Reuniting, part 1

We have embarked on a trip that has been over a year in planning...traveling to Ethiopia to visit the littles' birth families.  Our first stop was Nazret, Ethiopia.  We visited the twins' great aunt whom they lived with for most of their life in Ethiopia.

The twins' birth mom surprised us with a special request:  that we take the twins to visit their half brother.  Although Tom and I knew of this boy's existence, it was our understanding that birth mom was not in contact with him at all and we never expected the twins to meet him.  So...it was a little awkward telling the twins that they have a brother whom we were now going to visit.  Fortunately, they took it all in stride.  The family resemblance is striking.

Following our morning in Nazret, we traveled to Ziway where the twins' mother lives.  Many, many friends and relatives came to visit with the girls and enjoy an abundant and delicious meal.  The girls also got to meet their maternal grandmother.

But the best part of the visit was seeing the girls reconnect with their first mom.