Slept this morning until 6:30…wow that Tylenol PM really worked for Kate and Kelly. Had breakfast with our traveling group and left for Hannah’s Hope by 9:30. “Y” ran up to mom with a big grin and wrapped his arms around her – HOORAY!
Played with the kiddos for a couple of hours. Lots of fun. Blew bubbels and spilled the soap all over the courtyard. Drew pictures and laughed and giggled. Stayed until lunch time and watched “Y” eat about 3 servings of spaghetti (his favorite food). We think they are trying to fatten him up. At one point, one of the assistant received a call notifying her that “Y”s birth mom was in transit for the court appointment tomorrow…,it is a two day trip for her.
Went to an Ethiopian Italian restaurant (is that an oxymoron?). Kelly went safe today with a 4 cheese pizza. Kate had lasagna and Nick had Whiskey Braised Beef Loin. Food was really good. Bought a couple of piece of art from the restaurant and they took about 25% off when they found out we were adopting. We learned that the owner is so thankful for adoptive families so that the Ethiopian Children are taken care of and not left on the street. One couple told us that he began to weep with them when they told him their adoption story.
After lunch we went to the market. Nick hates shopping anyway but this was crazy. The shops were no more than 10 x 12 foot rooms and they were packed with stuff. Prices were cheap but it was hard to swallow the prices at first until we did the conversion as the Ethiopian Birr is at a 17:1 exchange rate. Got “Y” a traditional outfit and some gifts for the kids. There were no prices on any merchandise so you had to barter for everything. We bought a drum for 500 birr and another couple was told it was 450 – oh well.
Supper consisted of beef jerky, granola bars, fruit snacks and nuts in our hotel room as we were all too tired to go out tonight.
As mentioned earlier, court is tomorrow (at which time we become “Y”s legal parents) and after court we have a meeting with the birth mom to ask her any questions we might have. Some things we’d like to know are as follows: What was “Ys” home like? Did he live in a rural or metropolitan area? What are his favorites…foods, music, animals, stories, etc? Was he taught Jesus? Is he baptized? What is he scared of? How is he calmed? What did his dad do for work? We would like to have facts about his birth family that we can tell him as he grows.
We have mixed feelings about tomorrow. In one sense we are so excited to have this part of the journey over. We also feel very deeply for “Ys” birth mom and what tomorrow will be like for her and for “Y”. “Y” attends the meeting. We hope to be a blessing for “ys” mom tomorrow. If you can spare a prayer or two please remember us to the Lord and ask that we be filled by the Holy Spirit to have great wisdom and the ability to share His love with this woman who must be hurting greatly.
Oh yeah, we wanted Kate to get educated on this trip…, today she saw two guys peeing in public on a fence and a lady at the market feed her baby…., the old fashioned way
If you are reading this you are likely in our prayers – thank God for you!
Nick
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