Well, we're here (and have been for two days!)

I know that so many of you have been checking this blog religiously and
have found nothing. Sorry! This has been a whirlwind few days. So, we have
good news and bad news: Good news... We have Kidus and he is wonderful
(more about him in a second). Bad news... I have not been able to figure
out how to get pictures on here (Ben and Joanna: If you are reading this,
please help. Alemu's computer will not recognize our memory card, only the
memory on the camera. And we have little of that. Did you have this
problem?)

As soon as I finished typing this, I thought of a way to get one picture
on here. I can use the computer's memory for one picture and hopefully Ben
and Joanna will have a solution for us so we can show you some more
pictures later. No pressure Ben and Joanna :)

So, as I sit here, this is what I am looking at... Isn't it a beautiful
thing?
(Cori - I am forwarding this to you, too. If it doesn't post, could you
add it into the blog for me?)

Where to begin? Like I mentioned, it has been a whirlwind. Once we got
into the Addis Ababa airport and out to meet Alemu (our contact in
Ethiopia) it was already 10am. We were told that if we wanted to get Kidus
that day, we would go get him at 2:30pm. In between that time we had a
coffee ceremony (More on that at another time) and lunch with another
adopting family who was departing that night. We rushed around and finally
made it to the orphanage where we met the very nice director. After a few
minutes of chit-chat they brought Kidus in to us. He is even more
beautiful than the picture. And so BIG!! I think he must weigh more than
19lbs, but we will see when we get home. The next part was expected by
us, but I don't think that we truly grasped the impact that it would have:
Kidus was brought into the room by his caregiver and as soon as he saw us,
it was obvious that he was frightened by us (probably the white faces). We
talk to him for a moment before holding him, but he clung to his caregiver
with all his might. We finally took him and it was heart wrenching. Such
mixed emotions. We were so happy to have him, yet so heart broken for him.
His bottom lip stuck out and he had such sadness in his eyes. We knew this
was the best for him, but like any parent knows, what is best is not
always easy. It was easy for us of course, we loved him already. But we
were strangers. Scary strangers.

Once we left the orphanage, he began to cling to me. I think that since I
was a female, I was a maybe a little less scary, but I don't know... I am
going to jump ahead a few hours. He ate and finally fell asleep after a
large dinner (this boy likes to eat!). We passed out from exhaustion
shortly after. This was 8am and he slept all the way through until 2am.
When he woke us, I don't even think he cried. James and I made him a
bottle, changed his diaper (twice) and then cuddled with him. He finally
smiled and started to really warm up to us. It was obvious this was a
turning point. He fell asleep and slept until 7am. Waking up to him
smiling and ready to be held by us was such a wonderful feeling. Of
course, his first laugh was aimed at his big sister, but I am sure he will
find us amusing after a while. For now, we really like being his go-to
people... Hunger, diaper, toy, cuddle. You name it, we got it :) And he is
such an easy-going baby. A "gentleman", as Alemu calls him.

Today we decided to leave him with the two women that stay at the guest
house because we would be traveling about four hours in the car with many
(at least twenty) stops along the way. One of these stops was a hike up a
mountain. This was tough to do, but in hindsight, it was definitely a good
idea. I was really worried that he would have forgotten all about us and
be scared when we returned. He wasn't. He seemed happy to see us! Yay! I
will tell more about our experiences later, but for now, I will tell you
that Ethiopia is an amazing country with so much to see and learn. The
rest of the week we are looking forward to experiencing Ethiopia with
Kidus. Tomorrow, we will be seeing two museums and learning so much more
about the Ethiopian culture.

The flight was wonderful (well, as wonderful as a 15 hour non-stop flight
can be), our hosts are wonderful, everyone (for the most part) we have met
has been wonderful, and the family we are traveling with is wonderful (The
Hahn family). This trip is a blessing. We cannot wait to have Kidus home
to meet you all and vice versa.

Okay, I have poured my heart out for now. I hope to post more later (with
pictures, I hope!)