Update!

So it's Thursday night here, and we've had a few busy days here in Ethiopia.  Yesterday we visited the Gladney Foster Care houses - there are four of them, and loved seeing all of the babies and toddlers they are caring for there.  There are so many children!  Some are so outgoing and funny, while others watched us a little suspiciously.  There were babies that had just arrived that were so tiny you couldn't believe it, and then you see how well the women care for them and how healthy they are after a few months.  Ruby is good proof of that - 11 pounds when she arrived at 9 months, now at 16 months she's a total chunk!  I have no idea how much she weighs, but it's pretty impressive. We met all the women who had cared for her and saw her crib - there were 7 tiny beds crammed into a tiny room, with barely enough room to stand, but everything was clean and bright, and the women had such love for her and all the children that it wasn't sad in the way it might have been. 

After the visit to the Foster Care centers, we had a great Italian lunch - since the Italians occupied Ethiopia for five years during WWII, there is a fairly strong Italian influence.  While we were in the foster care center, Ruby saw a caregiver that she must have known, and she popped out with a quick "Ciao!"  We're trying to learn a few words - she still isn't talking much, but we're trying to get with the program and figure out what she is saying.  Unfortunately, Amharic is so complicated and the pronounciation is so difficult that even if someone tells you how to say a word, you will be hard pressed to be able to say it back.  I've got "wawa" - water - down, and "hello" - selam.  Aside from that, it's pretty sad.

Today we had a tour of an Ethiopian Orthodox church - very interesting, and then in the afternoon we went to the US Embassy for our visa interviews.  It was much more intimidating than I had imagined it would be, but ultimately everything was fine and all of the families sailed through with no problem.  Matt and I had to rush from that appointment over to the UK Visa Office (Matt's 4th trip to that office) to submit an application for a UK transit visa for Ruby.  We have been working on it all week, and after the US Embassy visit we finally had all the paperwork we needed to submit it.  Now we're just crossing all of our fingers and toes that we will get the visa back tomorrow so that we can fly out as scheduled on Monday morning.  To say that there is alot of red tape involved is a gross understatement, and my only advice to families traveling in the future is to avoid going through a country that requires a transit visa. 

While we were doing all of that miserable paperwork, Kate and the boys went to the Sheraton hotel for a swim in their fancy pool.  They all came back pretty red despite using lots of sunscreen, which I guess isn't too surprising given that Addis is above 8000 feet.  They had fun though, and we'll need to go back before we leave - Kate and I have plans to enjoy the spa there as well!

After a nice nap, we went with all the Gladney families to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant where we ate great food and saw traditional dances from all of the different regions of Ethiopia.  Tragically, Matt had to depart mid-meal due to what is probably the same stomach bug that Gus had a few days ago.  He's all bundled up in bed now, and hopefully on the mend.  Tomorrow we have more in store, so there's hardly time to be sick!