Ethiopia Day Six

March 30, 2012

We woke up and ate dry cereal for breakfast before we headed out to Hannah’s Hope for our last visit.  When we got over to little guy, he was in a basket sunning and was happy to see us.  When I picked him up, he got a bit fussy, so looking back I wish I would have just left him there.  It was most likely my anxiety rubbing off on him, plus a heightened emotional state, but I felt like I couldn’t comfort him very well that whole visit, which was hard.  He seemed to do much better with Josh, probably because Josh was much calmer than me.  I think I am probably remembering it worse than it was, because Josh says I did get some smiles and I think they are even documented on video and in pictures.  J 

He went down for a nap after about an hour of us being there, so we spent the time playing with the older kids.  Josh played soccer with the oldest boy, who is so special, and I got my hair braided by a beautiful 6 or 7 year old girl who did an unbelievable job!  She was so patient to sit there for almost an entire hour and do my whole head of hair (I kept saying we could stop, but she wanted to complete the job, and she was a perfectionist too, she would redo one if she didn’t like the way it looked).  I wore these braids onto the plane that night and so Hallie got to see them when we returned.  She LOVED them!

Josh went to check on baby boy after about an hour and he had just woken up, so we got to spend a few more minutes with him before it was time to go. We did get to change him in to his UK onesie before we left and he looked adorable in it!  Blue is a good look for him. Josh was having good luck walking around with him and letting him look at everything.  He seemed to take in all his surroundings with his big brown eyes.  We took a few family photos (he was crying in most, lol) and video, and then it was time to say goodbye.  We tried to make it as quick as possible, handing him to the special mother with quick kisses.  I held it together until we walked out of the gates and shed some tears on the bus ride back to the hotel.  Wass was so respectful of all of our feelings, but had us smiling and laughing by the time we got back.  He said “you will be back really soon” when he hugged me goodbye and that meant a lot.  I was actually sad to be leaving him and all the other amazing people we met there in addition to our sweet boy.  Honestly, the goodbye was actually a little easier than we expected it to be, and we know that is because we saw what amazing care our son is getting at Hannah's Hope. We have been thanking God for that every day since we were there. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing and talking/exchanging pictures with the Bloodsworths.  Soon it was time to eat dinner and catch the shuttle to the airport.  Oh, the airport on the way out!  How chaotic and insane that was!  It was raining, so that was interesting in and of itself, but it also was just hectic!  We had this man who was helping us get through the lines and everything, but it felt like a mad rush weaving through tons of people and grabbing various pieces of luggage, etc. etc.  Can’t really describe it, but if you have been there, you know what I mean.  We finally made it through ticketing and security and sat down with the tons of other people waiting to board ET Air flight 500.  Lots of adoptive families with their babies and children were on this flight, so I spent a lot of time thinking about the fact that the next time we did this outbound trip, we’d have our little guy with us.  I think I am thankful that we’ve done it once without him so we will at least know the ropes a bit! 

I found out right before we left that we would have to stop in Rome to refuel the plane and I wasn’t that excited about that.  It just made the trip longer and added a landing (which my ears aren’t fans of to begin with) but hey, what could I do?  It was a *long* flight back, but we survived.  When we touched down in DC, it felt so strange to be back in America.  What a difference in landing here compared to landing in Ethiopia.  The customs line in DC was long (an hour or so wait) and then we had to grab our luggage and then put it back on, then go through security once again.  We lost the Bloodsworths and were sad that we didn’t get to say a proper goodbye to them.  Hopefully we will travel with them again next time! 

Finally we were on our way to Knoxville, and that flight seemed like a piece of cake!  When we landed there, I said to Josh, did we really just go to Africa?  It seemed surreal.  We were SO excited to see Hallie that we practically ran off the plane.  She was super thrilled to see us, too, and ran with outstretched arms to hug us.  What a joyful moment that was!  Major thanks to Grammy and Poppy, who watched her (and Mace-Dog too) for the week and had a great (although probably exhausting) time! 

Pretty amazing for a six year old, huh? 

With the heart over his face, we can pretend this is a beautiful family photo.  Without the heart you can see the crying face!  Awkward family photo!  :c)

 This is us with Wass and Jessica and Steve, our travel buddies

Yes, Daddy got the first hug (no fair).  Don't you love the "do not enter" sign that she passed while running towards us?  :c)