Day 1 - Friday

Wow!  We are overwhelmed with everything we have experienced in the past 40+ hours.  I can't even begin to put a fraction of it into words, but I'll try to reflect some bits and pieces.  I'm going to split it into two posts – one on our journey to Awasa and one on our meeting with the birth family.  And then we'll attempt to get some pictures up.

We slept great our first night in Addis.  We woke up to no electricity or hot water Friday morning, but it came on shortly before we left on our trip down to Awasa.  The city of Addis has about 5 million people and there is so much poverty everywhere.  I have never seen so many houses built out of sticks and corrugated metal.  In fact this was the only kind of houses we have seen in the city.  The city is surrounded by mountains and it is an arid dessert- like region.  It seems like everywhere there are cows, donkeys, goats, roosters, dogs, and people.  As we drove out of the city there were so many people milling around on streets and sidewalks, which seemed odd for a work day, but many of them probably don't have jobs.  The only "nice" buildings we saw were banks, gas stations/companies, and the steel company.  Many other building seemed to be half built, all surrounded by scaffolding built out of sticks (picture a toothpick sculpture). 

As we drove out of the city, we began to see more of the country-side.  It is beautiful.  All of the houses are huts with thatch roofs.  The ground is dry like a dessert with cactus and trees and scrub.  We also saw a lot of greenhouses, as exporting of flowers is a large industry here.  We saw huge termite hills. 

The highway is a 2 lane road, but it is shared by animals, people, and cars alike.  You drive in either lane, speed up, slam on brakes, and swerve around things constantly.  Imagine this for 6 hours each way, in a van with no air conditioning, on an 80+degree day, mix in some diesel fumes - it is truly a miracle that none of us were carsick. 

Friday night we went out by a pretty lake to relax and enjoy the view.  There were monkeys all around that would come right up to you – kind of like stray cats, but only monkeys.  Then we walked around downtown Awasa.  We gave some stickers to kids who were begging, which of course attracted a whole group of kids.  We had fun, but T told us to keep moving.  We passed beggars who obviously needed money and food – for the most part you're just supposed to keep walking.  I had a hard time with this and said to Corinne "But what would Jesus do?"  and she said "Mom, He would feed the 5,000 and still have some left."  Good point.

The culture here is very laid back – not a huge awareness of time.  At one point on the way down to Awasa our driver David just pulled over to the side of the road and got out to greet someone.  It turns out it was his uncle who was building a church we were passing by.  They did introductions and greetings, visited a few minutes and then we were on our way.  On the way back we stopped a couple of more times for him to buy charcoal and some fruit from specific huts.  I have no idea how he knew where to stop or what they were selling, but evidently he did. 

We also stopped along the side of the road when we would see groups of kids walking to school.  They go 5 days a week and then ½ day on Saturday.  They often walk a couple of hours each way.  We passed out pencils and notebook paper to them.  It's funny how many kids suddenly appear when they know you have something to give them.  It was fun to see their happy faces and know we were able to give them a small blessing. 

We spent a lot of time just staring out the window trying to soak in every image.  There were many, many times I thought "that could be my son/daughter" – when I saw little boys herding goats, or kids playing in the dirt with a ball, or bathing naked in a basin in front of their hut, or walking along the side of the road to school.  That could be them, if not for the providence of God.  Very overwhelming, even as I type this …

We also had some impromptu worship on the van ride home.  T leads worship with the teens at church, so we did some singing together.  Of course the first song we sang was "Mighty to Save".  I forgot to warn T that I couldn't sing it without crying.  Which as it turned out, I got choked up with several others as well.  God's grace and blessing and plan have us all totally overwhelmed and humbled.

We got back to our hotel in Addis around 4:00 today, feeling hot, sticky, and tired from traveling for almost three days straight between the plane ride and drives down to Awasa and back.  We were greeted in the parking lot by Sentayu (Sam), the Parks little 7 year old boy.  He came right up and grabbed Corinne's hand and proceeded as if they were friends.  David (the dad) who had just arrived in from Michigan was surprised to find out this was our first time meeting Sam.  By the way – the Parks did pass court today and Tess had a good day at the hospital.  Continue praying for them, as they need to get Tess home as soon as possible.  They are praying their paperwork will allow them to leave next weekend, when we leave.

One last note, before we head out to dinner – there has been an annoying rooster outside of our hotel that crows non-stop.  The girls have really been wishing someone would have him for dinner.  Well they were just out on the balcony and saw a dog trotting by with the rooster in its mouth.  Yay!  No more crowing tonight.

Thanks for all your comments.  We all gathered on the floor and I read them out loud.  (Molly – Hollie had to read yours, as I couldn't make it through.)  We're going to head to the Zebra Grille for some dinner.  I'll post about our meeting with the family next update.  (Sorry to keep you  hanging.)