Friday in Addis Ababa

I promise to have pictures tomorrow. We have been riding through the city a lot with our driver, Eyasu (I'm not sure how to spell his name, but I think this is close). He is very nice, but a bit on the shy side. It's kind of hard to take pictures with a little girl on your lap! But today we will be visiting the orphanages, so many photo opportunities. Not to mention, we let Ryan borrow our camera to take some pics of the kids for their parents and he took it home to upload them to his computer. So, for some of you with babies at the foster home, you may be getting some pics from Mary soon!!

Thursday was a good day for Kali. She is slowly coming out of her shell. She seems to have become quite attached to us. Yesterday we had lunch with Ryan, Marta, Bob & Arlene (from New Jersey) and their daughters, Stephanie and Selam. After we finished eating, Marta came over and tried to take Kali from me to play with her and the other girls. Kali would not let go of my chair! She wouldn't go with her and kept looking at me with those big brown eyes almost pleading for me to pick her back up again. I wish she understood that Marta was not really taking her from me. But then we did go outside the restaurant to takes some pictures and she let Stephanie hold her. Before lunch, we had the mandatory doctor's visit (no shots, just a check over) and then on to the embassy for the mandatory blood draw. I can't believe how Kali did with that. She sat on the tech's lap while the nurse prepared to draw her blood. The tech kept turning her head toward him so that she couldn't see what was about to happen, but she would have none of it! She wanted to see and she did. She watched the whole thing and never uttered a peep. She was most curious of the band-aid they put on afterward.

Kali has eaten everything we have offered her. We have to be careful though, because she will keep eating if we give it to her. She won't stop or let us know somehow that she is full. And she won't take the food off the plate yet, either. She won't take it until we offer it to her. She loves apple juice! Watch out Carson, she may give you a run for your money in the apple juice drinking department! We keep getting conflicting information on whether she will drink milk or not. We have had two different people tell us that not much milk is drunk after they finish taking formula (other than the milk put in coffee), and two other people tells us "Yes they do!". I suppose we'll just try it and see if it is something she can keep down.

Getting in and out of the car a lot yesterday must have worn Kali out. She fell asleep around 5:30 in the evening and wouldn't wake up when Rick tried to wake her at 7:30 to have dinner. It was room service last night! She woke up around 1:00, went potty, and then fell back asleep and woke at 6:00 this morning. I know this is all a little overwhelming for her!

The people here have been wonderful. Ryan told us that most people here are very happy that we come here to love their children and want to give them good homes. It makes us both feel so good about our decision. I can't imagine going somewhere where we are not wanted.

One more quick tip for the traveler ... call your credit card company to let them know you are here using your card. We are lucky and have Landree at home and she got the call from our credit card fraud department wanting to know if these Ethiopia charges were legitimate. Also, there is an ATM at both the Hilton and the Sheraton, just in case you bring old $100's like we did that can't be exchanged!

On to the orphanages today and more updates (with pics) tomorrow! I wonder how many of these kids will fit in our suitcase on the way home??