Amazing Moments

Ted and I kept asking each other while we were in ET.. "Tell me your top five moments". It was so hard to do. OF COURSE, #! is meeting Abel. I loved sweet smiles he gave to us. We had moments we will forever cherish looking into his eyes and him looking into ours during this trip. He gives the sweetest smiles and is a talker. So of course that is both of our number one!

I wanted to share a few others. There are so many... many I do not even have pictures of but will forever remember in my heart!

So... here are a few that I can share with you...

Right before we left, I got an e-mail that a girl needed PJs, undies and some shoes. I went out and got those things for her. Sweet Savanna had donated some shoes that were the perfect size for her. On our second full day there, we went through our donations and I was able to give them directly to this precious girl. My guess is that she is around 12 years old. She had tears in her eyes as I gave them to her. She hugged my neck with such gratitude. She had tears of joy and she kissed me so sweetly on my neck. My eyes filled with tears during our embrace and we both held on. What a sweet moment.

I absolutely loved the hotel staff. Especially Rosa. They were so warm and I just spent time talking with them each day. I was so sad to tell them good bye. Rosa and I are going to write through e-mails. I had sweet moments with these girls in the hotel lobby.

This is Rosa :-)

(This is kind of a funny story. I found this really cool African shirt at the market place and I thought... how fun! So I wore it the night we went to our Ethiopian traditional meal. When I came back the girls giggled because it's a shirt that you always wear with a skirt. They said "You only have on half the outfit". They were giggling at me. I thought "How stylish ... I'll wear it with jeans" and they were thinking "Silly (american) girl.. she messed up a good outfit"

I enjoyed getting to know the families we traveled with. As we were parting at the airport I said to one couple "We'll always have Ethiopia".. haha. I saw it on a t-shirt on Cafe Press but it is so true. We will be forever connected because of this experience.

Our last night in Ethiopia we went to a traditional dinner and watched traditional dancing. I enjoyed EVERY MOMENT of this time. It was so fun! Ted and I loved the food. The entertainment was amazing! We were able to really visit with Almaz during this time. ... and Julie too. Julie is our case worker... she happen to be on this trip. It was so much fun to just enjoy each other's company. It was a delightful night!

This little girl grabbed onto my legs at Enat Alam (an orphanage is Addis). She held onto my legs and I held onto her. We swayed and giggled. She ministered to my heart as much as I did to hers. The children of Ethiopia are beautiful... the people are beautiful!

Our sweet Abel was at Enat Alam for the first 3 weeks of his life. There are two different locations of Enat Alam. We went to the one where Abel was on the very last day. The director knew him. He said "Tesfaye!" when he saw him. He asked if we wanted to see his bed that he slept in while he was there. He took us back and showed us his crib. I was over come with emotion. I just started crying. I was so grateful. I am still processing through all we saw and how our son came to be with us. What an experience...

Of course, I loved taking pictures of every one's kids. I loved finding Maya's tickle spot. I loved seeing the older kids play in the court yard. I loved passing out the candy that S's mom sent for me to give out. I can't post pictures of those moments in respect for those families for who those precious kids belong to.

Thanks for reading. Abel and I are just sitting here. We are so off right now. I just slept 4 hours (from 6 to 10) and now I am wide awake. So what do you when you are wide awake when you should be fast asleep... YOU BLOG! :-)