Thursday started Day 5 of our trip. We spent the morning with our good friends, Jim and Tiffany Darling. We dropped them off at the Postal District to do some shopping, and Tim and I visited AHOPE orphanage. This is an orphanage specifically with children with HIV. We had some donations to deliver and hoped to spend some time with some of the children, but most of them were in school. After our visit there, we picked up Jim and Tiff and took them to the Embassy. Our guide, Job, needed to pick up there official paperwork. When I say official, I mean, no-one-can-open-this-envelope-except-the-customs-officer official. This has the child's passport, VISA, and who knows what else inside. Job got what he needed and we made our way to Metro Pizza to meet the rest of our group. Since we were a little early, we decided to go next door to Kaldi's....basically Ethiopia's version of Starbucks.
my caramel mocha
Lunch was good and I was introduced to Ambo...yummy flavored sparkling water!!! I needed cases of this stuff! After lunch we went to the Transition Home for our daily Cooper fix. He still wasn't feeling great, but I could tell he was on the mend...a mother's intuition :)
one of many fruit stands
Thursday night's dinner was a traditional Ethiopian meal. It was a lot of fun and I even ventured out and had some of the food. Tim loved it, of course, and he even got on stage and danced, at their nudging, of course. It was definitely a night to remember and a cultural experience like no other! We got back to the Guest House just in time to see Jim and Tiffany leave...with Jamesy!!
Friday was our last day in Ethiopia, and we were so sad! I couldn't believe I was having to say good-bye to this precious baby. We spent the morning at the TH with Cooper, soaking in everything about him. It was our best day yet with him and I was so glad. God truly is faithful...What a gift that last day was! I had been praying that he would be completely well for this last day. When we got to his room, the TH doctor was standing over his bed and he was asleep. She was just checking on him and sent him to have his temperature checked. He came back to us fever-free and was happy and playful all morning.
After our tearful goodbyes, we had lunch with our group at Lucy's. Yummy food, once again!
Job (AWAA guide), Dawit (our driver), and Yonas (AWAA guide) at Lucy's
After lunch, we went to the Postal District for shopping. We got some great things to bring back home and the prices were great. We had dinner at the Guest House, that night and packed up all of our things. Our flight left Addis around 10:30.
Tim and I with Yonas and Dawit at the airport
This trip was so much more than anything I could have imagined! We fell in love with this country....and we cannot wait to go back. Right now, we are waiting to be cleared by the U.S. Embassy. Monday, we got word that they were requesting some more documents from one of the two government orphanages Cooper was in. America World hoped the Embassy would have those by the end of last week. With everyone being off on Good Friday, the week was shortened. So, we are very hopeful that those documents will be in the hands of the Embassy early this week. Then, we will wait to be cleared and hopefully travel within a week or two. I have learned with this process that nothing comes easy, nothing is processed quickly, and being patient is just part of the game.
We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:20-22
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