A few more pictures

A few more pictures I uploaded from Bill's photo albums. Hope to post again this weekend.

Washing clothes outside at Bethany. Their sink was out in the open.

The one at our guest house was at least under a roof.

They washed dishes and clothing here. See the clothes line near her head.

If you look close there is a tree growing inside this shop.

One of the malls in Addis.

Just a cow walking along the road, not afraid of the traffic. I was afraid of the traffic.

This is broken glass embedded in the top of a wall surrounding

a compound to protect the inhabitants.

Electric fence around a hotel.

Still on Thursday, I told you it was a memorable day.

Gretchen related this story to Bill and I. She went to the bathroom while we were at the Golf Course yesterday. When she went into the lavatory an Ethiopian lady said " You no want to go in there" and fanned her hand in front of her nose. She was embarrassed by the smell. Gretchen said " No that's ok." Reply, " No 5 minutes". Gretchen went in anyway. When she came back to the sink area, they stopped washing their hands and insisted that Gretchen go 1st. That's the way it was at every place I went too, they always let me go first no matter now I insisted that it was ok.

I was surprised not to see more handicapped people here. That seems to be what you see on tv. Remember there are many misconceptions about Africa and I can tell you that they are untrue. I have only seen 4 or 5 people walking with crutches. Just like the US. A club foot, only one woman, a double amputee, and one gentleman with a very, very, very bad looking stump. I was so sad looking at him sitting in the dirt. What kind of a life must he lead? Does he get any medical help? Will he eat tonight? We aren't really suppose to take pictures of people unless you ask but I have taken a few from a distance, the school children at the museum. Other kids at the lion cage. The kids that were there had on everything from party dresses with petty coats, to shirts and ties to shorts and tank tops with two shoes that don't match. And I was worried about what the mother of the groom wears to the bridal shower. It's cold here for the Ethiopian People, because of the rain they have been having. I am comfortable in short sleeves and Capri's or a skirt with no hose. Bur our guide had on a long sleeve tee shirt and an insulated vest. But then again I have seen a lot of flip flops. That's what gets cold on me first, my feet. I have also seen several winter coats and heavy sweaters. We had dessert after our meal today but Abel says usually they just have coffee. Of course it is probably strong enough to cut with a knife and if you add enough sugar it's like candy. It is so much fun to share our culture with them. The restaurants that we ate at the last two days have been "American". Though I think that I may go to Ethiopia just to show them how to really cook "American". Abel wanted to know of any of the food on the menu was from our area. Yonatan asked what the US was known for. I said I guess hot dogs and apple pie. Yonatan ate the rest of Bill's pizza last night and said it was good "for American food"

They must marry here later than I thought, another misconception. Abel is 30 and engaged but no plans for a wedding yet. We asked Phillipe if he was married and he shook his head and said,"I'm only 25." I know that's only two examples. Bill was married at 23, I think. Seth is 25 and the wedding is June 5th.

Last image for this entry. While we were stopped at one of two stop lights in the city, a guy hoisted himself up over the curb on his crutches, walked towards the wall and peed. OM Goodness. At least here we pick a back road. Oh yeah I guess there are no back roads in a city of 5 million.

Thursday Feb 11th, The Memorable Day Cont.

Yonatan was on his day off so we are not going to the Fistula Hospital. We met one of the Italian gentlemen who are here working on helping to build a farm. His English is so so, he understands more than he speaks. Phillipe, I think, I don't seem to have that written down. He wrote down several things that we said. Yohanna is spitting up most of what is fed to her. I am worried that she is not getting enough but she doesn't really cry and she has dirty diapers. Gretchen says that children in orphanages often do not cry out because they learn that their needs won't necessarily be met. The doctor told Gretchen when we got home that she will learn just what we teach her. If she cries and we pick her up she will understand that and cry more to get that reaction. Funny how we already knew that but needed to be reminded, that our kids are what we make them. I think that Yohanna is an exceptional baby as far as crying goes, because it was 1 nanny to 2 infants and I know that Yohanna was getting lots of love. It's sunshiny here today. We sent laundry to the ladies. I took a lot of pictures so far I hope that I remember what they are when we get home. One building yesterday was several stories high, wrapped in torn blue tarps. When you got closer the sign on it said "Waterproofing", ha that's a laugh. We went by the FBI building, NO PICTURES, but Terri got on off before Abel could tell us. I think the driver would be the one who got in trouble if we were caught. Stray dogs run the streets, I heard a cat yowling most of the night, kind of like home. Gretchen saw some guy dressed in a Bengals Shirt just like Bill has at home. A little boy came to beg for food when we were stopped at one of the few street lights in town. There really aren't many street lights, you know red/green/ yellow and if they are there they aren't working. I don't think the drivers would pay attention anyway. It's first come first serve or who every is daring enough to stick his nose out first goes. I told the driver through the guide that we would never be able to drive like this in the states and if I was driving the van I would have already gone through all my pain killers, new script, 90 pills because my neck would be so stressed. We are only on day 3 in Addis. Where ever we went there are fresh roses. There are Calla Lilies right outside the door. But then again there are trash heaps outside the compound gates. The guest house is very clean but very plain. Metal doors and latches, the metal binds and there is a loud clank. The guest house is very similar to Shalom where Yohanna was. Similar layout. There are 2 small lean 2 type buildings in the compound. The green space inside the compound is about the same size as my side yard between the house and garage but not nearly as long. The manager lives in one room 5 or 6 days a week and the ladies live in 1/2 of one of the lean 2's. I think the other lean 2 is 1/2 office and 1/2 storage. There is a motel behind us, Yonatan says he never sees anyone staying there. My lips are so dry and peeling even with chapstick. I made it worse by biting off a piece of skin and now they hurt too. The altitude here doesn't seem to effect us as much as I thought it would. Maybe climbing the stairs puts us out of breath but that might be because I am old and fat. Can't say that about Gretchen though. This morning I didn't feel very well but that could have been because my pain killer hit my stomach before the poptart. There is a fire burning somewhere I can smell it. The exhaust here is so bad. I know I said that earlier but unless you have been here you can't imagine how bad it is. I think that that is what is effecting Gretchen, she seems to sleep a lot. Chicago rush hour traffic is bad but this is 100 x worse.

