Hello From Ethiopia

We had the most wonderful trip here! A wonderful Northwest worker allowed us to check our 5th bag of luggage without additional charge. We were so thankful. As we went through security, the only thing we had confiscated was my jar of peanut butter. I really almost cried, but I reminded myself to keep perspective...at least, they let us through with the extra bag of medicine for OE! Mom, I will be fine & won't starve! The food at the Union hotel is wonderful! The pancakes are just like everyone described...very similar to funnel cakes! Yummo! We met up with one of the other traveling families as we waited in Detroit for our flight to Amsterdam. We had not arranged for how we would meet up, but I noticed a couple who I thought might be them. I went out on a limb & said her name & it was them! We were so glad to be meeting in person. Our flights over went very smoothly, other than some mild turbulence on the flight from Sudan to Ethiopia. I slept the majority of our time spent flying. Nathan didn't sleep very much. Mom, this is your fault (LOL!)...as you reminded him in your note to us to be on guard at all times...he did just as you said! Boys, we found the coolest toy & candy stores in Amsterdam, so we will check them out on the way home! When we arrived in Addis, we boarded a bus from the airplane to the airport terminal. Visa & customs took a lot longer than I expected but still very smoothly. Danny & Yohannes, the AGCI guys, were waiting for us as we went through the security checkpoint to leave the airport (yes, you read correctly...after we got our luggage we went through security to leave). We were so excited to see them with their "AGCI Families" sign! One of of bags did not arrive with us, but we were so thankful that all the others did. The workers located it in Detroit, so we are still hoping it may find it's way here. Don't worry..we have all that we need & OE has ALL her clothes, shoes, toys, & hairbows! We waited at the airport for over an hour for another familiy (who ended up not arriving until well into the night on their scheduled flight from Kenya). During that time we were in awe at the absolute beauty of the Ehiopians...just stunning!! We met a little girl who said she was nine. The other couple gave her some candy & I tried out my amharic, asking her name & telling her she was beautiful. I could have swooped her up & taken her with me. Her eyes just sparked! Then headed to the vans for the trip to the Union Hotel. The ride to the hotel was much as I had envisioned....saddness & despair all around. It reminded me a lot of the slume in Managua, Nicaragua. At redlights, children were knocking on the van windows begging for money. I wanted to have the words to tell them that I loved them & cared for them and God did as well! It was a relatively short ride to the hotel. We checked in & found our selves in a SUITE! I checked out the shower, which was one of the spa showers like I heard about...complete with hot water! However, when we went back downstairs to try to get online, they told had given us the wrong room. Oh, well! Then we settled into our regular room that still had hot water! Whew! We were starving, so we found our snacks & worked on unpacking. It felt so good to be so close to our daughter! I looked out the window thinking of OE & wondering which direction was Hannah's Hope. I was too exhausted to think of wanting to walk there at that time to get her. We showered, took our Ambien, & hit the sack!