June 18

Christine finally enjoying the worlds best caramel machiatto.
And we both enjoyed a complementary massage at our guest house... Ahhh
the life...

June 18

Eye Contact?
Maybe just eye to big nose contact...

June 18th

June 18

Just two more sleeps till we leave Ethiopia. We have had Ezra for a
whole week now and it already feels like so much longer that we have
been together. This is good... Already we can see him making big steps
in attachment and physical development: when we got him he was not
keeping his headlevel with his body when we pulled him up from laying
to sitting. Now he does so with ease. Last week he was not able to
support his weight very well on his legs (standing position) Now he's
a little pro and can hold himself up by grasping my fingers and
standing without support... He loves to cuddle with us after bottles
and makes good eye contact... We are able to soothe him when he cries
(the cry is so faint and small it's actually pathetic in a cute way).
It has been a great week of bonding with Ezra but we are ready to come
home and be united with our girls. It is their turn to bond and make
connections with their new brother... What joy fills our hearts to
know our girls will gush with love for thier little Esue-yay...

This country is beautiful!!! If our girls were with us we might never
leave this place it has made such an impact. I now know what people
mean when they say "once you go to Africa you already know you are
coming back".
TIA This Is Africa... The birthplace of our son...

Just a quick addis fact before I sign off for today. Last week
Christine asked me if I was feeling winded and out of breath every
time I walked the 3 flights of stairs to our guest room. Trying to act
macho and tough I said "not really". Even though I felt pooped each
time I got to the top. I thought it was just jet lag or poor sleep
patterns that were to blame. Then I read in our travel guide (thanks
Lonely Planet) that Addis Abeba actually sits at 7600 feet elevation
(above sea level). That's actually quite high up. Vancouver is at
exactly sea level. That means the air in Addis is much thinner than in
Vancouver and we Canucks get winded faster than the locals here.
Yesterday when we climbed the stairs to the fourth floor of the
compassion office we north Americans were exhausted while the
Ethiopians just giggled to themselves while we panted away. This is
why the Ethiopians and Kenyans win the Sun Run most years. BTW... The
ethiopians say the only reason the kenyans win is because they train
here in Addis to get the same advantage. They train on Entoto mountain
just north of Addis. When we drove up there we saw them training. The
Ethiopian runners are lobbying their government to stop allowing
foreigners to train in Ethiopia. Now I dont feel so bad for being out
of breath after 3 flights of stairs... I need to get back in shape.
It's my summer resolution. It's also Ezras he has a few pounds of baby
chub to trim off. LoL!

Koen and Chris

June 17

A day with Dawit. Today was a very special day. Today we got to meet
Dawit Getnah our Compassion sponsor child. We had arranged to meet
him at the compassion office today. Two days ago we found out that
another couple from our guesthouse had made the same arrangments. So
we all went to the compassion office together. Dawit (Ethiopian for
David) has been our sponsor child for two years... He is ten years old
and lives in Dire Dawa. Dire Dawa is a full days drive from addis
abba. So he took the whole day to travel yesterday and will spend a
whole day bussing back tomorrow. Dawit travelled here with a comassion
chaprone that works in his project. We spent the morning at the
Ethiopian National Museum in Addis we got the whole guided tour making
our way through ancient artifacts the tall tales of evolutionary
findings in Ethiopia (known as the cradle of humanity) and art
history. We met Lucy in the archeology exhibit. Lucy is a package of
bones belonging the earliest humanoid 3.1 million year old
"apparently". Actually we met Lucy's replica cuz Lucy is actually on
loan to an exhibit in New York... Go figure you travel to where she
was found she's actually in our neck of the woods?!?!?! If the real
thing looks like the replica I would not waste my money trying to get
a peek... Sorry evolutionists Lucy is not in my family tree...

Dawit had a great time and knew lots of things about Ethiopian culture
to his chaprone and our surprise... He is a bright young boy who stood
facinated by what he saw and heard about his country. It turns out
many ancient artifacts were found right where he lives.

Dawit has the biggest smile EVER!!! He was handsomely dressed in the
outfit he got with the birthday money we sent him brought Compassion.
He was so proud when I told him he looked "conjo" handsome.