A Change of Pace

This week has been unusual and tuff. There are continued stresses at work everyone is on edge because of all the cutbacks at school and how many are loosing their jobs. My neck has been killing me, I hate how it hurts. At least I get to go to Reflexology on (this coming )Thursday that should help. Then on Friday when I got home I checked facebook and a friend said that one of our home town girls daughters hit a semi on Thursday in the fog. I called and talked to our pastor to make sure that he knew. He was at the hospital with the family, they were making the decision whether to take her off life supports or not. O M Goodness, how could anyone ever decide to do that. Randy says there is a 30 hour window that will allow all the transplant teams and recipients to gather before her bodies life is really over. I know that she wasn't really there but I'm not sure I could give up hope that Seth wouldn't come out of it if we were in that situation.

Seth no matter how mad I get at you or how mad you get at me. I LOVE YOU, never forget that. Mom

I know that something good will come with the transplants, but....................................................... I didn't know Chelsea very well, she helped with VBS a few times, but this is what everyone who knows her has told me, " She forever had a smile on her face, an easy going, happy, wonderful girl." I would like all of you to pray for her family, she leaves behind 2 sisters, her mom and step dad, her dad, and grandparents and many, many friends but most of all she leaves behind an almost 2 year old baby girl. My heart breaks every time I think of her. Rest in peace, Chelsea.

This is the second day we were home from Ethiopia. Gretchen brought Yohanna and Laural to Sunday School. Nancy Warner took a picture with the SS kids.

Barbed wire along the top of a fenced in Hotel.

School Girls

School Children at the museum.

G and B thought this desert spoon was cool and took a picture of it. Banana Split day.

Amharic COKE bottles

Continuing a Memorable Day

I'm still debating on telling you everything that happened this day. Gretchen will either appreciate those post or not. We'll see. After going to the museum, Able suggested that we go to a near by lion cage. We had extra time and I think that the driver Abeselom suggested it. Though I don't know why he was paid a flat rate per day, not by the hour. At the lion enclosure they charged us per person and per camera. And if you had a video camera it was more. We got out of the van under a millium (again sorry for sp, it will not give me any ideas) sign. Remember they are only in the year 2002. Emily forgot to bring her receipt to get inside the main gates so we waited on her. They were debating on whether or not we could all go in, they don't seem to understand that G, B and I are traveling together, even with the receipt. But finally they let us into the inter sanctum. I think I might have rather stayed outside. It was a circle shaped enclosure divided into 4 or 5 pie shaped sections. The center was probably where the lions slept. G, B and Able were in front of me and all of a sudden G jumped back. The attendants had just thrown a piece of animal over the fence to a lion and it was stuck on one of the trusses over head. The lion was standing on his back legs trying to get the meat down. When I say animal it was pretty much a 1/4 of something dead, not just a piece of meat like I've seen zookeepers give lions around here.

We could have touched the lions. There was a fence of chain link about 6 inches in front of a rebar cage. I took a picture through the chain link, it was unbelievable. They weren't very nice to the lions, to get them to move they sprayed them with water hoses. Terri got sprayed with the water. Ethiopian water, in the face. Oh yeah, she was sick later in the week, I wonder if that was what it was from. The smell was terrible. The cages were pretty clean but I think it was the temperature and the raw meat. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!! Able said he had only been there one other time, I think. I'm not sure he will ever take another family there even if they have extra time. The kids were very excited to see us. There was a school or group home there also. They weren't in uniforms. There was everything from party dresses to shorts, suit and ties to winter coats on the kids. We were stared at by several families. White people with black babies. We went to lunch at the Blue Top Cafe. Bill had fried chicken with lots and lots of breading. Gretchen and I had breaded chicken breast pounded into a huge piece, over 1/2 of the plate, spinach, potatoes, and carrots. We also had desert. G and B shared a banana split, only chocolate, no nuts. I had chocolate moose with ice cream, very, very rich. Very, very good, desert any way. I said we need to go back there and teach them how to cook American food. the soda is in bottles like we used to get out of the old soda machines, 8 oz or so. Amharic writing on one side COKE on the other, I brought some home, thanks Abel for bringing me some. After lunch we headed back to the guest house. This day will be several posts because it took me 16 pages to write it all in my journal.

I am becoming an expert at downloading pictures.

Yonatan the Guest House manager.

He is a lawyer who hopes to come to the US for further study.

The Italians and the German who stayed at our guest house.

Frederico, Gretta and Philippe. We all use English to talk to each other but if the guys didn't understand us Gretta would speak in French to try and make them understand. It was interesting , the one on the left would rub his hands through his hair when he was trying to come up with the right words and constantly say "I'm sorry" when he couldn't come up with what he

wanted to say. He did very well I thought. He also pretended to be Gretta's husband when she went to talk to a priest about adopting. I think he was sweet on her.

This couple were doctors and she suggested that we put rice cereal in Yohanna's formula to help her keep it down. They adopted the 2 1/2 year old Malowi that doesn't want her picture take. She was soooooo cute, running all around the compound playing hide and seek.

This is another couple at the guest house. They adopted 18 month old Nathan. He was soooo cute too. He would come up and hand you something and then 30 seconds later come back

and get it. The first afternoon wasn't very much fun but he certainly did well after that.

