Ethiopia-Day 1

We survived the 15 hour flight over. We didn't sleep much at all and arrived in Addis at 8 in the morning. We got the hotel (which is very nice and just like any other American four/five star hotel) at about 9:30am. As we walked into our room the phone was ringing. I answered it and it was Mulat who is the Horizon House driver, he said he was

in the lobby. I told Kevin that I guess he just wanted to introduce himself to us. So, we dropped our luggage and headed downstairs. We were greeted by Katie and Reed who are from Florida and met Mulat. Then he said, "Ok, let's go." Kevin and I looked at Katie and asked what as going on. We soon found out that he was there to take us to the orphanage. After not sleeping 24 hours and just stepping foot into the hotel room, Kevin and I just looked at each other and laughed. So we got into a van filled with some other families. Some from Chicago, California and Minnesota. Off to Horizon House we went. (There are 10 families on the trip with us)

Driving- I can not even describe the driving. It is just best to close your eyes and not look. I have seen 1 stop light in the last 2 days we've been here and one time it wasn't even working. People are walking in the street along with the goats, donkeys, dogs and we saw one cow. The drivers just weave in and out and surprisingly we have not hit one living thing. It's just nuts.

Horizon House- Driving down an alley and 2 honks later, a gate is opened by a guard and there we were. There are two rooms. One for the younger babies and the other for the 1-2 year olds. We went in and I looked around at 6 cribs. Couldn't seem to find Jonah. Then the nanny pointed him out. I didn't even recognize him. He just came to Horizon House five days ago and they had cut off all his curls before he got there. So, we see a huge brown eyed child staring at us ,just smiling. Just like in his picture. He just sat and smiled and we picked him up. We spent about 2 hours there, just hanging out with Jonah and all the other babies. We fed him lunch, which he devoured, and then they all went down for nap. They are on a tight schedule. I love it!

We went back to the hotel to take a nap and then headed back to the HH (Horizon House) for the evening. They had just gotten a bath and Jonah smelled delicious. He has a runny nose and a few other minor issues that will be taken care of now that he is at HH. As the head nurse told us, "He's with us now, don't worry. We take good care of him." The nurse and nannies love Jonah and all the babies for that matter. The babies seem so happy and are smiling and love the nannies as well. The place is very clean and well cared for. After dinner, which he again devoured they all get ready for bed. Love the schedule! We said goodnight and put him to bed.

Restaurant- We went to an Ethiopian restaurant with 2 other couples. Everyone is great but we seem to be hanging out a lot with Katie and Reed from Florida and Robyn and Don from Minnesota. Again, down an alley way and the doors open to a really nice open restaurant. We ate, or should I say ordered ( I ate nothing!) Ethiopian food. I didn't like it all but. But they had singers and traditional dancing for 2 hours and it was great. We then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Ethiopia- Lets just say that whatever you think it looks like, it is probably 100 times worse. Everything is run down and everything seems like it could collapse in about 2 seconds. We are not allowed to walk around without either of our 2 drivers, Yonas and Mulat or with the guard from HH. There is a bad perception here from Americans coming to adopt "their " children and slave trading and selling babies. Obviously that is not happening with most of us but it does happen and for our safety they want us with someone who can speak the language. Every single person we have met has been very nice. Yonas our driver is the best and has been taking us back and forth everywhere.

That's all for day 1. More to come.....