We got back to the hotel and even though we knew Belane was exhausted and due for a nap, she was starving. She polished off the left over pizza we had in the fridge and some more Chex Mix. I tried my darndest to get her to sleep but she never did. Josh took a nice nap though!

We got ready to head downstairs and meet Selamneh and the other family to go to AHOPE and brought all of our donations. We were worried about bringing Belane… I worried she’d be scared that we were bringing her back, and I was worried she’d be sad when it was time to go because she was hoping we were bringing her back. She fell asleep on the ride over and woke up when the van stopped.

It took her a minute, but she realized where we were and went running in. The kids and nannies all called out her name and gave her hugs and kisses. She sat down with the other kids for a snack and was obviously happy to be there. But then, she turned around to look for me, and smiled when she saw me. Then she came over and wanted to be picked up. And then she went off happily again to play some more.

And that is how the visit went…she was happy to be there, but she kept her eye on me and kept coming back for loves. The nannies would ask her if I was her mom and she’d say yes, and they’d ask her if she was going home with her mom and dad, and she’d say yes. Then at one point all of the girls were playing with My Little Pony ponies that a family brought and they all decided that they wanted their ponies’ hair braided. I started to braid Belane’s pony’s hair, and one of the nannies asked Belane if she could do it. Well, Belane told her no, that she wanted Mom to do it, and all of the nannies laughed and clapped.

It was great to see Belane choose me, and great to have the nanny’s approval. When it was time to go, she happily waived bye to everyone and wanted me to pick her up and put in her the car. It was really a wonderful experience. It blows my mind that this tiny little girl seems to just “get it”, that I am her new mom, and Josh is her new dad, and she is going to be with us now. She still has lots of changes to deal with and adjustments to make and settling in to do, but things are so much better at this point than we had even hoped for. It’s definitely an answer to our prayers.

Next we headed over to the older AHOPE home. Many of the kids were still at school, but we got to play with all of the preschooler and kindergarteners. They were an absolute hoot…so much fun! Belane just ran and played and ran and played and we had a ton of fun taking pictures and playing with the kids.

We had another happy good bye, and then headed back to our hotel, where we had a few minutes to freshen up before our “guests” showed up. I had invited Nate (our agency director’s son, who works for the agency almost full time over here), Denise (my favorite volunteer on earth!), Josh and Keely (adoptive parents who are also in Addis) and Tesfaye (our dear friend from our last trip to Addis) all to dinner at the Hilton.

It was a fantastic meal with awesome people. You can’t go wrong with good food and good conversation. It was also nice to spend time with a group of people who value the same things as we do and have the same cares, etc. Belane started off a little nervous with a whole table of people looking at her and oohing and aahing over her, but she decided she could be herself on my lap, and she enjoyed the buffet meal (especially the chocolate mousse cake!!!).

We got some group pictures and then brought one very exhausted little girl up to bed. She changed into jammies…washed hands, brushed teeth and put her head on me on the bed and crashed. It’s hard to believe, but she is even cuter than she was yesterday.