These 2 couples were not able to take their adopted children out of the compound except for the Embassy Date. That was a rule with the agency they went through to adopt . Other than Awassa and the Traditional Restaurant we took Yohanna everywhere. We never tried the local market, one of us stayed back at the guest house while the other two went "uptown".

Gretchen, Bill and Yohanna before the Embassy Date.

I don't think I cold count on one hand the number of times I have seen Bill in a suit.

Many, Many, Many, Many times, tooooooo many to count in a uniform.

I think he looks really nice in his dress uniform.

Bill showing off his hidden talent. Making paper roses. No, not singing Marie Osmond's song,

but creating roses out of napkins. He showed several young men how to do it to impress their girlfriends. Abel was pretty good at it. Gretchen got one each day for 12 days when they first started seeing each other. She still has them. What a lucky girl.

I haven't ever gotten roses from Speed.

The cobblestone drive inside our gates.

The gate is locked every time someone comes in or out. There is a doorbell outside.

The gate keeper lives in a little niche in the wall right inside the gate.

This is the spiral staircase that led to the upstairs of the guest house. When it rained it leaked which could be a little scary, the steps were painted and could be slick. It was a little tricky carrying Yohanna up or down them too. I took the outside stairs that opened up at the top of these, you all know what a clutz, I am.

(sp, it won't give me any other suggestions when I spell check, but it says it's wrong,

remember I said I am a Prek aide and I don't have to spell very big words)

Yes, Speed I said that.

This is looking out from the balcony of the outside stairwell. That is construction to the left. They use large sticks for scaffolding. The little tin shack looking thing is probably the covering for their water storage in a neighboring compound. As you can see there are upscale hotels right next to the common people. There are probably 3 or 4 compounds in this picture you just can't see the walls of each one. That Ivy covered most of the walls of our compound.

The vegetation is definitely beautiful, for those who can afford it.

Feb 11th- This is a memorable day!!!!!!!!!!!

We are up and ready for a tour of the museum. Gretchen tried soy formula for Yohanna, I'm not really sure that she really likes it but maybe it will stay down better. They tried a different nipple, she said no way. She certainly flirts with Yonatan. He held her yesterday and she spit up on him. He had to change. The girls are doing laundry, hope it doesn't rain because they hang it out on the line. Yohanna was up twice in the night, not too bad. It is very cloudy and kind of cool, I really wasn't expecting to have to wear a jacket. We may visit the Fistula Hospital this afternoon. That's the place from A Walk to Beautiful, a PBS movie. If you can find it you should watch it.

We went to the National Museum. Everyone there talks about 4.4 million years ago and Lucy. Lucy was visiting the United States while we were there. At the museum it cost 1 birr for Ethiopians, 10 birr for foreigners, and 0 for guides. There were children at the museum that were on a field trip from school. They were wearing uniforms over their clothing. The Girls in rose the Boys in purple. Abel says that children go to school in the mornings. Then home for lunch and that's it. Of course I am sure they have things they have to do at home in the afternoon but no school.

My Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Babies, Yes I'm Jaded

Don't they look great.

The basket in the back is a table for serving Ethiopian food on,

usually they were bigger but this one fit in our suitcase.

The piece by Sam is a coffee grinder and

the pot by Caleb is for coffee after it has been cooked.

Sam age 3 years, 2 month, 13 days,

Laural age 10 years, 4 months,

Yohanna age 6 months, 5 days, and

Caleb age 6 years, 6 months and 13 days.

If my math is correct.

Yohanna looks so much older at least in the face.

Look how much the same size the two boy's look.

Larual's dress is a bit sexy good thing she has a shawl for it.

Look at this Ethiopian Princess

Those are the clothes we brought back and that is a basket table you use for

eating at the blanket with the star is a money maker a friend of Gretchen is selling to raise money for their trip.

Gotcha Day Part 2

This picture is of Yohanna before we got her I haven't had the chance to upload any yet.

Out and off again to the Golf Course for lunch and to visit with each other and enjoy the kids. We sat at an umbrella table. They asked if you wanted Cold soda. They open up the bottles and pour it for you even if you have been drinking it for a while and you glass is less than 1/2 full they come back and pour. I think they would wait on you hand and foot if you let them. Abel (Ebel) said the pizza here was great. But the waitress told us only Pizza at night. The 3 of us had beef stroganoff (sp) and rice. I kidded Gretchen that the only reason she ordered it was because it was made with wine. It was really good. 190 birr for 3 meals and 6 drinks. 11 birr for a large bottle of water, 32 ounces or comparable, ($1) Remember we have to drink bottles water and carry it with us. Lunch was just over $14 US dollars. We visited at the Golf Course for a long time. I'm going to tell you everything I wrote down during the trip so don't be surprised at what you read. The toilets at the Club were both in the same room, men and women. The men on the left and the women on the right and you share the same sink. There was an open window in the toilet area, there was a door on this one, not all of them had doors. The window was about waist high and open for all the world to see. The flush system here was a pull up the knob thing. They don't always work the first time. There was running water, a bar of soap and a blow dryer. Very up scale.

I got to give Yohanna her first bottle. She sucked it down in about 2 seconds. I tried to burp her half way through, but she COMPLAINED. She really spits up, I think that they feed her all the time. Gretchen says they won't let the babies cry. So they pick them up, walk them, rock them or feed them. I think most of the time they feed them. She's tiny. The clothes Gretchen brought were too big. I got to carry Elliott around for a while. The Golf Course was beautiful, they were setting up for a wedding, with tents on the lawn. After the Golf Course on the way back to the guest house I took a few pictures.
Abel stopped to get copies of our schedule. We dropped off Emily, Terri and Elliott. When we got back to the guest house Gretchen gave Yohanna a bath. Yonatan found a baby bath tub, but the water was cold. She didn't like it one bit. We expected the house help to come in to find out what we were doing to her. Hopefully Yonatan told them she was getting a bath. She had another bottle and a nap on the couch next to Gretchen. Gretchen slept too, she can do that at the drop of a hat. Bill was juicing up his equipment, camera, video camera and computer. He also downloaded the photos we took and we visited.

