Day One in Ethiopia

I’m sitting at the bar in our hotel after an amazing day, enjoying a Coke Light and some toasted barley and peanuts,  listening to Matt learn about Ethiopian coffee from two bartenders that are very proud of the country and culture.  They’re also giving us lessons on how to properly say please and thank you.  Those of you that are traveling soon, start practicing how to say “thank you” now because it’s a mouthful.  Amesegenalhu.  The people here are so wonderful.  And they are beautiful – the most beautiful people I have ever seen.  And the country, well it’s really hard to put it into words.  I’ll probably just have to wait to talk about Ethiopia until we’ve experienced more of the country and I have pictures to share.

Thankfully, Matt and I were both able to get a good night’s sleep last night.  I think we both got almost 8 hours, and even now at 11pm we both still feel really good.  I highly recommend our jet lag remedy – I’m absolutely convinced it is what has kept us in good shape so far.  That and the Benadryl that we took in the middle of the night to go back to sleep.  I think there are others in our group that hit the wall several hours ago.

So, now to what you’re really interested in.  The story of how we met our girl.  We met our travel group this morning about 9:30 and had a short orientation with the Holt staff before loading up into the van to head to the care center.  The hotel we are at is about a 25 minute drive to the care center.  The streets of Addis are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  And the ride became even more surreal when we began to hear country music (Tom T. Hall and Kenny Rogers to be precise) playing on the radio of our Ethiopian driver’s van.  I remember recognizing the care center as we turned the corner and my heart beating so fast at the thought of what was about to happen.  As we walked into the care center all of the older children were playing in the front room and the Holt social services director instructed the parents of toddlers to “go find your children”.  One by one, the parents were able to pick out their kids and it truly was one of the most touching things I have ever witnessed.  These kids didn’t run up saying mommy and daddy or anything, but to see these parents reach out to their children for the first time was so special.  They then began to bring us upstairs to the baby room one family at a time.  Holt has hired a photographer and is also providing video for all of the families’ first meeting with their children, which I think is such a great thing!  So anyways, we walk into the baby room and are instructed to “go find your baby”.  I didn’t want to tell the lady that there was no way we would recognize her since we’ve never seen a decent picture.   Luckily I spotted her name on her crib.  And there she was.  She literally took my breath away.  She is so beautiful.  And so tiny.  And she is ours.  That part of it hasn’t really sunk in yet.

So about Liremet.  (And by the way, you may wonder why I’m calling her Liremet instead of Zoe.  For one thing, we will not use her American name in front of the Holt staff.  And honestly, we’ve really grown to love her Ethiopian name.  The nannies say her name in the most beautiful sing-songy way.  And it really seems to fit her.  So perhaps we’ll call her both.  )  She is a very laid back baby.  In fact the head nurse told us so much.  She said she”doesn’t cause any trouble” (I think those may have been her exact words). It took a lot of work for us to get her to crack a smile.  But she doesn’t cry either.  She’s just very mellow.  And I pray she stays that way for at least the next 7 days.  Honestly, she’s pretty indifferent to us at this point.  She definitely prefers her nannies to us, but what would you expect?  I’m sure she’ll warm up to us eventually.  But did I mention how beautiful she is.  We were able to see her twice today and play with her for about 2 hours.  We go back to see her again in the morning.  We can’t wait!

For all of you Holt parents waiting to come get your children.  They are beautiful.  And they look very healthy.  And they are sooooo loved and well taken care of.  I will forever be grateful to Liremet’s nannies who seem to love her so much.  One nanny asked to hold her while we were there and then would hardly give her back. And Liremet really seems to love the nannies too, which I am also grateful for.

Tonight we drove across town to the Hilton for dinner.  It was our first experience in traffic in one of the busier parts of Addis.  It’s an interesting place.  A fascinating, heart-breaking, bustling, intriguing place.  And the driving here – it makes driving in China (which is absolutely insane) look tame!  As we sat in traffic, we had children with their noses pressed up against the window asking for money.  It was heartbreaking.  But then we pulled into the gates of the Hilton and it was this beautiful, luxurious oasis in the middle of it all.  So hard to see the contrast of the poverty outside of those gates and the luxury inside.

But now, for what you’ve all been waiting for, pictures of our little family of three.