Ethiopia: Day 5 (in pictures)

View of the city

Pepsi truck :)

Some of the many taxis that peppered the city.

View of the city

Heading up the mountain

The burros go up and down the mountain with their owners

House that was about 1/2 way up the mountain

Another house

Doing a tribal jig inside the church at the top of the mountain

Yonas, the best driver EVER.

Outside the church, with Woudneh.

View

This place was indescribably beautiful.

The girls :)

The men were bonding

Stunning views

Heading to the market....not allowed to get out due to the pick pockets, but it was fun to drive through.

One of many shoe shine businesses

Breezes Restaurant at the Sheraton....look, there's TOILET PAPER :)

This was my lunch.

The kitchen and eating area

This was the door man!

Later, we had dinner at Woudneh's...this is the whole gang!

The shower at our room (the little hole in the wall was the shower spout)

Happiness in a bottle.

Ethiopia: Day 4

After a whirlwind day, yesterday...today promised to be another day of great happenings!  As you can see, from the pictures I posted, the views of Ethiopia from our van was humbling, sad, glorious and beautiful....all at the same time.  So many heartbreaking scenes, yet so much beauty.  The women were modest, in their dress, and their eyes could tell a beautiful story.  The men (and women) were hard working and were very diligent in what they did.  There were a lot of unfinished buildings, so many make shift homes on the side of the road and so many people laying, asleep, in the median.


We all met, at the restaurant and had breakfast, but instead of anticipation, we were elated and eager to share our individual stories with the other couples.  I believe we were all still processing the things that we had seen and heart and the touches we felt by so many children.  Once breakfast was over, we headed down the same path, as we did the previous day, heading to the orphanage.  The Monks' safely headed back to Nazret to see their boys and we loaded up the van, with the Veal's to see our kids.


When we got there, it was a much different scene from the previous day.  There was a nanny there, who made the kiddoes tow the line.  We backed in and all the kids were sitting down, on the curb, quiet as little mice :)  We walked up to Abinet and sat on the ground, in front of him.  He instantly knew that we belonged to him :)  His smile said it all.  He started looking for his picture book, so we tracked that down and we sat and went through it, over and over again.  


We played soccer and he loved on us....we didn't know that the slide was off limits, so we started to gather some children and play on the equipment.  There were several little boys who had the most fun....Mebrate, well she was a different story.  She had no use for that slide, at all :)  The stricter nanny informed us that we were killing the grass and to go play elsewhere :/  Oops.  Luckily, the Veal's brought bubbles and WOW the kids loved loved loved them!  We were blowing bubbles, eating peanut butter crackers and singing Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord.  These kids are so loved and so well taken care of.  I'm so thankful for each and every nanny there!  As well as, Yonas, the director. 

Speaking of crackers...I didn't post about this yesterday.  As we sat, I got out my PB crackers.  I handed one to Abinet and he was so gentle with it.  Like it was a great great treasure.  He cracked it open and gently picked the peanut butter off of both halves, then gingerly, he ate the cracker.  It was so precious.  Once the crackers were gone, I introduced him to M & M's.  He looked at it, like it was some sort of foreign object.  Mebrate immediately said "chocolate" in her precious voice, with her dimples just shining.  She knew exactly what to do.  Abinet placed *an* M & M on his tongue and then proceeded to stick it out and show everyone...he had no clue what to do with it.  I ate one and showed him how to chew it...he started chomping like there was no tomorrow LOL.  On this day, he *knew* there was food in my bag.  After much loving, playing soccer and cuddling...he wanted some food.  I handed him a cracker and thought that he would repeat yesterday's event of eating it.  Well, not so much :)  He shoved the whole thing in his mouth and laughed hysterically!  It was so funny.


He is a gently child, when I'm cuddling him, but if gets up for a moment and someone else steals his seat....he grabs them by the collar and slings them out.  Then he reclaims his throne and just pats and rubs my arm.  He preferred us to be standing up and holding him, but he is so darn heavy that it makes it almost impossible.

We were able to stay and listen to the teacher teaching the children...what a blessing to hear all these kids singing praises to our God!  After school (which they let Abinet stay with us, so we could have some alone time), the kids starting cleaning up for lunch.  They would all, so diligently, wash their hands and then head off to the school room, which was soon transformed into the lunch room.  Everyone had their spots and quietly waited for their lunch to be served.  There was no grabbing of food, there was simply patience.  They ate injera and a type of red sauce on it and the kids ate every last bit.  If eneded, they could have seconds.  It was a joy to watch all these children eat and be satisified.


