Ethiopia, Day 1, Team 3, 2013 ~ Arriving to ET and heading to visit some kiddos!

 After a long 12 hours we all arrived to Addis Ababa at 6:30 in the morn ready to hit the ground running....well, maybe not running. :-) (this is bedtime in America)

 We have lots of young travelers on this team, experiencing Africa for the first time. 

It is very exciting! 

 Bissy and Gecho and our crew on the ground were all ready and waiting to help us get the mountain of bags loaded in the truck. Yes, a special truck was brought in just for all the bags. :-) 

 We got over to the guest house, which is so exciting to see if filled with team members. We literally just opened the doors a couple of weeks ago. We have big plans for this life center. 

This life center is made possible by the life of Beth Venable. We are thrilled to have her husband and daughter on this team to see it in person for the first time. 

We had a short team meeting to let everyone introduce themselves and were then ready to hit the road.

We visited Beza International church just for the worship portion of the service. It is always so neat to let the team experience church in Africa. It is an English speaking service. They often sing songs that we sing in America which makes it even more special. 

We left after the music, because if my team sits still for too long they will start dropping like flies. The jet lag and pushing through on that first day is the worst. 

And, fyi, I think we sat behind a whole America World mission team in church. :-)

After church we went to a transition home. This home has some children who are waiting on their families to pick them up and this home also has children who are waiting on families to choose them. I always love allowing my teams to meet the waiting children to be that extra voice of advocacy for them to find a home. There are some cuties that really need to find their forever families here. 

We met this sweet family as they were saying goodbye to their daughter after their first trip to Ethiopia. They have to return to wait on their Embassy appointment which is always the hardest. I captured this sweet moment of them telling her goodbye. So sad! 

I just love the children in this place and their sweet spirits! 

My team and the older boys didn't waste any time to pick up a soccer game. 

There are LOTS of girls on this trip, so where do they naturally migrate....the baby room. :-)

Everyone loved on these sweet babies. There were baby giggles and laughter coming from all ends of the room. 

Back outside the soccer game was in full force. 

Michelle and Kenya get the soccer player award. 

We said our goodbyes and headed back over to the guest house. 

We are thrilled to have Holli and Rob Binns staying with us with their adorable new son during their court dates. Such a fun couple. We are so excited for them...and the team has no problem playing with their sweet baby. 

It was time to relax, get showers, and settle in for an early night. The goal is to see if the team could make it to 9 oclock....well, many didn't make it, ha! 

We have many with the gift of organization on this team. (Thank God!)

They had the donations out and organized in no time. 

We are loving all the space in this new guest house. 

That's it for day 1 and we look forward to our day at Korah on day 2!