Big storm & big day!

Happy Wednesday! Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write us comments, we just read through them all, you have no idea how fun it was for us- to be a world away and hear from family and friends is great.

So...thanks to MK we got pictures up, and I promise more are on the way. Yesterday we had a fierce storm throughout the entire city- we're talking violent, which of course then means no internet and loss of power. Through it all, we felt blessed to have a roof over our heads, and meals- there are so many here that were left to fight the storm out on the streets.

Today was a big day for us and the twins. We returned to the care centers that our agency owns and within minutes, they were both whisked away by their special caregivers. The caregivers take the children and dress them in traditional Ethiopian clothing and spend some time saying goodbye. We worked hard at being patient with this- we found that all the other families had their children returned to them fairly timely, but nope, not us. We were told that the twins were very popular, and therefore it was a good hour before we saw them again. Cooper was sleeping, but when he woke up, he had the biggest smile on his face, which made my day (he wasn't so happy about leaving us).

While I was hands free, I took advantage of the time to find all the children I promised pictures for, and also to spend some special time with our other favorite set of twins. Oh Heide & Mark, I can't wait to talk to you, boy are you going to have your hands full!! And then I met these other precious, sweet babies- Erin, Kaite, Damon & Kathy- your babies are beautiful, healthy and happy!! I'm still on a mission for a couple more families and hope to be able to snap pictures for them- it was VERY chaotic, and there are so many babies, it was overwhelming.

Staff at the care center prepared a coffee ceremony for us. She began by roasting the beans and then grinding them and adding the water. Most of you know that I am so not a coffee drinker, but I felt compelled to give it a try-whoa...for my first cup of coffee, I really chose a cup with a punch- holy strong coffee! I'm pretty sure that it was the freshest coffee any of us will ever have, and it was neat to watch it be prepared.

After the coffee ceremony we went out to lunch with all the other travelling families to a restaurant called "Top of the View", it was fantasic, and yes, a great view.

Now we are back at the guesthouse, and I don't think we'll be going anywhere else today, we're already exhausted. Avery is fast asleep, and Cooper is trying is hardest at cutting some teeth- pretty sure Christian's fingers will look like raisins in a minute, he's been gnawing on them non-stop.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Holy Trinity Church, a famous Christian Orthodox church, and then onto our embassy appointment. The embassy appointment is what generates the twins' visas to leave the country- so we're praying for a successful appointment!

We can't wait for you to meet the babies...oh, you will fall in love instantly!
oxox

Monique, Christian & Memere