Day 2 in Addis

Hey everyone! I haven't been able to get on the blog since Sunday night. It's Wednesday afternoon right now. I typed Day 2 in a Word Document, so here it goes....This actually happened on Monday....

Day 2: January 17, 2010


Today was our 2nd day in Addis. Justus slept all night. Hooray! He woke up at 6:30 and hollered out, “Mama…shintabet” which means, Mama, I need to go to the bathroom. He got back in bed and laid there for a little while. Then, we got up. He looked for his cars and wanted to play. He wanted to get his clothes and new shoes on right away. He’s crazy about those shoes….Who would’ve thought that some Adidas for ½ price for 12.50 at Dicks would make a person so happy! I hope I can get him to wear his brown shoes for the embassy appt. tomorrow. We shall see. 

We had the option to go to Hannah’s Hope this morning, so we decided to go. I wanted to see if they could find the photo book that we left for him last time and I wanted to get a group shot of us with his special mothers and him. His demeanor changed as soon as we got out of the van. He didn’t say a word and his face was down. I think he thought we were bringing him back. After a little while, he warmed up…but he still was cautious. We played with all the kids (bubbles, scratch off Backyardigans, and suckers.) Some of them wanted me to pick them up. Others ran up and said, “mama”. I hope their mamas are coming soon. Derero was happy to get in the van and leave.

We came back to the hotel and had lunch. We eat at the restaurant more this time at the hotel b/c Derero needs to eat and Jiff peanut butter to go and crackers are not gonna cut it for him as they will for me. We went upstairs and had Justus “D” wind down. Then, it was time for a nap.

Trevis went out shopping with one of the people in our group. I was so glad b/c I didn’t get a few things I really would like to have had. He found a wooden carved nativity where each person/animal was carved out of wood separately and I wanted an authentic wooden carved mancala set….Everything else was icing on the cake.

That gave me and Justus lots of bonding time. We watched Tom and Jerry, played with cars, looked and picture cards (workin on the English), did Magnadoodle, went outside, played with a balloon…you name it. He’s picking up more English today…..He counted one, two , three, four fish after I had done so. He said, “Spencer’s” name today. I can’t really remember what else….. He loves taking a bath and brushing his teeth. Seriously, I’ve never met a child who loves to brush their teeth so much….He is high energy and very talkative, so I think he’ll fit in perfectly with the rest of our family…..

What a blessing. We love him so much already…Can’t wait to hear him say, “I love you Mama”….I’m looking forward to dressing him a little preppy for the embassy appt. tomorrow. (Did I just type that?) Spencer boycotted collared shirts a long time ago, so it’ll be fun to dress a four year old for awhile. They grow so fast….

Update....He did NOT like the brown shoes and wasn't thrilled with the idea of dressing preppy. Looks like he and Spencer will have a lot in common. ha!
With Much Love,