Rewind- February 11, 2008

Nearing the end of the long plane ride, the sun came back up. Looking out the window, we were over the Sahara. Vast expanses of desert. Later we flew over the Nile. It was just amazing. All I could think was "I'm in Africa.... I'm in Africa."

We landed and waited in the line for our visas. Everything went smoothly. We changed some money and grabbed our luggage. Thankfully, no lost luggage for any of us. At the luggage carousel we met our lawyer and he explained how the day would go. Tired as I was, I was secretly hoping we'd go straight to Toukoul. But, instead the plan was to head back to the guest house, unpack, and rest a bit. After lunch, we'd FINALLY get to head over to Toukoul to meet our children.

We split up into two cars. I, selfishly, made sure that Mom and I got into the car with our lawyer since the second car seemed hastily arranged and I wasn't sure the driver knew where the guest house was. (My suspicions were confirmed when the car with Joe and both their moms got lost, arriving to the guest house well over an hour after we did with several interesting stops along the way!) On the way to the guest house we got our first glimpse of Addis Ababa. First impression- a really large city with lots of people and crazy drivers. I was exhausted and the combination of heat and smog made me nauseated. But soon we were pulling off onto a side road and honking at the gate of the guest house. Inside the walls it was much quieter and cooler. I felt comfortable immediately.

The side garden at the guest house.

The doors to the annex rooms (where we stayed), directly across from the main house.

The 2 tortoises that live on the grounds and the back ends of a couple of the pet dogs.

We met the guest house staff, unpacked, and had a very nice lunch. Then our drivers showed up and it was time to head to Toukoul!!!!

They were expecting us and within a few minutes of sitting in the visiting room, the twins were brought out. I waited, not so patiently, for another minute or so and there she was..... Dressed in an adorable dress and little red sweater, hair up in a bunch of teeny-tiny ponytails. I went up to the nanny holding her and "hi". Isa thought that was funny, apparently, because she responded with a little grunting laugh. We did that a few more times and I finally took her from the nanny. I was thrilled to see her smile because she was so serious in all of her update photos. We spent a couple hours just holding our babies and cooing at them. The nannies brought in bottles for us to give them and after that all three kiddos fell asleep on their deliriously happy new parents.

Hi Mama!

I'm even cuter than my photos!
Oooh... Grandma has glasses....

I'm bummed this photo didn't turn out because I think it would have really captured the emotions of that first meeting (sleeping with her head on my chest was her favorite thing- I think we spent 75% of our time in Ethiopia in that position!)

The rest of the evening is a blur. I know we had dinner back at the guest house and I'm sure turned in very early. Really, who the heck cares what happened at that point because I had finally held my Isa B!!!!!