Ethiopia - Second Half of Day 2

We arrived back at the guesthouse for lunch and the food was delicious.  The staff at the Jemimah is amazing.  Then we hopped back in the van to go shopping.  I really didn't want to go, but it turned out to be a good experience.  As they followed us from shop to shop, the children would say, "I love you  Mommy [or sista].  I want to go to America with you."  It was difficult to look at their sweet faces and be able to do nothing but give them a granola bar.  

We shopped for about an hour and went back to the Jemimah again.  They had a coffee ceremony waiting, which turned out to be very cool and the coffee was amazing!  When that was done, we went upstairs and finished packing.  Then we got into the van yet again to go to dinner at Avanti's, an Italian restaurant.  We had a lot of fun with our new friends and all got along really well.  Justin and I were sad to see the evening end.

After dinner, we stopped by the Jemimah to get our bags and drop everyone else off.  It was hard to say goodbye.  We got to the airport and as we were doing all of the check in stuff, we noticed that the Ethiopian soccer team was there.  They were on the way to a game in Tanzania.  While I dealt with our paperwork and bags, Justin went over and talked to them.  They were nice and several of them spoke some English.  He got their autographs for our soccer star, Tatum.  They seemed amused to be asked, but it was fun and a big deal for Tatum.  I'm bummed that you can't take pictures in the Addis airport.  That would be a fun one to have.

We traveled about 36 hours to get home.  The flight to Frankfurt was easy.  We met a guy who not only knew where Clovis is, but his wife's family has a dairy there.  I grew up on a dairy farm in Clovis.  Such a small world!  We spend our time in Germany sound asleep on the benches.  The 12 hour flight to Houston was loooooong.  The plane was packed and there were not individual screens at each seat for movies and such.  The first plane we were on that didn't have that and also our longest flight.  Go figure.  We tried to stay awake for the entire flight so that we'd be able to switch our nights and days back around when we got to my parents' house.

Got to Houston, cleared customs and immigration and called our kiddos!!!  It was so good to hear their sweet voices.  I was surprised at what a relief it was to hear English everywhere and to be able to communicate easily.  I was hardly able to stay awake at that point.  We walked around the airport some, but as soon as we sat down I'd be falling asleep.  Somehow got onto the plane and slept through the entire flight to Amarillo.  Woke up right before landing and bolted out of our seats as soon as we stopped, apologizing and explaining that we hadn't seen our kids in eight days and we weren't usually so pushy and rude.  :-)

We got to the luggage area right before our kids arrived with Tio and Chyanne.  What a wonderful reunion!  Best welcoming committee ever.  They had signs that said Mom and Dad Robbs We Are Your Ride.  How cute is that???  We even got a pineapple as a welcoming gift.  Tio and Chyanne took us to dinner at Olive Garden.  Then Tio drove our suburban most of the way to my parents house.  Justin made a valiant effort to stay awake, but I passed out before we were even out of Amarillo.  Got to the farm, collapsed in bed and woke up sick the next day, but so happy to be with the fab four!  

The four hour drive home to Rio Rancho seemed extra long.  Justin worked on homework until dark, when he noticed that I was having trouble focusing and staying awake.  Super safe.  We switched drivers and made it home sweet home!


Amazing trip!  Paris was wonderful, too.  But it just pales in comparison to meeting our son.

The issue with the orphanage license has us on edge for about a week, especially after Holt announced that it would probably be the end of December before the problem was resolved.  I was a mess.  Then I got an email from a friend who was in Ethiopia to appear in court saying that the license was back in place.  Sure enough, Holt announced it the next day!  Awesome!  So now we're waiting to hear when our embassy date is so we can go back and bring our boy home.  We expect it to be around the beginning of February.