Cars here are twice what they are in the States, US= 10,000 dollars Ethiopia = 20,000 dollars or about 260,000 birr. Gas is a $1 per liter or $4 a gallon. Lots of Diesel Vehicles, so lots of fumes. Black clouds of smoke coming out from tailpipes. I know I said this before but it is worth restating several times.

Abel says there is much construction going on, investors from other countries, and we can see it all over. Most has happened in the last 6 years. The road we were on was less than 6 years old. Big Potholes, places where they stop and then start construction again. And the roads don't meet up. Cement then dirt, not gravel. Gretchen brought books from Drew and Jamie to Yonatan and Abel. They were soooo excited to get them. Abel's was The Love Dare, he is engaged, he read as we drove. I'd've been sick. Everyone here has a cell phone, they have nothing else but they have a cell phone. Some places have Wi Fi and there are cyber cafes. There is a fellow, Eyob (means the same as our Jacob) who is the gate keeper. He unlocks the gate and takes care of things, he is constantly washing and if you come out the door and he is heading your way he evades you and goes around the building. He also bows to greet us.

There are flowers everywhere, marigolds, roses, 4 o'clocks, everything we have in the summer is in bloom here I think almost all year. Not much grass though. The mower at the Golf Course looks like a snow blower. I think they rarely mow the grass it is long and the animals on the street take care of any vegetation that grows there.

Yohanna likes to have her had in her mouth, maybe she is getting a tooth, I think I felt something. She makes a big noise when she fills her pants. She stretches and squirms, holds her head up very well. Little whisps of curly hair. One curl on each side looks like horns.

We had a power outage for a couple of hours that night. We enjoyed sitting around and talking to Yonatan. He ordered us pizza, he says that is an American thing and he doesn't really eat it. 1 ham and 1 sausage. It was very good, stone oven baked that came from an American Pub. I think I might just go back to Ethiopia just to show them exactly how to make American food. they try but it is often weird the way they make it. It rained and was cold out. Other places around had power but Yonatan said that's because they have generators.

The house ladies lit a fire. They also lit candles, no candle holders, just plates they light the candle and then us the match to melt the bottom and set in on the plate. Each of our beds has a plate, candle and matches beside it. We talked about names. Here they are given a first name, ( and they all know what everyone's name means or they say it comes from the bible), their middle name is their father's name and their last name is their grandfathers, so my name would be Renee Roy Carl.

There are lots of misconceptions about Africa. They do have electricity most of the time we were told only 35%. There is plenty of water, maybe not for drinking but Eyob is always washing, letting the hose run. Monkeys do not run wild here but I did see one run along the top of the wall in Awasa. A few monkeys are used as pets and even trained to do household chores. It does rain at other times than just the rainy season. I think it rained almost everyday we were there, just a little bit. We really have seen very few beggars, two at the airport and 2 while we were driving. The driver told one woman to go away so she just went to the other side of the car. Yonatan says there is little crime here . But then I'm not sure how they would get in with gate keepers, barbed wire, glass shards and electric fence. Some theft, very few murders or suicides. Car insurance is very high, no wonder the way they drive.

This is the end of day two in Addis, only 122 more pages of my journal and the who knows how much more of my after thoughts.

A friend had this picture on her blog, it is sooooo cool.

I am so glad that I have children that understand facebook and blogs. Because of Gretchen I will be able to change my profile pictures and add photos to this blog.

New Flower continued/ and the Gotcha Day part 1

I just am learning to put on photos. This was taken at the end of the trip. Someone lives in this metal shed. There is a lock on the end of this shed, like a padlock. So they leave during the day and lock it up and sleep there at night.

I hate this computer. I hit one too many keys and then I couldn't get back to my post so here goes with the continuation.

( a smashed pop tart that is the plane ride was hard on my pop tarts) I had a pop tart everyday for breakfast. Bill usually had eggs and coffee. One morning G and B had pancakes. Very thick ones.

After breakfast we were off to the Morning Coffee Guest House to pick up Emily, Terri and Elliott.

