On our way home . . .

Hello all. We are writing to you from the Addis Ababa airport. We've added a picture of Sweet Momma, Sunshine and Little Buddy, but it is taken from the airport on my iphone, so please excuse the quality. It is Sunday night in Addis. We have a 10:15 flight that will get us into D.C. tomorrow morning. We then have a lengthy layover (unless we get an earlier flight) but we should be back in Seattle sometime Monday evening.

We have enjoyed our time in Ethiopia, but we are anxious to come home. The children are wonderful, though our parenting skills have definitely been tested. All those years of teaching parenting classes are coming in handy.

Our week has been very busy. We had a "city tour" on our first day, went to the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday (think D.M.V), Wednesday we went to the zoo, where the lions and monkeys scared Sunshine and Little Buddy, especially the monkey who wasn't in a cage. Friday we had a traditional Ethiopian meal and coffee ceremony. Saturday we went shopping with one of the caretakers at the orphanage who is a very skilled shopper. You may be aware that there are no set prices for anything in Ethiopia. Everything is "bargained for" and if you don't have a local with you, you get the foreigner price. It was very entertaining to watch her at work as she got us amazing Ethiopian prices. All in all, traveling around Addis Ababa is an adventure. There are no rules of the road, only suggestions (and maybe not even that). There are few working traffic lights so nearly every intersection is chaos. I never thought I'd say this, but after a week in Addis Ababa, I'm very thankful for our auto emissions laws.

We are very tired and excited about coming home. Hot water has been a scarcity, so we are really looking forward to hot showers and American food. Please pray for safe travels and for our two Ethiopian little ones as this is all new for them.

We will try to post from Washington D.C. tomorrow morning.

Stand-up Dad and Sweet Momma.