What a Trip

Wow, so it is almost time to leave already, we have been here 9 days. I have been bad about blogging because at the end of the night, after our kids are in bed, I just sink into the couch. It has been a wonderful trip, an emotional one for sure. There are the obvious emotions regarding adoption and finally seeing and holding the children we accepted into our hearts long ago, but there are the other emotions that are much tougher than I thought. We have travelled before to countries before where English is not the primary language and to where the culture is vastly different than our own. However, one huge difference this trip: our son and daughter that we brought with us. I have been on guard every single second for their safety and wellbeing. Normally, I would enjoy taking in the sights more and smiling at the people, but I have had an emotional and physical grip on our kids the whole time. The Ethiopian people have been nothing but generous and welcoming to us (OK so there was one attempted pick-pocket on my husband but he ended up scaring the guy way more than we were), so I know that my worry and overprotectiveness have been unnecessary, but I can't help it. There are so many sights and sounds that they are processing this trip and they have been been amazing with hardly a whine or complaint.

A good example of no complaining is how our daughter acted the day we appeared in court the day after we met our boys. She started throwing up in the car ON THE WAY to court. She probably threw up 3 times at least. This is the day after our son threw up in the University Museum. We pulled up to the courthouse and gave her a napkin, she wiped her mouth and we walked in. Within 30 minutes, we were appearing in front of a judge and declared our love and willingness to adopt our boys. They both answered the questions they were asked with smiles and were perfect, just like appearing in front of an Ethiopian judge is something we do everyday! What an emotional time for a lot of reasons. Here is a picture of right after:

After court, we were in the car for about 2 hours and the sickness continued until we got back to the hotel with meds. Again, not sure if she was sick or it was just the car motions and roads. Yesterday, we finally figured out that Star Wars on the portable DVD player in the car is the way to keep their minds off the motion sickness. Their little heads will literally be bouncing up and down with their eyes fixed on Darth Vader. The night of court, we celebrated with a dinner at a restaurant with traditional food, music and dancing. Again, I am realizing just how rich in culture Ethiopia is. The next day, we took a plane to the birth city of our boys and took a tour of their original orphanage. The next evening, our host graciously entertained us and 2 other couples in his home and we ate traditional food and learned more about Ethiopia and each other.

The definite highlight of our trip has been the 5 visits with our boys. Each one has been a little over 2 hours. My heart has skipped a beat each time we walked through the gate and watched the children approach us, my eyes searching for either of the 2 boys that are now our own. Each time we have been greeted with a sweet smile and hug from each, them already recognizing and comfortable with the four of us. The first few moments are usually spent with lots of gestures and greetings and then we have gotten to the point each visit where we can sit and watch them play with their friends. They have a merry-go-around and today we watched our daughter push 6 children in it and then each of those children get out and push their friends and her. Most of the time, she fit her very tall body in a very small chair with our new younger son in her lap and held him tight. They were the best of friends today, the first of many days. We watched our sons play soccer and were amazed at how all the kids just kicked the ball around laughing and sometimes falling down hard, only to get up and keep playing. There are other children of varying ages so it has been amazing to watch how they all take care of each other. I have fallen in love with some of the other children too and know how lucky their waiting parents are that they will soon be together too. We have talked to the nannies about our children and got some essential information about their habits and personalities (how blessed we are by what we already know!). We will use this information to make them more comfortable and make the adjustment easier.

Today is my husband's birthday and he had a wonderful surprise today at the boy's home where our host arranged a party for him, complete with ALL of the children and staff signing and clapping happy birthday to him and some excellent cake and a coffee ceremony. The furniture was even re-arranged so that everyone could participate. So amazing! It was so thoughtful and we will never forget how they wanted him to feel special and loved while he was away from home. Leaving today was difficult and saying goodbye for now is sad, but we will be back soon and have them in our arms forever. I know they are safe and happy until then. More prayer will be needed for my heart to be still in the Lord while we wait to return.

MELISSA

Here's a link to a video we made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3UuSX3QCxk&feature=youtube_gdata