To Ethiopia and Back -- Part I

This is part 1 of hopefully a several part series about our trip and experiences in Ethiopia. I cannot promise exact details or quick additions to the series but here it goes.

Ethiopia and Back Part I

Leaving on Thursday was surreal. As I dropped off Danny at school he did not cry -- it was only me who shed a couple tears. We had never left our kids for more than 2 nights and I was having a very hard time knowing that we would be too far away to help in an emergency. The girls and I spent the morning reading books, picking up a few last minute things (like matching red t-shirts) and enjoying time together. I dreaded taking them to their babysitters but knew that it was time. Again, there were no tears (I was SURE Lilly would have several) and I headed to work. WHY was I working??? The minute I pulled into work I realized what a horrible idea that had been, but I only had to be there for 2 hours and it turned out fine.



Ben and I met home and loaded the car, took all the "kid supplies" to Grandma and Grandpa's and tried to visit GG (Ben's grandma). She was at a hair appointment so we went home and finished packing! My friend Kelly drove our suburban to the airport for us because we knew our 5 HUGE bags and 4 carry-on's would not fit in her van. After a quick picture, a hug goodbye and a $100 fee for our extra bag we went through our first of many security checks. We waited with about 100 people who were on their way to Vegas and I felt a tad jealous of their "brainless" vacation. I know that sounds mean and I don't mean it that way but everything about our trip was so intense feeling and I craved a bit of brainlessness! :)



Soon we were boarding our flight to Portland which was uneventful -- unless you count the 100 times I said to Ben "next time we are on the flight there will be 5 of us". And then I would giggle! We arrived in Portland where Rebecca and Jesse picked us up and loaded our bags in the truck to take us to our hotel. We went next door for a quick dinner where I realized that I had forgotten my swimsuit. To buy or not to buy was the big question. We also had no car and didn't know what was open at 9:00 on a Thursday. We called a cab (who didn't come) then called again... we were whisked off to K-Mart and ran inside. I had 10 minutes to find a swimsuit from the VERY limited choices... one of which was truly the ugliest swimsuit I had ever seen. I bought a relatively cute black swimsuit and cover-up and headed out to our waiting cab. I am fairly certain that it was the most expensive suit ever (partly because of the cab fare) and I thought K Mart was supposed to be cheap. :) Oh well! We headed back tot the hotel, prayed, and fell asleep right away. We both slept pretty well, all things considered!