We made it!!!!

I'm not going to go on forever about our experience so far-- hopefully :)  We had a great flight from Raleigh to Addis-- via Dulles and an hour stop at Rome, where we were not allowed to get off the plane.  Ethiopian Air was excellent to fly with-- I don't have any real experience with international travel, but they were great :).  Tony and I surprised the AWAA staff by arriving apparently unannounced-- not really, but I guess the right people didn't get the memo.  I was frustrated at first and overwhelmed by all of it at first, but the other guides who work for AWAA were truly professional and accomodating and got us to the Guest House without incident.  Once we got here, Tony and I both were overwhelmed with the entire process thus far--more me than him-- he was just tired :).  We took a good three-four hour nap and woke up a little more refreshed and ready to inhale the wonders of Ethiopia.  After a phone call from our driver "T" who apologized
profusely for the misunderstanding, we had some ET coffee and took to downtown on our feet.  How WONDERFUL!!  Very out of my comfort zone and unlike anything that I have ever experienced.  But we were so enamored by the bustle of the city, the beauty of the people and the wonder of a land so far from home.  We stopped in a recommended restaurant/bar called the Zebra Grill-- very fun-- and had a couple drinks and some fries topped with a sweet sauce.  Yum.  We also took the time to learn some Amharic from a native speaker and she was genuinely thrilled that "white" people would work so hard to learn the language.  She also commented on how white people who are adopting have such a sense of connectiveness to the children they are adopting-- it is as if they had "birthed them from their own womb" :) 

That is all for now.  I am overwhelmed, overjoyed and completely in awe of this place called Ethiopia.  My biggest hugs and kisses to my boys-- I hope you read this-- I can't get Skype to work right now-- Mommy will keep trying, but now it is time for dinner :) 

Grace and Peace from Ethiopia,
Shari