hello from Addis!

Greetings from Addis Ababa!   We arrived safely on the 21st and have been journaling a lot, but haven't quite had time to find internet access as of yet. i promise full details of our trip when we return, but the Cliff's notes for now.   upon our arrival in Addis we visited the bethany offices and met with milkiyas and his staff - they are our reps here in Ethiopia. milkiyas felt it was okay for us to visit Awassa where the kids are from and he arranged it with our driver. He gave us three warnings - no spicy food, no tap water, and don't contact the kids' parents. We followed all but the spicy food thing.   So on Wednesday morning we left for awassa. it was a full 5 hour drive and we were wondering why we did it....until we got there. We stayed at an old run down place right on lake Awassa, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. We spent several hours over the next two days gazing out at the lake and unwinding while the monkeys ran around under foot.   on Thursday morning, the two reps from Shalom orphanage came by to pick us up - Solomon & Abreham. We spent the day touring their office and the orphanage. I was a bit surprised because there are only infants there right now - all newborns up 4 months old or so. And adorable. Wow, so sweet that i momentarily thought about trying to hide a few in my backpack. We had a great day seeing the city, the hospital where both kids were born, and having a coffee ceremony with their nannies. marc video taped it all so we can show the kids later.   this morning we left and arrived back to Addis in the afternoon. i think several other Bethany families should be here by now. i know that the johnsons made their way down to Awassa this morning as well. i hope that they are as happy they made the trip as we are. it was long but well worth it. We were the first people to visit Shalom. Ever. i think they took more pictures of us than we did of everything we saw.   oh, marc says i forgot about the bike. We ended up buying a bike at the market for the nannies there, so that they can get around quickly when they need to go to the market or pick up supplies. I think they were happy with it.   Anyway... Tomorrow morning we go to the transition house to meet the children. We can't wait. Will update more when i can...   love, kellie and marc