Thursday was a pretty full day - thankfully Darren and I didn't have to fly out until almost midnight, so we had the whole day there (Lindsay and Alex flew out to Tanzania the next day). In the morning we went to Layla House and hung out with the boys for a while - Z was still on break, but Melaku was back in school there at Layla, so we hung out with him during his break. He and his friends were still really into the card game Lindsay had taught them the day before, Sandwich, so they wanted to play endless hands of it. :)
At one point, I went looking for Alex and Zerihun, and found them in the library - Zerihun was practicing his math (for fun! I asked him if it was his homework, and he said no), and Alex was helping him. They were doing things like g/kg conversions. It was so funny to me seeing Alex, for whom math is his bane, helping Zerihun, who apparently loves it. But more power to him - hopefully they will spur one another on in school at home!
Later that morning we went out for some shopping and sightseeing with the other two adoptive couples who were there. The Ethiopian government really wants to make sure that adoptive parents see the country while we're there, and learn about its history, so that we will teach our new children their heritage. We totally agree with that, and would do it anyway, on our own, even if they didn't encourage it.
We went to kind of a tourist shopping area, where we bought Lindsay a really pretty traditional Ethiopian white dress for her birthday, some knives for the boys (for some reason, t-shirts just didn't excite Alex...), and Darren bought like 25 pounds of coffee. :) It's pretty inexpensive there, and really good (so he says - I'll have to take his word for it); coffee is one of Ethiopia's main exports.
We had lunch, then went to the Ethiopian National Museum, which had exhibits ranging from archeological finds (including Lucy) to thrones and crowns from various emperors to art to traditional tools, instruments, crafts, and etc. It was pretty interesting, though we went through it quickly. This is Lindsay in front of Haile Selassie's throne:
After that we went back, and were able to spend time with the boys at the Guest House until we left. That was a really nice time, because it was just our family, without lots of other kids around. We played games like Mancala and Jenga, colored, did puzzles, watched old videos of our family (both boys thought Ping Pong Remix - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBMx0kxvHbw - was hilarious :)), had dinner, and talked.
It was so hard to leave - Darren and I were both in tears, and had a hard time letting go of the boys. :( It's hard not knowing how long we'll have to wait to go back. Please pray with us that the process will go smoothly and quickly, with no hold-ups, and we'll be able to bring the boys home as soon as possible! And also for the remaining funds we still need for the last trip to come in.
At one point, I went looking for Alex and Zerihun, and found them in the library - Zerihun was practicing his math (for fun! I asked him if it was his homework, and he said no), and Alex was helping him. They were doing things like g/kg conversions. It was so funny to me seeing Alex, for whom math is his bane, helping Zerihun, who apparently loves it. But more power to him - hopefully they will spur one another on in school at home!
Later that morning we went out for some shopping and sightseeing with the other two adoptive couples who were there. The Ethiopian government really wants to make sure that adoptive parents see the country while we're there, and learn about its history, so that we will teach our new children their heritage. We totally agree with that, and would do it anyway, on our own, even if they didn't encourage it.
We went to kind of a tourist shopping area, where we bought Lindsay a really pretty traditional Ethiopian white dress for her birthday, some knives for the boys (for some reason, t-shirts just didn't excite Alex...), and Darren bought like 25 pounds of coffee. :) It's pretty inexpensive there, and really good (so he says - I'll have to take his word for it); coffee is one of Ethiopia's main exports.
We had lunch, then went to the Ethiopian National Museum, which had exhibits ranging from archeological finds (including Lucy) to thrones and crowns from various emperors to art to traditional tools, instruments, crafts, and etc. It was pretty interesting, though we went through it quickly. This is Lindsay in front of Haile Selassie's throne:
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