We had a great night of sleep, especially since the power went out during the night sometime, so it got really dark in our room. We got up and showered and went down for breakfast. Breakfast was eggs and some great banana bread. After breakfast we waited outside on this beautiful morning for the vans to come pick us up. They vans arrived around 9AM with the older kids already in the vans. They dropped off the young kids and the rest of us piled into the vans to go pick up the young kids from the care center. This was the first day we could take the kids back to the guest house with us. So we quickly picked up Mehandis, Michele going in the care center while I stayed outside and played with the kids in the courtyard. I had about five kids around me when Michele came back with Mehandis. There was a nurse who came out and she cried while saying goodbye to Mehandis. She said that Mehandis reminded her of her own child.
Soon we piled back into the vans and went back to the guesthouse. Michele and I went to the outside swing and hung out with Mehandis there. It was nice to get pictures and video of him and hang out on our out. Around 10:15, we went inside and fed him rice for the first time on a spoon and it went well. Then we moved to changing his diaper for the first time, and again, it was a success. We then made up a bottle of formula and after a bit, he got used to drinking from a bottle and went at it. In the care center they do not feed by the bottle, they use cups and force feed the kids. They do this for easier sterilization and quicker feeding. Luckily Mehandis ate well out of the cup and quickly adapted to the bottle. After our tests with Mehandis, we moved on to lunch where Michele ate and had him in her lap. Eating had a different look with all of the kids at the table. We had some great lasagna for lunch.
After lunch we got ready to go to the U.S. embassy to get the visa to take Mehandis home with us. We both changed to dress up for the occasion. The U.S. embassy was right near the national museum, which is the place we went to the day before. It took about 30 minutes to get there since there was a lot of traffic on the road. The embassy was extremely fortified, much more than any other embassy that we had seen around the city. We had to park across the street and walk to the guest station to check in. We had to show our passports and go through a metal detector. Then we went to a staging area and had to go through another round of security with passports, bag checks and metal detectors. While waiting you can read a wanted poster for Osma Bin Laden, describing how he had a key role in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. It really brought it home when you are standing the U.S. embassy in Ethiopia, that borders those two countries.
After we got through security, all of us went upstairs to a room where we were to wait to get the visa. There were other people there, who looked like they were applying for visas to travel to the U.S or get citizenship. One by one our families would be called to go to the same woman who asked some questions and granted the visa for travel. The social worker from CHSFS was standing next to us to make sure everything went smoothly. While waiting, I fed Mehandis a bottle for the first time. I had help from Shannon, who was sitting next to me who already had two kids, and was able to walk me through it.
Finally we were called up and Mehandis sat perfectly on the counter as we signed the paperwork and answered the questions. The process was quick and simple and soon we had the clearance that we needed to take Mehandis home with us!!!
After our approval, we went outside and waited for the rest of the group to get their visas. It was a nice day and others joined us outside, so we had a good time catching up as we waited. Soon enough all of us were through and we were off to the Hilton to change money and confirm airline reservations (Ethiopian Air only). The Hilton was very nice, had guards on the outside who checked the cars before going in the parking lot. Then we had to go through a metal detector and bag check inside the hotel. We changed some money and waited for the rest of the group to reserve their airline seats. Michele bought some peanut M&M’s and enjoyed them very much. I played with Mehandis and had two people ask us about him. First a Ethiopian gentleman asked us about Mehandis and said we will need to make him an engineer and had good wishes for us. Second a gentleman who was American came over and asked us about international adoption. His sister adopted from India and did not have a good experience. We told him all of the good things we saw with this process and what we liked about it. He was in Ethiopia worked on an investment project regarding bio-diesel.
Soon we were back in our vans and drove back to the care center to drop off the kids. Mehandis was so good during the day, he hardly napped. Michele had him in our carrier and he fell asleep, it was very cute. It was hard to return him but we knew we would see him again soon.
After dropping him off, we went back to the guesthouse and hung out outside with Greg, Harrison and John. Then we saw Russ on the roof, so we had to get up there as well. Russ showed us how we climbed the railing, so we all followed. It was a great view of the city from the roof. So I went back downstairs to get our camera and video camera so I could record the scenery. The sun was setting over a mountain in the background, so it made for a nice backdrop for pictures. Soon the ladies came up and we enjoyed out time up there.
Massi arranged cars for the night and had a great dinner planned for us. He took us the Crown Plaza Hotel for dinner and traditional Ethiopian dinner. The hotel was about 25 minutes away in a different part of the city that we had not been to yet. The restaurant was nicely decorated with murals and pictures inside. It was a bit touristy since everyone there looked to be tourists. We got some St. George beers, honey wine (Tej), and sat in a big U with traditional tables in front of us. Someone came around and washed our hands before the meal and then we proceeded to go through an extensive buffet line of traditional Ethiopian food. The food was great and I went back for seconds. During dinner the traditional dancing and singing started. There were about eight dancers, a couple of singers and about six people playing the music. The dancers changed outfits numerous times and there was some fun music and dancing. A coffee ceremony was performed on the stage and we were served the coffee at the end of the dinner and then a large tin incense was place in the middle of the group. We were not sure why they did this. Michele and I got a bit silly at the end of the night and finished our neighbors Tej, we could not just leave it there.
After a great dinner we piled back into the vans and drove back to the guesthouse. We stayed up a bit talking but soon went to bed around 10:30, our latest night yet.
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