We Passed! - Posted Friday, March 12th

I felt bad that I couldn't post yesterday, but we had such a busy day. Everything went smoothly at the embassy yesterday and we received her passport and visa today! That was the last hurdle in the process. We will re-adopt her back in the U.S. and then she will gain citizenship, a birth certificate, and her official name change. The embassy was crowded. They have a visa lottery and there were so many Ethiopians literally standing at the gates and praying that they would get one. They think of the U.S. as heaven. The embassy was not what I thought it would be. I thought it would be a fancy building, but nope- it felt like we were at the DMV. There were 50-60 of us in a small, hot room. After two hours of waiting Annie was really antsy, but it could have been longer. They asked us about 15 questions and ended with, "And you know that there are no returns, right?" I said, "Not a chance."

We also went to the market yesterday and that was an experience. The shop owners are very pushy but our driver negotiated for us and helped us say no when we weren't interested. At one point one of the shop workers came up to me and started asking questions. She wanted to know why we were there and where we were from. When I told her that we are from the U.S. and that we adopted an Ethiopian baby she said, "Please, if you come back adopt me." She went and got a pen and proceeded to write her name and number on my hand. She was probably in her upper 30's. We also had another adult ask if we would adopt him. He said that everyone in Addis wants to get out. I wish I could bring them back with us.

We celebrated last night by going to a restaurant called Yod Abbysinia. Our driver said that it is the nicest in Addis. It was very nice and they had live cultural music and dancing. We talked our driver, Melke, into joining us as well as some of the orphanage workers and another couple that adopted a little boy. We had a great time and it was really entertaining. The food was good too. I have grown to really appreciate Ethiopian food. I even dipped mine in the hot spices and it was great. Matt still just thinks it's okay.

Today we went to the market for a little while again and this afternoon we met up with the woman we met on the plane ride over. She and her husband took us out for lunch to thank us for giving them our seats. They are such nice people. The woman, Rahel, wants to take us out for cake tomorrow and have us over to their house for coffee. I'm thankful that we've been able to meet and connect with people from all walks of life here. We've been able to see many sides of Addis.

Tomorrow we hope to travel to JaJa. It is at the center of Addis and it is a pit where many kids with AIDS are living. The older kids are basically taking care of all of the younger ones. They say that it is a dumping area that trucks drain oil into among other refuse and these children are living there as outcasts.

We have enjoyed our time here but we are ready to come home. We are looking forward to seeing everyone. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.