Once lunch was over, there was a short playtime.  The babies, stayed in their room (2 infants per bed, there were 7 cribs) and the toddlers went onto bed.  The 3-6 yr old kids played some soccer and enjoyed the love the Americans were there to offer.  The kids were clearly tired because they were getting grumpy.  They wake up when the sun comes up (about 6 am) and they go to bed when the sun goes down (about 6 pm), so it makes for a long day.  They do take a 3 hr. nap, after lunch.  Everywhere we looked, there were kids on one of the many potty chairs that were scattered throughout the orphanage or they were scrambling to pick up the prizes that they found (a pipe, a bottle cap, trash, it didn't really matter), then they'd go and line up their shoes, by the door and find their spot.  Each child shared a bed with another child.  Abinet was no different from the other children...he did as he had done every other day for the last, however long, he had been at the orphanage.  Just like clockwork.  It was a sad joy to tuck him in because we thought that was the last time we would see him, for a while.


When we were picked up, we headed to lunch at Lucy's Restaurant.  It was like an oasis in the middle of the busyness of the city.  We ordered pizza, there.  We ate, laughed and ate some more!  After lunch was over, we walked over to the Ethiopian National Museum, where Yonas awaited us.  He was our guide throughout the 4 story museum.  I didn't bore anyone with the pictures, I took alot.  I really like museums :)


After all of that...we headed back to the Crown. We cleaned up and then we all met and chatted in the restaurant, for supper.  We were able to somewhat communicate with our families through the internet in our hotel.  We shared our events of the day and our nervousness about our court date the next day.  It was another gloriously busy day in Ethiopia....

Ethiopia: Day 4 (Pictures)

A picture of the love these people have for one another!

A ginormous goat pen.

Hospital

He was pouting :(

He found some chocolate in my bag :)

So so precious

Learning the English alphabet

The boys found me....hiding in the baby room :)

He wanted to get to me...through the window.

Rules of the orphanage

Laundry area

Play yard, that they aren't allowed to play in....oops ;)

Eric watching Abinet and Bart holding Mebrate (she was thrilled with the slide)

The forbidden slide.....he had so much fun, till we got caught ;)

The wonderful kitchen ladies

This is the lady that works with the children in school.

Salaam is the nurse (wonderful) and Yonas is the director of the orphanage.

Family Pic

Big daddy and little man

Cheese

Eric, Denise and Mebrate Veal

All the nannies of the orphanage.

Learning how to blow bubbles.

Another nanny and little man

The lined their shoes up before bed

The Lucy Restaurant (toilet paper here, for those keeping counts of places with and without it)

Random turtles between the Lucy Restaurant and the Lucy Museum

Homes

View of the city.

View of the city

Part of the mural on the ceiling of the traditional restaurant at the Crown.  They had the most amazing music, dancing and singing that I've ever seen.

Ethiopia: Day 3: Part 2

Finally, we turn the corner and head down an alley way.  People were lying in the rocks, sleeping....malnourished dogs walking up and down.  The road was rough, then we look to the side and see beautiful paintings on the outside of the wall.  We realize that we have arrived.....my heart is in my throat and I have a hard time containing my emotions.

We see these iron doors and then they open....we hear squeals and screams of delight and as I looked out the door.....children are EVERYWHERE!  They are screaming, laughing, jumping up and down....trying to get their hand to touch mine through the window of the van.  I climb out, only to be surrounded by 30 little people clamoring to touch us and to be hugged and held....I look up and there he is, Abinet........my heart is now out of my chest beating a mile a minute.  I look at Bart and I say........"there he is, there is our son!"  We walk over and he clearly isn't feeling well.  We sit on the ground and just stare.  All the busyness just fades away and it is like it is just me, Bart and Abinet in the world.  I long for my other kids to be here, to savor this moment with me.  I couldn't speak, I didn't want to frighten him and grab him and hug him.  So, there we sat.  


Soon, he warmed up to us...we were already to grab him and jaunt back to the US.  Since, that wasn't an option, we opted on playing soccer with our little man.  Bart played with him for the longest time, while I just sat in aah of God's glorious provisions and answered prayers.  Then, it was my turn to play.  I'm clearly not a soccer player and my son clearly is LOL.  He doesn't speak any English, so we are doing great with sign language.  He loved it when I threw the ball and he'd bounce it off his chest or off his head.  He began to get very good at sign language since our communication was not a whole lot to be desired :)


The nannies were amazing and they love the children oh, so much.  They were kind and caring of each child.  They did their best with what they are given.  There are a lot of kids there and there are so many needs.  We fell in love with all of the children there, but Abinet stole our hearts...........as did the beautiful country of Ethiopia.


