Our Trip

Many people have asked what we did while we were in Ethiopia so I thought we'd post some more pictures and stories from our trip. Our first day there was spent getting to know Mesfin...his sleeping habits, what he ate, etc. We didn't do much except relax, nap, and play all day. We were surprised to find out that night that Mesfin slept from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am the next morning...12 hours without waking up! We couldn't believe it! Although during the night Mom and Dad didn't sleep much because we were too busy watching our new little man. Here's a funny picture of him sleeping. As you can see, he's restless sleeper. He started the night facing the other way.

The staff at the House of Hope completely took care of us. They made us breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday and helped whenever we needed it. We typically ate breakfast with the other family who was staying at the house too. Lunch was the biggest meal of the day. We usually ate with the Director of the house, who always had good stories to tell, especially ones about Mesfin. We were joined by other families and visitors at times as well. Lunch always ended with a coffee ceremony, which is a traditional Ethiopian custom. The cooks would ground coffee beans by hand and brew the coffee via an open flame. I'm not a huge coffee drinker but even I had to have a cup after lunch everyday. Oh and it was served with popcorn too, yum!

Here are some pictures of Simegn, the cook, with Mesfin and during a coffee ceremony. By the way, Simegn absolutely adored Mesfin and I know that he loved her too. She would sing songs to him during meals to get him to eat and it worked everytime! Too bad we can't sing like her. A couple of times she let Mesfin sit in the kitchen with her when she cooked too. He loved it!