From Mimi:

Thanks to Sandra for taking these pictures of our parents’ arrival with Honeybee!

Here is the last email that my mother sent to us from Addis:

Subj: On Our Way Home

Hi Kids,

We are hanging out in the Cloud 9 business class lounge waiting to board our flight. Dad’s two trips to Ethiopia last year gave him Silver status on Ethiopian Airlines, so we are enjoying the perks – including internet!

We can hardly wait to be home – it is a long journey from here, but every minute gets us closer to all of you. Last night I dreamed that I was with all of you and Eby was kissing me with a sticky face – it was funny.

We’ll call you when we get to DC. We love you all so much.

We made one last trip to Little AHOPE this morning where we got to hold and love the newest little baby who is less than one month old. What a sweet little guy he is. We said goodbye and gave loves to all of the kids – I nearly cried when I left – I love those kids. To all of my friends with kids at AHOPE, I think I have photos for many of you and will try to send them out once I spend some time loving on my kids and getting Honeybee settled. Your kids are all wonderful.

We ran out to do one last bit of shopping, which was fun until I couldn’t find what I wanted, and when I did the shopkeeper was asking a ridiculous price. I finally found the same things for a much better price just a few doors down. We raced back to the guesthouse to begin packing and managed to finish only a little bit later than we had planned.

We spent the last two days with our friend, Getachew, as our driver. He is a wonderful, trustworthy man and has blessed us in so many ways. He is beginning a business offering 1/2 day, full day, and even two day trips for adoptive families. I think his services will be a great
help to visiting families because he knows all of the great places to go and he offers very fair prices. I will post more about him when we are home.

One of my favorite things we did yesterday – after God rescued us by making Honeybee’s visa come through – was visiting the weavers’ shop where we got to peer over their shoulders and watch then make beautiful, intricate designs. They are so talented. We were able to buy some of their work and had the extra pleasure of buying two things made by weavers who were in the shop at the time when I was purchasing them, so I got photos of them with the shawl and tablecloth.

Last night we had dinner with Hanna who has the ministry for orphaned girls, Children’s Heaven, and our very special friend, Mercy. We love this girl and are so happy to see her becoming part of Hanna’s program. This is the third time we have met Mercy and love her more
each time.

It is time to board our flight. I hope we sleep well!!

Mamma

Thanks for stopping by my mom’s blog. Honeybee is having a great first day, and Mommy will post soon. If you haven’t seen the post below this one (with the pictures of my parents on the flight), you should take a look. It’s hilarious.

Love,
Mimi