So I left off with hopes of updating the blog from Ethiopia. I would say it is just my usual good intentions but I did not keep up. However, we really did not internet at all until the last day. We had heard the internet was "spotty" but there were problems that week and it actually was "non existent" until we were just about the leave!
Meeting our girl for the first time
You imagine this moment over and over in your minds. Yet knowing there is no way to predict what will happen. What will she think of her new family? Am I going to burst into tears and scare her to death? The Lord was SO good! We had not slept AT ALL. We all three had been put on antibiotics before leaving for ear infections or sinus infections & had not slept except for minutes on the plane When we landed it was almost 8 AM in Ethiopia & the day was just getting started where we had left Atl almost 24 hours ago. I cry even easier when I have not slept and was literally scared I would scar her if I burst into tears and she was going to think "this woman looks terrible! This is the best you could come up with!" The Lord gave us an extra measure of adrenaline & we did not feel the exhaustion until later that day.
Although we were all overcome with emotion, the Lord kept us in check and it literally happened a bit quicker than we thought. We looked up and there she was! We actually caught her peeking through the window with a little friend before they officially brought her in. She looked so excited!
Within just a couple of minutes of her coming in I commented, "your hair is so pretty!" It had grown since our first picture of her. She took that cue & pointed to all of her body parts in ENGLISH. She had the cutest little accent as she proudly went down the list....hair, eyes, ears, nose, arms, chest, hands, body.
For just a second after that, she acted very nervous. Almost like she may cry or maybe that she was really excited. I patted her on the back and told her it was OK & that moment seemed to pass.
It was overwhelming to think what our little girl must be thinking, what she may have been thru in her short little life & how we wanted to tell her how much we already loved her. God was so good to make that moment special but not so overwhelming that we could not hold it together for this precious one in front of us.
First photo together, just minutes after meeting.
I would say first family photo but we are missing two very important pieces of our puzzle at home so we will have to wait for the first official family photo.
One of the neat things about this week was getting to meet two other families. One was adopting an infant boy, their first child. The other family had adopted from Ethiopia before and were adopting their 8th child! An added blessing was getting to spend the week with these families and get to share in each other's monumental events. One of the other parents snapped this photo for us.
It did not take long.....Daddy's girl
Showing her a photo album of her family & introducing her to the fact there are 2 MORE brothers at home! She won't let go of the baby doll we brought her
Brother and sister are fast friends
Especially since apparently she can throw a football!
She will fit right in:)
Don't get me wrong though! She may be able to throw the ball with her brother but she is ALL girl, look at that pose!
She spent the rest of that morning playing with her, seeing where she slept & her world at the transition home. While she went to eat lunch and be with her friends in her little class, we snuck away for a quick nap & woke up to finish a bit of paperwork with the director in country. Even though we were exhausted we did go to a transitional Ethiopian restaurant....which is not a quick dinner by any means but an evening full of eating and entertainment. I will follow up my next post with more pics, day 2 & visiting our Compassion child in Ethiopia!
