We are home

We left Thursday night at 11pm. All the flights were on time and went well (at least the pilots portion). We arrived in the cities at noon on Friday. However, technically we had been traveling like 21 hours and we have been up for 36 hours (then). Doug finally crashed-I think he plans to take the second shift. We did not get to sit together on the flight, so he sat next to Mahlet... I think he deserve a break.

I am really tired and have so much to say, but I know everyone is really just dying to hear about Mahlet. Well, first things first, we are calling her Mahlet...for now. She is very proud of her name and it fits her so well. Plus it's easier to say then we thought. We haven't given up on Emma, just still working out the details.

When we picked Mahlet up from the orphanage she had a pretty icky nose cold. But no fever and didn't seem slowed down in the least, not to mention almost all the kids in our group had a nose cold thing going on. However, it was obvious on Wednesday it wasn't getting better. We tried Benedryl and that at least helped her sleep. By the time we hit the second plane ride today she had a fever. She slept a lot and just didn't look like herself. I really did not want to expose her to the culture shock of a doctors office and tests, but with the long weekend I was getting nervous to wait.

Doctor took a quick peek and was nice enough NOT to draw any blood or do a throat culture or anything that might scare her since we did not have the language to tell her what was going on. He found enough things to justify starting her on antibiotics. Her fever was at 102, her throat is red, her ear is red and a I think he was just thinking there was a million other things. ha! poor kid.

What is her personality like? Well, she is a ham. Once she warms up to you. She is very shy around any more than 2 people in a room. She is super smart. Learned how to run the computer to run her DVD in the first sitting. And she is fabulous with babies. She LOVES them. I am guessing she was a caregiver of sorts to the younger children at the orphanage.

She HATES Keesha, our dog. But that doesn't surprise me. Dogs in Ethiopia are not considered part of the family. Some do have them as pets, but they most run around wild and cause foreigners a lot of headaches at night with all of their barking. I sure hope she comes around soon.

Hmm, I know there is lots to say and I will try to get my thoughts more organized in the next few days.

Thank you so much for everyone, for support, prayers, food, and childcare. This was definately a group effort.