Gretchen had been talking to Emily on the internet for quite a while but had never met her. Terri is Emily's sister and Elliott is Emily's little girl, an 8 month old that they had picked up at the transitional home the day before. Elliott is BEAUTIFUL, but the I hadn't met Yohanna yet. Sorry Emily but Grandma's are jaded. Elliott has piercing eyes and it also an Ethiopian Beauty. After picking up E, T and E ( Emily, Terri and Elliott) we were off to the Shalom Transitional Home were Yohanna was. Traffic wasn't as bad as it had been the day before. Of course it was after everyone had gone to work. Instead of a 1000 cars on the road maybe there was only 800. hahahaha More like Chicago at rush hour. Abel pronounced Ebel was our guide. He arrived at the guest house in a van with an Ethiopian driver named Abeselom. Everything is enclosed here, well not everything but most things. With locking gates and gate keepers. Metal or cement walls. The walls are high enough I couldn't reach the top standing on my toes and then there is barb wire, razor wire on top. Some places had broken glass embedded in the top and some hotels had electric fence on top. They are serious about not letting anyone into their compounds. Piles of rock lay along the road. Garbage either laying on the sides of the road or huge piles of it outside the compounds. There were street sweepers working in big straw hats and blue long sleeved clothing. I'm not sure they were accomplishing much there is soooo much dirt. We were dressed in capris and short sleeves and enjoying the temperature. The Ethiopians were covered up, in sweaters and coats, winter coats. It rained yesterday and it's raining here again, very hard, with lightening and thunder. It sounds worse because of the metal roofs. One of the things we were told before we went is that they don't get rain except during the rainy season, July-Sept. Wrong, I think it rained everyday we were there, not much but some. Stores with open fronts covered their wares with tarps. Speaking of tarps, we drove by one high rise and it was covered in blue torn tarps. I took a picture of it. When we got closer the sign on the side of the building said Weather Proofing. Hahahaha The van honked and the gates were opened and we drove in, then the gates were locked behind us. We walked in the doors of Shalom, forgot to take off our shoes ( which is custom, you either go sock footed or wear shoes they provide for you) and were up the steps to the infant room where Yohanna was in a matter of seconds. There she was in a Nanny's arms, eating, of course. I think that every picture we have gotten lately was her with a bottle in her mouth or milk running down her chin. Gretchen wanted me to run the video camera. I tried and tried, it kept turning off. Low battery. So I took some pictures. We put her back into her bed and took a picture of her there. If you look at that picture you can just imagine that is going through that little girls head. Who are these people? Where are they taking me? Where is my nanny? Where is my bottle? Soon, very soon we were downstairs. They gathered up the things that G and B had sent to Yohanna. She was dressed in the outfit that they had sent and was wrapped in the prayer blanket. We only spent about an hour there. You needed a permission slip from the adoptive parents to take pictures, so the head Nanny had a fit when we took any pictures. The older kids want to see and use our cameras so we let them take as may pictures as they wanted to. There are even pictures of them taking each others pictures. Ethiopia is on a 13 month+ calendar so it was just after the New Year there and there were Christmas decorations up, a tree on top of the TV stand. Merry Christmas above the door. It is also 2002 there so if you look at Yohanna's birth certificate it looks like she is older than Caleb who is 6+. That will all change when the new birth certificate is issued. The transitional home is bright and clean. There is a large playroom and kitchen down stairs. The Nannys are beautiful and all wear uniforms. Yohanna is beautiful , just a bitty baby. She has gone from 1 kilo to 5 kilos since she arrived at the orphanage. The Nannys had tears in their eyes when we left. They truly loved Yohanna. They also were very excited to see Elliott. I offered suckers to the older children. There were also little ones there, maybe 18 months, walking but not very old. I didn't offer them a sucker because I didn't know if it was ok. I think I made the head Nanny a little mad. She came over and curtly asked if they could have one too. Of course they could, I unwrapped several and gave them out. All the children were bright and happy, one little one was a bit quite and shy but who knows how long he had been there. It probably was quite over whelming. I know I was overwhelmed. Gretchen handed Yohanna to me. How light she is. I can hardly pick up Sam, he was the last baby we've had. Her skin is soooo soft and her hair is like peach fuzz. It is long if you stretch it out but it curls right up. Her eyes are so big, I'm not sure if that is normal or if she has sooooo much to take in she looks rather surprised all the time.

Who are these people? They don't look like me. Maybe she can't tell that yet, when do babies distinguish color? Oh well, I certainly hope she can feel how much we love her and how excited we are to have her with us. I'd love to take them all home with me. These children at this home all have parents waiting for them thank goodness. They just have to wait for court dates and embassy dates. Please God make those dates come quickly, these children need to be home with families. We are lucky though the caregiver/child ratio is 1 to 2 for infants and just a little higher for older children. Other orphanages are 1/20 or much higher.

New Flower Guest House

Addis means New Flower. When we walked in the door, I whispered to Gretchen. I Want To Go Home. That was because of the car ride. We got all our baggage in and G and B had one room downstairs and I had the one across the hall. There was a bathroom in between. The toilet flushes with a button on the tank, not much water, europian style. The guest house was really nice just plainly furnished. Three bedrooms downstairs, one was the managers. The living room and dining room were together, with kind of a kitchen behind the counter. Hot plate, microwave and sink. The refrigerator was in another building. G and I played Phase 10, she won of course, even in Ethiopia I can't win at cards. We visited with Yonatan after he got there. Gretchen thought maybe he walked back from the Hilton, but he took a cab. Little blue and white cars, there must be a 1000 of them. Yonatan says they are cheep. I got a little mixed up on my last post. The airport was near our guest house but the Hilton wasn't. So it was a long car ride in rush hour traffic. The beginning of my journal is a little sketchy, I get better as I go along. We decided to go to bed. Of course I was dead tired but couldn't go to sleep. So I read a couple of chapters in my book and realized I had already read that book. I left it there in hopes that someone else would enjoy it. Even with a sleeping pill I woke up in the middle of the night to Dogs howling, Cats yowling and someone crying/screaming. I realized it was Gretchen across the hall having a panic attack. She told me about it the next day. Bill got her calmed down. I thought about going over there but then I decided that if he needed me he would come and get me. I woke up at about 7 and got dressed. Yonatan had tried to wake up G and B, no luck. So I went and got them up. Bill had breakfast of eggs, bread and coffee. Gretchen decided on a protein bar and I had a pop tart. ( smashed pop tart that is, the

