My mom, Krissy and I left for our local airport at 11:30 AM, Friday May 28. We had a total of 6 suitcases each carefully packed to be just under 50 lbs, one rubbermade tote, 3 carry-on bags, and 3 BIG purses. It filled the entire back of my Expedition. About half of our load was donations, the very kind and helpful staff at our local airport allowed us to have the extra bag added free of charge since it was filled with charitable donations. Small airports rock! We were checked in and through all security in about 25 minutes.
We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at about 10 PM the following day. The flights went faster than I expected. We were fed lots of pretty good food, watched a couple of movies, read an entire book, and slept quite a bit. Getting through the airport in Addis took almost 2 hours, but it went smoothly. We received our visas, exchanged our money, went through immigration, collected our luggage, had it sent through security on the way out of the airport, and finally found the patiently waiting driver.It was only about a 5 minute drive to the guest house. The guard and the driver carried all our bags up to our third floor suite. Our suite was so nice. We had a small kitchen with mini fridges stocked with lots of bottled water, some soda, and Ethiopian beer. Krissy and mom had a bedroom with two twin beds and a bathroom. I had a room with a full size bed and a bathroom. There was also a living room with 3 comfy chairs. We had fairly reliable, but slow internet. We always had plenty of hot water. We were extremely spoiled! If you ever, ever go to Ethiopia stay at the Yebsabi. You can check them out at www.yebsabi.com
This was the view of Addis out my bedroom window. I woke up bright and early due to the excitement, time change, and noises. Addis Ababa is filled with noises and smells day and night. You can always, always hear music. You also hear dogs barking, roosters crowing, prayers being chanted, and car horns beeping. It smells of polution, garbage burning, insence, and Ethiopian spices. I called Mitin at about 10Am to ask when we could go and get Gebeyehu. She said she would be at the guest house at 11:30. I was shockingly calm. I was concentrating on soaking in the entire experience. Krissy had all the excited energy for all of us. She was counting the minutes down and could NOT sit still.
Mitin arrived promptly and we were driven to the care center. She answered any questions we asked but was otherwise silent. Driving in Addis is an experience. There is A LOT of traffic - like bumper to bumper. There are very few - like 2 - stop lights in the whole city. To turn left you just wedge your car in front of the oncoming traffic with a series of little beeps and hope they stop. There were also people walking EVERYWHERE. They would just weave between the cars when they wanted to cross the street. You also saw livestock all over the place, there were many goats being kept along the sides of busy roads.
Many of the roads themselves were in poor condition. The paving was in very poor shape with lots of potholes. The side streets were more like ATV trails than gravel roads.
We drove for about 20 minutes when Mitin pointed the driver down a steep, rutty, lane/trail. It was in horrible condition. I would not have taken the 4-wheeler down it. (Krissy says she would though!) It was very narrow and still there were people walking down both sides. About half way down the lane we stopped in front of a lime green gate. The driver honked and the gate opened. I suspected this was the care center, but Mitin did not say a word so we waited to see what was on the other side of the gate.
We drove the car right into the middle of the playground/parking lot of the care center. All the children were waving from the balcony pictured above. I got out of the car, collected my bag, and took a minute to take it all in. I snapped a picture of the 20+ children who were all waving and smiling at us all the while scanning for My son. I spotted him in the center of the group just at the same time as Krissy. Mitin still said nothing just waited. I started hearing the nannies call for Gebeyehu, lots of Amharic, and the word Gebeyehu Mama. (I can not post the picture of the kids since they are not all through court so imagine a balcony full of beautiful waving children instead of the nearly empty one above!)Following Mitin around the side of the building we came to some steps that led to the balcony. I got to the top of the steps and there was my son, waiting for me to pick him up. I picked him up and he snuggled close for a big squeeze. The nannies told him, " Gebeyehu, It's Mama!"
We broke our hug and looked at eachother with these silly grins!
I think we were both thinking, so THIS is who I have been waiting for!
We spent quite a while at the care center and Gebeyehu never, ever voluntarily left my hip. We toured the place, took lots of pictures and video, and ate our first Ethiopian food when the nannies insisted we stay for lunch. Krissy and my mom were not such fans. The injera was quite sour. We all agreed that the shiro wat - bean stew - was very yummy. There was also a dish that was either cabbage or artichokes and potatoes. I had the best deal as Gebeyehu sat on my lap and I fed him any food I was not sure of, he loved it all. Gebeyehu was thrilled when the macheena - car - came to take us to the guest house. He snuggled up tight on my lap and waved a happy good-bye to his nannies.
Krissy and Gebeyehu got in some play time before we got him in the bathtub.
Our rooms at the guest house had showers, so they brought a little plastic tub up for Gebeyehu to take a bath in. He loved the bath. He played a long time and showed me lots of silly faces.It was a simple, perfect meeting. It was a day of laughter, not tears. He has felt 100% like my son from the moment he climbed into my arms. Really he has felt like my son for much longer, but I always wondered how it would feel to be with HIM, not the little Gebeyehu I had created in my imagination. God has matched us so well. He did as we have been asking for so long and prepared our hearts for THIS moment. It was and continues to be really beautiful.
Now, I would lie to say it has been without any fits though! He is 2 after all . Bedtime has been a challenge. He cries so hard some nights. He pushes my hands away yet wants to be on my lap. When he cries he throws back his head, closes his eyes, and wails. It is heartbreaking. I walked and walked with him in Ethiopia to help him fall asleep. I hate his sadness, yet he can not heal if he does not mourn and I can not comfort him if he does not cry. In these sad times he is learning to trust that I will be there.
The first night after he had cried himself to sleep in my arms I lay close to him all night and prayed for God to heal his heart. I prayed that he would not awaken scared and disoriented. As the sun came up and I listened to all the noises of the city I lay next to him massaging his back. Pretty soon he kicked up his foot for me to rub, then his leg, then the other leg. Before too long he rolled over with the biggest smile, wrapped his arms around my neck, and gave me the world's biggest hug. God has been so faithful in completing this work He started. It still makes me teary.
There is my sleeping son. He sucks his left thumb, but only when he is fast asleep. He hates blankets over him, but loves to snuggle in tightly to my or his daddy's side.
