Tuesday (part 1)

Our first morning with the kids. Their first opportunity at Dad's cooking - scrambled eggs, dobo, bananas and more of Teddy's bunna and shai. I think they tolerated the food, and loved the shai.

Denise hung out with the kids in the morning so Lisa and I could go to Layla and see Rebekah for the first time. We met in the social workers' office, and it was really good to see her. It was also really emotional, and at that point I don't think anyone in the room knew where things were headed, which added to the emotions of the morning.

After that Lisa and I went back to get the kids, and we headed to the Hilton to verify plane tickets (there is an Ethiopian Airlines office there) and to grab some lunch by the pool.

One of the differences with this trip is that we were there during the tail end of the rainy season, and it was raining and cold while we sat and waited for lunch.

Chicken nuggets and fries washed down with Merinda didn't last long enough for the rain to stop, so we headed out to the pool in the rain. Not a downpour, but a good steady rain. Nobody was dismayed even the least, and the water was so warm and nice.

The kids loved it, and except for nearly losing Asher when he wandered into the deeper water in the middle of the shallow end, we did great.

Samuel was doing handstands and not very pretty crawl strokes by the end, Terefu was doing pretty nice breast strokes, and Asher was having fun. There is no better fun activity with new kids than going into the pool, and burning some nervous energy is not a bad idea either.

After that we found Dawit waiting for us outside, and we headed for Sele Enat, which will come in part 2.