Day seven of our journey to Seth Kidus

Day seven was a whirlwind, so even as I begin this post, I know that it is going to take me a day or two to finish it...

Day seven started with a tour of the city. This means that we all piled in the car (all members of both families, even little Leila Hahn was able to join us for this trip). The whole tour took an hour or two and I feel pretty safe in saying that we went entirely through the city. What was most interesting was the highway: it looked like your standard interstate with exits and on ramps. I have never seen a road like that in Africa. Of course, Africa is a big place and comparatively, I have seen very little of it.

It was difficult to get pictures in a moving car, but we managed one or two. Believe it or not, this is the best one:


We did get awesome video that I hope to post on here soon, just not today...sorry!

After the tour of the city, we went back to visit a local zoo that had a big lion exhibit. The zoo was small, but the lion exhibit was awesome. The pictures say it all:



Where in the US can you get that close to a lion? Some sort of government agency would take issue with it. We enjoyed it quite a bit. The funny thing was that the lions were set apart in a different section of the zoo with a fence around them. Well, while we were inside that fence looking at the lions, the locals were outside the fence looking at us. We became the exhibit...That was an interesting feeling to say the least!

While we were at the zoo, we got a call from Gitachu telling us that we needed to be at the US Embassy for the kids' visa appointments within a couple hours. So, we rushed back to the Hilton to drop off the Hahn family, then rushed to the guest house to grab some lunch. When we arrived, we discovered that there was going to be a coffee ceremony in honor of it being the first day of the short month (AKA the 13th month). Every year they have a 13th month that only has five days in it, every four years that month has six days. This year was a six day year, so they were celebrating with a coffee ceremony and bread.


James cut the bread because we were honored guests. While we were getting ready to eat, Gitachu called again and said that Seth Kidus' uncle was in town and ready to meet us at the orphanage. We were to meet him before going to our embassy appointment. We did not have time to go all the way to the orphanage, so he waited for us in Addis. When we met him we asked if he could wait to talk to us after the embassy appointment and he was happy to wait.

We went to the embassy appointment with plenty of time to spare. Visiting a US Embassy is always an interesting experience, but the new liquid issues with security made it even more interesting. The security guard made us taste our water in front of him and at first we thought he wanted us to taste our bug spray as well. Come to find out he only wanted James to put it on his arm. We got off easy. Gary Hahn had to drink formula... What a trooper :) Unfortunately, you are not allowed to have cameras in the embassy, or I would have a great photo.

We met some really nice people while waiting. Proving it is a small world, we met an Ethiopian business owner who attend Western Michigan University (not too far from our house - Go Broncos!) for four years. It is a small world after all!

Of course, if you have been reading this blog regularly, you know that everything went smoothly at the embassy, we dropped the Hahn family off at their hotel and rushed back over to meet with Seth Kidus' uncle. It was an amazing experience that we were able to get all on tape for Seth someday. His uncle went out of his way to take care of Seth Kidus for as long as he could and then he once again went out of his way to keep in touch with him. Seth has many family members that we will be able to go back and meet when he is older. We are really looking forward to be able to do that for him. We learned that the timing of all our paperwork issues made it so that we were ready when Seth Kidus was ready. Seth did not become an eligible orphan until his mother had passed on, and she did not do so until March 16th. If our paperwork had went as smoothly as we prayed, we would not have our sweet little Seth Kidus... Thank God for unanswered prayers! And thank God for a watchful uncle who was looking out for his nephew.


We completed our evening by heading back to the guest house for a relaxing dinner and a nice, restful night sleep (one of the first since we had arrived in Ethiopia and ironically, our last night in Ethiopia).

There. I finished it in one sitting. I am sure there is already so much that I have forgotten, but one thing that will stick with me is the sheer weight of that day. It was the second most emotional day in Ethiopia, the first being the day we were able to hold Seth Kidus. This all seems like it was so long ago. Hard to believe we have only had him with us for 24 days...feels like he has always been here!