After the prayers there was cake and soda for everybody and then the kids all played. Ben made sure he got a photo with all of the teachers and nannies and all of his friends. He totally understood that this was HIS going away ceremony, and was excited and happy through it all.

We had a blast with these "rocket balloons" that one of the other families brought...the kids LOVED them (and so did the nannies!). Josh somehow became “the balloon man” and it was hilarious to see him buried in kids, all screaming for a balloon. We got lots of video and photos and then it as time to go back to the hotel to shower and finish packing. It was really emotional for me to watch Ben saying good bye to all of the people that had been loving and caring for him for almost a year.

It was also very hard to say goodbye to Terefe, our best friends' little boy. We knew that his family would be coming fairly soon for him, but I felt really guilty leaving him behind. I also had some guilt taking Ben from this beautiful country and culture that he belongs to. I know in my heart that a family and home are what he needed most, and the reality is that they are in the US, but I will do my best to keep him connected to Ethiopia and to help him remember and love his wonderful homeland.

Back at the hotel room it was so exciting that we were packing to GO HOME. We got washed up and changed into comfortable clothes and Josh crammed all of our stuff into our bags.
Ben again, really understood what was going on, and he was really excited about going to the airport, and he even did an "airplane dance" that was hysterical. I was SO happy to be headed home, and yet sad to be leaving Ethiopia at the same time (and dreading the long trip home!)

We were running a little late getting out of the hotel, but we got our stuff in the van with the other families, got checked out and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
We checked our bags and made it up to the gate area, where we got to use the “lounge” and ate some snacks and visited with the other families.

We finally boarded the plane around 10 p.m., and Ben was so excited…he was just beside himself. However, he was also exhausted, and after checking out the buttons on his little TV and safely storing his green back pack, full of all of his carefully packed treasures, under the seat in front of him, he promptly fell asleep…before the plane even took off!

Taking off that night was emotional. We were tired…physically and emotionally. We were so happy to be headed home…unspeakably happy to have Ben…and yet…we had seen so much that week. We had experienced things that our safe little world back at home would never have had us experience, and our minds and hearts were forever changed…in a good way.

I was also thinking about Belane. My heart just ached for her, and it felt so awful to be taking off and flying away from her… I was sure I would never see her again. Josh leaned over to me as we were lifting off and said something about how hard it was to think about all of the children left behind, and my tears just started to flow.

We were on our way home.