Greetings from Africa!

Greetings from Africa!! We arrived into Addis Ababa safely Saturday evening at 9:05pm. Yay! The plane rides were loooonnnnggg, so long, but were very smooth (Xanax may have helped with that, who knows?? LOL) We had a driver from CWA there to meet us upon arrival, as well as a driver from our guest house, Oziopia. We were also greeted by Hailu, the father of our Ethiopian friends in Austin. It's a good thing that we had a driver from the Guest house there to show the CWA driver how to get to the guest house. Driving around in Addis is an entirely different experience, let me tell you. If you have ever ridden in a taxi anywhere in Mexico, you barely have an idea of what driving around in Addis is like. There are few, if any, street lights and drivers are constantly dodging people casually walking in the streets. There is simply nothing like it anywhere, trust me!

On Sunday, our driver picked us up at 10am to go get the boys at the CWA care center. We had asked the US staff if it would be possible for us to photo and video our initial meeting and were told that it should be fine. However, when we arrived in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian staff were pretty insistent that, due to privacy issues with the other children in the facility, we would not be allowed to video or photograph the meeting. However, we talked them into finding a small private room at the infant house, so that we could get those first moments on video. They were very gracious to find a tiny room that we could use for a few minutes.

We had prepared ourselves ahead of time for the possibility that the boys would most likely cry upon meeting us. And, cry they did! Wow! But, that didn't take anything away from those incredibly sweet first minutes with the boys.

They are absolutely precious and started bonding with us as soon as we left the transition home. Within the first few hours, they were holding their arms out to me to hold them, especially when upset, and are currently really enjoying sharing me with each other. Let's just say that they are a couple of charmers J

This afternoon, at 2pm, we went to our Embassy appointment. As many who've gone before us have said, it was pretty anticlimactic for such a long and tedious process. We went through tons of security to get inside and then we waited for about 10 minutes before being called up to a small window, where we were asked a few questions about the twins and our adoption. Then we were finished...

We're so thankful to have this part of the process over with. They will deliver the twins' visas on Friday.

Jessica and Christopher are turning out to be a HUGE blessing in so many ways during this trip. They are unbelievable siblings and are pitching in to help in every imaginable way. Well, except for the diaper changes, that is!

Updates will be few and far between while we are here in Ethiopia. We have to take a taxi to the Hilton to use the business center and that is about 30 minutes away from where our guest house is.

Prayer requests:

1. For the time to pass quickly-the diesel and pollution in Addis is taking a toll on our allergies and I (personally), just want to get home and start settling in.

2. For our immune systems to remain strong. We've been here 48 hours and so far, we're all doing fine. However, things can go downhill quickly, so we covet your prayers for our health.

Much love from Ethiopia,

Heather