Our first full day in Addis

Wow - it feels so much better when you actually sleep at night!  We all woke up feeling much better and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at our home - GT Guesthouse.  After showers we felt even more human and by 9 we were ready to meet Solomon, our contact at the orphanage.  He was kind enough to arrange a driver for us, and we used Marcos as our guide for a day of shopping.

We first went to the scarf place by Entoto and bought some nice scarves there.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there G wasn't feeling well and said she was car sick.  We walked over to the market to buy traditional clothing for M and a few people, and by then G was whiter than white and sick at the side of the road.  Thankfully, I had packed a number of "motion sickness bags" from the airplane in my purse but we were quite the spectacle.

G needed to go home so we drove all the way back to the guesthouse.  We were all so disappointed because there were a number of stores that we all wanted to go to and didn't want to have an adult and G miss out on it.  We ended up leaving my mom home with the kids and Arvid and I went to buy donations for the orphanage instead.

Wow, do I miss grocery stores.  I complain when I have to do Superstore and Costco in the same day!  We went to the market to buy a bunch of things, had to go to different stalls for different items, then drove to a different store to buy flour, a different store for sugar, and said we were done before going to a different store for meat and eggs.  We came back to the guesthouse to pick everyone up (Arvid stayed with G) and we went to see the new KVI orphanage.  This is the same orphanage where M was from, although they have since moved buildings.

We dropped off all of the donations there and had a tour of the building.  It is quite nice - about 15 older kids, 6 toddlers and 6 babies.  The babies were ADORABLE, of course.  In case any of you were wondering if we would adopt again, it's looking like Ethiopia will be shutting international adoption down or slowing it down considerably.  It's not even much of an option anymore, and KVI orphanage has been doing lots of fostering and local adoptions instead, which is great.  (So the answer is no, in case that wasn't clear enough)

Anyway, by the end of all this we were quite pooped so we just walked to a local restaurant for supper.  G was feeling good at this point so we all went, but halfway through the meal she turned white again and so I took her home.  I'm like a seasoned African now, crossing the busy street (actually more like playing frogger), walking down a dark, gravel alley at night with nothing but my tiny green-stripe tae kwon do daughter to protect me...

So that's our day...tomorrow we have planned to visit our first sponsor kid.  She is so sweet and her mother is so nice - we were able to visit her on our last trip and I would be sad to have two of us miss out on that.  I REALLY hope she is better tomorrow and that this is just from being run down.

I will hopefully post more pictures tomorrow and update on the girls' thoughts of Africa so far.  But it's nearing 8 o'clock and I think that will be my bedtime tonight!  Good night!  :-)

A few London highlights in pictures

The internet connection isn't too bad here but really slow with uploading pictures.  These are mostly from London (no sightseeing yet - that will be on the way home) and a few from Addis.  I'll try to get some pictures of Addis on in the next day or two.

We've given the kids free electronics time on travel days.  Here they are at the London airport, soaking it up!

This is actually in Addis.  We were soooo tired, just trying to make it until 7 so that we could go to bed.  I think M is an elf - she can live on about 15 minutes sleep a night!

We went for a walk in London.  It was sunny and warm and we came across a playground.  The girls loved playing on the tire zip line.

I always love going to stores and seeing the different food and packaginh.  These bottles of pop in London are so different from ours - long and skinny, in the shape of a bullet.

I asked the girls to put their clothes out before we went swimming.

M is reading her favourite archie comics with my mom.  So glad to have my mom around - and extra pair of hands has been great!

No one said we traveled lightly...there ARE 5 girls and only 1 guy.  Actually, most of the 8 suitcases are donations - so happy to get those away and travel lightly on the way back.

Arvid was a nice dad and swam with the girls twice at our hotel in London.  I took one for the team, sat on the lounge chairs and took pictures.  :-)

First one to bite the dust.  Arvid got a cold and zonked out on the couch in Addis.

We made it to Addis!

Wow.  What a tough few days this has been.  We flew through the night last night (I doubled my sleep this time from 30 minutes to 1 hour) and arrived in Addis this morning at 6:40 am Addis time (3:40 am London time, 8:40 pm Edmonton time).  I'm not sure what time it feels like right now to us...all I know is that we are super tired.

We are staying at the GT Guesthouse and it's awesome here.  We have a three bedroom suite, 2 bathrooms, large family and dining area and kitchen.  It's nice to be back in Ethiopia again - the weather is about 20 today.

Arvid and I went to the bank this morning to exchange money - the largest currency you can get here is the 100 birr bill - which is the equivalent of about $5.  So you can imagine the wad of cash we walked out with, stuffed into various pockets. 

We thought of staying up today but it was just too hard so the adults napped this morning.  The kids did well all day but are fading fast right now.  It's just about supper time and I can't wake G from the couch.  She is so out of it!

We went for a walk to Kaldi's coffee this afternoon (an Ethiopian Starbucks knock off) for great coffee and smoothies and snacks, and also got some fresh fruit at a "Supermarket" down the street.

The rest of the day we have zoned out and are just trying to make it to bedtime...hopefully we will wake up happy and refreshed tomorrow for a day of shopping!

I'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow.  The network is really slow right now for some reason.  Tomorrow is a shopping day and then things will start getting interesting as we travel to visit sponsor kids for 2 days and then visit M's birth village.  Until tomorrow...

Arvid has come down with a bad cold now...being sleep deprived doesn't help.  Hopefully we can all sleep well and feel like ourselves again.

