Well, Nick pulled another all-nighter! He decided to quit tossing and turning and took the computer downstairs to finish up his presentation for Saturday and chat with whoever was on line. He ran into his friend Benjamin in the bar and he made Nick 3 coffees by the time he came back to the room. The coffee here is good and very strong. Needless to say, Nick was buzzing and got his whole presentation done. He came back to the room at 3:30 am and unfortunately neither of us fell back to sleep. Yikealo decided to play “let’s kick mom all night long”. So much for hugging and snuggling. He is definitely sleeping in his own bed in his own room when we get home.
At 6:00 am Yikealo woke up and we all snuggled for 45 min. I got up and showered so we could go get some breakfast. As we walked out of the dining hall we were informed by the front desk that we needed to change rooms. Apparently they needed to spray our current room for cockroaches and the stuff would smell bad. I hadn’t seen any, but they must be there. They wanted to move us to a back, end room, but I refused and asked politely for a front room with better internet connection. They agreed and we were off to pack. I decided to organize our bags for tomorrow so we are basically packed to go now.
After getting rescheduled we decided to check with the front desk about getting a taxi to take a three hour tour of the city. I had gotten permission from the director of Hannah’s Hope on Monday to do this to allow us to show Yikealo a little of the city as he was old enough to appreciate it. We were not supposed to get out of the taxi was the only stipulation. A dear friend had suggested to get lots of pictures for Yikealo later on and we had not done a great job of this as of yet. This allowed us to get many pictures and see the wide variety of wealth and poverty within the city.
We got back in time for lunch. Yikealo ate the buffet and Nick and I ordered our usual, French fries and a large water. The ride and early rise or lack of sleep depending on who I am talking about, did us all in and we returned to our room for a nap. Yikealo and I woke up after an hour or so. Nick was still sleeping hard. I think he is trying to stay more on US time. I took Yikealo out to play to allow Nick to sleep some more.
Yikealo wanted to go find his friend one floor up. The boys had a great time with playdoo. Then they found a sticker book. Yikealo’s friend loves to put stickers all over his face. It was so cute and the bigger the sticker the better. In the end, there was not a part of his face not covered in airplane stickers. One of the best parts of the boys playing together is hearing them chatter with each other. Since Yikealo’s English is not really developed, he is pretty quiet with us. The boys are from the same region, so they speak the same dialect ( 1 of 80 in Ethiopia). It is so fun to hear them chatter with one another. I know that is something he will lose quickly once home as there is no one to talk with him. I tried video taping it to capture some of it. I only hope the volume comes across good. Nick would be the first to tell you I am not the best when it comes to computer/electronic issues so I had no idea how to turn the volume up.
The boys were getting pretty rowdy in the room so we took them outside to kick a ball around. The back alley has been great to get out and get some fresh air. It is also shaded by the surrounding buildings so it offers relief from our way-too-hot rooms. After 3 ½ hours, Nick finally woke up and joined our fun outside.
At 6 pm we went down for supper. The boys ate the buffet again and the adults (that weren’t puking or recovering from puking) had the usual French fries. One dad decided to cut his losses and not eat at all as he was concerned about getting sick before the flight tomorrow as so many in our group have taken their turns worshipping the porcelain god. Nick and I have been fortunate so far, so please pray that our luck keeps us in the clear for the next 24 hours here and 27 hours en route home.
We are relaxing in our room tonight, me working on this post and Nick and Yikealo watching a movie. I’m sure Yikealo does not understand much but he intently watches anyway. I wonder if he had much exposure to tv before entering Hannah’s hope last October. Hopefully we will get a good night sleep tonight.
Tomorrow we pick up final paperwork in the late morning and then hang out at the hotel until we fly out in the evening. We are all very much ready to leave. We have been since we picked the kids up Sunday. The week has been long, but has allowed much bonding time with our kids that would have been interrupted with the busyness of our lives back home. We are anxious to get home and start our new life as a family of 8! Please pray also for our flights over the next two days that we can get much rest and arrive home safely to our other kids. Thanks for sharing this journey with us!
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