The Ride Home :(

So here we go out of the hotel parking lot and on to the streets of Addis. I was in the front seat. What I wouldn't have given for that sleeping mask they gave us on the plane. G and B were stuffed in the back seat with 2 large suitcases and three of the carry-ons. All the parking lots have speed bumps in them, so it was bumpy before we even got on the main road. Later we found out we were very close to the airport but it certainly didn't feel that way when we were in the car. It was rush hour. In Ethiopia they have two times. First they are 9 hours ahead of us so when it is 3 pm here it is midnight there. The other time has to do with the working time. At 6 am it is one and so on until 6 pm when it is one again. Working hours and playtime hours. Well I'm not sure about the playtime for most people but the day spa near us was open 24/7. Our guide Able used his cell phone to keep track of one time and his watch to keep track of the other. I'm not sure how to describe the drive. Chicago rush hour times 10 or 20 or 100. Children here make a vroom vroom sound when they pretend to drive a toy car. In Ethiopia, the children there say beep, beep, beep. It is constant. There are stop signs but they don't pay attention to them. No stop light. U- turns everywhere. Cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys and people just walk out in front of you. On a later trip we waited for a bulldozer to move out of the way and drove right through the construction sight. Every so often the car had to slow down because the pavement didn't meet up with the next stretch of pavement and there was a hole the width of the road and about 6 - 8 inches deep. The exhaust fumes were AWFUL. You know who bad a semi here can be when they are climbing a steep hill. Black exhaust. Well all the vehicles there are that way. There are very very few new cars. When they buy a car there the government charges them as much as the car is worth in taxes. $10,000 car = $20,000 purchase price so they can't afford good cars. The exhaust made me sick and Gretchen sleepy. There are 5 million people who live in Addis besides all those who come there to work, shop, for school, for appointments and to beg. Where we would have a two lane road, they would have at least 3 lanes of traffic. I have pictures of how close we were to other cars. I could have reached over and wiped the nose of the guy in the van next to us. I'm not sure what their speed limit was, I think it was just FAST. The streets here are amazing, sad but amazing. Everything seems to be stacked on top of each other. Every building except stores has a fence around it. Most are cement or corrigated sheet metal. People would stand in the street talking as cars sped by inches from them. People had their wares set up on the street, not on the curb, on the street. Malls were not one level but many levels. Stores were often about 12 feet wide with open fronts. One street had plumbing, pipes, toilets, tile, van doors, fresh fruit, DeWalt tools, and Home Depot. We saw a God Father's Pizza. The honking was constant. The driver said if your horn doesn't work, don't drive.

We Finally Got There !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

** Note about breakfast on the plane. I didn't sleep at all on the flight going over. We had breakfast omelets. Just think these had been made before we left Rome after the refueling. Potato cake, mushrooms, tomatoes, mixed fruit, a roll covered in powdered sugar and a crepe.

G and B refused to eat. It really smelled bad. I ate the potato but the rest looked pretty bad.

We finally got to Addis about 9:30am their time. We got through immigration and customs ok. Next we went to exchange money $1 US for 13+ Birr. It was . something something, I don't remember. I exchanged about $400 worth of US money and had a pile of birr that would hardly fit into my fanny pack. We headed out to find our ride to the hotel. We weren't on the list to be picked up because they expected us to be in yesterday. But it all worked out. In the airport parking lot was the first time I experienced a beggar. We were told not to give them anything because the people who were escorting us would get in trouble but it certainly was hard to look the other way and say no. They just stood there watching our vehicle leave. We went to the Hilton. it was 4000 birr per night. They fought with Bill about two rooms. He insisted we need only one. The beds were pretty small but B and G are love birds after all. I'd say they were 3/4 beds, I haven't seen one of those since I was young. That's the size of bed my great grandparents slept in and Grandma Hilma was about as big around as she was tall and my Grandpa Lewis was 6 foot 1in, I can't imagine being very comfortable. Before we could even get into our room though we ran back and forth to the desk twice because the keys wouldn't work. Finally a maid let us in. The internet was expensive, the phones wouldn't take Gretchen's phone card. Gretchen tried to call about being picked up tomorrow, nothing works like it does at home. And no one seems to want to help, or they don't understand or it costs more money. Bill was really sick so we thought we'd get a bit to eat and then he could go to bed. We went down stairs looking for something to drink like a soda, just so Bill could take some medicine and go to bed. No luck he'd have to go back upstairs and order room service. This is ridiculous . So we went to the dining room for lunch. Cream of Chicken or Cream of Potato soup with leeks, rolls and water. 254 birr/ $20. This was the most expensive meal we had. We could get steak dinners later in the week for $4. Bill went to bed and Gretchen and I walked around the grounds. We thought about swimming , But It Cost More Money. Unbelievable. The hotel, for being the Hilton, was in very poor shape. There were huge cracks in the walls, the bathroom was dirty. We were out enjoying the sights on the balcony. You should have seen the crack there. I'm sure we were taking our life in our hands. Gretchen and I took a shower. At least that made us feel a little bit better. Gretchen got through to the attorney to come and get us from the hotel. She wasn't feeling very comfortable here. They agreed to come and get us about 5. We woke up Bill about 4, or at least when the clock in the room said 4, so he could shower and get ready for check out and the ride to the guest house. Actually it was only 3:15 the clock in the room was wrong, but we really weren't sure what time it was it's hard to know when we had traveled through so many time zones. So we sat in the Lobby for over an hour. G and B went to Ethiopian Airlines that had an office in the lobby. They are a very poor airline for accommodating anyone. I sat and watched our luggage. It was a very uncomfortable setting. You had to go through a metal detector before entering the hotel. People were whispering and pointing. Every time anyone did anything for you they expected a tip.

Finally Yonatan, the guest house manager, a very tall and thin young man arrived to take us back to the New Flower Guest House. He was with a "friend" who actually turned out to be a co-owner of the guest house. He had a small SUV and we had 5 carry ons, 5 large suitcases, and the 5 of us. Well all of us but Yonatan got in the car. He said he'd see us back at the guest house. The bell hop had already peeled about $10 from us for moving our luggage around, and he complained that we gave him US dollars.

Next post The Ride Home

I've been to Rome

Tuesday at 1:00am we were in Rome. Just to refuel. Of course it was dark so you couldn't see anything. But I can say I was there. Thank goodness Gretchen got to sit with us because someone was sick in the back of the plane. They came on in Rome to help clean up the mess and bring on food for the rest of the trip. We had a snack Ethiopian Airline Airplane Snack Crackers and water. (Bread and Water) and 2 meals, actually the food isn't too bad maybe a little dry and cold but you were able to eat it. rice and chicken, salad, roll and cheesecake, chicken salad, roast beast, apple salad, roll and the best chocolate cake G had ever eaten.

