Day 6-April 8th

Wow! This was a BIG day! Before we left to go to Ethiopia we were told we would meet our kid's birth mother on Monday. We were told we would make a round trip drive (6 hours each way) to where she lives and have some time with her. When we arrived in ET Sunday night, we realized this was not the plan. We were then told that we would not be able to meet their mother until later in the week, and because of that only one of us would be able to go because one of us would have to stay with the children (we were getting on Tuesday). We were told one of us would have to make an over night trip the very "rural" area where our kids are from, meet their mom, spend the night, and return the next day. We did not like this for a couple of reasons: 1) we would be apart over night, 2) we both would not get to meet T and M's birth mother. At a lunch we had with Duni (the program director from our agency) on Monday, we expressed our dislike of the "plan" given to us. She said she would try to work something else out for us. We are so glad we "pushed" a little to make something happen that met our desires. On Thursday morning, we got a knock on our door at the Guest House. We opened the door and was greeted by Mulle', a great new AWAA employee. He said, "Are you guys ready? You are going to meet the birth mother now." "NOW?!?!" was my response. They had worked it out to bring our kid's birth mother to Addis...and not only their birth mother, but their older sister, and their aunt from their father's side of the family! Wow! What a surprise!


We made the tough decision to leave our kids with a nanny at the guest house while we went to the Transition House to meet with the birth family. We thought it would be WAY to difficult for M and T to see their birth family again after they had been relinquished at their orphanage in January.

There are no words to express the experience of meeting T and M's birth mother...I wish there were. She was stoic for the most part, although she softly cried when she looked through the stack of pictures we brought her of her children and our family. Their sweet sister and aunt smiled a lot and also kissed every picture they saw. The meeting with their birth family was wonderful in that we have priceless information to share with our children when they begin asking questions about their birth family, where they are from, why they were relinquished, etc.. It was an emotionally draining experience, but soooo worth it for the incredible information we attained for our children. There were several moments and facts shared during our meeting that we could tell were "divine" and ordained by God....truly incredible!

After the meeting with their birth family, we went back the guest house to get our kids. We raced up the 6 flights of stairs to where T and M were being cared for. Due to the high altitude and our poor physical condition, we felt like we were about to die when we got to the top of the flight of stairs. We could not wait to get back to our kids!!!


After we were reunited, we left to do some sight-seeing. We went to the top of Entoto Mountain....the sight of the original palace and the first church. We were able to see incredible views of the city of Addis Ababa! Breath-taking!

After Entoto, we went to the Black-Maned Lion Zoo". Safety standards there are not what they are here in the states...we were seperated from the lions by some widely spaced metal bars and a chain link fence. Literally, if you stuck your hand through the fence, you could lose it! It was an very cool up-close-and-personal experience. All 3 kids loved it! Xavier said he liked this zoo better than ours in Los Angeles...the lions are "too far away at ours".

It was a very full day!