Ethiopia Day ONE

We left our house early that morning. Matter of fact, we got up at 4 a.m. that Friday morning, 6th of November. Steve, our assistant pastor from our church drove us to our local airport, which is about one hour away from our house. Our fight left at 6:50 and we made it to the airport 30 minutes prior to departure - go H.-family, lol.

The short trip to Frankfurt airport was very smooth and the sun started to come up - incredible view by the way.
We had some coffee at the Frankfurt airport, waiting for our LONG fight to Ethiopia. We boarded at around 10. the flight was packed, but the Lufthansa seats were very comfortable and each had his own personal TV and entertainment program. Still, that didn't take my anxiety from flying.

I watched "Ice Age 3" and about halfway through our flight I opened the blinds of the window to see how it looks out side - the sun was blinding, and all I could see was WHITE, bright painful white. No wonder everybody had their blinds closed, that sun is painful.

An hour later I tried again, since that little airplane monitor showed that we were right above the Nile River. It took some adjustment for my eyes, but then I realized that white was the sand of the desert. It was absolutely breathtaking. Miles and miles of NOTHING but sand and all the sudden, right in between all that Nothing, a river. I positioned myself and I think stared out the window for an hour, maybe two. It was beautiful.

We were served a meal or two and 6 hours later, 8 p.m. local time, we landed at Bole Airport. We were instructed NOT to take any pictures while at the airport, no reason given. The airport was packed and smelly, but in good condition. We were looking for immigration to purchase a visitors Visa and discovered a HUGE long line. It's cheaper to purchase your Visa at the airport, BUT i think if we ever were to go again, we'd bite the bullet and get on before we leave. The line was long (about one hour wait, maybe longer) and people were pushy and rude.

After we purchased our entry Visa, we had to go to another HUGE line to finally get into the country. I think we may have spent a good 2 hours at the airport after we landed.

We picked up our suitcase and then I was getting really nervous, lol. I was wondering if we'd get picked up, but sure enough as soon as we walked out side a very friendly looking, short guy with a sign having our names on it waited for us. He gave us a friendly hug and welcome.

It was dark and it only took us 2 minutes to the guesthouse. The road was bumpy, but we didn't see anything. The driver told us in a broken English too get our stuff to the room and come own for dinner. We were so hungry! He also told us that he'd get in touch with our agencies staff tomorrow to arrange the first meeting with our daughter. I was hoping he'd already know dates and the time on when we will see our baby, so I was a bit disappointed when he told us that tomorrow we will make arrangements. We were instructed to meet him tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.

The rooms were clean and had two twin beds. We decided to eat first and then unpack. The restaurant was in a winter garden type room, in the back of the guesthouse. We were served Spaghetti, bread and a vegetable soup. SAFE food, lol. (I brought a box of Pop-tarts, because I was afraid of Ethiopian foods, but the meals were actually not to bad and I only ate one Pop-tart during our stay). The cook worked in Germany for several years, so he had an idea on what the westerners like to eat.

I spied a little tree that was next too me, out the window of the restaurant. It was a coffee tree, how interesting.

Back to our room we unpacked and went straight to bed. It has been a long day. Surprisingly I slept very well that night, I twas a bit cold, but we had many blankets...........I was so anxious to find out tomorrow on when we will meet our baby.............

A coffee tree next to my seat at the restaurant

The guesthouse we stayed in

Unpacking (this may have actually been day two). We brought some toys for "YO" to play with.