No sleep, but an adventurous day!

Well, I am running on about 3 hours of sleep today.  Between people banging on our door, loud cars outside, it being so hot, the religious chanting outside, the dogs/hyenas, someone smoking outside our window....I got very little sleep.  Shawn did well and I was jealous of his snoring all night long!  As it is 2:30am here now and we are both up, I think it will be another long night.  Once the sun came up, however, we began what ended up being a "one of a kind" day.  We got to Hannah's Hope around 10am and I remembered my activity bag.  When we pulled into the compound all the kids came running and trying to give us "knucks" as we had taught them that American ritual the day before.  Tearing through the crowd came our little Mekdes and she jumped up on Shawn and clung to him for dear life!  We spent the day playing with ballooons, bubbles, reading some books, painting nails and having another wonderful experience with these children.  Lunch was served for the children while we were there and they served injera and wat (traditional Ethiopian meal).  I video taped Mekdes eating and will try to post it.  You will notice, they eat with their right hands only.  Their left hand is seen as unclean and they are taught not to use it.  After lunch is when the children have their nap time.  I was able to take Mekdes over to the swing and swing her to sleep.  We carried her up to her bed and she began to cry and cling to us, not wanting us to leave.  Her caregiver explained we would be back tomorrow, but it was definately a foreshadowing what was going to happen on Thursday when we must depart.  Biting my cheeks may not be enough at that point!  Earlier that day we met a man named Solomon.  He was a taxi driver and we asked if he would meet us at the hotel that afternoon to take us in to the National Museum.  He agreed and indeed he showed up at the hotel as he promised to take us on our outing.  The museum was facinating as Ethiopia is thought to be the birthplace of mankind--really amazing exibits!  Everywhere we go we stick out like sore thumbs (surprise!) and riding through the city was no exception.  Children and old women would approach the car and say they were hungry.  It was heartbreaking!  We began riding in a rather impoverished area, sheet metal houses, sewage ditches, livestock everywhere when Solomon stopped the car and told us to get out.  Well, we were either going to be the "missing Americans" on CNN or we were in for a great adventure!!! Shawn and I grabbed eachother hands and got out of the car.    Children came running and I took their pictures so I could show them what they looked like on the camera--they loved it.  Solomon parked the car and told us he was taking us to his home as his wife was preparing the traditinal coffee ceremony for us.  A brief sigh of relief, but the potential of this going very wrong was still in the back of our minds.   We wound our way back through a narrow dirt path with shanty-like homes on either side.  When we got to his home we were met by his two sons and his wife.  They were so kind and welcoming that we were immediately but at ease!  Solomon kept telling us how blessed they were.  It was so beautiful, really, that people with what we would consider nothing, would open their homes and their hearts to us to share such a beautiful tradition!  We knew we were risking some serious G.I. issues in drinking this coffee as the water to prepare it came from the local well, but their kindness and gratitude were so inspiring--how could we refuse!  The preparation took at least 30 minutes.  I included a pic of his son smashing the coffee beans that his mother has just roasted over a fire.  It was the best cup of coffee I have ever had and the experience was worth any gastric discomfort I may be feeling.  To feel such praise for God, to feel they are so blessed in the midst of such intense poverty was a humbling lesson that will be with both Shawn and I for the rest of our lives!  I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings, but we clearly have fallen in love with this amazing country and its beautiful people!