of all… David and I both woke up with sore arms today and couldn't figure out why.  Oh yeah.  We held our boys ALL DAY LONG.  And although we have ridiculously toned and muscular arms, we simply weren't conditioned for this type of training :)  But it was definitely worth the pain!

On this day we had to go to Hannah’s Hope to have a meeting with Almaz, the director at Hannah’s Hope.  We had to fill out and talk about embassy paperwork.  That in itself is a miracle, because the night before we left for Ethiopia - at about 10:30pm - David and I realized we didn't actually have this important piece of paperwork. 


So naturally I went into panic mode.  I emailed every AGCI friend I have to see if they could tell me what this was.  And then, nearly in tears, I called our case worker on the “bat phone”.  You know - her after hours cell phone used only for Ethiopia travel emergencies.  And the worst part was I said, “sorry I’m calling you on the bat phone.”  Yes.  I actually said ‘bat phone’ to her.  I’m such a dork.

Anyway, we got that cleared up at around 11:00pm.  Then we notarized those suckers on our way to the airport and had them packed and ready to go.

So... back to Ethiopia.  We had a meeting with Almaz about court (the following day) and then embassy.  And we filled out the paperwork.  

When we walked in, Almaz was holding M, the sweet little boy of the other couple we were traveling with.  She handed him right over to his mom.  And I shot secret daggers of jealousy at her.  Because our boys were not in that room.  I tried my best to listen, but all I could think about was how I wanted my boys with me.  

One of the Infant Girl Rooms - I know this is random, but I wanted to include some pictures...

One of the infant boy rooms.

About halfway through the meeting, Almaz stopped mid-sentence and said, “Do you want to go get your boys?”  Um.  YEAH!  I raced out of the room, leaving David to soak in any information that I missed and went out to the courtyard where the babies were.  I walked up to one of the special mothers who was with my boys. I hadn't actually met her yet, so I'm sure she was a little apprehensive about me. Especially because I probably had a little bit of the crazy eyes going on as I raced up to my boys.  I can only hope that based on my smooching and crooning and maternal glow, she figured out who I was.  I scooped up our two little peanuts and carried them inside.  

We continued with our meeting as two happy little campers with sweet boys in our arms.  I can honestly say I paid much less attention to what I was actually filling out, and more to the package of baby giggles on my lap.  


Afterwards, we went to hang out with the rest of the babies. At one point we went into the "living room" where the special mothers were with the rest of the babies.  They were singing, and clapping, and one of them was dancing.  It was the most beautiful thing I've ever walked in on.  Its exactly the kind of loving play I want for my sweet boys while I can't be there to sing, clap and dance for them.  The special mother that was dancing was embarrassed, and quit dancing when we walked in, but they continued to sing and clap.  The children LOVED it.  Loved it.  I only wish I could have all their songs on a CD for my boys to grow up listening to.  


You just have no idea how badly I want to post pictures of our boys here so you can admire how handsome and perfectly beautiful they are.  But for now you'll have to settle for this darling picture of Dave holding little W's hand while he feeds him a bottle.  Melt. My. Heart.

When it was time to leave, our driver came to get us.  We'd been strategically staying out of his line of sight in hopes of getting to stay longer.  Leaving was always so hard, but we knew we got to come back the next day.  I was always excited to go back to the hotel and go to bed because morning meant holding my boys again.


We went to a REAL Ethiopian restaurant for dinner, and it was AMAZING.  We'd had Ethiopian food many times before, and we really enjoy it.  But this was by far the best Ethiopian food we've ever had.  It was also accompanied by some wonderful singing and dancing representing different regions of Ethiopia. 

Outside the restaurant.

My handsome groom.

The Menu 

Seating area.  Goat skinned chairs around traditional Ethiopian table.

Tej - Ethiopian honey wine

Washing our hands before we eat.

Our food.  I can't even tell you how good this was. 

Musicians.  

Our food after we demolished it.  We ate until we were no longer comfortable. 

Traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

We got to the hotel and crashed.  We were so exhausted from the big day, and we knew we had court in the morning.  It was hard to fall asleep, but could not WAIT to find out how court would go.  I was secretly hoping we would pass court, but David wasn't planning on it.  He's always the logical one when it comes to things like this.  But I'm pretty sure we both went to bed with our fingers crossed for great news.