Best Day Yet!!!!

Today we took our boys on a car ride out of Addis, and it was SUCH a breath of fresh air to get out of the city for a while. The drive was absolutely breathtaking. We passed village after village, with shepherds guiding their animals, farmers working the land, and rolling green hills stretching out in every direction. It was one of those drives where I just wanted to stare out the window and take everything in. 

At one point, we pulled off to the side of the road near a group of farmers so we could see their work up close. They were preparing the fields to plant teff, one of Ethiopia’s most important crops, and our friend Chip even gave the plowing a try! It was such a simple stop, but I loved getting to see this part of everyday life up close instead of just watching it pass by through the car window.

To be completely honest, I still don’t know exactly which falls we visited! I thought we had headed toward the Blue Nile Gorge, but later realized that wasn’t where we were. ;) We asked our guide where we were, and he gave us the name of the river, which he said eventually flows into the Blue Nile, but I have never been able to find it on a map. At this point, I’ve decided the exact location really doesn’t matter, because the day itself was AMAZING.

One of the coolest things we saw along the way was an old bridge that, according to our guide, had been built in the 16th century using limestone and ostrich eggs. Seriously — OSTRICH EGGS! Whether or not I’ll ever understand exactly how that worked, it was such a fascinating piece of history to see standing there in the middle of the countryside.

The biggest gift of the day, though, was getting to spend almost an entire day with our boys OUTSIDE the orphanage. Normally that wasn’t permitted, but because the boys were still living at their orphanage rather than the agency’s transition house, their orphanage director had given us special permission to take them with us.

That made the day even more special.

We had hours together to cuddle, talk, explore, and simply enjoy being a family without the usual distractions of the orphanage. I loved every second of it. Nahagi opened up SOOOOO much during the drive and told us story after story about his childhood as we passed through the farming villages. It was incredible to hear him talk about the places and people that were familiar to him and to see how excited he was to share those memories with us. He was also an amazing source of information throughout the day and seemed to know something about nearly every person, plant, and animal we passed.

And then came one of Eli’s favorite parts of the entire trip.

BABOONS!!!!

Eli had been hoping we would see some sort of monkey while we were in Ethiopia, so imagine his excitement when we saw them in the WILD rather than behind a fence at the zoo. And we didn’t just see a few. There were baboons EVERYWHERE — around the falls, along the cliffs, and near the village beside the falls. It felt like there were THOUSANDS of them!

Baboons on the cliff

Watching them in their natural surroundings was absolutely incredible. We would spot one, then another, and then suddenly realize there were dozens scattered across the hillside. It was such a fun, unexpected part of the day, and Eli was in heaven!

But as much as I loved the scenery, the falls, the farmers, and even the baboons, my favorite parts of the day were the quiet little moments with our boys.

Before this trip, I remember telling people that I was worried Detcho and Nahagi might be too old to want to cuddle with us.

Well...

I guess I was WRONG. :)

Detcho curled up and slept on my lap during the drive there, and Nahagi did the same on the way back. There I was, with these big boys I had worried might be too old for snuggles, and both of them were perfectly content to curl up with their momma.

My heart was FULL.

Poor Nahagi wasn’t feeling very well on the drive back, though, and that was HARD for me. Every mother instinct in me wanted to take him back with us, tuck him into bed, give him medicine, and take care of him until he felt better.

Instead, we had to drop him back off at the orphanage.

That was one of those moments that made the reality of our situation hit all over again. These were our boys. We loved them. We were bonding with them. They were beginning to feel like OURS in every possible way, and yet at the end of the day, we still had to leave them behind.

I don’t know how we are going to say goodbye to these boys in three days.

My heart absolutely aches just thinking about it.

But we have three more days, and we are going to soak up EVERY SINGLE MINUTE we can.

Today truly was our BEST DAY YET!!!!