Day 2 Update

Just as we were leaving the internet came on!!  Here is the post for today. Day 2 Update Our second day was great as we continue to get over the travel funk.  We both feel relatively well even though our internal clock has not adjusted yet.  I(Dennis) keep waking up at 3:30 am and cannot go back to sleep.  I have heard others talk about the dogs barking here early in the morning and I will confirm that this is a problem!  After an hour and a half of trying to back to sleep I just got up and went to the rooftop of the Guest House to watch the sun come up and pray.  It was a fantastic moment as the sun came up over the mountains I watched the city come alive with the hustle of the morning routines and the business of the day. The people here have been great to us.  I think there is a genuine desire to please even beyond the fact that we are paying customers.  The take great delight in knowing that we are satisfied and comfortable.  As with our previous experience in West Africa, they have an obsession with cleanliness. I Togo it was a dirt floor in a mud hut, but they were determined to keep it clean.  Here things are more modern, but at any point in the day you will find ladies cleaning something. Our guide, T, is also great.  I have mentioned him before, but he continues to amaze me with his knowledge of American culture.  Both good and bad, he knows more about what is going on in the US than most Americans.  Everything from Obama's political views to an obsession with American Idol, many here keep up with what is going on in the US.  When we arrived at the Guest House, several locals were sitting around the TV watching the finale and they had very strong opinions about who should win. We will leave here about 11:00 today to go visit Micah's family.  Both anxious and apprehensive, we look forward to getting there.  The traffic here is terrible and is typical of many developing nations with no traffic laws, and no one to enforce them.  It is totally a free for all on the highways.  This does not go over well for those of us who get motion sickness easily.  Add no air conditioning, lots of exhaust fumes, and a jerky manual transmission and you have the recipe for disaster!  I am joined by the mother of another family who has the same problem.  They are also traveling with us to today.  The adoption agency has set it up for their birth family to meet at the same time and place we are meeting Micah's family.  Neither of us are looking forward to the 2-3 hour drive, but are planning our sickness prevention strategies together.  We have heard several different stories as to the length of the trip.  We really don't know if it is a two hour drive or a five hour drive.  We are placing a lot of trust in people who really don't seem to know where they are going!  The weather has been the same every day, as we hear it is most of the year.  It is about 60 in the evening and in the upper seventies to lower eighties during the day.  Addis is at about 7000 feet elevation so it never gets really hot.  It is funny to hear the local people talk about the weather.  They lock the front door in the evening so I asked the receptionist to let me out (no panic bars on doors here) early yesterday morning so I could get some fresh air.  She did but warned me that is was very cold outside and I only had a tee-shirt on.  It was in the low 60's!  I didn't say anything but just laughed inside. Sorry for so many random thoughts, but I wanted to keep all of you who have been praying for us updated on what we are experiencing.  Thank you and keep praying for us today as it will be quite emotional for both the birth family and us. (Also that we don't get motion sickness!)