Alright Alright. I'm Posting. I'm posting

OK, ok, I can take the hint. You guys want to hear about the trip and see pics. Well, here is a short post to tide you over.

First off.....Sabah and I have both been a bit sick, so it has made our transition home a bit rough. We are muddling through it, and I think we are both on the upswing.

So, where to start.....

We arrived in Addis Saturday night after a very long flight. We got through the crazy Visa line (it is soooo unorganized and crazy, but I would do it all over again rather than pay $70 to get a Visa in advance in the U.S.), changed some money at the airport (wow, after exchanging $500, I had a wad so thick it wouldn't all fit in my wallet, and made it through immigration with realative ease. THEN the fun began. All our bags came out (they were actually waiting for us) and we collected them and headed to customs. They made us unload all the bags and put them through the scanner. the funny thing was, we didn't see anyone actually looking at the monitor to see what was being scanned!!! Oh well....it only wasted about 20 minutes. We then enter the waiting area, where there are throngs of people with signs waving around at us. We looked up and down the line and didn't see anything that matched my name our adoption agency. Hmmmmm, I was starting to have a bad feeling. I went through the line again, and still, nothing for me. After about 20 minutes of just "waiting" I realize that our lawyer was not there to pick us up. I had his phone number, but I had no idea how to use the pay phones. I asked the guy at the Sheraton counter if he could teach me how to use the phones so I could call our driver. The sweet man took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed for me.

After telling our lawyer where we were, we proceeded to wait for about 20 more minutes for him. He finally shows up and we are on our way to the guesthouse. It's almost 10pm by now and we really just would like to go to bed. BUT, the guesthouse has dinner ready for us....so, dazed and tired, we sat through dinner, trying to make conversation with the lawyer. We finally excused ourselves and headed to bed. The next morning I was going to meet my daughter and I wanted to be well rested.

We got up the next morning and had a lovely breakfast and met some of the other families....some with Adoption Avenues and some with Dove. I also got to meet my board buddy Leah, who I had been conversing with for about 4 months (ever since we got our referrals). It was so nice to finally meet her in person.

After breakfast, our lawyer stopped by to have us fill out paperwork. This took quite a while. A lot longer than we expected. You can only visit the babies at Toukoul from 9-12 and then 3-6, and it was already 11:00. We rushed to the orphanage, and the car was filled with excitement and apprehension. We'd all been waiting so long for this moment, and we couldn't believe we were so close.

We turned the corner, and there they were.....the blue gates that have been housing my daughter for the last 5 months. I couldn't believe I was there and soon she would be in my arms.

We all piled out of the van, and waited for the nannies to bring out the babies. The first to arrive was little Weredesh. The nannies handed her to Lisa and we were all crying. Then came little Sabah and Aslynn (Leah's daughter). In a split second I was holding her and it was amazing. The nannies had put her hair in three little puffs, and she was just adorable. She was perfect. Everything about her was perfect.

We all went into the meeting room to bond with our babies. Sabah just sat and stared and stared at me, my sister and my mom. She was so quiet, so intense, so serious, and only cracked a few smiles. But oh how precious she was.

Before we even knew it, our time was up (we had only about a half an hour) and the nannies whisked in and took our babies back. We were all a little numb by the whole experience and the care ride back to the guesthouse was very quiet. The moment we had waited for had come and was now over. We didn't really know what to think.

Back at the guesthouse we had lunch and rested and then headed back to the orphanage at 3pm to spend the afternoon with the babies. It was so much fun. Sabah is such a good baby and rarely fusses. I held her while we walked around Toukoul and played with the older kids. The kids are all so beautiful and precious and both Tina and I had fun playing with them. A couple of the girls tried to teach me a hand game/rhyme, but no matter how hard I tried, I kept messing up. The girls (about 7 years old) would just giggle and giggle, and then push me out of the way so that they could show me again with each other. I would then try it again, and of course mess up, which of course would lead to fits of giggling again. Oh, how each of those children touched my heart. You can not go there and not want to take them all home.

At 6pm, the nannies once again swept in and stole my baby. I gave her a kiss goodbye and told her I would see her in the morning.

to be continued.....

Here are some of my favorite photos of me and Sabah:


At the guesthouse laying out in the sun (kisses for mommy)

Leah and I and our two girls
Meeting Sabah for the first time
More sun at the guesthouse (she had the chickenpox, that is what those marks on her face are)