starting to feel rested

Ethiopia guest house

We are settling in, Finley just amazes me everyday...Her tight kisses and big smile's are just a few of the joys I get to experience daily.
I know everyone wants to here all the details of our trip...To be honest I really don't know how to put it into words. I'm going to brief, but my pictures will be able to tell a bigger story as I write many more post on our trip to Ethiopia.

We arrived Sunday night very late, headed to the Ethiopian Guest House. We loved staying there the people who work there are unbelievable and are now considered family to us. We did sleep very little that night, knowing what tomorrow was going to bring.......The next morning we headed to the HOH to meet Finley......I was a wreak, really hoping she wouldn't be scared of us.......We arrived at the gates.........We were greeted with many many hugs...It calmed us. They lead us up the stairs into a room and told us to wait...I knew that room, I had seen many pictures of families in this same room, we had our driver recording every move......And then there she was, my sweet sweet little lady, I couldn't get to her fast enough....then she was in my arms, and I was in heaven...I kissed her, touched her beautiful skin...There she was right in my arms, Keith and I passed her back and forth, never getting enough of her......And she did really good....


We spent the day at the HOH, loving each and every child.....I couldn't get enough of them either....It was one of the best days of our lives......Playing games, getting so many hugs, kissing on all the babies...While my baby took a big nap in my carrier...Feeling her little breathing so close to me........I felt so blessed.

We went back to the Guest house for some dinner, put our darling to bed, and counted our blessing of the day......We couldn't believe all what had happened in 24 hours....

They have a very busy schedule when you get there, we did not do every event, we wanted to bond with our daughter. So we did. We flaked out the whole next day and spent it with each other...It was great. We were the only family in country at the time, so it was pretty flexible....

The next few days were filled meeting new families who had arrived, embassy appointments, Lunches, Dinners, Shopping, Zoo, Museums, waking up early and being gone all day until dinner....I have to admit our Finley was a trooper, dragging her here and there, with no naps etc...could of been really tough, but she did really well. Sleeping in the van to and from is all she got for napping....

Then Friday came, 3 families including us were going to do the long journey to the Orphanage about 2 1/2 hours away........I was really looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing the country side....And oh how beautiful it was.....The air was clean, it's raining season, so it was nice and cool.

Here are some pictures of our trip thus far, need to go to bed and then I will continue on what unfolds the last few days of our trip.......