When we had to go, we were picked up and then headed to the Zebra Grill.  It was a colorful restaurant with very good food.  They also had toilet paper, which was a huge plus.  The view from the restaurant was gorgeous...you could see so much of the city.  This is where we had our first taste of injera....it was...interesting....a spongy type of bread that had a vinegary taste to it.  I didn't know you were supposed to dip it in something...I ate it, just by picking on it.  Blech, bad idea.  The funny part was, as we were sitting there, we starting hearing Dolly Parton, Randy Travis and Shania Twain LOL.  We travel 1/2 way across the world to hear country music played at the Zebra Grill.  


After we left there, we fought traffic to make it to Woudneh's office. We needed to fill out more paperwork.  His office was in a big building with lots of other small businesses.  It was a busy place.  Woudneh was clearly having an issue with something, so he worked on his business and we worked on paperwork.  One of our fellow peeps, discovered that there was no toilet paper in the bathroom.....LOL....I'll just leave at that.  We also learned that toilet paper is a prized possession and that you brought it with you and took it back with you got down with your business LOL...


We met a lovely man, Solomon (a foolish Solomon, not the wise one).  He helped with our paperwork and he informed us that he was creating a life history of our kids, complete with DVD of where our kiddoes lived.  Wow, fantastic! I've got to remember to send him a video...need to do that.  Once we got done with that, we headed back to the Crown.  We all sat in the teapot room and had the best coffee, ever..along with popcorn :)  The floor was covered with fragrant grass and the coffee was hand ground and then heated up over open coals.  The young lady was a beauty and very funny.  She informed me that she was married and had been for 13 yrs.  She seemed so young to be married for that long.  She also has and 8 yr. old child.  We sat, talked and laughed.  She took me outside to show me the "just grass" that smelled so good.  Then I happened to look up and saw a beautiful yellow flower.  I asked about and she gently looked at me and said "I give you flower if you take my child to America.  You adopt her."  My heart sank as she looked so hopeful.  I explained that I couldn't do that....it was so hard...so sad.


We all were tired and so we all headed to bed.............Day 4 coming soon to a blog near you :)

RAD Moment

Taking time out of my Ethiopian moment to have a reality check of the horrors of RAD (reactive attachment disorder).

Can I just say....it SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (sorry if you are reading this, mom, I know how terribly you hate that word).

The lies.............the ongoing lies that NEVER SEEM TO STOP!

Lie #1...."Who wrote on the wall?"  The 5 not me's all hollered at the same time.  Well, in a process of elimination, I could knock out Bug, Peach and Catfish.  There stood Boo and G.  I looked and the writing was too good to be Boo's, so he was eliminated and there she stood.  "I didn't do it!  I didn't do it!  I would NEVER write on the walls!  I might have done it, but I don't remember writing on the walls.  I know I didn't do it.  Really, I promise, I'm not lying!"  So, knowing that she did do it, I told her to go to the living room and wait for her discipline.  Before that ensued, she confessed.

Lie #2...."Why did you constantly throw your jacket off the back of the hayride?" ... G "I didn't do it, it just fell...who told you I did that...I promise I didn't do it."  Ms. XXX saw you do it, is she lying?  "Yes, can I talk to her because I know that I didn't do it.  I swear.  I'm not lying."  Today, as she is being disciplined (again) for another lie...I ask this same question again....her response "yes, I lied, yes, I threw it off again and again because I wanted to see what would happen."

Lie #3...Bug walks into the dining room WITH MY CABINET DOOR IN HER HAND.  Me "What happened", Bug "I don't know, it was laying in the floor."  I call G in the dining room, "what happened?"  G..."I don't know, I wasn't even in there (bear in mind that she had been cleaning the kitchen for the last 2 hrs, so yes, she was in the kitchen).  I could eliminate Boo and Catfish, they were outside.  Peach was in the living room and Bug was in the bathroom...only other person left is me and G.  "I didn't do it, I swear.  I wasn't even in there.  It wasn't me...I'm not lying!!!!!!!!!!!"  So, I ask her again.  She confesses.  Her intentions (in summation of her long drawn out confession) was to sit it back up, let someone else take "break it" and then let them take the blame.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This crap NEVER ENDS!  I'm raising a pathological liar who cares about no one else.  She just wants the world to revolve around her.

I'm tired, irritated, wondering what I have done wrong, why can't I fix this.....will it ever get better, will she end up in jail because of her lying ways.

I'm simply tired..........completely and utterly tired of this constant CRAP!

***now, back to the regularly scheduled blog posts on my trip to Africa***