Update from Ethiopia (Edited)

So I sent this update from Ethiopia and it had about a page of text to go with it. Apparently the pictures were the only ones to make it across the Atlantic. I will try my best to remember what I wrote:

After we left the Hilton, we took Tsehay back to the care center which was hard to do since we had spent an entire day with her. What did make it easier though was the fact that on the drive there she had another large bowel movement. We told her to hang on and that we were almost to the nannies!. That was the fourth one of the day and we were out of diapers and clothes. We dropped her off with a full diaper. I bet they thought we were the best parents ever!

The dinner at the crown hotel was really cool. We were all exhausted from having the kids all day that a night out on the town was a blessed relief. The food was traditional, Injera and all the usuals, and there was also tripe (cow stomach). I am glad I asked first, Jarusha wishes she had :) The dancing was amazing and very entertaining. All in all a very nice dinner with great people.

The next morning (wednesday) we all went shopping with out the kiddos. We bought traditional ethiopian outfits, art for the walls, and coffee! We drove through the famous Merkato market but did not get out. Apparently, its too dangerous for Americans or tourists. The market was really neat with a lot of cool stuff to buy. The poverty however, was sad. There were a lot of disable, poverished people there. Several could not walk and would where shoes on their hands and walk on them. One old man used cut up rubber tires to protect his arms and hands and crawled along the street. I think I even saw another beggar give him money. While there are indeed parts of Addis Ababa that are flourishing there still is a lot of poverty.

After shopping we went back to the house and had lunch. Then around 4:00pm we went to the care center to pick up the children and have a goodbye ceremony. We arrived at the center and were led down to a larger room. There were around 20 school-age children sitting in chairs and they were all pretty cute. There was one wall that had a large Ethiopian flag painted on it and tons of little hand prints. The wall read "Children adopted from Ethiopia in 2007". Once the ceremony started they brought all the children down in traditional Ethiopian attire. Tsehay was in a dress with a pink and white head band. There were prayers, putting hand prints on the wall, cake eating, and nannies presenting parents with their children. The nanny that handed Tsehay to us never cried but did keep a watchful eye on us. I hope she feels that Tsehay will be loved and well cared for. It is obvious that the nannies develop quite a bond with the children and give them lots of love.

After the ceremony, we all went back to the house with the children to spend the first night with them. Tsehay cried for about two hours upon getting to the guest house. This was very tough because we did not know when she would stop, how she would fair the rest of the weeks, we were pretty depressed and sad for her. Then finally she stopped and we had a good evening hanging out with our friends and their little boy. When it was time for bed she laid right down, went to sleep, and slept through the night. We both woke up and counted our blessings.

Thursday morning consisted of more diarrhea and some tugging at her ear. We decided to take her to the doctor after lunch.

This was about where I left off on this update.

Pictures of Tsehay in her Traditional Ethiopian outfit: