3rd day...July 11th, 2010

Well, after what seemed like forever...we finally made it to Ethiopia!! The 3rd day(our Gotcha day) was wonderful!! We woke early, around 5 a.m....and could hardly wait until our driver came to pick us up!! We had a delicious breakfast at our guest house...The Yebsabi!! We truly had a great time there, and would recommend it to anyone & everyone!! After breakfast we visited with a few other adoptive families..patiently waiting for Eyob...well, don't know if I'd say patiently...but we did wait:) Around 9:45 Eyob arrived and took us to our boys...yayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!! What an exciting, nerve-racking, surreal moment that was!! And just as I had expected...we drove down an alley, and off to the right were the gates to the Care Ctr, Eyob honked and we drove on in!!! What a sight that was!!! I practically got strangled by my seatbelt...i couldn't get out of that car any faster!!! As we got out, I could hear the children say..."Ageze Mama!!" Then sweet Ageze came walking right up to me, arms wide open..and said "mama!!" Yep...mama was here at last!!! Then of course, I said,"where's Tesfa?" Turned around, and there he was!! Staring at me with those big eyes!!! How full my heart felt, and continues to feel...And now, since returning home, I can't help but think of all of the children we met that week who DON'T have a forever family, someone tucking them in at night, kissing their boo-boo's, telling them they ARE loved....I had numerous children come up to me and say,"America?"...or simply call me Mama...how I hope that someday soon they will be able to call someone Mama....Anyhow, i could write about all we experienced for weeks..but let me finish how our day went...We spent about an hour at the C.C that day, and then returned back to our Guest House with our arms & hearts sooo full:) We had lunch, played outside, took bath's, and just played together...we all snuggled up together that night, and they slept sound till the next morning!! Enjoy our "Gotcha Day" pics!! xo kristen & co.