Eithopia Update: Trip 1 Day 4 - Justice Tewodros / Court Date

Great news! We are now officially the parents of 5! Justice Tewodros is now a part of our family, though we can't bring him home to the U.S. until we clear the Embassy at our next visit here. I'm allowed to post pictures of him now, so I've included a few of our last two visits. I'll post tomorrow about all of the events of today, but now I wanted to give an update from yesterday.


We went to see Justice yesterday and saw him take several steps. After our visit with him we headed over to St. George's Cathedral and were led on a private tour of the church by an arch deacon. This was the church where Haile Sailllese was coronated (I think my spelling is wrong on his last name). After the cathedral tour I went back to our room and crashed for a good 2 1/2 hours while Christian and Gregg went back to the Kolfe boys' orphanage for the dinner. They feasted on the ox and goat that were slaughtered the night before, played soccer (Christian scored 7 goals), and danced traditional dances with the boys. We went to a hotel to use their internet and get some drinks when they got home.

Today I woke up around 7am, worked out in my room, and ate some dried apricots and almonds. There was no power and very little water. Upstairs at the guest house had no water (this included Gregg), but because I was downstairs, I had an icy trickle to shower in. Needless to say, only essentials got washed, as every touch of water took my breath away!

I blew a fuse in Gregg's adapter yesterday while trying to get the hair dryer to work, so no hair drying and no styling. I'm definitely not competing for any beauty contests here. Make up was done mostly from memory as the window only allowed a bit of light in. No telling whether or not I look like a clown.

We went by the Gladney office and met the attorney and made some copies of documents. Gregg quizzed me on the potential questions the judge may ask (ended up she only asked yes or no questions--whew!) and helped me formulate answers. This definitely helped calm me. We waited in a small waiting area to see the judge for about an hour and a half. There are signs in the area we waited in that say "silence" on them and someone told us that the judge kicked some folks out a week ago for talking too loudly! Eek!

The hearing went beautifully and was super easy. At the end, the judge said that all the paperwork had been approved and the adoption was final and irrevocable. We had a celebratory lunch with all the families we were in court with.

After lunch we headed over to the silk factory and got a private tour showing us the ladies who were spinning the silk, the caterpillars, the pupas, etc. We saw the entire process and then were able to head over to a small shop where they sold what they had hand made and hand died. Fantastic! We also went to the Alert leprosy hospital--the only leprosy hospital in Africa. Our guide knew many of the ladies there (he has a giant heart and is so friendly to everyone) and showed us around, introducing us to the folks there and showing us them making their wares. Many of them had lost most of their hands and were weaving, sewing, doing needlework, etc with just their knuckles. The ladies were sitting in a large group on the ground, sewing together. I wanted to sit down in the middle of them and hug all of them--I just couldn't stop staring at the beautiful things they were making. I'm so impressed that, even with their disability, they're trying hard to make a living. Needless to say, I bought lots of stuff that they made! The kids will be happy recipients of some very special things when I get home! I think Michael would've encouraged this. :)

We went to Tomoca coffee house on the way back to the guest house and Gregg got he and Christian a macchiato. We're at the internet cafe / hotel lobby area enjoying a little dinner.

Love you guys!!