May 29th

Sunday was a busy day!  We started the day by attending services at the International Church in Ethiopia.  That experience warrants a whole other blog post, so for now I will just post this picture of us with our friends, Brian and Liz.  We were so blessed to be able to get to know this precious couple and share a suite with them in our guest house.  By the end of our trip I was almost as sad to leave them as I was to leave Selah... almost.  

After church it was on to Island Breeze for lunch.

This is just a cool trick that Dawit did at lunch :).

Then came the best part of every day... visiting with our baby!

She had a play date with her daddy.

The Dixon's and the Pfeifers!  When this photo was taken, both of these precious girls were still orphans. As of yesterday when the Pfeifers passed court, they are Selah Evette Selam Dixon and Jordis Rain Adaye Pfeifer!  How cool is that?

Have I mentioned how much we love Yonas?!

We ended the day by attending a traditional Ethiopian dinner.  It was so much fun!  Duane wasn't crazy about the food, but the entertainment was amazing.  I think the dancers like to pick on the white people because they know we can't dance.  They pulled me up on stage twice and Duane once.  The saying among the families adopting and attending this dinner is "what happens in Addis, stays in Addis".

 

This guy had nothing on Duane :).

Even Yonas got to dance.  

These guys love to laugh. 

May 28th

Taking another nap on her mommy.

The laundry at the Transition House.  I'm telling you, they are some good women.  Can you imagine?

Selah and Yonas.

Another one of Selah's amazing nannies.

Duane with his new BFF's, Yonas and David (Dawit)!  We just love these guys!

May 27th

Our second day in Ethiopia we visited Selah in the morning.  She was so much more relaxed and comfortable with us.  We got to talk with the Dr. who has been taking care of her.  She has no major concerns.  In the afternoon we visited a couple of the orphanages that our agency supports and finds families for their children.  We were able to take our donations and pass out goodies to the kids there.  

One of Selah's many precious nannies.  We are so thankful for these ladies who work so hard to care for our baby while we can't.  They seem to truly love the kids.  

Selah's doctor and nurse. 

I changed Selah's clothes to take some pictures and just couldn't resist a few naked shots :).

This is one of the orphanages that we visited.  The children were having school when we arrived.  They sang us several songs in English.  It was so cute.  Thankfully we were able to walk through knowing that most of the face we were seeing had families that they were waiting for.  Praise God for his plan of adoption!

This was the other orphanage we visited.  This sweet boy was trying to mow the lawn to no avail.  The lady in the background was on her hands and knees cutting the grass... with a knife.  

We ended the day at the Zebra Grill with several other families.

the streets of Addis

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was much different than I expected.  It is a city of 5 million.  Most of the roads are made of mud.  There is no "good part of town" and "bad part of town".  The whole city is made up of some who have, and many who don't.  The streets are filled with animals, beggars, crippled people, and well dressed business people.  Children beg to clean your shoes or sell you gum.  I won't be able to forget the faces of the young mothers who would approach our van with their babies begging for food.  Sometimes we could give them something and other times the police officers would "shoo" them away from our van.  But despite all of it's poverty, it is a beautiful place.  The people make it beautiful.  Not only are they a physically beautiful people, but Ethiopians have such a peaceful and gracious spirit.  These are some pictures I took from the window of our van.

This one is for you, Christie Breedlove :).

Duane never could get over this scaffolding.  

They had their Independence Day while we were there.  We saw lots of floats like this one.

This is a typical street.

A soccer game.

This beautiful little boy was running after our van yelling "Chocolate".  At first thought I thought it was that voice inside my head :).  He was so excited to have the chocolate covered granola bar I gave him. 

I can't wait to go back to Ethiopia with all of it's poverty and beauty and grace.  I'm praying that God will show me how I can make a difference in the life of more than one of these beautiful children.