Into Africa - Part 1

In honor of my first anniversary home with Ellie, I thought I'd finally do a post about the trip to Ethiopia and meeting Ellie for the first time. Those of you who were reading while we were there know that the first week was challenging (ahem) and a bit stressful. I thought I'd focus on the other parts of our trip, which were more entertaining (in hindsight, anyway!)

365 days ago I got on a plane to Washington D.C. to pick up my dear cousin Suzanne on our way to Addis Ababa. Somewhere over the Mississippi the Xanax wore off for a moment and I had a sudden "how the hell did I get here?" moment. Even though the process of adoption is long (very) and requires great intent and diligence and determination, to some extent I felt surprise that things were actually working out!

Among the many bags American Airlines received a hefty fee to transport was this one - the largest rolling duffel I could find packed to the gills with undies, socks, jammies, and other clothes to donate to the orphanage thanks to the generous donations from friends, especially the ladies at my baby shower. Did I mention that all of you rock? Cause you do. Hard.


I flew out of Dallas the morning of the 19th and met Suzanne at the Dulles airport. We had lunch with my aunt and uncle and I braced myself for the 8 hour trip to Frankfurt, Germany. Here are Suzanne and I fresh as daisies on the DC to Frankfurt leg (the freshness wore off sometime in hour 12 of travel):





Sunrise somewhere over Europe:

Sometime the morning of the 20th we arrived in Frankfurt. The layover was a nice break from sitting on a plane and a good place to pass the time - shops, Haagen Daz prominently located in the middle of the terminal, internet kiosks and even a McDonalds. I found a 10 Euro bill in the back of my passport holder from the trip Suzanne and I took in 2006 to Europe, so we put it to use on a couple of coffees (see, my disorganization pays off!) We gate-checked the folding stroller I'd brought to make toting Ellie a little easier through the airports on the way home - little did we know that was the last time we'd see it. I can only assume it enjoyed the connecting flight to Yemen and is being enjoyed by some toddler in Sanaa right now. When our flight boarding call was announced Suzanne and I found ourselves in the middle of a crowd that resembled the line for the last copter out of Saigon, and got our first taste of Lufthansa "efficiency." A bus ride to the tarmac, a hike up the steepest plane stairs I've ever seen and another hour of disorganized musical chairs while loading the passengers and we were off!

Almost there:

We landed and picked up visas in a comedically bureaucratic office/hallway, learned of the stroller's departure and were thankful the rest of the luggage stayed with us. We were met by fellow Texan Travis from Gladney and our American-music-loving driver Milian ("like a million dollars," he told us.) The drive to our guesthouse through central Addis in the dark was sensory overload, our first lesson in the fluidity of Ethiopian driving rules, and the beginning of a week of culture shock.

Tomorrow: we meet Ellie!