After the museum we went to an American style retaurant where he
couldn't wait to sink his teeth into some pasta. As we learned this
moring the pizza, pasta and gelato shops are left over influences from
when those brash Italians tried to colonize Ethiopia... To no avail...
After pasta was a big chocolate sundae. It was great to watch him eat
it. He ate it so fast that he gave himself a headache... He was
panicing About the brain freeze. We then went to buy his mom a nice
scarf and him a soccer jersey and his own brand new soccer ball. We
all had a great time together. The best memory was Dawit just playing
with Ezra in the van and begging to hold and play with him in the
restaurant. Ezra loved the time together. He cooed and giggled
continually... Dawit could not get enough of Ezra either.

It was good to see the face of the boy stuck to our refridgerator.
Money gets taken out of our account each month and we get letters from
the guy but sometimes I'll admit I wonder if the kid in the picture
gets any of it. Today was a day that I was able to see the fruit of
the Compassion organization. Not only in interacting with Dawit (who
is healthy and passionate about his oppertunities at his project) but
meeting a compassion worker who was sponsored as a child has obtained
a university degree and now works for Compassion as a ministry
coordinator... These children are real!!! If you are not already
sponsoring one or two children I can't tell you how cool it is to know
you are making an impact in one life on an ongoing basis...

Dawit knew our family situation and wanted more pics of our family...
We gave him a couple pictures of our family. I think he valued them
more than he did the soccerball his jersey and the ice cream. As Chris
and I were looking through the pictures of our girls and bragging
about our girls at home we really began to realize how much we miss
them and how much we love our three girls... We've said to eachother a
number of times today that we can not wait to get home and hug them
like crazy...

It feels like something big is missing...
WE LOVE YOU girls!!!

Koen and Chris

Ethiopian baby bottle (still used in some regions)

Koenraad

Dawit and Ezra

Koenraad

June 16

The Journey to Nazareth
Nazareth Ethiopia that is...

Today we went to Ezras birthplace. It is called Adama it is also
called Nazaret (Nazareth). It is a two hour trek from Addis along a
bone jarring hiway where our talented driver dodged In and out of
traffic to avoid the really smelly diesel trucks and the cows, donkeys
and goats that constantly cross the hiway at random. T.I.A is what the
local folk tell us... "This Is Africa"!!! Indeed this Africa. After
today we are done with day long treks to the country side... We arrive
back home exhausted... Literally the diesel exhaust is enough to make
us sick...

Today was worth every effort:
Nazret though only 100 km away has a very different climate than
Addis. It is very dry and hot. The landscape looks desertish and very
barren... Nazaret has a more city in the county feel with it's horse
draw carts and buggys, horses, donkeys and goats EVERYWHERE we also
saw a couple camels. Nazaret also has those minature three wheeled
mororized taxis... They are the same kind we see in Thailand (took-
tooks) or in India (tap-taps). Nazaret is a busy commerce center as it
is along a major north to east Ethiopia route. This is just a breif
description of Ezras birth town.

Our first stop was the Saalem orphanage where Ezra spent his first 4
months. We met Saalem a young Ethiopian woman who started the home 3
years ago. She gave us a tour and we got to see his crib in the baby
room. Each crib covered with mosquito netting. Saalem then accompanied
us to the nazret hospital to meet Tsedale the nurse who cared for Ezra
the first two days of his life. She immediatly recognized him and
asked to hold him (infact she took him and held him for the rest of
the visit) She was happy to see him so chubby and healthy because when
she saw him last October she did not think he would survive. This is
why she choose the name Esuendale meaning: As God Has Said.
She chose that name then because she knew that whether Ezra lived or
died it would have been "As God had said"...
Wow!!! We had no idea of this part of Ezras story... Both of these
women are Christians and we see the hand of God on Ezras life. Ezra
means "God is my help".
It was a very special & emotional visit...

To finish off the visit we went for lunch at the Merrcii restaurant.
the Candians ate the injera with bean paste (yum) while the Ethiopians
ate hamburgers with fries (go figure)...

It was an emotionally exhausting and totally God ordained day!!!
To answer the age old question:
Can anything good come from Nazaret?
Yes!!!

Koen and Chris