Ethiopia First Trip- Day 4 Court!

We all met at the Addis Guest House restaurant for breakfast. None of us needed menus as we all knew the french toast was where it was at. I was surprised that the server didn't just bring the syrup bottle without the Reeves asking for it.

Our driver from our partnering agency, Adugna, arrived and took us to court. We were surprised that the ride lasted only 3 minutes. We had been practicing all week asking each other questions and trying to make sure we were precise and succinct with our answers. We were a little nervous with the unknowns of what would happen at our court hearing.

This is a typical siting outside of our minibus. We're on our way to our court hearing.

We met Abdissa who is a pastor and attorney. He had all of my respect and I didn't even spend a whole lot of time with him. He took us to a room crowded with people where we would wait for our court hearing. While we were waiting, Mark and Liane, social service and missions directors of our agency, met us in the crowded waiting area. They were a wonderful distraction from the wait. We talked about the missions team that was there currently and the work they were doing in the area of women's fistulas- giving women a new life with the surgeries. I really enjoyed hearing more about their short term missions trips and the impact this couple through our organization is making.

Meeting the Wolberts while we waited.

The judge was a beautiful woman that reminded us all of a queen. We felt honored and humbled when we were told that we would be approved when the MOWA letter arrived. It was a relief to know that this big step was over, but we were really hoping the MOWA letter would miraculously be there. MOWA is the widows and orphans branch of the ET government. The letter we are waiting for is their approval letter. Without that we cannot officially pass court. When the letter arrives B will be legally ours. We just then have to wait for the embassy to give us a date to obtain her visa so she may legally enter our country. That's what we are waiting for at this point.

After court our driver took us to shop some more at the Post Office shopping market. We were so much more comfortable haggling and talking with the locals that it was such a fun experience for me. We were approached by kids and adults trying to sell us things. We bought gum this time! I was so excited to bring banana, cinnamon, and coffee gum home for the boys and coffee gum for Grandpa. One little boy was selling Ethiopian toothpicks so I had to get some of those for the boys. Will has been chewing on it all week! Every once in awhile a female guard came over and kicked the boys or hit them with her stick to drive them away from us. I tried to figure out what was going on and I think she was doing it to keep the shoppers free from the chaos. So we were trying to respect her and figure out what we were supposed to do with all of this. By the end of our shopping we ran out of smaller birr, but the kids asking for money or for us to buy something from them didn't stop. We remembered that we had some granola and power bars stashed in our bags so we started passing those out and it seemed like that was more appreciated than the small amount of birr we had been giving. However, the kids continued to hang around us and the guard continued trying to keep them away. At one point she gave a stern look to one of us and it read, "Why are you not working with me here?" It was time to leave and the kids began running with our mini bus. They were just beautiful and fun children. One of my favorite things about Ethiopia were the children we met.

This saleswoman was gooooood. She got me and B in these shirts and of course we bought them.

 Nope, didn't buy this one.

Next we went to Tamoca, rated the best coffee in the world by a blind taste test from the BBC. It smelled so good in that place! I loved the coffee in ET. I ended up drinking it by the end of the trip without creamer. That's huge for me!

Coffee ceremony right in one of the little shops.

That night we ate at Lime Tree, suggested by Yonas. It was wonderful and T and I split an Indian dish. Have I mentioned that the french fries in Ethiopia are the best? Seriously, every time someone ordered them we all devoured them. I don't know what their secret is. We also had a lot of tuna jokes, but I needed to have started that story a long time ago. At this point it would only confuse the reader so we'll just keep that to ourselves.

We were packed, ready to go, but had several hours before we needed to be at the airport. We took a little walk on the street and were soon approached by children. It was the end of the day and I could tell they were a little less driven and more on the silly side. One boy said with teeth clenched and a big goofy smile, "Shoe Sssssshine?!?!?!?!"  We just laughed and laughed at his silly look and he and his friends got a kick out of that. The entire walk these kids just walked with us saying, "Ha-lo, money?" We just smiled and said no, but they must have been bored and just accompained us back to the guest house. At one point one of the boys said, "Ha-lo 100 bir?" I got a kick out of him so I said, "Ha-lo, 1000 birr?" and held my hand out to him. He got this funny confused look on his face with a half smirk, pulled at his pockets and said, "No money!" I said, "Me either!", pointed at T and said, "He has it all!"  These kids got comfortable enough with us that they started teasing me. One imitated my "Oh-ma-say-ga-na-lo" with a high pitched repeat. I just turned to him, narrowed my eyes and pointed like I was warning him of something. He just smiled big.

T had candy he carried around in case he wanted to take a picture of a kiddo since he wanted to have something to give them in return for the pose. Two little boys who had the stick and circle game wanted something so T told them to play their game and he got a great shot of it. I loved watching these kids open the candy and just enjoy the sweetness. Just like them.

We sat at the Addis Guest House patio and drank yummy Ethiopian coffee until it was time to leave. We watched the people walk by, and talked about our trip. At one point three sweet girls started waving at us across the street. So I took some of the candy that was left over to them. I felt like Frogger, that old Atari game, crossing the street, hoping I would return without being flattened.

Look at these cute girls.

At the airport T was getting tired of me exclaiming, "I love these people" or "Everyone here is so sweet!" or "Don't you think everyone is so nice here?" Ethiopia, you are a beautiful country. I love your weather. I love your people.

On the plane to DC I started whining to T about some privileged American teens who were loud and swearing. T looked at me and said, "You need to go back to Ethiopia."

We are praying and hoping for a September return. Please pray this with us.