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Day 1: We arrived in ET after a seven hour flight from Paris to Addis Ababa. We purchased our entry visa and made it through immigration without any problems. A Holt worker was there waiting at the gate to pick us up. He took us directly to our hotel, where we dropped off our luggage and tried to freshen up a little before he called us back into the van. From there we went to the Holt offices where we joined all the other families who had arrived the day before.
After our orientation we all waited with great anticipation as we were shuttled to the care center where we would finally meet our children – the moment we had anticipated for months!
They seated us downstairs in a bright and airy room. The head nurse, sister Martha, welcomed us and then one by one they brought the children in and called your name. We enjoyed watching the other families and then finally it was our turn. What a special moment when they handed us our girl! She stared up at us in wonder with her big beautiful, brown eyes. It was love at first sight!
The staff served us cake and coffee and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with our girl. In the pictures we had received we had never seen her smile so it was a joy to watch her smile and giggle as we tickled and kissed her!

Day 2: Saturday morning Holt arranged for some site-seeing. They took us to the famous National Museum of Ethiopia, where we saw the world renown “Lucy” – the most complete human ancestor discovered anywhere in the world (if you believe in evolution). There were also many cool Ethiopian artifacts and treasures from past emperors. We had our own tour guide and it was a fun experience and great way to learn about Emma’s ET heritage. Afterward we enjoyed lunch at “Lucy’s restaurant and bar.” It was a fun atmosphere in a grass hut type style building. We played it safe and enjoyed the pizza!
The rest of the afternoon we were taken back to the care center for more bonding, play time with Emma. We brought a couple of toys along and had fun playing with her on the floor. She is very snugly and doesn’t like to be held away from our body. We also discovered that she can’t sit up very well on her own and really doesn’t like it if you try to stand her up. I think the one on one attention and the bouncer we have will help cure this in no time.

We got a kick out of the translation on the sign in front of this throne -

instead of “No Flashes” it said “No Flashlights”