In His Hands: Day Two...

Our first full day has begun.

We woke up this morning (or had to be woken up I should say) to home made English muffins and delicious Ethiopian coffee. Dave and Christy have a lady who comes and does much of their cleaning and cooking. Her name is Meseret (sp?) and she is an amazing cook! After breakfast we got ready to go shopping. It was our first time to see Ethiopia in the daytime and we were so impressed with the beautiful compound Dave and Christy and their kids live on. Lots of flowers and plants everywhere! We even met one of the tortoises who live on the compound...he was giant!

Meseret made these awesome bagels from scratch that we got to enjoy the next day!

the kids have given him a name...I wish I could remember what it was...

view from Dave and Christy's yard up toward their house...

these flags show all of the countries represented at Bingham Academy...

I told Matt I dared him to go down the kids slide.

He so shouldn't have listened to me because he threw his back out on the landing...ouch!!

one of the many beautiful flowers on the compound...

some fun wall art on the compound walls

precious Emily...you'll meet her on day 3...

women were bringing water bottles to these men who were washing their feet. There were probably 100 men. We figured they were doing some sort of cleansing ceremony before going to the mosque...

Dave and Christy took us to a popular shopping area where we were able to purchase some gifts for family and friends and for Sam's birthdays. We had a plan to get him a gift for each of his first 18 birthdays and I think we were able to find about 15. So, we will just have to go back for the rest (YAY!!!). After shopping we tried a restaurant that Dave and Christy had never been to for lunch (called Ricos). It was DELICIOUS!! We, of course, had tibs...YUM!! When we got there I called Duni to see if I could get an update on Sam since we had found out he had his second bout with pneumonia just a couple days before we left. Matt, Dave and Christy said I should just ask if we could see him since we were so close, but I had asked before we left if I would be able to see him early since we would be in country several days early. I was told I would have to wait until the scheduled metcha day (Monday) so I wasn't expecting Duni's words. When she said, "Do you want to come and see him?" I nearly fell out of my seat! I truly don't remember much of the rest of lunch.

I shot this out of the window of a moving van! I so wish I could have captured how high it went. I don't think I even even got a good look myself! We saw many people carrying heavy/large loads on their heads!!

This restaurant makes me smile...this is where I found out I would get to meet my son a few days early...

Yummmmmmm....tibs!!

It took us a while to find the transition home. Dave and Christy had been there a few times before (once to visit Sam for us) but there are no street signs so it's pretty much just a guess the street based on the landmarks. And the streets are full of potholes and taxi's. After venturing down many alleyway type streets we finally found the transition home. My heart was POUNDING!!! I don't think we were out of the van for even 5 minutes when they brought him out to us. I know that my emotions were crazy as I wasn't really prepared to meet him Friday and I'm sure I was a little bit of a crazy crying lady when they put him in my arms!! From the pictures I can tell we scared him right off the bat, but I think the full out crying didn't start for probably 10-15 smothering kisses later! Bless his heart...I would be crying too! I finally decided it was best to let the nannies calm him down and to try a different approach the next time I saw him!!
The funniest thing about this meeting was at one point Matt said to him, "Hi Yacob, I'm Matt." I had to remind him he was actually Daddy...he was nervous too!!

these tin or mud/straw homes were everywhere...

this home was at the dead end of an alley we tried when searching for the transition home. Look at the sweet smile on her face. What a kind people...

The sign that gave me butterflies...we were HERE!!!!

waiting...

seeing him for the FIRST time...

he's not quite awake here...

and the emotions hit me...

I can't even describe the emotions!!!

his daddy loves him sooo much!!!

I think he's finally awake now enough to realize these crazy people won't stop kissing him and crying...

see the tears coming...

now he's really getting worried...

and he let us know all about it!! I hope my precious one sees the humor in this photo some day!!! :)

We left the transition home and headed back to Bingham to catch the end of Tracey's soccer game! This night we were able to talk to everyone (mom, dad, Sarah, Madison and the kids). We found out Dallas had gotten over a foot of snow and school was canceled for Friday! We were sooo grateful we left when we did!! Max didn't want to talk (at this point I don't think he really realized how long we were going to be gone) and Abby was so sweet making sure to thank both Matt and I for the gifts that we left for them. We left both Max and Abby a small gift and note for each day that we were gone.
That night we enjoyed a delicious burrito dinner and Wii bowling and tennis with the Johnsons!