since i poured my heart out yesterday, i'll try to give you
guys a play by play of today-- cuz i know its a day i never want to
forget.
we woke up saturday morning earlier than we wanted, methinks
the jet lag was catching up. our driver,
abraham was coming at 8:45 to pick us up and take us to hilawe (the orphanage
elliot is at). we had about 2 hours to
kill. thankfully the place we are
staying provides a really nice breakfast and a quaint little cafe with free
wifi to hang out at. we got caught up
with emails and facebook and had some time to read. god had given me psalm 121 about a week after
we got our referral for elliot. i read
it today and was reminded again, just as this entire trip has been one GIANT reminder
of god's love for his children. these verses specifically have continued to resonate with me as i think about our boy... 'the lord will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.' what a promise.
i kept
thinking i was going to start feeling anxious or nervous to meet him, but i had
a real surprising peace (probably due to all that praying i've been begging
for). up until this point, this moment
wasn't one that i had thought much about.
i think i wanted to protect myself from to high or to low expectations.
abraham--who happens to be a super cool guy and amazing tour
guide was right on time. he did his usual bit about all the touristy
things we might want to know, which consisted mostly of unmanned herds of
sheep, goats and cows strewn about in the middle of the city. i was surprised now that i was seeing the city in the
daylight how much it reminded me of mexico. a midst shacks there were lots of unfinished buildings
but also sprinkled in were super fancy high rises. it was very polar to say the least. abraham first took us over to the layla house,
which is where our agency used to have their orphanage.
i had heard lots of great things about the
place, so it was weird to see it almost totally empty. now our agency doesn't pull children from one
orphanage, but several. after layla
house we picked up a gal from our agencies ethiopian staff. next thing i knew we were pulling into the
gates of hilawe. we were minutes from seeing
tegegne for the first time.
as we parked the car there was a big group of americans
gathered right out front. they were
a group from the US doing some
medical mission work. they were
basically a group of doctors and nurses going from orphanage to orphanage doing
check ups on the kids. it was nice to
have them there as we weren't the only 'ferenge' (what ethiopians call white
people). the orphanage was big and
actually really nice inside. hardwood
floors, clean rooms etc. it seemed very
organized. we walked in the front door
and went up the first flight of stairs to the second level. there were quite a few older kids (5+)
hanging around. these kids were so
stinkin adorable and so so so so sweet. they wanted to shake our hands and they
just smiled and smiled. the boys were
outgoing and girls shy. seriously such
beautiful children. it was then that i
started crying. i was really surprised
how affected i was by these kids. i've
seen posts on our adoption group with people pleading to consider adopting
older children. now i see why. perhaps some of it was seeing lily and ozzy's
eyes among the ones i saw today. it
really shook me.
we made our way up to the second set of stairs and saw 2
rooms. the first room had a gate and 3
little ones probably all under 18 months hanging on the gate. they were adorable, and my first glimpse of
babies. i looked into the room next to
it and sitting on the floor i saw him.
i recognized him right away. he looked just like his pictures, but even
cuter. the thing that surprised me the
most was how tiny he was. the pictures
made it seem like he was bigger, but the kid is seriously little. the nannies (caregivers at the orphanage)
immediately start saying 'tegegne, mommy poppy' and pointing to us. i bent down and more and more tears
came. as i sat down to be at his level
he just looked at me, taking it all in.
next thing i knew he was in my lap cuddled right up. the staff suggested we go downstairs in the
lobby area and play with him. we walked
down and sat on a chair. he wasn't
interested in getting out of my lap. we
gave him a little truck we had brought and he held onto it as we showed him
some pictures from the little photo book we gave him. he kind of started to get a little fussy and
at that point one of the nannies brought him some milk in a sippy cup. we realized it might be better to take him
back up to his room. this was the right
choice. once up there he climbed out of my lap and started to loosen up a bit.
it was cute to see him interact with his little roommates. we played trucks, looked at more pictures and
really just hung out. babies would cry
and we would hold them as the nannies went about their work. we gave him some jammies we had bought him
and the nannies put them on him. i wish
i could show all of you how adorable he looked in them. a couple of the medical missions people came
in and started chatting with us. they offered to take a look at him which was
super cool. the lady who visited with us told us he seemed pretty healthy, he
def had a pretty good cough going but then again all the kids had runny noses
and coughs. she said she works at a lot
of orphanages and that we were very fortunate because hilawe is a really nice
one. that made me feel really good. the doctor estimated that he was between 18
months and 2. i could tell how much
elliot loved his nannies as well. i felt
really happy that he was so attached to them.
by the end of our 2 hour visit, the nannies were asking him to point to
mommy and poppy in the pictures and he was.
i don't think he really grasped the situation but i was happy to know
that he seemed reasonably comfortable with us.
it was hard to say goodbye, but i felt like our time was really rich.
all in all it was a pretty amazing day. elliot was everything i hoped for and
more. i know it will be an adjustment
for all of us, but i'm so happy and thankful to be able to actually do
something about all of these orphans. it
literally breaks my heart into pieces being around them. if it's hard to imagine, peek into your
babies room while they sleep... and try and imagine for just one moment, that you
don't exist in their world. you won't be there in the morning to cuddle him in
your bed, or make him his favorite breakfast, or tell them you love them. in fact no one person is there to do
that. it's incredibly painful to know
that elliot has never had this... that he's probably never been to a park,
never ridden in a car, let alone a stroller.
he's never had the same warm body to hold and tell him that he is
perfect and loved...
i can't wait for this to change....
7 comments:
Oh Holly, this made me cry!!!! I am SOOOO happy for you guys!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for the update! You know we are all just so excited and waiting for each one!!!!
Bawling my eyes out reading this Holly! God is soo good! So happy to know you are over there with your son... that sweet little man that God knew would be a part of your family since the beginning. Love you guys!
Crying here too. I can hear the heart of Jesus from your lips. Can't wait to talk to you when you return. Please give all those babies and children my love.
Drea
Holls...I have goosebumps...what an amazing experience....so excited for your family and this little Elliot.
I don't even know what so say. Breaks my heart and makes me so happy at the same time. I still can't believe this is happening.
God bless you all. Stay safe and strong.
sheila
ah! my heart is bursting-- pain for those babies/kids and happiness for Elliot and for you guys!! xoxo
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