Ethiopia at Last- what I wasn't expecting.

Today was the day we have dreamed of for so long and it could not have been better, we started out on our trip to Addis Ababa on Friday night with a send off from some of our dearest friends in Gig Harbor. They prayed for us, took our kids under their wing, and we were off. The first flight was a red eye to DC. Then a 5hour layover followed by a 13 hour leg to Addis Ababa. But no one wants to read about the plane ride, right?

After dropping everything off at the hotel we headed to the care center. We stopped on the way and bought 3 huge bags of fruit at a street kiosk for the kids and nannies. We have heard that this is a huge treat for them.

The driver took a more bumpy back road route then we have been on before, but soon we rounded a corner and saw the walls of the care center. Neighboring children gathered around the car while we waited for the gate to be opened. The driver had told us that they were asking for chocolate.

The kids were all out playing in the courtyard when we pulled in. We saw some familiar faces of children we met in our last trip who have not gone home yet, or do not have families matched with them yet. They are so precious and I have come to cherish them as I get to know some of their parents back home and know more about their journeys . They know that when the parents come they want to take their pictures, so they were coming up to me saying, "Parent!" and posing for a picture. They would gather up their siblings, if they had them.

This was sweet, but I was ready to sprint to the baby room and get my girl! So we rolled the video camera and set off. Sitting in front of the door were the two older babies, both with runny little noses. Sitota was in the other room getting changed. Her loving and kind nanny, Benmet, was putting a diaper on her for the last time.

I imagined this moment of reunitting with Sitota being perfectly happy, but it was hard to see Benmet say goodbye. She clearly adored Sitota. She was tears as she handed her to me. I know she will miss our sweet girl. Benmet was the one holding her the first tipi me we saw her in the doorway pf the baby room in April. She told me Sitota was "silent". She also said she was a good baby. I am sure that if we didn't have a language barrier she would have said much more about her fondness for the baby. I could see it in her eyes. Today words were lacking again, but her tears spoke volumes of how this baby has been more than just another mouth to feed. When we finally left, Benmet told Sitota, " I love you." And then we grabbed her in our arms and kissed her and snuggled her and told her over and over that we loved her. After a few more pictures with the other kids, we drove away to forever with our girl.