Made it to London

Well, after sleeping only 30 minutes through the night on the plane, we made it to London. Although it felt like 2:30 in the morning to us, it was actually 9:30 in the morning London time. Somehow adrenaline carries you through and we made it uneventfully to our hotel, the Marriott Windsor Heathrow. I had booked this on an expedia special back in the summer and it is nice here.

Once we were checked in to our rooms (so thankful they let us check in early!!) it was about 12:30. It was actually sunny in London and about 8 degrees out. Quite pleasant. We then had to decide whether we should nap or power through the day and then hopefully sleep hard at night. We elected to power through and I could not believe how well the kids did. Arvid and I faded at times but they never did. They even swam hard for over an hour in the afternoon. G and E had slept a bit longer on the plane, but I don't know if M slept at all. Or if she did, she moved so constantly that she managed to bump me every 30 seconds in her sleep.

Anyway, we had supper in the hotel and then settled into our rooms. The kids watched a movie while we read for a bit but by 7 we were all exhausted and decided that we would go to sleep.

I slept great for what felt like a long time...I looked at the clock and it was only 10:56. Wow. After tossing and turning I slept again and checked the clock... 12:15. Oh no! I started panicking, tried on my own to sleep, then gave in, took two melatonin and slept like a dream until 8 this morning! G and E sawed logs all night thanks to their colds, and we had to wake them up hard at 8::30.

We had a wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel...fresh fruit, omelettes made to order, waffles, sausages, pastries, cereals, etc. etc. and will go for a walk (another sunny day!), the kids will swim and we will head to the airport at 4ish for another flight through the night to Addis.

Thanks for those who have indicated you are praying. So far we are mostly healthy, but would appreciate lots of prayers for health. The time change, germs on the planes, exhaustion, and multitude of sick people we left behind in Edmonton don't add up to good odds. Also, please pray for patience and grace for each of us. We are not an adventurous family (except for m) and this is testing each of our limits.

One final comment on M. Although she was incredibly nervous about this trip, she is doing marvellous so far. She is so happy (this airplane food is the best food I've ever had! I love London - I want to live here! This hotel is the best) pretty much sums her up. Hopefully she continues this positive attitude when we hit Ethiopia.

Ok, sorry this wasn't the most exciting update...I'm still not exactly with it but am thankful that all is well. Hopefully we can sleep on the plane tonight and be ready for Addis tomorrow!

A Different Kind of Christmas...but still good

One of the biggest highlights of Christmas for us each year is the lazy, carefree feeling once everything is wrapped and ready.  Christmas usually kicks off another week or two of celebration and we revel in the fact that we don't know what time it is, or even what day it is.  We spend our days doing puzzles, sledding, skating, seeing friends, playing games and just sitting around.

This year, things are way different.  Although we still managed to enjoy our Christmas season, we had a million things going through our heads with our upcoming trip.  There are so many things to think of when you are traveling as a family of five to Africa, when you know you can't just run out to the nearest WalMart if you forgot something.  On top of that, we are trying to fill our suitcases with donations...trying to find the right items for each person, which has required quite a bit of running around.

We did three things this year we've never done - 1) We went to WalMart at nearly one in the morning on December 21st (eerily quiet!) 2) We went to Costco on Christmas Eve at 3:30 pm (busy but no line-ups) and 3) We braved WalMart on Boxing Day in the evening (eerily quiet again!)

Aside from buying last minute things, we did sneak in quite a bit of celebrating...here are a few highlights. I did not do Christmas cards or pictures this year, so from our family to yours - Merry Christmas!!

We started puzzling early this year - we finished about 4 puzzles by December 1 but then lost some steam

We had a really nice visit with Arvid's Aunt and Uncle.  They have really filled in the role of grandparents on Arvid's side of the family and are very dear to us.

Presents...the girls exchanged a few gifts early.  Duct tape was a hit this year!

My favourite service of the year - candlelight.  Loved it!

Christmas Eve at my parents'...complete with musical production by the kids

Playing a xylaphone duet

Yes, my dad's lighting candles on the Christmas Tree, following the German tradition. Yes, it was for a very short time and Yes, we had fire extinguishers ready.  :-)

So glad to still have my grandma celebrating with us

Christmas morning stockings

Mmmm...Christmas morning breakfast...waffles, bacon, tons of fresh fruit, muffins, yogurt, whipping cream, fresh juice...

Christmas Eve turkey at the Matsons...so fun!

The adults are largely outnumbered!

Family pic - so blessed to have such amazing family on both sides!

Fundraiser...Pies, pies and more pies!

Thank you soooo much to those who supported us both by purchasing items and donating money.  

We had a busy fall and were able to make and sell over 50 apple pies and nearly 70 friendship bracelets. Whew! We raised $1,500 and that was matched with another $1,500 so we were thrilled to be able to donate $3,000 to the Soddo Christian Hospital.  We split the donations between the maternal benevolence and ambulance fund. You can view more about these projects here:  http://www.soddo.org/projects/  I know there are many huge needs here in case you would be interested in reading/sponsoring.  Thank you so much!  

We are thrilled to be able to visit the hospital soon and meet some of the amazing people there.  Thanks to others' generosity, we were also able to purchase $500 worth of children's fabric which we will bring them to be sown into children's hospital gowns.

We are in the midst of craziness at our house...excitement for Christmas and the chaos of packing for Ethiopia.  I apologize for not doing Christmas cards or letters or pictures this year...there's only so much chaos I can handle.  :-)

Thanks for reading!  

Hours and Hours of friendship bracelet making!

The girls worked so hard and helped in everything from peeling apples to making pie crust.  Thanks, Mom for doing it all with us!

A small portion of the pies we baked - around 60 in total!