Today we met Jonas!

Ray and I woke up bright and early this morning from a mix of jet lag and adrenaline.  We ate breakfast with some of the families in our travel group, and we're really enjoying everyone's company.  After breakfast we put our gifts for the nannies together in packages with the other families.  We were trying to kill time. J  At 10am we left the hotel to meet Rachel for a family meeting at Kaldis.  It's the Ethiopian version of Starbucks.  Much cheaper though (and better coffee!).  After the meeting we ate lunch together.  Rachel told us that the Transition Home was 5 minutes away from where we were eating, and I was so full of excitement and nerves that I had to choke my food down.  Finally, we got in the vans and made our way to the Transition Home.  Ray and I took a picture outside the famous green gate and then made our way inside the courtyard to get ready to meet Jonas.    Rachel brought him out to us and as soon as I saw him I was overcome with emotion.  He is so CUTE!  Even cuter in real life than in his pictures.  He came to us without protest, but he looked like he was trying to figure out what all the fuss was about.  Shortly after I got him in my arms he reached out and grabbed my face.  Then he leaned his head in and touched it to mine.  It was like he somehow knew that we were his parents.  I like to think that anyway. J    He's such a calm and content baby.  He smiles a lot too!  We never would have guessed that based on the pictures we had of him.  One of the nannies actually had him giggling at one point and I had to choke back happy tears.  The only time Jonas fussed was when he got sleepy but was trying to fight it.  He let me know then that he did not want to be sitting!  He finally gave in to sleep and slept on my shoulder for about an hour.  My arms were killing me (the little guy is SOLID) and I loved it!   Tomorrow we're bringing our nanny gifts, donations, and care packages.  We'll also get a chance to ask the head nanny questions about his eating and sleeping habits. We'll be sure to get lots of pictures of the other babies tomorrow!   We're having a ton of trouble getting the pictures on the blog.  I figured out how to get them off the camera, but the internet connection is so slow I can't get them to attach.  I waited for a half and hour before dinner and had to stop it so we could leave.  The rumor is that the Transition Home has high speed wireless, so we might be able to post them from Ray's I-Pod tomorrow.  I'll try again tonight though!