Day 10- Our Last Day in Ethiopia

Saturday

August 29, 2009

I was throwing up during the night our last night in Ethiopia and was feeling just awful. I couldn't even imagine getting on plane that night to make the 26 hour trip home. I spent the entire morning curled up in our bed pretty much just moaning. It was awful. My stomach hurt so bad and finally in the middle of the night I decided to take a prescription that our doctor sent us with in case we got sick. It definitely helped. By two doses I was feeling much better, but that wasn't until late afternoon. So up until then I felt so yucky.

Jon went out one last time with our new friend Yemamu to the Leper's Hospital where they sold goods and things that they made. Jon got some really cool stuff for Mekonen. A few of them were a turtle pull toy that had shapes as his back to put together (kind of like a puzzle) and a really cool ball with the Amharic letters on it. He almost got him a big Noah's Ark and when he decided he really did want it and was going to go back, it had closed for the day. Bummer. I guess we'll just have to make another trip to Ethiopia to get one. :)

After I laid in bed all morning, I mustered up enough energy to start packing up our room. It looked like a bomb had gone off. The rooms weren't very big and there weren't any drawers to keep all our stuff in, so we pretty much lived out of our suitcases. We also had clothes hanging everywhere that were still drying from laundry. The ladies who worked at the guest house did laundry for everyone, but there was no dryer and it's the rainy season in Ethiopia. So if it isn't raining, it is really damp, and our clothes took days and days to dry. (I highly recommend bringing a portable indoor clothes line that suctions to the wall. This would have been soooo helpful). So I organized all our stuff and decided what we needed to bring in our carry-ons for the plane ride home. Jon laughed at me because I packed 8 outfits in Mekonen's carry-on. But guess what... he pooped through 7 of them! By the time we landed, we had one outfit left!! Good thing I brought all those, otherwise our babe would've come off the plane wrapped in an airplane blanket. haha. Here are some pics of our afternoon packing up.

Mekonen: Sosi, wanna be my girl?
Sosi: Hmm...well, I guess you're pretty cute, but I have to ask my dad.

After we had all our things together, we walked back to the Layla House orphanage one last time to say goodbye to the nannies who cared for Mekonen. It was bittersweet. We were so glad that he was finally coming home, but we were also taking him from everything and everyone he has known for the last 6 months of his life. That's a lot for any baby to handle. All these months while we were waiting for him, he wasn't waiting for us. He had no idea there was a family on the other side of the world waiting to smother him with love and kisses (poor baby...hehe). Although the conditions of living in an orphanage in a third world country are not ideal, the nannies really do love the babies so much. We were very impressed with the care Mekonen and all the other kids received. The nannies were always kissing the babies, hugging them, and singing to them.

This picture below by Donovan is one of my all-time favorites. Here we are in the bus heading off to the airport. Mekonen's facial expression cracks me up. I love how he's holding onto the side of the window. (With the way they drive in Ethiopia, he should hold on real tight. We put him right into my body carrier after the picture. Don't worry. haha). Mommy and Mekonen at the airport in Addis Ababa, ready to board our first flight on the long journey home to Indianapolis.