The Last Couple Days - To Mekele and Back

We got the privelege to spend the morning at the transition home with B yesterday and then we caught our flight to Mekele in the afternoon.  It was a little over an hour flight to Nahome's birth city.  The flight went great and Nahome LOVED it!  I thought he'd sleep but he laughed and giggled and talked the WHOLE way!  We spent the nght in a very nice hotel, with VERY terrible beds!!!  Needless to say we didn't sleep much - except Nahome who has slept wonderfully the last two nights!  We woke up and had breakfast then headed out to Nahome's orphanage - Bana.  The road was under construction so we had to climb around broken pieces of rock to get into the complex.  The orphange workers were very kind and all remembered Nahome.  They genuinely love the kids and you can tell - the kids were all very happy.  There were not very many children at the orphanage when we were there - 12 of their kids are in the US for the Summer Hosting Program.  They were making injera on an outside burner and let us take a turn - they said I did GOOD - but I'm not so sure about that.  They showed us around the complex and they presented us with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

We did a little bit of shopping, grabbed lunch, and then headed back to the airport to fly back to Addis Ababa.  It was such a good experience to see some of the countryside and experience some of Nahome's culture.  The people speak a different language up there than in Addis and the city was much smaller.  It is the rainy season here so everything was lush and green!  I am really glad we got the opportunity and I'm glad Nahome got to go with us!

We are hanging out tomorrow and visiting with B at the transition home!  We were told today that they are certain we will be able to give our consent on Monday or Tuesday, but we didn't get official word from the courts today like we thought we would!  Please continue to pray for our court date - also pray for ALL of our needed documents to make their way to our file so we could PASS court before closure on August 22nd!  Nahome is doing amazing and everyone here says he seems like he has been with us forever!  He is so joyful and happy!  He only eats injera and tibs (steak)....he also likes eggs with breakfast!  We got him to eat some mac and cheese for dinner tonight but he was NOT happy about it!  Communication is coming along - I think we are learning just as many of his words as he is of ours!

So far we've learned (Not Sure at all on spellings - I'm sure they are wrong)!
~ Bolsa.....backpack (Nahome LOVES his backpack and wants it on all the time)
~Coy.......wait (We asked Yonas how to tell Nahome wait and we've had to use it often)
~ Chai.....tea (Nahome likes tea much better than coffee)
~ Baka.....YUCK (We hear this OFTEN....whenever we try to get Nahome to eat something other than injera)
~ Ciao (Chow).....goodbye
~ Nege.....tomorrow

Some pics of our trip to Mekele and Back...

Nahome all ready for take off!

Leaving Addis Ababa

Mountains around Mekele

Our Plane to Mekele

The road being worked on outside the orphanage

Making Injera on the Outside Fire at Bana

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony at Bana

TINY blue taxis found all over Mekele