Arriving in Ethiopia

We arrived in DC and checked into the desk at Ethiopian Airlines. We again were blessed as they seemed to be blinded to the fact that our carry ons were way over the weight limit as we were carrying cans of formula and medicine bottles for the orphan and widow homes. They offered to check both for FREE!!
We boarded the plane and were headed to Addis Ababa with a runway stop in Rome for re fueling. Ethiopian Airlines was a great experience with very good food and hospitable staff! The space was quite cramped but hey...I was in labor!!! What do you expect!!! :)
15 hours later we were landing in Addis Ababa! We applied for our Visa, made it through customs,
and met the driver outside the airport
to take us to the guest house that would be home for the next 2 weeks! Our eyes were opened on our short drive to the guest house to the country and continent which our daughter is from.
As you can see from the pictures, we saw cattle being led by children through the streets, as well as donkeys and goats. We passed by many pedestrians ambling through the dirt roads.
The ride itself was an adventure as no one seems to drive on a certain side of the road. They are all over the place.
We arrived at our guest house and met the young woman who owns and operates it. She is a blessing. She prepared a delicious bowl of fresh vegetable soup and an open faced cheese sandwich baked with tomatoes! We were quite welcome in her home. We soon called Abebe, our YWAM representative and he brought us a mobile phone to use while here during our stay. We have been unable to communicate with family so far , however! We discussed the details of our trip with Abebe and were surprised to find out that we would be able to go and visit our daughter on this , the first day here!!! I will keep you in suspense and post pictures and blog about our visit in the next post! :) After meeting our daughter for the first time, we drove to a museum here in the capital city and learned all about the history of Ethiopian culture!

**Note from Kristi ~ Not much text came through with the pictures, but from the order and time stamps, I'm guessing this was something at or near the museum?**

**The white stone on the left reads Institute of Ethiopian Studies, so I'm guessing it's the museum**

We then returned to the guest house where we were greeted with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
They roast the green coffee beans on a charcoal pit,
then crush them and mix them with water heated over the coals.
They serve popcorn for the ceremony as well as burn incense. It was neat to finally experience this after hearing so much about this tradition.
After coffee we watched a little of the world cup on the tv. They had a new antennae installed just to see the world cup! We were EXHAUSTED after our long flight and jam packed day, our surprise visit with our daughter, and fell into bed! Even the barking dogs could not keep us awake! Stay tuned to our next post for details on our first visit with Corrie Sifan Rose!