Day eight of our journey to Seth Kidus

Well, I am finally at day eight, our last day in Ethiopia. It is hard to believe that we have been home for three weeks already!

Day eight was another whirlwind. After receiving requests from a few adoptive parents to get pictures of their newly adopted children, we decided to start the day with a special trip to Enetalem Orphanage. Most of the Hahn family had opted to spend a relaxing day at the hotel, so Gary was the only member that was joining us. And since we were visiting another orphanage, we thought that might be stressful on Seth and opted to leave him with the ladies at the house. This time was extremely hard, however. As we were leaving, Seth had a look on his face that said, "I can't believe you are leaving me." That was the last time we have left him to date.

First stop had to be at the US Embassy to pick up the babies' visas. Gary and James went in to pick them up, while Taylor and I waited in the car. I know it seems like nothing too exciting to report, but this meant that both children were going home!

The next stop was the Enetalem orphanage, where we were sure we would just be in and out. After explaining to the director that what we were there for, she lead us to an area to cover our feet with plastic bags! They did not want us tracking in anything for the babies. This was the cleanest orphanage I have ever visited. To make a point, this is what I wrote to one of the adoptive mothers:

The orphanage is really wonderful. There were always nannies with the babies and the center is clean and neat. The older children are doted on just as much as the babies. The director walks into a room and their eyes light up. . . If they were my children, I can honestly say that I would be perfectly comfortable with their care. It is run better than many American day care centers.

I stand by those words. This is an exceptionally nice orphanage. Of course, there is sadness at every orphanage, but none of this sadness was coming from the children. They are happy; Of course, they would all be happier with forever families. Knowing that is what brings the sadness.



After getting all the pictures we needed, the director invited us to a coffee ceremony. We were short on time, but you can't say no to a coffee ceremony, so off we went. We walked through a group of kids who began singing to us... About 20 minutes of singing. It was a lot of fun. Some songs were in English, some in Amharic.




After that, we went in for our coffee ceremony. We were served by a beautiful Ethiopian woman, whose name, unfortunately, escapes me:


We drank one cup (fairly quickly) and then we were off again. Did I mention that we had not even begun to pack for our flight home that night? Those of you that know me, know that inside I was in complete panic mode. It was about 12:00pm at this point and we were to be at the airport at 6pm. Oi Vey!

On the Norris' list of things still to do: track down two Amharic Bibles, tour the Merkato, and buy more diapers for the flight home.

Gary also had his own list to complete.

After leaving the orphanage, we were off to tour the Merkato, but only as a drive-by. We drove up and down each street of the largest open-air market in Africa. There are really no words to describe it other than CRAZY. It was so busy and there was only one lane. Did I mention that traffic went both ways? My heart rate increases just thinking about it :) There was really no good way to get pictures of it, but we got some good video, I believe. I will show it to you when we get around to sorting out all our video.

Once we escaped the craziness, we went to another area of Addis for the Amharic bibles. James wanted to buy one for him and one for Seth (when he gets older.) Apparently, there are no Bibles in print right now, so we had to go find an "alternative dealer" of sorts. Interesting, to say the least, when you are buying a Bible. We did get them, though.

At this point my insides are going into full panic mode because we were not packed yet and only had a few hours left. Since Beth was at the hotel packing for them, Sammy (the driver) dropped us off at the guest house and Gary continued on without us.

Lunch was waiting for us at the guesthouse and then we were on to our packing. It took us a couple hours, but we managed to get everything packed up and ready to go. Since we were planning on being at the airport by 6pm (to be sure we got that all important bassinet seat), we had planned to just get dinner at the airport. Of course, the wonderful ladies at the house made us an early dinner and you guessed it, a coffee ceremony (man, I miss those ladies!)

After all the rushing, all the worrying, all the fussing... it was finally time to leave. Alemu picked us up and took us to the airport. But not before many goodbyes.


At the airport, we learned two things that put us in less than pleasant moods:

• We learned that despite being told the contrary, the bank was closed and we would be stuck with well over $1,000.00 worth of Ethiopian Birr.

• We also learned that we would not be getting the bassinet seat after all. Although, we really weren't sure why...

Of course, that put us in a mood, but as we were filling out the exit visa cards, I was asked to help two ladies fill out their cards. The challenging part of this task was that neither spoke a word of English and neither could read. So, we fumbled through most the questions and apparently it worked out for them because I saw them on the other side later in the evening. That put things into perspective for me and gave me a chance to relax. God works in weird ways sometimes :)

The plane was delayed by about 45 minutes, but we were never sure why. African time, I guess. And when I say African time, I mean no disrespect what-so-ever. Actually, I am envious of the way that relationships take precedence over time. If we were all like that, the world would be a better place.

Here is the whole gang, getting ready for take-off:


Once we were checking into the flight at the gates, our spirits were considerably better. The gentleman at the gate made our spirits even better: he offered us a bassinet seat. The only catch was that we had to sit one row apart from each other. We weren't complaining, though... We were so happy. Seth enjoyed it as well:



Seth and I had really nice company on the flight, too. We were blessed enough to be seated by a wonderful gentlemen who was also a missionary to Rwanda. James and I had a great time chatting with him as we switched back and forth throughout the flight. He also never complained that due to the bassinet he was blocked from leaving when he wanted to and couldn't use his movie screen. He was a great guy!

I am going to fast forward you a little bit: we had a very uneventful flight (both to Washington DC and on to Detroit) and even arrived a little bit early into Detroit. As we were heading towards the luggage claim area, we heard people yelling our names. Down by the luggage claim area were many of our friends and family there to greet us:



And at home, we had even more people waiting for us. Through it all, Seth was amazing. He is obviously a people person and acted as if he knew he was home from the moment he stepped foot into our house. Here he is meeting his new friends and cousins. He is telling them all about Ethiopia, but of course it is in Amharic, so they can't understand him... They think it is just babble... What? He is really bright! ;-)



No one stayed too long and we all went to bed and slept like babies for a good 10 - 11 hours... Even the baby slept like a baby.

The end result of this amazing trip is our amazing little family. I thank God everyday for bringing us together. Today it feels as if we have always been together.

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."
~Desmond Tutu

Now that the trip recitation is complete, I can use this blog for what God intended: to brag about my kids. :-) Believe me, I have got plenty of that to catch up on!