We have safely arrived in Addis Ababa and boy are we wiped!

We had to do some minor shuffling of weight in our baggage, mostly to get our backpacks to weigh less. In the end the gal at the airline desk was very nice and got us on the plane without having to leave anything behind.

As we were boarding the flight we quickly realized that while we were sitting right behind Dustin and Jen, unfortunately we were in a non-reclining row. That was not going to be fun. Yet God decided to bless us with about a half full flight and so when everyone was on we quickly snagged an exit row. So we had two seats together (and just to) with more leg room than we could ever need. Mark and I were both able to get about 2-3 hours of sleep. Dustin and Jen, despite being able to spread out in two seats each, were not so lucky. We kept the seats us from Washington D.C. until the stop in Rome when we had to return to our original seats because of new passengers getting on board. We traded around and Jen and I sat together and watched a movie while the guys yaked behind us.

We were about an hour late coming in and by the time we got our entry visas, claimed our bags and exchanged some money we were exhausted. I have never been so glad to see my name on a sheet of paper. Our translator Aki met us with flowers and steered us toward the van (think VW bus) where they loaded our 10+ bags and then drove us to the guest house.

So many wonderful sights to see as we drove through the city. Overall very clean.

It was about 11:30 when we arrived – we got shown to our rooms, given a huge bottle of water and just had to wait a bit before lunch, which was pizza.

Jen is already out like a light…the rest of us are waiting turns to shower. The big debate is whether or not to try and stay awake till dinner or just to go to sleep now.

“Get me off this plane”

From our cab

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arriving at the guest house. The guy in blue is Aki, our translator.

We arrived safely in Washington D.C. this afternoon. We had a little bit of reshifting of the baggage when we arrived at the counter this morning. We got a stickler on the weight limit. One bag was over 1 lb, one by .5 lb and one by 2 lbs. We shifted some weight to the carry ons which was fine for United but we’re praying that Ethiopian doesn’t weigh them tomorrow because they are over by a couple pounds. Otherwise we’ll have to dump some snacks. Or Mark offered to tie his shoes together and wear them around his neck 🙂

We didn’t get to sit near Dustin and Jen on the plane but met them for dinner at Chili’s near their hotel. We decided against trying to get into the city so that Jen wasn’t overdoing it. Instead we had a really LONG dinner and just had a great time visiting. There were many discussions that revolved around sleep and when we should sleep and whether we should take the sleeping pills we have and if so, what time, etc.

We got back to our hotel room just in time for the cowboys game so Mark is a happy camper.

This really doesn’t seem to do our luggage pile justice, but here it is.

Dinner at Chili’s.

Well off we go – with the beauty of auto posting – the fact that you are seeing this means we are already on our way. Lots of people have been asking what we’re doing when, so here is a little run down of our days (at least as we have “planned” them).

Sun 12/14 – head to Washington, D.C., arriving about 4 p.m. drop stuff at the hotel and take the bus/metro into the National Mall area and see some monuments with Dustin & Jen who have never been to D.C.; try to stay up kind of late so we can sleep on the plane

Mon 12/15 – leave for Addis at 9:30 a.m. It’s a 15 hour flight with a short stop in Rome to refuel

Tuesday 12/16 – arrive in Addis around 8:30 a.m. Get our visas, exchange money and claim our HUGE pile of luggage. Find our driver and get to the guesthouse where hopefully we can check in and freshen up. Then we plan to go back out and do some light sightseeing/shopping

Wednesday 12/17 – spend time at Hope for the Hopeless. Jen has some Bible lessons prepared and we have games to play with the kids and crafts to do. Assess needs and figure out how to spend the nearly $800 that you guys gave us for them.

Thursday 12/18 – More time at H4H – another Bible lesson. Hopefully go see their new building. Do some shopping for them.

Friday 12/19 – Final day at H4H – Bible lesson and pizza party (or some sort of fun treat for them).

Saturday 12/20 – Sightseeing and major SHOPPING!!!!

Sunday 12/21 – Church?? Visit Grandma Hailu (kid’s grandma)

Monday 12/22 – Get Wendemagegn & Beza!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday 12/23 – Hanging out at the hotel which has an indoor heated pool and game room. Plus we have lots of games and toys and things to do.

Wednesday 12/24 – Embassy appointment. Pray all goes smoothly.

Thursday 12/25 – Merry Christmas. Hang out at the hotel.

Friday 12/26 – Get all of our kids paperwork; fly out of Addis at 10:30 p.m.

Saturday 12/27 – Arrive home – via D.C. and Denver

Noah and Natalie will have the next week off of school still which is great. As a family we’ll be laying low for awhile, trying not to overwhelm the new kids with too many people or too many things too soon.

We have internet access at both places we are staying although I have no idea what it will be like. We really hope to post updates while we are there so keep checking the blog.