Ethiopia-Day 2: Meeting the Boys-Part2

We made our way back to the hotel, and walked to The Lime Tree for lunch.  It's only a couple of blocks away, but on what became a daily walk we encountered herds of goats, street children wanting to shine our shoes (yes, even our flip flops), burning trash, gorgeous houses surrounded by high gates with guards, but around the corner a tiny little metal shack.  We were approached by beautiful little children begging, but then would see others who looked clean and well dressed with their families.  It was so unlike what we know here.

These boys got into an all out brawl when Brandon asked the one to shine his shoes, so he said they each can do one:)

And then this cute little guy came along, so Jason had him shine his flip flops:)

They are precious in his sight

One might think I was in heaven, but that first diet coke from McDonalds from the fountain after we returned home turned into a borderline worship service:)

cheese

hmm... just not the stuff I'm used to:/

After lunch we met back at the hotel and left for Engida.  This was a little bit further, and once we turned into the area it was like driving through someones backyard.  It was very run down looking outside.  Engida is actually behind us in this picture.

So we knocked and waited at the gate that is surrounded along the top with barbed wire and broken glass to keep out intruders.  Those pictures might actually be from Jane's House, but both places had similar protection.

A couple of nannies welcomed us in, and lead us right up the stairs to meet Caleb.  He was laying in his crib, and as we leaned over he smiled at us.  LOVED that:), but as soon as we picked him up he whimpered.   As I inhaled I got a nice whiff of Caleb's explosive diaper that went up his back, so the nannies stripped him down and shoved his bum under the facet to clean him up.  Poor guy didn't even get a chance to warm up to us, and he had to get all naked.  He was definitely checking us out, and a little unsure of these four big white people all up in his face.  He got a little teary off and on, but his cry is so quiet and sweet.  And then, seriously, all of the other babies were so happy to see us.  They giggled and smiled every time we looked at them.  Caleb had a cough and a runny nose, so that was a bummer, but he really was all about cuddling, so I think we will get along just fine.

We hung out here for a couple of hours, and Caleb fell asleep on me.  There are few things sweeter than holding a sleeping baby.  We tried to lay him down, but he woke up so we got to feed him some interesting brown stuff.  

Before we left I gave this nanny above a little photo book for Amen (Amy sent it to me to take for the nanny's to give to her little guy that she hasn't gotten to meet yet).  When I handed her the book she gasped with a smile and just held it to her heart with both hands, and she teared up.  They love the babies so much.  This made leaving not  as hard as it could have been.

We had a very quiet ride back to the hotel.  I'd held in a lot of emotion throughout the day.  Jason and I hadn't had a whole lot of time to process it all.  We left for dinner, and amidst all the pent up emotion we are again passing the needs of people feeling frustrated, because we were told do NOT give them anything.  I felt sick.  We passed up the needs to go meet our own at dinner.  Again it was hard to swallow.  The spaghetti I had was decent, but the lump in my throat made it hard to eat.   So Emily and Brandon asked us how we were doing... tears... and so hard to put into words.