Ethiopia Part 1

Our first day meeting Thad and Kamby, outside in the orphanage garden.
The kids at the orphanage just loved Alyx and the girls wanted to have their pictures taken individually with her.

The kids loved taking goofy pictures and then looking at them on the screen. They especially loved Alyx videoing them.

Inside the guest house at the toukoul (orphanage) the first time we met Kamby.

My baby boy!

My baby girl!

Daddy and son meet.

Although finding time to blog is very difficult, it has been most difficult deciding what to blog. It is easy to show our babies and our new family of 8 but I have no idea how to put into words the heart wrenching sights and sounds that are Ethiopia. We were definitely not prepared for what we experienced while in Addis Abbaba. We opted not to leave the city just for health reasons and cost. But what we experienced inside the city was more than enough. All the people that served us were the most gracious and friendly. The diversity of people within the city amazed us. Among the crippled, poor, and children in the streets were very well dressed, well off people mixed right in. It wasn't like we drive to a nice area and then a poor area, every area is poor with some nice buildings and such every so often. We arrived Sunday afternoon and were taken to our hotel then immediately to the toukoul (orphanage) to meet the babies. We kept thinking that we were turning down alley ways but it turns out those are the roads. Everything is behind a steel gate and someone has to open the gate to let the cars in. Our beautiful babies responded very well to us the first day. We spent about 2 hours with them, they smiled and laughed and never cried. We visited each consecutive day until Friday when we checked them out of the toukoul for good. I will post more on our trip and the babies later when I have more time. Right now, at home, they are doing well overall but battling illness. Thad has rsv/bronchialitis w/ an ear infection and Kamby has an ear infection and cold. They are sleeping and eating well and in very good spirits.