Day 6

Today we visited the Gladney Care Centers. We got to see where Mekdes lived for almost four months. We got to meet her special mother. My favorite part was meeting eight darling children and loving on them for their parents. It was so special to hold them and tell them mommy and daddy would be coming soon. If you are one of these families I promise to send you pictures as soon as I can when we get home. My email is not letting me attach any photos, and I obviously can’t post them here. Your children are precious and are being loved on until you can hold them forever. I am crying as I type this because adoption is such a beautiful thing and I feel so honored to have met these children whose parents have fallen in love with them through photos and updates. I wish everyone could experience something so amazing.

It was strange to be in the exact spot our daughter was just a few days ago. We looked at the crib and thought of what it was like for her there. They took her and changed her into a traditional Ethiopian outfit. The picture below is of her with her “special mother”. Her special mother is the woman who took care of her the most while she was in Gladney’s care. Please ignore the red and black onesie underneath…not so much traditional Ethiopian!

They also have a traditional coffee ceremony at the care center and they brew the coffee and pop popcorn. Here is a picture from the ceremony:

We snuck away during part of the ceremony to visit the Gladney doctor. Mekdes has not been feeling well and we wanted to have it checked out. She sounded awful last night while she was sleeping. She was really struggling to breath. She has had a cough and a runny nose all day. He said he was pretty sure she had pneumonia again. He wrote a prescription and we gave her the first dose tonight. I hope she feels better soon and I also hope she doesn’t spit it all up, as she spits up large quantities at least 32 times a day….I wish I was kidding!

After the ceremony we all went to a restaurant called Top View. It was great food and was nice to get to know the other families, as well as the in-country staff, a little more. The view was great. Here is a pic from the restaurant:

We came home and we were all three drained. Here is a picture of how Mekdes felt. I realize she is experiencing MAJOR pattern overload, but I was trying to keep her warm and the bib is a must with the large amounts of spit-up!

This picture is of her bundled up in a blanket:

Tomorrow morning we have our Embassy appointment at 9:00 am. This is the final step before they issue her visa. We then tour a church at 3:00 pm and go to a traditional Ethiopian dinner, with dancing (them not us). She will only be attending the Embassy appointment with us, so we have to leave her with a caregiver for a while. Sad face. I probably will not blog tomorrow, but should have plenty of time to do so Friday.

I have so many pictures of Addis and will post them when I get home. It is taking me FOREVER to upload pictures and I have to pay by the hour. I promise to overload you with pictures of lots of insane construction, animals in the middle of the road and the people of Ethiopia.