That last long flight on the way home was when we really had to work to come up with entertainment. Fortunately I had lots of little things to pull out at various times. Some things didn't work as well as others. My two year old kept accidentally shining her flashlight in the eyes of the young man sitting next to her. Oops, ditch that. And the little toy cell phones with candy inside...well, the candy was good, but the repetitive ringing, not so much. Ditch those too.

The very best toy turned out to be the beading kits I made up in ziplocks. The older girls strung beads on strings, and added real clasps to the ends to make fun necklaces. The two year old loved stringing... more

Our flight from Addis to Frankfurt was accomplished mostly while the girls slept. I wish the same could be said for John and me. Unfortunately a very loud businessman right behind John and across the aisle from me decided to talk to his seatmate-- loudly -- for at least 4 hours of the flight. Until then I hadn’t know it was possible to talk that long with so little encouragement.

When his seatmate finally got it across that he’d rather sleep, the man still wasn’t quiet. He rustled his newspaper and cleared his throat and twitched and got up and sat down. To make it more... more

By the time the AAI driver got to the guesthouse around 7 pm, we had indeed gotten everything into the suitcases, including a large round woven injera mat that we’d bought a couple evenings before. A woman had been selling them near the guesthouse when we were walking by one evening. When I spotted it, I knew I wanted one. I stuck 10 birr into my 11 year old’s hand and asked her to go back and get it for me. After a minute or two of talking with the woman, she came back with it looking pleased, and so was I. On our last trip, I’d bought a couple similar mats about the diameter of a pot-holder. This one was big enough to hold a whole large piece of injera.

One thing I didn’t... more

By the time we reached the Hilton, the blue patch in the sky was growing, and we were starting to feel like our swim just might work out. We didn't know exactly how long the girls or the weather would last, and told our driver so. Dawit said it didn't matter-- he'd just hang out and wait for us. The man is worth way more than the 60 birr (about $6) per hour he charges.

Once inside the Hilton we stopped at the bank to change some money. At $7 for kids and $9 for adults, this was the most expensive swim in my life. The fee includes the use of a very nice dressing room, and a huge fluffy towel each. My new girls were rather uncertain about the (lack of) modesty of their bathing... more

Saturday morning we woke up with the knowledge that this was our last day in Addis. I wanted to cram in as much as possible, and I was relieved to see that the our new girls seemed to be in good spirits and ready to go, despite the emotional day yesterday.

We'd arranged for our very kind driver Dawit to pick us up at 10:00 for some shopping and touristing. If the weather would cooperate, we also hoped to sneak in a swim at the Hilton. So far the sky looked grey and threatening, but we packed swimsuits so that we'd be ready if there was a break in the clouds.

While shopping, we hoped to find something fun to bring home for our kids who hadn't come to Addis with us. I... more

Once our girls had their hair braided, we headed back to the guesthouse to a lunch of leftover injera and wat from the previous evening. (Those guesthouse cooks serve generous portions!) After lunch, John went on a hunt for 'plasta' (tape) and got the beach balls patched up so the younger girls could play some more soccer in the courtyard. Our 11 year old opted to hang out on her bunk bed writing more letters to her friends.

Soon it was time to change into the beautiful new dresses, and head over to Layla House. Since the weather was looking threatening, we were thankful for the offer of a ride from Nate, our AAI 'helper'. Rain was sputtering when we arrived at Layla. We hurried... more

Friday morning found me fussing over hair. Our agency had arranged for us to meet with our girls' uncle who had traveled all the way from Harar to meet us, and I wanted them to look nice. But the meeting time -- 9:30 AM -- had me in a bit of a time crunch. Now with four Ethiopian girls, hair dominates my life in a whole new way.

A couple evenings earlier, three of my girls ALL decided they wanted their hair done and proceeded to unbraid--at 8 PM, no less. I had a moment of pure panic at the sight of three heads of hair all loose at once, and so close to bedtime. The younger of our new girls has soft, loosely curled hair like my little girls -- a familiar challenge. My older daughter... more

After Kidane Mehret, our next mission was to find traditional dresses for all 4 of our Ethiopian daughters. Dawit drove us to a row of little shops near the U.S. embassy, and very kindly walked into the various stores with us translating and helping us bargain.

Three of the four girls stated a preference for pink, which several shops did not have. But eventually we ended up with a lovely blue and gold dress for the 11 year old, and pink and gold ones for the younger three girls. The older girls’ dresses were 160 birr each (around $16) and the little girls dresses were about 40 birr... more

During the night it rained heavily-- so LOUD-- but in the morning it was sunny and gorgeous, albeit with many mud puddles everywhere. The road in front of the guesthouse is currently under construction, and is full of mud. We hung around at the guesthouse in the morning playing soccer and getting showers.

Around noon our driver, Dawit, picked us up. We began our errands with lunch at Metro Pizza, not far from AHOPE in the Mekanissa area of town. Here they cook the pizza in a really cool-looking brick oven. When I took the girls over to get a closer look at it, our elder daughter had her first embarrassed-by-mom... more

Wednesday morning we made instant oatmeal for breakfast before going shopping. Upon seeing the oatmeal, my 9 year old said, "No eat." And didn't. Fortunately we also had rolls and juice to offer, which went over just fine. Around 10:00 our very nice driver Dawit came in his van to take us on a few errands.

First on the agenda was new shoes for our girls. We opted to go to a 'no-bargaining' place on Churchill Road where we spent about $13 a pair for silver tennis shoes for the 11 and 9 year olds. Next came Bibles. We were hoping to find them Amharic-English Bibles,... more