These past 4 days have been so life-changing. Don’t even know where to start so I’ll just skip through a brief highlighted review. Monday… We got to pick up our kids from the Thomas Center (read the last blog post for the play by play). It went so much better than we expected.
Tuesday was a day with no agenda, but to love our kids with the love of the Father. The morning went fairly smoothly as we tried to connect with our fearful 2 year old son. Our almost 11 month old baby girl is a sheer delight and full of smiles… we just eat her up and she loves every minute of it!
Anyway, things were going better than we had expected until Clint was leaving to go try to find medicine for Mercy’s cough. Right when he opened the door to go, our son had a melt down. It was very traumatic for him. When Clint returned 2 hours later, he wouldn’t even let Clint near him. It seemed that any relationship that had been built was now gone. It broke our hearts knowing that our son has no idea of our love and commitment to him. Children who have been abandoned have emotions that push people away as a defense against future abandonment. We have to prove to him we are here, we aren’t leaving, and that we are trustworthy…. And we know that will only come with time. We are the 5th set of caretakers he has had in this past year, and we have no idea what he faced in his first year.
We have the long term vision for the healing of our sons heart, while understanding we may face two steps forward, one step back, 3 steps forward, 2 steps back… etc… but we know that no matter how long it takes, the vital thing in it all is that we are making progress. I’m so thankful for the books read… especially “The Connected Child” because it gave Clint and I vocabulary as we quickly began to see so much of what we learned be true in the actions of our son, and how it has given us a bit more insight into the road we are on. By bedtime, we were making progress again, and Justus once again allowed the arms of his father to hold him… although with some reservation…he fell asleep for the second night in his daddy’s arms.
Wednesday we were picked up at 7:30am and off to the Embassy! We had a 9am appointment, but were supposed to be there early. By 9:30 we heard the words, “It’s official” that our children our now United States citizens! This was the final piece of the puzzle we had waited for these last 3 months since our adoption court date here in Ethiopia back in November.
Next, it was back to the Thomas Center by 10am. The kids had to have their last doctor’s review there after 11am and then at noon they took us and 3 other families to the CHI offices for lunch. Made it back to our guest house by around 3pm and were told we would be picked up at 5pm for the adoption celebration at the Thomas Center. The kids there sang for us, we heard a message from Pastor Abdissa, were given gifts, and did the Bread Ceremony. By about 7:30 they loaded us all up to have dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant with traditional dances, food, and tour. It was a wonderful day and we were all exhausted when we were dropped off at our guest house around 10pm.
Which brings us to today… another down day with the entire focus being to enjoy and connect with our kids. We did one outing at 2pm to a Historical museum. Thanks to my brother we enjoyed the ergo baby carriers (getting some practice in for our airport/travel trek that begins tomorrow). It was the best day so far, yes, still ebbs and flows, but for the first time we heard laughter from our son… and we see glimpses into our son when he let’s his guard down… he’s such a charmer and very smart. There were less times of him withdrawing, and more times of him enjoying the love of his parents and sustained eye contact. Even more times of him testing boundaries like every 2 year does… we are loving every minute of it.
Tomorrow is Friday, our last day in Ethiopia. Our completed paperwork from the Embassy will be ready to be picked up by 10am. We will enjoy the day with the kids, then pack up and get picked up from the guesthouse at 6pm. Our flight doesn’t leave Addis until 10:15pm, but we are to be there 3 hours early normally, and we were told 4 HOURS EARLY if we want to ensure getting bulk head seating on the plane for our kids. So we appreciate your prayers for us and the kids. The flight from Addis to DC is 17.5 hours… then a 9.5 hour layover in DC… followed by another 2.5 hour flight to KC!!! We are dependent on the grace of God for our kids… as this will be a huge amount of change and stimulation after being used to living in an orphanage inside of gated walls. I’ve changed more blow outs in the last 4 days than I ever experienced in 4 months with my other 4 kids combined! I have no idea how they can both poop so many times in one day… but I was warned about it, so we brought plenty of diapers and wet wipes!! Pray for the plane ride home… it’s an overwhelming thought to handle this on the plane, but I know that God’s grace is and will be sufficient.
Everyday we end the day in awe that we’ve been blessed with these precious children. Our God is so good and it is indeed a wonderful life!
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