We made it to Addis and here she is....she is wonderful!!! We landed after 16 hours of flying and were met at the airport by Wass. He is our driver and works with AGCI. On our way to the hotel he handed us a revised itinerary of our trip and it showed that we were meeting Mekdes today!!! We were so thrilled and anxious at the same time. We were still unclear as to the status of what she had been told about us and how we were going to be introduced at our initial meeting. Wass came to get us a couple of hours later and we left for Hannah's Hope. I was so excited I completely forgot the activity bag I had packed full of the fun things we could do with Mekdes. When we got there we were let in the gates and led right to a room where within 30 seconds (I hadn't even set my purse down and wasn't really prepared) this beautiful little angel walks in the room and comes over to give me a hug and a kiss and proceeds to do the same for Shawn. Tsige was the administrator guiding us at this point and she kept saying abat and enat to Mekdes, which I know mean father and mother. When I asked her if Mekdes knew who we were, she informed me that they had told her we were her parents because they felt the entire process would be too confusing for her if they did not. I was overcome with emotion and started to cry, but I caught myself by biting my cheek. The last thing this little one needed was a sobbing white woman standing in front of her. This is the time when the activity bag would have come in quite handy, but since I left it at the hotel, we were forced to improvise. I gave her my bracelet and Shawn gave her his watch to wear. I dug through my purse and found a photo of Mekdes and gave that to her. Tsige then proceeded to show us around Hannah's Hope. We first went into the older children's sleeping area. Mekdes was showing everyone her photograph. A wonderul girl around 8 or 9 years old came over and gave Mekdes a hug and told her "congratulations". When Tsige translated what was being said, I had to bite my cheek again to keep from crying. We continued on our tour and saw all the babies, the kitchen, the school room...these women/caretakers do such an amazing job with these children. What special people! By this point I was holding a baby named Danny and Mekdes was pretty attached to Shawn. She wanted Shawn to pick her up so of course he did and carried her all around the grounds. Again, I had to control myself from completely losing it as I say the two of them together. Shawn could make her laugh and smile which was so heart warming as most of the time she looked confused and tired. For some reason they scheduled our meeting during her nap time, so she had gone without a nap--bless her heart. It was a wonderful meeting that got more comfortable as the time passed. We will look forward to spending time with her and the other children tomorrow. I will try to remember the activity bag!!!! We will deliver the Crocs to Hannah's Hope on Monday when the director, Almaz, will be in. What an amazing journey thus far!
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