Tuesday, October 26

One of the things I loved about Ethiopia - the weather is PERFECT!  There was bright sunshine streaming through our window each morning.  The temperature was in the mid-70's and it was absolutely delightful.  It does get chilly at night, though, so I was happy to have a sweatshirt and warm pj's with me.

On Tuesday morning, we went shopping.  We wanted to pick up souvenirs for the boys, as well as gifts for S. to give to her in the years to come.  We found some really neat things and it was quite interesting haggling over the prices with the shopkeepers.  In Ethiopia, the currency is Birr.  Currently, the exchange rate is about 16 Birr to one U.S. dollar.  John made a point of learning how to say numbers in Amharic before we left and he enjoyed being able to use that knowledge during the shopping trip.  We went to lunch with two other families, as well as Jeff Burns (husband to Becky and photographer/videographer for the trip) at an Italian Restaurant.  They have good Italian food in Ethiopia!  After lunch, we headed to the transition home to see our girl.  She was sleeping when we got there, so I used the time to check on the babies of other YWAM families who were already there.  I also made friends with A. - a 2 year old little girl at the transition home.  She came up and wanted me to pick her up  and then promptly kissed me on the cheek.  A nanny tried to take her from me, but A. wasn't having it.  We were fast friends and she stayed close by for the rest of our visit.  The nanny woke S. from her nap after a few minutes and S. was not happy about that at all.  We took her outside and she calmed down right away.  We each spent some time snuggling her and then she was ready to play.  We played and snuggled for a couple of hours and then it was time for us to head back to the guest house.  I was already feeling a tiny bit sad knowing that we would only have one more day to spend time with S.

We also received some news that was hard to hear on Tuesday.  We would not pass court on Wednesday as we had hoped.  There was a problem with one document, but it would not be resolved in time for our court appearance. 

On Tuesday night we were able to call home.  It was so good to hear the boys' voices!  I missed them so much!!  It is so strange to have your children split up on two different continents.  I cannot WAIT for the day when we are all together under one roof.