Ethiopia Travel Log: Day 5

MONDAY March 3rd,

Well today was our first day to take Tensae to the guest house and to be able to take pictures. It was cute because she was wearing her pajamas that we had sent her many months ago after we received our referral. They were now a little small on her. This was a amazing experience but it was short lived. We were supposed to go tour the infant care center and then get to bring Tensae back to the guesthouse for a 1/2 day. However by the time we picked her up and got to the guest house it was 10:30, then at 12:00, just when lunch had been put out we were told we had to take our daughter (with another child and her parents) to go get "sized" for the dresses for the ceremony tomorrow. Therefore, we had to take them away from being happy and playing and get in a car to go back to where they sleep. It was the first time I have seen her cry. She did not make any noise, just tears flowing everywhere. When we got there no one knew what was going on and we were told to get back in the car then to get out again, a woman came and took her away and then they put the dresses on them that they are not supposed to wear until we see them tomorrow morning. They brought them back and we drove back again to the guesthouse. At 1pm we finally fed them lunch and then the van showed up to take them back to the care center.

Since they took the kids back a driver then gave us a tour of the hospital which is supported by the adoption agency and then we went to see the Addis museum where Lucy is "supposed" to be. It was a nice museum and there were lots of traditional artifacts that I took pictures of but then when we went to see Lucy we found out that it was a fake cast because the real Lucy is on tour in the US this year. I guess we would not have known the difference if they had never told us but still a bummer. I think all the families are rather stressed at this point as we all walked to a nearby hotel for a break from the guesthouse, then the guy's played a heated basketball game in the court, and people are still up talking and venting at 11pm. Anyways tomorrow morning we go have a "farewell" ceremony with the nannies and the children but the weird thing is I don't think we actually get to take custody of the kids until the afternoon when we go to the embassy. Ugghhh.