2nd post of the day!

So Sunday morning we left early (5:30) to drive about 5 hours out of Addis. Matt and I, as well as the agency's social worker, rode in one car while 3 other families went with 2 other drivers. Our driver was really nice and spoke English well. The scenery was really interesting, lots of different vegetation that we don't have here in WV! We saw some crazy birds, a herd of camels, ostriches...
We drove through lots of small villages and were able to get a pretty good look at life in an Ethiopian village. Our driver was able to tell us a lot about what we were seeing and answered any questions we had.
I can't comment on the poverty at this time. I'm still processing and am in no way able to articulate my thoughts on this trip yet.
We got to meet with some of Eldana and Abigia's birth family. I will share no details due to the girls' privacy. It was a very emotional day for Matt and me. A really hard trip to make but so worthwhile.
That night we stayed at a nice hotel with the other families that had done their family visits that day. It was too long of a drive to make it back to Addis before dark and no sane person drives on the highways after dark. Apparently the truck drivers chew a plant called chat all day long. This is a drug and in about 5-6 hrs they start to feel the effects. After night falls the stimulant kicks in and the drivers drive like lunatics all night. We passed 3 over turned trucks on our way home Monday morning... our driver said this happens every night.
Anyway, the hotel was nice. We met a nice guy from Addis also staying the night at the hotel, so we chatted with him, as well as the other families, and passed a pleasant evening.
I was nervous about Eliana being away from us for overnight. She stayed with our friend Katie at the guest house. Eliana had never spent the night without us, so I was afraid she would really freak out. I guess she had a hard time going to sleep, but overall it seemed like she did well. Thank goodness for Katie. Did you all know we were taking a friend with us? (Katie's not just some random woman that we left our daughter with at the guest house.) She was a huge help all week... caring for Eliana when we had other things we had to attend to, helping to wrangle luggage and children through the airport, and just general support and assistance.