Ethiopia - Day 2 - "Metcha Day!"

Monday, February 15th:

Some of the America World Staff (left to right): David, our wonderful driver, and guides Robel and T. David was also extremely helpful on shopping days. THESE GODLY MEN ARE AWESOME!!!!!



Paperwork Party at the Hilton - we fill out the last of our adoption paperwork to be sent to the American Embassy in order to obtain the boys visas. We have lunch at the Hilton too (cheeseburgers - yummy!) but are so excited to meet the boys we don't eat a lot. This picture is most of the families in our travel group (8 families, 10 children being adopted into Forever Families! By the way, we are the ONLY first time parents in the group!!)

The America World sign is visible as we pull through the Transition House gate! Most homes/buildings have tall gates around them. Your car or van drives up and honks the horn (like a doorbell) in order for the guard to open the gate.

Our boys were at the second Transition House and were brought over by van along with three other older children being adopted. This is us just as the van has pulled in!

Waiting our turn to meet our children! That's T behind us (in the red shirt). Hi filmed our "Metcha" moments (and received a phone call at the same time which was really kind of cool because we have a conversation in Amharic recorded on our video!

Meeting for the first time!

Someone must have told John Eyob to give me a hug!! It was awesome!!

We actually have about 25 more Metcha picture moments (!!) but we chose our favorites for here.

After meeting our children, the families have about 2-3 hours to bond and play with them.

Bubbles were a BIG hit:

All we had to do to get our little serious man smiling was play a couple games of chase!

And he loved this inflatable punch ball another family brought and shared!

John Eyob spent a good 20 minutes coloring these pictures.

Water break after all our games of chase.

It was not only incredible to meet our boys for the first time but an honor to see all the other children meet their forever families. It truly was an indescribable day and experience!

That night we all went to an Ethiopian restaurant for an authentic meal and entertainment. We ate injera and hear various songs and dances from all regions of Ethiopia.

Ceremonial Hand Washing before dinner (and since we'll all be ripping off the same pieces of injera we want clean hands!)

This is injera, set on a small table in front of 4-5 people.

Our waitress pours the meats and sauces onto the injera.

The songs and dancing continues through dinner.

Getting ready to take the first bite!

One of the last songs before we left.

Thoughts/Advice to those coming after:

1. There are no words to describe this day - soak in and enjoy every moment!

2. It is really, really hard to sleep the night before. If I had to do it again, I would have taken something. (I am not one to drug up but I did only get about two hours if sleep.)

3. I would skip the spa after meeting the boys and rest at the Guest House before dinner if I had to do it over.

4. Take pictures of the America World staff right away. We didn't get any pictures of Famy, an AW translator who helped out on shopping days, at the Embassy, and at the orphanages.

5. Take your video camera to the Ethiopian dinner.

6. Don't forget to take lots of pictures of your travel buddies throughout the week!

7. If adopting older children, brings lots of toys (and water bottles) to play with in the afternoon. Big hits were bubbles, sidewalk chalk, big blow up balls, and balloons.