leavin' on a jet plane (everybody sing!)

Wow. Where do the days go? Suddenly it is Sunday and I haven't written anything since Tuesday. Oh, yeah. I have 3 kids now. So, do you want to know about our last day in Ethiopia? A day that almost wasn't our last day? Ok, here ya go:

Friday, November 23, 2007:

We woke up on Friday with a sense of purpose and energy. We were leaving that evening to bring our kids home (home!!) and we had a busy agenda for the day. In addition to finishing some last minute packing, we needed to pass out some gifts for the House of Hope staff, do some shopping, take some pics, and finally say our goodbyes. We also needed the kids' visas from the embassy, but Tsegay was taking care of that for us.

We headed out with Abel and our translator friend to do some shopping. First stop was the bank to exchange some dollars for birr. Now, I have to admit that numbers have never been my thing, and even though I get that $100 was about 900 birr, I still had a hard time figuring out conversions. I just left it to M. Abel took us to a nice row of shops, and he carried our bags from place to place. I think we made some great purchases, but I now wish we had gotten more. Regrets, regrets.

One of the funny things about being some place like Addis is that white people really stick out. I found myself thinking, "Oh, look, another white person!" Like we were novelties or something. While we were shopping, we happened upon a white dad and his white son. Naturally, we struck up a conversation and found out they were also there adopting and were also leaving that evening. It was just kind of weird. Another time we were driving through town and I saw this young blonde woman dash from a store to a car, and I thought, "Wow, she looks out of place." Then I realized that that sentiment probably applies to me, too. (I'm not as young or as blonde, though.)

Before heading back to HoH, we stopped to buy some coffee. Not a Starbucks grande, no-fat, double-shot somethingorother, but unroasted Ethiopian coffee beans. Four pounds worth. Three kids and four bags of coffee coming home with us makes for a nice Ethiopian trip.

Got back to HoH and headed for lunch. I met with Tsegay in the dining room and he brought our sealed envelopes (don't open!!) and the visas for the kids. He also brought a story.

Apparently, the American Embassy in Addis Ababa experienced a bomb threat that morning. No biggie, right? Usually, not a biggie. Today, it was a biggie. You see, the embassy truly believes in TGIF and practices it by only working a half a day on Fridays. Tsegay was standing outside the embassy waiting for the all clear and the hours kept passing him by. Finally, at 11:30 he was able to enter the embassy and found a clerk who was willing to help him. He walked out at 11:45 -- 15 minutes before the embassy would close for the day. Otherwise, we would have been there until at least Monday. Can I just say that it is one of those things I am glad I didn't know about until it was over?

We rounded out the afternoon with some gift-giving, picture-taking, and an early dinner. Finally, it was time to head to the airport. Not easy. Ephrim, our driver, was wonderful and helped us load up and get the kids in the car. He couldn't, however, keep everyone from crying. Because our kids had been there since July, I think it was extra hard on everyone to see them go. For their part, the kids seemed to do ok. Very quiet, but ok.

I again won't bore you with travel details, but I will say that the flight went well. The kids did a great job -- except for S and the seatbelt, but a nice Ethiopian family helped us with that. Somehow, we made it to D.C., made it through immigration, made it through customs, got our bags, got to our gate, ate some food, and hung out until our plane arrived. Ok, so S had a meltdown during that part of the wait, but who could blame her? Here's a good pic of a calmer time:

Before long, we were back in Columbus and heading home.

Wow.

We did it.

Now we just have to keep it going.

:)

Next up: A new life with 3 kids.