Day 4 in Ethiopia

                                                       The Riviera Hotel where we stayed.

The pile of goatskins on the corner of the road.  This was what was left after the slaughter after the fast.  People were selling them to make rugs.

Walking down the road on Easter.  This picture was taken right after Brian said, "Ok, everyone take your akward faces off."

                           We had to laugh at the irony of this banner.  The man is blocking the words but it

                          "Traffic Safety Awareness Week"   There is no safety! It is a complete free for all. 

                                                      However, we never saw one accident!!

                                  Being goofy in the hotel.  Brian bought the Obama pens that were in the

                          display case at the hotel and passed them out. They seem to be big on Obama here.

                                      Sweet little K listening to music on Matt's phone.  She loved it!!

Today is Easter in Ethiopia so Happy Easter again!! It was very special to be able to celebrate our first holiday with K. We were a little disappointed, however, as we thought we would have participated in more of an Ethiopian Easter celebration at HH, but that was not the case. Other than the fact that the children were served meat lunch time for the first time in two months, it really was not different. Regardless, today was probably our favorite day at Hannah’s Hope. A new family joined us to day so we got to watch them meet their son which is always a delight. K was waiting for us in the courtyard when we got there, just like she was yesterday. I almost lost it emotionally thinking of Wednesday when we don’t walk through the doors in the morning. I know they will prepare her, but it will still be a hard day. I am tearing up now just thinking about it. Our time together goes soooo fast! Today we began the day with our usual routine of stickers and a game. Then, we let her look through the family book again. She did a great job again of saying everyone’s name. She looked through it four times in a row. It was so sweet to see her so interested and focused on what will become her new family and home. Then, we moved into our usual routine of playing with the other children. They love the memory game we brought and it is so cute to see the children take turns even though this can be hard for them as they all want to play at the same time. Today we learned that K is quite the sporty little girl. She did a great job at kicking the soccer ball around, and wow, does she have an arm!! It is amazing what those skinny little arms and legs can do!! The other fun thing that happened today is that K danced for us for the first time! Matt got out his phone and turned on his Ipod and after a while she started dancing up a storm! It was hilarious!! I was able to get some video of it. The best part was that she was dancing to the song “Something Beautiful” by the Newsboys. It is one of our favorite songs and we have always played that song and thought of her. I even bought a book for her over a year ago titled, Something Beautiful and had it personally signed by the author. So I love that this was the first song she danced to!!!!!!!!!!!! Two other special things that happened today was that first she didn’t cry when we left. Hooray! She felt secure in the fact that we would be back tomorrow. The second special thing that happened was that when we were saying goodbye I told her my usual, “I love you K” and one of the older girls who was standing with us as heard me and she put her arm around K and translated for her!!! K got a big smile on her face and I will forever be grateful to this sweet little girl (who we have some to adore) who did that for us. It was the perfect way to say goodbye today.

After we got back to the hotel we ate lunch and since we had internet called our families and I was able to work on updating the blog. Then, we along with the other three families who are here decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air. Mountain storms threatened, but we decided to go anyway. There was a huge slaughter last night as Ethiopians were finally able to eat meat after the two month fast, and it was quite a sight to see goatskins piled up three to four feet high. They were piled up on a street corner and people were selling them to make goatskin rugs, I think. On our way back to the hotel we got caught in a rainstorm. It was so refreshing and reminded me of my Colorado days getting caught in mountain storms. We had our usual dinner of injera and shiro. Tonight when we returned to our room I opened up my bible at random and began reading Psalm 90. I was brought to tears as I read Psalm 90:4 which reads, ‘For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.’ From the beginning of this process, which has been 2 years and 4 months for us now, we have surrendered to God’s timing in all of this. This specific verse has come to my mind so often, as I have been well aware that my timing is not God’s timing. The second we met K we knew that God had orchestrated the timing of this adoption perfectly because she was chosen for us! There is no doubt! Thank you, Lord.