Ethiopia trip 1

We're back home, and after some desperately needed rest, we want to share some of our experience from trip one.  A quick summary:

Saturday 1/8: Depart Cincinnati 2pm.

Sunday 1/9: Arrive London 7am; 10 hour layover; quickly see all that London has to see.

 And of course

Depart for Ethiopia 6pm.
Monday 1/10: Arrive Ethiopia  7am,

go to Jemimah House, which was run by some of the most kind and thoughtful people I've ever met.  This is Belamish, the hotel manager.  She worked so hard to make our stay comfortable and fun.

We traveled in and around Addis Ababa, the capital city, enroute the Care Centers and court.  Here is some of what we saw.

I'll remember three things from Addis the most:

1. The people have strikingly beautiful features and smile a lot.
2. Abundance is juxtaposed against abject poverty throughout the city. There is a burgeoning middle class in which people work very hard, and capitalism is struggling to get its footing. There is a TON of building going on, from very solidly built homes to large commercial structures. The nascent infrastructure just isn't sufficient to support all the people who live and work in the city. These folks do A LOT of walking.
3. The beds, food and coffee.

Tuesday 1/11 & Wednesday 1/12: spent a total of 5 hours with Tommy at Care Center 2. We are soooooo grateful to these amazing people, who have worked so hard to get and keep Tommy well.  We're not yet allowed to show you his face, but trust me, he's a beautiful boy with a glowing personality that shone through. He's engaging and warm, and he's doing better than we could have hoped for.  His smile is so bright; he just shines!  Although he stands on the wrong side of his foot and his balance is terrible, he can walk! Although his vocabulary is pretty limited, he can talk! We used toys to evaluate his perception and communication skills and discovered he is sooooooo smart. And although his right hand is permanently clenched, he can move his right arm a little bit and can deftly manipulate toys and food (and parents) really well with just his left hand.

At court on Wednesday, there was a small snafu; some of our paperwork was lost.  But, Getashaw, Holt's local lawyer, said don't worry, he'd take care of everything, and he did.  By the time we got home, we found out our case was adjudicated and Habtamu is our son!  

Again, we just cannot thank the people at Holt, in America and Ethiopia, enough for how well they've treated Tommy.  They've not only showed him compassion and care, but deep love.  And we can tell, they've certainly done more than just their job for him.  We're positive he's 1,000 times better now than when we first met him 9 months ago, and it's clearly due to the extra effort they've shown.  The impact they've made on Tommy's future, and our family as a whole, is immeasurable.