Talo's first evening with us. We had just started to show him some of his things we brought and he immediately started lining them up! 
This is the part of the transition home where he was staying.
Jolene, Talo and his nanny.
Talo's room at the TH.
This is the crib where he slept.
A typical fruit stand on the way back from the TH.
Residential apartments. Check out the clothesline 8 stories up!
Who has the best marketing campaign the world over.....COKE!
This was a local butcher shop near our guest house. Usually the meat is eaten raw. I actually saw someone once have the butcher cut some meat right off the slab and the customer immediately popped it into his mouth!
This is the main road our guest house was off of. After turning right at the sign the gate was about 200 yards down the alley on the left.
A picture of the guest house. It was very nice especially considering the surroundings!
This is a view of the courtyard from our balcony.
Jolene and Talo playing in the courtyard while the housekeepers vigorously washed the windows and the driveway.
Jolene and Talo playing with a beach ball. Just after this was taken it got stuck on the razor wire. A little (or a lot) scotch tape and all was good!
Talo playing with the guards.
Talo and daddy playing with Ooh Aah! (water)
The oldest Christian Orthodox church in Addis Ababa.
David, our driver, modeling a scarf Jolene picked out.
All the kids (and Jon) waiting while the parents shop inside.
Talo's first Sunglasses, stylish little man! Why did they have to be pink!
A very nice bank, we went inside and were very impressed. Seemed just like the US.
A picture while driving in the city.
I (Jolene) took this to show you how even amongst poverty there are teenagers in fashion.
Poverty.
Construction all over the city, notice the stick scaffolding.
This was one of the hardest things to see, people homeless sleeping at the tree.
Talo lining up all our shoes.
The first time Talo was introduced to stickers. He didn't know what to do with them.
Talo and Jolene on the roof at night. Somebody is tired.
Church that we went to, verywesternized.
More of the church classrooms and nice grassy areas.
Notice the cute kids on the left who spoke English!
Robel (our in country guide), Talo and Jon after church. Robel's Dad died when he was 10 years old so he moved to the city at 10 years old to work to support his family. Now he supports like 33 street child so they can go to school.
Talo with his favorite, water bottles, notice the handles Jon made for him!
At the lion Zoo. Talo wanted to climb through the metal Bars! Ahhh!
Nice Lion, yet the child is afraid of dogs??
Packing to go home.
Talo in his traditional Ethiopian attire. He loves it!
Leaving for the airport, saying goodbye to our guest house.
On our last leg of flying!
Arriving home!
And we are headed to the car to go home.
Talo's bed now, no more Transition Home!
Talo is adjusting really well and every day gets better and better. We hope you enjoy these. We miss Ethiopia so much. People seem surprised by that fact however, we loved our time there and cannot wait to return! Being so busy with Talo we have hardly had time to even reflect on any of our trip or time there. But every time we think of Addis Ababa we just long to go back. Even amidist the smell of diesel fumes, garbage filled streets, extreme poverty and unclean bathrooms, we miss it. It is hard to describe the emotions we felt bringing Talo home to America. We truly are so blessed here and our country is one of the most beautiful places there is. However, there is a saying out there that says "I need Africa more than Africa needs me". We didn't really understand what that meant until we were there.
Let us try to explain. Each day we would watch our housekeeper clean our room from top to bottom with such care, concern and perfection. Even remaking our bed after we had already made it. At times we would pop in our room only to find her smiling as she did our leftover dishes or picked up Talo's stray toys. Every time we saw her we would thank her endlessly and tell her to put the dishes down because we would do them, but she would just bow to us and smile so humbly and so gently. On the day we left we wanted to give her something to thank her. After having such a tight budget and being in Ethiopia for 2 weeks we only had had a couple hundred Bir, or around 30 US dollars. So we decided to give it to her. Jon wrap ed it up with a little box of chocolates and we both felt so bad that we didn't have more to give. We had not spent lavishly in Ethiopia, we just didn't have a lot of travel money so it was upsetting to us not to have more to give her. As Jon brought her down the wrapped up box in the midst of all the packing, she just thanked and thanked him. Although it wasn't until a few hours later (when she opened up the package), that we heard a soft knock on our door. Here was our dear housekeeper in tears repeating one of the only English phrases she knew "Thank You", "Thank You", "Thank You" she softly said through her tears as she hugged us and smiled from ear to ear. Thirty dollars and a small box of chocolates meant more than we will ever know to this woman and her joy filled spirit meant more than she will ever know to us.
The people of Africa may not have much and we sometimes think we can go over there and "save" them, make them happier or fill them with more joy. However, the truth is our dear housekeeper was filled with joy even before we as Americans gave her our measly little $30. The spirit of joy that so many of the African people have is positively beautiful. In America we are always looking for the next best thing and waiting for our next material posses ion to make us happy. We think if we only had. . ., then we would be happy. But in Africa they don't have. . ., and their happiness has already arrived. Durring our precious time with Talo in Ethiopia we met many "housekeepers" who reflected the joy and love of Christ to us, making us realize that they may have more to offer us than we have to offer them when talking about our attitude and outlook on life.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8