So far to eat we've bought soda and water, sandwiches at Quisno's. USO Food, turkey, cheese, chili, fruit, little debbie snacks, all free. Drew and Jaime wouldn't let us buy dinner or gas. Jamie washed clothes, ordered carryout, offered showers and coffee, woke us up burned DVDs and got us back to the airport by 6. They are my heros.

The trip, I think it's day two we have been in airports tooooo long.

We flew out of Chicago as 10:25am. They had to scan my purple bag twice. I don't know what they were looking for. Gretchen and I got to sit in the 1st row seats. Bill moved to the back to even out the weight of the plane. That was scary enough in itself. We got to Columbus about 11:30am and sat to wait for the DC Flight. We got lunch sandwiches and chips and something to drink. They announced that the plane was delayed waiting on a pilot. Then they came over the speakers and said that that pilot was unavailable. Gretchen thinks he had flown too many hours, I think he just didn't show up. They were calling in another pilot. Wait again. Gretchen is getting more and more anxious. This time they spoke it was to inform us that the second pilot could not get in because of the weather, probably stuck in a snow drift. Gretchen came unglued. Bill called the travel agent. I sat with Gretchen to peel her off the wall if necessary. Thankfully Bill got through because by the time he got to the counter all the seats were booked. We will fly out at 6 am on Monday. Ethiopian Air leaves at 9:30am. We hope and pray that it works out be have to get there, get the tickets and our bags, get across the terminal and onto the plane in less than 2 1/2 hours. Gretchen called her WONDERFUL friend Jamie and Drew. They live about 45 minutes from Columbus and were willing to come and get us, let us stay at their home and take us to the plane the next day. This all on top of just arriving home from Ethiopia themselves with their new son Mamo. It was jetlag city at their house. We had a great time. Chinese carrout, showers, rest and above all our clothing was washed. Of course Bill left his there. At least he won't get patted down again because he has a hoody on. We were in Chillothe (sp) Ohio a bit farther on our long journey. It was nice to meet the family and I think that Bill and Gretchen slept well that night. Which was a good thing. Chillothe Ohio is the biggest speed trap in the USA. Just a bit of trivia. Drew drove us to the airport on Monday morning. Had plenty of time to wait and met a lawyer for the air controllers. Her name was Jennifer, we told her our story and she told us her's. She gave Gretchen her card in case we didn't make it out of DC. She'd come and get us to stay with her. The kindness of strangers. We arrived in Dulles at about 8:38am Ethiopian Air boarded at 8:45. We still had to get our luggage and boarding passes. We found 5 of the 6 bags. This time Bill and I worked and Gretchen stood and watched the luggage. Jennifer even helped us out, she wasn't meeting a plane just going home. It was getting late so we gave up. The bag lost was a donation bag, of course it had the blankets we were going to us while we were in Africa for Yohanna. It was Nathan's bag sorry Nathan. Bill went for the tickets and we brought the bags. Only one was over weight ant the others were under so they DIDN"T CHARGE US, YEAH. We RAN to the shuttle, taking things off as we rode so we would be ready for security. Got through Security ok, Bill and Gretchen got through first. They had their shoes on and ready to go. We were off on a dead sprint. I was sock footed and G asked if I wanted to stop and put on my shoes. I said no just run. So we got on the tram and I got put back together. Heart already beating outside my chest. As soon as the doors were open we were running again. I could hardly catch my breath. Then I threw a shoe. Leave me behind I felt like yelling but Gretchen was bent over trying to catch her breath. "Here's your PT Bill you run on and tell them to hold the plane." I hobbled on as quickly as I could. Remember I have 2 stents in my heart and I am old and fat. Then I saw Bill stop dead in his tracks. Oh no the plane is gone, I thought. No the plane hadn't even left because of the snow. Whewwwwwwwwwwwwwww We were able to sit for about 15 minutes. Take a breather and get something to drink. My mouth was like cotton not only from the running but from the motion sickness patches. At 11:55am DC time we were in the air over the ocean. We are in the 3 middle isle seats. A young lady agreed to move so Gretchen could sit with Bill and I. G's tickets were different because she had planned on flying to Columbus on Thursday to meet Jaime and Drew at the airport but that plan fell through so G was going to have to sit in the back of the plane. Gretchen told us she had gotten stopped at security for a soda bottle of coke in her bag. Now we are all criminals flying together. Drew told us that what ever we brought home from Africa be sure not to mention kilo, that term is not flier friendly. Use pound.

Airports/ USO/ Rummy/ Waiting............

Feb. 6th-It's 7:ooam and I've been up for a few hours. Bill wanted to get to the airport early. We picked up Seth so he could take the van home. Dragged in our suitcases, they actually didn't charge us for them. Amazing. I expected to pay at least $20 a bag. I'm sure we paid for it some where. . The 3 kids are home with Grandpa. They were suppose to go to play cards. Uncle Seth is going to stay the night and be there to help with the Super Bowl Party. Bill is on his laptop and Gretchen is laying down resting. We went through security and they checked my backpack twice. All over a silly four pack of bubble gum. Bill got patted down. Gretchen says she is flying with a bunch of criminals. Gretchen is laying down resting and Bill is on the computer.

12:20The flight to Chicago was sooooooo short. Gretchen fell asleep, she thought it was a long time but I think we just got up in the air and the captain told us we were landing. I never walked so much in my life. I think we saw every inch of O'Hare. When we got to Chicago all the DC flights were canceled. The first flight out was at 6am on Monday. Trying to get to DC a different way, your mom is in tears. I just took care of the bags, helpless. It's a good thing your dad has a level head.

