The last several days....

We spent the next day caring for Olivia and trying to get to know her. We had our Embassy appointment on Tuesday (sorry, no pics, as cameras were not allowed), which was an exciting day, as we got to see Olivia's Ethiopian visa and hear confirmation that the US is recognizing her adoption, but we had to wait two more days for her visa to be issued to allow her to enter the United States.

We spent Wednesday hanging out with some new friends who live in Ethiopia -Henoch and Theresa. They both were born in Ethiopia, but Theresa grew up in Canada and Henoch went to college in CA. It was so good to spend time with them to get their perspective on Ethiopia from a more American point of view, as they had a pretty good understanding of both cultures. Theresa took us shopping in the morning to pick up a few more items to help us remember Ethiopia and in the afternoon she took us to an orphanage outside of the city which they are trying to support. This orphanage houses 53 children -from toddlers up to teens, and helps to support other children who live elsewhere as well. They have a building consisting of two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. Each room has rows of bunk beds. The children are trying to grow their own gardens to help with food. But this orphanage needs help. They have volunteers who care for them when they can. They do not have any permanent full-time care. They are in desperate need of food and a kitchen in which to prepare food. I was told all of these children are adoptable, but their is no focus on finding families for these children, as they first need food to sustain them. These children need help.

Our dear friends Jeff and Bethany are working with Henoch and Theresa to find supporters for this orphanage, to find sponsors for these children, and to find donors to help them be able to build a kitchen. If you are interested in helping these children, please visit theperpetualchange.me for more information and to donate.


The rest of the time we spent loving on Olivia, hanging out with some of the other families in our travel group, going for short walks and packing of course.

This is the view from our hotel room!

Another view from our hotel room. These boys are employed as shoe shiners. They check out every pair of shoes which walks by and even wants to shine shoes which aren't shinable.

A man walking by. I like the view of this picture. We were on the fourth floor, so this is a pretty good zoom.

Nap time.

We received Olivia's passport and visa on Thursday morning and departed for home that night.