last words from Addis

We're packing up now, and getting ready for a quick bite before we head to Layla House to pick up our package. Our flight leaves at 10:45, and we'll arrive in Frankfurt in the morning. Then a flight to JFK and the long process of getting the baby through immigration before we head home. We should be in Saratoga by 8:00 Tuesday night.

We spent most of the day just hanging out at Layla. The older girls spent many hours braiding our hair. My hair, so short and straight, looked completely ridiculous. I pulled the rubber bands out as soon as we walked out the gate to come back here to the Volunteer House. The kids are so eager for conversation, and hugs, and just being acknowledged. They are tremendously well cared for here, but they want families. They want to be someone's son or daughter. The babies are placed with families as quickly as they come in, but the older kids and the sibling groups can be so difficult to place. Amazingly, folks do adopt sibling groups -- tomorrow a family is coming to pick up a sibling group of five. This is such generosity it blows my mind.

This has been a quick trip, but we'll all be back. Maybe next year for Christmas or Thanksgiving. That would be a holiday to remember.

Ciao ciao from Addis.

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