Day One in Ethiopia (Friday May 15, 2009)

We met our travel group for breakfast at the Union Hotel. They are all wonderful people and we were so happy to get to know them. After breakfast we went to the Holt Office for introductions of the staff and then we were taken upstairs to meet the children. As soon as we walked in the door there were children everywhere. Benji had walked in before me and was Digafu right away.

He said "Christa, look!" and was pointing down. There in front of him was the smallest little boy I'd ever seen. We knelt next to him and looked into those beautiful eyes. The eyes we had thought were so big in the pictures seemed smaller on such a little man. They are still big, just on a very small body. Tekiabech (the Holt social worker) knelt down and told Digafu "Digafu this is Mommy" and he walked up to me and took a hug. We were instantly in love. He wasn't too sure about us yet, but we hoped by Monday he would be. (We found out we get to take full custody Monday instead of Tuesday.) We spent about 45 minutes with him and then Tekiabech came and said the US Embassy called and said the picture Holt had sent for his travel visa was not right and needed to be retaken (it needed a white background). She said he and two other children had to go have them retaken. I assumed they would be taken to another room and "snap" it would be done. Nope, they were taken to the Embassy, I think. They were gone about an hour and a half. Before he left we noticed he is very possessive of the toys. We hope Avery understands this when we get home. He loves anything that uses technology like daddy's watch and the cameras. He is very smart!! He never talked around us, only made noises when other children took away his toys. If we had more time with him on that first day I bet he would have opened up more. While he was gone we played with the other children. They loved all the attention.

Everyone we talked to in Ethiopia just loves Digafu. Our driver and all around go-to guy, Dawit, spoke highly of Digafu as well. He said Digafu is very active and very smart and that he was sure we would like him. When we first met Tekiabech that morning she said Digafu is VERY smart and that she calls him the little Professor.

Upon Digafu's return to the care center it was time for the children to eat lunch. We had been all ready to return to the hotel when they returned so we of course changed our minds and stayed a bit longer. We watched as the children sat on little plastic chairs at small plastic tables. The nannies served them traditional Ethiopian food, here is what I call it "orange mush and yellow rice mush on ingera". Benji and I don't care for ingera at all. It's a thin, sour pancake type bread. We tried it at dinner Friday night for the first time and decided it wasn't for us. We watched the kids eat for awhile and then left because Digafu would not eat with us around. The other families had had enough by then as well. We all wanted to be with our children, but the care center can be overwhelming with all those children fighting for your attention all day long. We were only there 3 hours, but it felt much longer (only one hour with Digafu).

We were missing Kara and Avery so much, but realized we had made the right decision in not bringing them on this trip. The food is not "what they are used to" and it's, well, a developing country which is a lot poorer than I ever imagined. I'm so glad we are able to give Digafu a life in America. I have never felt so grateful for being born in the USA before in my life. If anyone reading this has any way to help those in Ethiopia PLEASE do all you are able to do. My heart aches for my son's birth country.

These images are from our drive around Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia

That afternoon Dawit took us on a tour of Addis Ababa and to a coffee shop. The coffee in Ethiopia is very thick and rich. I'm a coffee drinker at home, but in Ethiopia I had to switch to Pepsi. Many people love the coffee, but I like mine light. That evening I tried to email home but the internet was down and wouldn't work. Overall it was a wonderful day and very eye opening. We went to bed anxious to see our little boy again soon.

:)