7/2/13 - Officially a family of FOUR :)

This morning we got up and had breakfast as a group and then headed to the Bethany office for our Ethiopian history and culture training.  The training was great!  Abel is a history buff and told us all there is to know about Ethiopia.  One very interesting thing we learned that I didn’t know was that the famine in Ethiopia in the 90s was avoidable.  Apparently the communist government was working to take down the north region, so they allowed the famine to devastate the area even though they could have provided aid from the south. 
The cultural portion of our training went over a lot of customs and social expectations, differences in the regions of Ethiopia, how to perform a coffee ceremony (these are done when people come to your home and for celebrations), how to make injera (Ethiopian bread), and how to make wot (stew).  We learned that it is a sign of love to feed an uncomfortably large bite of injera with stew to your guests.  Beware if you come over!!! :)  Very fun!  

Roasting the beans

Pretty strong - but we tried it!

Making injera

Injera with lentil wot (stew).  Delicious!!

After our training, we had a speedy lunch and headed to court.  The drive to court was interesting.  Court is in the center of Addis Ababa, so traffic is much heavier.  There are lanes on the road in some places, but they are not really used.  There are also lots of people (and animals) walking in the streets.  The drivers honk to alert the people that they are there and tell them to get out of the way!  

Wood poles are used as scaffolding and to hold floors up until the cement is dry

We arrived at court and waited in the room for about 20 minutes before being called in.  All three Bethany families were able to go into the judge’s office together.  She asked us maybe 10 questions and then said the words we wanted to hear “All of your documents are in order and your children are yours”.  PTL!!!!  I held back my tears (although a few still squeaked out!) because my crying never looks like happy crying and I didn't want to judge to get the wrong idea.  She is ours!!!!  SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!
After court, we dropped one of the families off at their guest house because they are heading home tonight and then dropped us off at ours.  We had dinner together and then sat around chatting for the rest of the evening.  One of the couples flew home tonight, so that left three couples at the guest house.  We also called Nicolas before we headed off to bed.  He’s doing great and having lots of fun getting spoiled! :)  Tomorrow is our last day here and our last chance to see M before we head home. :(

We passed!