7/3/13 - One last morning with our Princess!!

This morning, we got up and had breakfast and lounged for a little bit before heading to the orphanage to see M one more time.  Our driver picked us up at 9AM and we were able to spend about 2 hours at the orphanage.  We played with and held all the kids in the baby/toddler room.  It was a lot of fun!  They are all very sweet (although 2 of the boys are a little naughty….) and snuggly!  M was very content today. We actually tried to hold some of the other children first because we knew we would gravitate toward her.  We were able to love on and take pictures of 3 other babies that have families at home as well, which was great!  While we were there, a woman from Illinois came.  She is volunteering for a month just coming in and loving on the babies.  She told us how sweet M is and how happy and peaceful she is as well.  Such a blessing!  I also didn't mention that on Monday we met two students that were signing up to volunteer at the orphanage.  They also came while we were there.  We are very lucky that not only is the nanny staff very loving and attentive, but there are also lots of volunteers that come and provide extra love!  Around 11:30AM, our driver came in and told us he was ready for us.  This is the moment I had been dreading……..having to say goodbye.  I held her tight and told her I loved her over and over again.  I kissed her head and told her we would be back.  I handed her to Kevin so that he could snuggle her one more time as well.  The volunteer from the states, sweet as she was, asked if we would prefer for her to take M so that we didn't have to lay her down and walk away…….YES PLEASE!!!  I gave her one more squeeze and I gave her to the volunteer.  I took a deep breath, grabbed my backpack, waved at her one more time and told her I loved her and walked out into the hall.  I made it about 10 steps before I started crying.  Kevin (so sweet) held me as I cried.  3 of the older girls from the orphanage walked by and asked “What’s wrong?  What’s wrong??”  I told them I was sad because we had to leave.  I don’t know that they really understood, but it was sweet that they were concerned.  I composed myself and we walked out the front door.  As we walked to the gate, I couldn't bring myself to look back at the window of her room.  I know that God will give us the strength to wait it out and I know that we will be back soon, but leaving her was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do.  Love you sweetheart!!!

After we left the orphanage, I dried my tears and we met Abel and the family who had embassy for lunch.  We had Santa Fe pizza for lunch and it was pretty good!  After lunch, we went with the other family to drop off donations at another orphanage and then we went around town to do some souvenir shopping.  What was interesting is that since Abel knows all the best places to shop, he took us to different areas of town for the different things that we were looking for.  We made 4 stops on our shopping journey and then headed to Bethany to pay our transportation bill before driving back to the guest house for our last dinner. 
Birtukan and her staff have worked hard to learn how to make a variety of different American dishes.  Tonight we had burritos and they were very good!  It’s funny that we ate more American food here than we did Ethiopian food, but the guest house felt like home. :)  After dinner, we said our goodbyes to the other family and to Birtukan and we headed to the airport.  

The main road by our guest house

Apartment buildings

Clean shoes are a sign of respect, so there are shoe shiners on every corner

Playing soccer in the road

Fast forward!  And here we are….waiting to board our flight to Frankfurt.  It’s hard to believe that our first trip to Ethiopia is already over!  We have had a wonderful time, made some great friends, and fallen head over heels in love EVEN MORE with our precious, precious girl.  We can’t wait until we can travel back to bring her home!!!