Last day in ET! :( (July 13)

This is our last day in Ethiopia... Our last day to see our baby girl, till we don't know when (PRAYING it is soon)!

...We were definitely missing our girls, our bed, our lives at home... but, leaving without M!? UGH! I wish it was different, and she was coming HOME now...

Wass came and got us at 11:30 today (seemed like such a late start to the day).  Before we headed to HH we wanted to get a GROUP SHOT! :)

(Tony, Carrie, Molly, Kraig, Erik and I)

Kraig started singing...

 It seriously was an AMAZING blessing to be able to get to know these AWESOME families and to SHARE in this journey to our children together!  I am SO glad we had the opportunity to get to know them! TOTALLY gonna miss them!!!

As soon as we got to HH our little M was eating (she had a sticker on her forehead from her BIRTHDAY stash! toooooo funny!) :)  She makes me laugh... even if she is a little sassy and fussy with us... She has bonded SO well with her special mothers! I am grateful to them and the outstanding care they have been giving our little girl!

We played with M for a little bit - she was TOTALLY DIGGING Daddy! :)

 

 

We had heard a lot of M's cries and whines during our visits this last week -but when she showed us affection we just melted!! She has got such a FUN little personality! I LOVE her SMILE and her LAUGH, I LOVE how she will walk to us and just FALL DOWN on us and start laughing! 

OKAY... I JUST LOVE EVERY THING ABOUT HER!! XOX

We played with M for about an hour (she was AWESOME) - then we asked Wass to take us to Betzatha where little M spent time before she came to HH.

...On our way to Betzatha we asked Wass to stop off somewhere so that we could take some food and treats to the kids and staff there... We didn't want to visit the orphanage empty handed... We stopped one place and got a bunch of bananas, cookies and a some guava juice. ...Then we passed a bunch of goats and I asked Wass if we could take them a goat. He said, of course, we gave him 1,000 birr (approximately $50) and he got out in his Texas Cowboy boots and started looking for the biggest, fattest goat he could find. :) We got out to take a few pictures and some of the men were shouting at us not to... They wanted to receive payment if we were gonna be like crazy tourists and take pictures... they kept yelling until they learned from Wass we were purchasing a goat, that he was looking for. :)  Wass examined a bunch of goats and found one he liked... Then they walked it to the van and loaded him in! :)

...We listened to him in the back all the way to Betzatha. :) I was EXCITED to be able to take something to them - that I was sure they could use.  In fact, Wass said that this 1 goat will feed all 46 children (that are there right now) one meal. That's it... just 1 meal. We shoulda got more goats! :)

(Me and 'Dinner' for kids at Betzatha) ♥

We took a 'tour' of the orphanage... and It was SAD. I was sad to see that their needs are SO HUGE... I was sad that I didn't bring some of the donations with us here, to this orphanage.  The orphanage does NOT receive the funding the way Hannah's Hope does.  Hannah's Hope is run more like a business (a good business, a transition home, where we are paying for the staff and for the needs of our child while they are there - and they are being cared for beautifully).  But, then there are THESE orphanages... where little M came from first.  THESE orphanages need more donations, they need help from Westerners or Foreigners, like us.  Their BIGGEST needs were FORMULA and DIAPERS. They showed us what they use for diapers and it is like a soft piece of paper... REALLY! 

Here are some of the adorable children that were there and the MASSIVE amounts of laundry that they do EVERYDAY...

Seriously, it broke our hearts to see the difference between the two orphanages... I asked the administrator if she gets a LOT of donations from HH... and she shook her head... :( 

...We headed back to HH to spend the last HOUR with our little girl!

 

 

 

Oooooh She was THE sweeeeeeeetest!!! She was walking and laughing and just being silly! I think her VERY special mothers were really helping us ALL to have the BEST last few minutes with her before we go home and wait till we can come back and get her FOREVER... I loved every single second... until Wass came in the room and told us it was time to go...

We both gave little M a BIG hug (in HOPES that I will be back in NO time to bring her HOME)!!  ...and we started missing her desperately the second our backs turned and headed out the door! :(

John 14:18

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you."