We're Back!!!! and there is such thing as love at first sight.

Wow, What to say!!!! Our amazing adventure has only just begun. We have fallen in loveeeee with Ethiopia!!! Never have we met a culture that is sooo affectionate and loving. The heart of any Ethiopian trumps that of soo many others. We are truly blessed to have been put on this path. We met soo many people that we now call friends. I wish it was this easy to meet people everywhere.

Our trip was full of emotional moments as well as moments of pure joy. The kids at the orphange (Hannahs Hope) were the coolest kids ever. We were able to play and get to know these little peeps every day. It was walking distance of our hotel and we were not shy at stopping by and playing. After 3PM was when the older kids classes were done and they were let play.. We played futbol(soccer) quite a bit. I must say that playing soccer at 8k feet above sea level is not the same as it is in Cali. The kids constantly smiled and had the most amazing manners. One day when it started to rain , i didnt realize that I had left my pullover jacket out on a chair, but 10 minutes later one of the little girls had gone over grabbed my jacket and brought it over to me. She proceded to fold it and put it in my backpack, then zipped it up. She then gave me a huge smile... Wow. How did she remember it was mine? What cool kids.

Now the kids were'nt the only amazing people. The staff of Hannah's hope was incredible and touched me deeply. Their smiles, laughs, and genuine love for the children was selfless and pure. I will never put into words what we felt for them. Our son had a very special woman who took care of him and who truly loved him. She had been with him since he was 6 days old. She was very happy that he was now in our care , but I know that she will miss him. That makes me feel soo good that he was loved soo much while he was there. I could never thank the staff enough. Now the fearless leader of Hannah's Hope is Almaz. She is an angel walking the earth. She not only is the hardest worker I ever met, but she has the memory and heart of a superhero. Her smile say's it all. We owe her alot.

Our Ethiopian journey was not only a crash course in parenting it was a crash course in compassion. Although Ethiopia has obvious poverty it has more obvious love amongst it's people. Smiles, handholding, arm crossing, were everyday sights. It was not rare to see a group of school kids all arm in arm walking from class. It was just as normal to see adults hand in hand walking to get coffee. This is something that was genuine.

Along with our daily parenting and trip's to Hannah's Hope we also got to go to the government run orphange to pass out donations to the kids. It was a fantastic expierence to see the excitement in these children's eyes. We passed out stickers, balls, toy cars, candy, etc. These kids truly enjoyed us being there and played with everything we gave them. They also to the stickers to a whole new level by putting them all over there faces. Too cute. We got to see the infants who were bundled up in there cribs, as well as the older kids who sang to us in there class room. It was a great trip and soo cool to spend time with them.

Now we also got to tour the Fistula Hospital which was an amazing property and a medical miracle. There was soo many people dedicated to getting rid of this condition in the next 10 years. They are diligently training doctors, midwives, etc, to prevent this from happening not only in Addis, but in the villages all over Ethiopia. This hospital has been seen on Oprah and is a place to behold.

Now, on a different level was the Mother Teresa Hospital. I dont know what to specificly write about this trip. It was the hardest day of my life. To have my eyes and heart opened by these patients here was something I cant explain. This hospital had patients of both sexes and all ages(newborn to elderly). I believe there was 2000 people here. There was numerous conditons from A-Z here. The people who work there, and volunteer are beyond angels on earth. It takes special people to be able to work there and to be honest Im going to stop writing about this until a later date. It is still very tough.....

And onto our little man.

Our little Man is now ours and is in our arms and our heart forever. Miles Yohanes Mastrella is now a part of our family. He is a beautiful, studdly little guy who is 15 weeks old. His smile lights up a room. He was truly chosen for us. He has my ears and his mom's smile. How weird and beautiful. hehe.

Our transition home has been great!!! He was an angel on our 25 hours of flying home. He slept, played, and ate, but not a peep while on the plane. He did pull an impressive move though at Immigration. We were in the back of probably 50 Ethiopian families waiting to get to front when, out of nowhere came a huge series of cries from Miles. All of the people in line generously said "Bebe, Bebe, go to front" and they let us go right to the head of the line. We were done in minutes. When we got to the immigration officer, Miles was silent and sweet as ever. hehehe. Wow what a smart kid. He amazed us both. We feel great that now we can begin to post pictures of our son. I know that both of us will be taking tons of picutres. We are right now in the process of getting all our pictures from our trip downloaded and gone through. We will be posting pictures slowly but surely.