Ethiopia - Day 1

We're here! After a 28 hour journey, we made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Our plane landed at 7 AM, which is 9 PM at home...and despite all the Tylenol PM and No Jet Lag, neither of us slept on the plane and both had quite a bit of jet lag!

We got checked into our hotel. We had gotten lots of advice from new friends who are also adopting from our agency about what to bring and what the hotel has and doesn't have...so we knew we should bring extra toilet paper, our own shampoo and hand soap. I am, however, shocked that they all failed to mention our night stand would be stocked with a lifetime supply of condoms! Definitely not in America anymore! ;)

Anyway, after we got settled our agency's Ethiopian staff picked us up to take us to the care center...we finally got to meet our daughter! The whole experience was just surreal...the drive through the city (ugh...more on driving here another time), the gates opening, going into the nursery, waiting for the nanny to change her diaper, and finally our beautiful girl was in our arms! The chubby cheeks, beautiful big brown eyes, little tuff of hair and cute fingers and toes we'd seen in so many pictures became a reality. We were there for 2 hours and she was so happy and content the entire time...and when one of her nannies talks to her she just lights up and jumps up and down, squealing. I love that she is so smitten with them!

Praying we get a good night's sleep tonight so we can start feeling somewhat normal again tomorrow!