Our Trip Video

Okay, so we're so sorry it has taken so long to get this video posted on the blog.  Priorities have changed around our house and I'm finding I have very little time for things I used to have a lot of time for.  No, I am not complaining.  Having Ari home is a dream come true and every day I thank God for making this adoption a reality and for choosing us to be his parents.  But some things have to fall to the wayside when you have a baby who only naps about an hour and a half during daytime hours!  Although, Ari slept through the night for the first time Thursday night and has continued to keep it going for the past two nights!  We are so excited and happy that he's finally getting some good sleep.  

Also, I never did manage to blog about the last three days in Ethiopia like I said I would, and I'm more than a little sad and disappointed about it.  I'm hoping to still blog/journal about some of the more memorable parts of our trip while they're still fresh in my mind.  But until then (IF I even ever manage to do it) we have put together this montage of photographs and video of our time in Ethiopia.  I have included captions to explain some of the pictures.  And I know I spelled "eucalyptus" wrong, but it took over three hours to upload this thing to YouTube, and it's really not worth redoing it.  So just ignore that little typo.  

There is also a lengthy (10 minutes) video at the end of the montage of some footage of Addis Ababa as we were driving back to our hotel our last day in Ethiopia.  That day consisted of spending quite a bit of time in the morning at the baby house waiting for Ari's passport, eating lunch at a very good Italian restaurant, and then driving up Entoto Mountain which is right outside the city.  Needless to say, after eight days we were looking forward to coming home, yet saddened and overwhelmed at the thought of taking this little boy from his home country and and all that he's ever known.  I felt like Ari Madegiya belonged more to Ethiopia than he did to us and it was suddenly heartbreaking to be leaving.  Or at least those were the thoughts going through my mind.  That might not make sense, but I'm not sure I can really put into words the array of emotions I felt that day.  Adoption can be very celebratory and sad all at the same time.  Anyway, one question we've been asked by many people since we've been home is "What's it like over there?"  Well, we try to describe it (beautiful, chaotic, difficult, friendly, heartbreaking, eye-opening), and we love to talk about it, but hopefully this video will give you an idea of what Addis looks like, at least from a car window.  Also during the video you will hear "Rains of Africa."  That was the song playing on the car radio, believe it or not, and in my reflective state of mind it pushed me over the edge a little bit.  So when you hear me tell Roger to "video the streets," I'm really not meaning to sound bossy like Roger has told me I do; rather I was trying to get the video off of me and to forever capture some of our last sights in Ethiopia.

*Viewer's Note:  You can watch the video in full screen high def (it looks much better if you do) by choosing 720p in the right-hand corner of the YouTube square and then clicking the cross-looking button next to it.