Thursday (June 16th)- We woke up early and spent a little time with Zoe before finding out that the director of the Finot orphanage had gotten in contact with Zoe's birth-aunt Mulu who is studying applied chemistry at the University of Addis Ababa and that she was willing to meet with us. Woudneh worked it out with her and we took off to meet with her. We met her at a little “restaurant” outside the university and got to ask her questions about Zoe's family. It was so precious to meet her and I was thankful to be able to give her the scrapbook I had put together with pictures of our family and Zoe's room, etc. Mulu was so sweet and told us that Zoe looks like her birthmother, which I was so happy to know. She also gave us a couple pictures of herself, which she wrote on the back a note to Zoe in Amharic. I'm so thankful Zoe will have this- I know she will treasure it in the years to come. Then we went to a VERY nice housing addition that is under construction (for Shane) and got to go through some very nice homes. It was mind-boggling to me that these homes exist in Addis right in the middle of all the EXTREME poverty throughout the city. After a little sight-seeing, we ate lunch at the Sheraton. It was a very nice meal, and probably the first meal we had eaten since arriving in Addis that we really enjoyed. After lunch we headed back to the guesthouse to spend the afternoon with Zoe. It's amazing to me how much she has thrived on the one-on-one attention we have been giving her while visiting. She has started to become very smiley and make lots of noises, is CRAWLING all over the place and very active (we may have our hands full when she comes home!), and we even got her to laugh out loud today. Truly music to our ears considering we couldn't get her to crack a smile the first day. We've also discovered she has a very special bond with her Daddy- she smiles and her whole face lights up when she sees Drew. I think she may be a little daddy's girl.
The entrance to the University in Addis Ababa. *A little side-note- Woudneh told us that anyone wanting to attend college in Ethiopia can for FREE. Unfortunately, many people can't because they need to help provide for their family and can't leave to attend college. For example, Mulu and Zoe's birth-mom also have 3 other siblings and only one of them was able to attend college- Mulu was the lucky one.
The restaurant where we met and talked with Mulu.
Mulu with us- Sorry the lighting is so yucky. And you will notice she isn't smiling in either of these pictures. It's NOT because she is sad, but we noticed it's a cultural thing for Ethiopians not to smile for pictures....
Mulu holding the scrapbook I put together for Zoe's birthfamily to keep..
A random shot of the poverty ALL OVER...
And more poverty...
And in the middle of this extreme poverty- a gated beautiful housing addition...
Woudneh took us through a couple of these homes under construction for Shane.... This was the view from the balcony of one of them...
The four of us at the Sheraton...
A view of Addis from the Sheraton...
The resort area at the Sheraton...
Friday (June 17th)- We woke up early for our court appointment, hoping to spend a little time with Zoe beforehand since we didn't know how long we would be at court, or what we would be doing the rest of the day. We had finished getting around when we realized we were locked IN our room. Drew had locked the door before heading to bed the night before and somehow had misplaced the key after locking it. We panicked a little (okay- maybe I should say I PANICKED A LOT) and turned the room upside down trying to find the key. After about 20 minutes of searching, Drew opened up the window and started yelling down to the transitional home staff and children for help. Several of the children playing outside heard him (but didn't understand what he was saying) and just started repeating him saying “help” over and over. It is funny looking back now, but wasn't so funny at the time! Finally one of the nurses who speaks a little English understood and unlocked our door with a spare key (Drew did find the missing key later in the afternoon). We still got to spend a little time with Zoe before leaving, but not as much as we would've liked. We headed to court and waited for a couple of hours before we were called in to talk with the judge. We were only with the judge about 2 minutes and answered about 5 yes/no questions before she said “you understand this cannot be undone and the child will be yours pending the MOWA letter”. Those words were so wonderful to hear! After court, Shane and Syndi and Woudneh decided to drive to Nazareth and visit the orphanage there. We decided to just spend the afternoon at the guesthouse due to Drew's carsickness (because of the crazy driving and the horrible exhaust fumes) and the fact that we wanted to spend as much time with Zoe as possible. We loved every minute with her and the 3 of us enjoyed a nap together on our bed.
The sign outside the court building... Definitely a different setup for court than you would find here in the US.
Most of our Friday pictures were of sweet Zoe! I'm sooo praying that we get that MOWA letter and can post those soon!!!
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