Trip to Hossana and Durame

Early on Sunday morning, after very little sleep, we left for Hossana. We were able to meet someone who knew Almaz as an infant. This meeting was wonderful and extremely difficult. The information we gained will be invaluable to Almaz when she is older.

We left the rest of the group and we traveled a bumpy 50 miles (taking 2 hours) to Durame, where Alex was born. Through a series of amazing events we found the woman we were looking for 5 miles (25 bumpy minutes) outside of Durame. We were able to update her on Alex Tesfa and we left a photo album of pictures of his first two years with us. She kept kissing the pictures and kissing us. It was, to say the least, a surreal experience.

Sunday night we got 11 hours of necessary sleep at the KMG guest house! We woke up early on Monday morning and traveled north through the Rift Valley. We stopped for breakfast in Awasa and to see a resort on one of the lakes but it was too rainy to get on a boat to go see any wildlife.

We made in back to Addis in time to spend a little time with Almaz. Please pray for all of us that the next few days will go well. She seems to be quite afriad of us and is experiencing stranger anxiety. We need her to start feeling comfortable with us before our 17 hour flight home!

We go to the Embassy this afternoon and then the Crown Hotel for a celebration tonight. It has been wonderful to meet the other families adopting. (Chad - a physics professor from St. Olaf, Jason, is here who knows you!)

Thanks for your prayers!
Anna