1:45pm We went to the USO and had lunch turkey and cheese sandwich, pretzels and water. I am including everything we ate because just a few weeks ago I found my mom's journal when she went to Russia for a mission trip, she was just like her mom and included everything they ate so I thought I should too. We played Rummy to 500, I don't remember the last time I got to play Rummy, remember the Hart's play Hearts. Bill won. Waiting till 4 so we can to talk to Turkish Air to try to get to Ethiopia. B and G had pizza.

4:45 pm back to the USO. No flights to DC till Monday. Hopefully we will fly out to Columbus tomorrow morning and then to DC and on to Ethiopia. Our bags are locked up they won't let us have them even though we are in Chicago and they are too. They gave is a 50% off coupon for a hotel. Maybe our bags will get to DC maybe not. We have been to United, Ethiopian Air and Turkish Air they are all suppose to work together but no one wants to take the reins and let us change our tickets. Actually Ethiopian doesn't want to give up the cost of the tickets. They say they have a alliance but no one will give an inch. Right now DC has 36 inches of show and are suppose to get 6 more. Who knows if we get to DC if we will be able to get out of there. They say that a hanger collapsed. I met a lady from Germany that had spent 36 hours in Chicago and wasn't sure when she would get out. She had shared a hotel room with a stranger who was standing in line with her. She hoped she would get out tomorrow, going through England. The other girl has no money and who knows when she will get to fly out. At least we have a place to go tonight. We were able to take the tram to the hotel and have a shower. So much for today. Pray for tomorrow and that the flights will go as planned.

Finishing up the first journal

I washed clothes to take to Africa and I counted stuffed animals. I bought suckers to take with. I filled 5 shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse and put 5 stuffed animals in them that leaves 104, 100 was my goal.

November 20th. Your siblings came to stay, it's deer season. Grandpa and Uncle Seth are at the Deer Camp. No one has gotten a deer yet. Your mom told me that the trip has been pushed back again, your not at the orphanage yet. G is discouraged, we all are but maybe it will be for the best, maybe sometime over summer vacation after Seth's wedding. I bought you a Christmas present, I guess it will have to wait too. I was hoping to go sooner that later. We are going to bag groceries for tips, that should be interesting. I made curtains for your room. They look great. I have material left over and plan on making a wall hanging for your room, if I can figure out how to make it work. I just need to buy a new sewing machine. The old one quit when I finished up your curtains.

WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Your mom and Sam came to school. I was very confused. "What's wrong." "Your gonna be a grandma again." They got the referral and I got flowers. It was planned that Grandpa Speed and I would come up after work so that they could open the email together. Of course Grandpa was slow. I think your mom called twice to see where we were. We celebrated with a glass of wine and Pizza. We went to Walmart to get pictures made. What a determined tiny little girl. Stretching and growing even though people didn't think you would make it. The day that Laural got hurt was the day you were born. 9/10/09 Your folks were in the hospital on one side of the world while you were coming into the world on the other.

Dec. 22nd- We bagged groceries at HyVee. 5 hours of hard work for $229. Laural manned the donation table with Dalton Groeper. Randy, G, B and I bagged groceries. One order was $800. Amazing. Several people asked about where we got the bag that held the donation container. The Dollar Tree. Sometime in here G and B sent your medical records to a specialist. He wasn't very positive and said we would be luck to bring you home. More prayers. We are coming to get you, WE ARE WE ARE WE ARE!!!!!!!!!

Dec. 25th - We got new pictures for Christmas, you are getting to be a little butterball. How wonderful. Short and Cute that's my motto.

New Years Eve your family came over to celebrate. G and B were fasting till evening. Praying for a good outcome at court. Midnight our time would be 9:00am your time, prayers went up all over for the judge to ok your adoption.

New Year Day- We went up to your house. Your mom was bouncing off the wall. She was going crazy for the call to come in. I figured we would just be disappointed again. 5:30pm THE CALL CAME. YOU ARE REALLY OURS, 100% THE ADOPTION WAS FINAL. We had wine again and pizza. The wine bottles are on the china closet as mementos of the occasions.

Jan. 9th I packed the 2nd suitcase for the orphanage.

Jan 10th The congregation prayed over the suitcases of donations at church. You are 4 months old. After church I repacked the suitcases to make them more even and I packed what I would probably take.

The school had a jeans week and all the money that was donated will go to Ethiopia with us for the orphanages. $1 US dollar is worth 13 Birr (their money) so that money will go a lot farther there. We can purchase things that are too heavy to pack like formula.

Jan 11th- Went to town to get last minute things and comfort food, oatmeal, mac and cheese, candy bars, gum, brown sugar and hard candy among other things. Still not sure about our departure date..

Jan 18th- The congregation laid hands on us and prayed for us. I certainly felt better about the whole trip afterwards.

Jan 21st Well another day has gone by and not travel plans again. Your mom's kind of sad. Maybe we will find out news on Monday.

Jan 23rd- We went to town to look for seeds. In the fall Caleb (after watching a movie about the Ethiopian Famine) told his mom that maybe we should take a package of seeds, so the people would have food. A few minutes later he came back to say maybe we should take 2 so they wouldn't fight over it. G bought 12 packages, squash, pumpkin and beans. She plans on taking pictures of Caleb with the seeds and pictures of the person we give them too accepting the seeds. How sweet can a 6 years old be?

Jan 24th- Everyone at church wanted to know- WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE YESTERDAY?

Paper Work, Government Regulations, ETC. I am sooooo tired of the date being pushed back.

Finally we are going. Feb. 6th, 10:20am from the Peoria Airport.

Gretchen called on Friday the 5th, the Ethiopian Air Flight was canceled because of bad weather. We wouldn't get to go out until Sunday. No LaLaBella (sp) Trip. G and B were really looking forward to this. But we still will get to go to Awasa. They won't reschedule any of the other flights so we still have to fly out of Peoria and wait at DC. At least we get to go. Yeah