A Much Delayed Flashback to ET

I am bound & determined to eventually finish sharing about our trip to Ethiopia! I believe I left off at Friday. This was the day when our time had come to leave Ethiopia & begin our long trip home. We woke up & finished up last minute packing, then headed downstairs for breakfast with the one of the other families remaining in our travel group. It was very sad for us to watch OE play with their daughter for the last time--to watch them converse in their native tongue & laugh together--what amazing young girls! The girls played in the workout room while N & I went out front to say good-bye to Danny & Barooke, our two favorite neighborhood kids. These boys stole my heart & it was so hard to hear them ask us if we could take them to America too! We laughed a lot about them through out the week--what smart young men! One of the families in our travel group observed them waiting outside the hotel gate for us to come out, then running up the street only to turn around & seemingly happen to be walking by the hotel as we came out. They didn't want to make their obsession with us too obvious. We jokingly called it the "Barooke Assault"--definately with a positive congnatation--we loved to share our walks to Hannah's Hope with the boys. It seemed like such a little thing to do, but we gave them all the comfort food from home that we had left--really I felt liek an idiot giving it to them. Here's our food--we're going to America & taking our new daughter--see ya! Ugh! They seemed thrilled to receive it--although I know Danny really just wanted my ipod (future travelers--when he asks you if you brought an ipod don't be stupid & say "yes" like I did--then you won't have to try to explain why your ipod would be useless to him as soon as the battery runs out ;-)--I would have totally given mine to him if that wasn't the case--it was very frustrating) . After telling the boys "good-bye", we went back into the hotel for final goodbyes with the other families & then loaded the van for the trip to the airport. Let me say that the drive to the airport was VERY difficult. I cried the entire way! It was so hard to grasp that this was our daughter's last moments on the streets of her birthcountry--watching her as she looked out the window--I just wanted to know what her little head was thinking--did she understand? She truly seemed to...it broke my heart. At that moment, I really didn't want to leave--the guilt of taking her from her birthcountry was enormous. I wish things were different in that country--so much poverty & hopelessness. I truly home that one day we will return & things will be different, but I do not see it happening--the extreme desperation of the situation seems bottomless. However, I know that God is BIG...I believe He is stirring & moving in that country! I find hope in that He can do what no man can see is possible!

More hotel silliness as we pack our suitcases!

Our last view of Hannah's Hope from the back window of the hotel :-(

The girls playing together for the last time :-(

Our "good-bye's" with the neighborhood boys.

Looking back down the road to the hotel as we drove off :-(

OE sweet hands moving to the beat of the music in the van as we drove through Addis for the last time :-(

One of the views from the van on our way to the airport...

Oh to know the thoughts going through our daughter's head as we drove through the city that morning...

The Addis Ababa airport. This is the only picture we were able to take at the airport--the guards armed with machine guns that surround the area are a little intimidating, & I don't think you're really suppose to take any pictures anyways ;-)

Video of our flight as we took-off from Ethiopia. Good-bye Ethiopia :-(