Final Stretch!!!

We've been home for only two weeks, and it seems like two months!  The distance between us and our boys is feeling deeper every single day.  And. I. Don't. Like. It.  Most children from our agency are moved to our agency's transition house after they are referred to a family.  With our boys, we decided to leave them at their orphanage until we are able to bring them home.  It made sense that they stay where they've been (for almost FOUR years) instead of transitioning now, just weeks before we return.

BUT, this means that there isn't a constant flow of families visiting them, and the last family to travel with a child still at their orphanage recently returned home. 

That means we have no contact with them until we return!  Many people are shocked when I tell them this, assuming we are able to visit via Skype, phone, or email. 
Nope.  Nada. 

And so we are fervently praying for their hearts.  That they are being readied to come home, that they fully understand the love we have for them....and that they understand God will be with them WHEREVER they go....  

We have managed to be a busy as possible these past two weeks, which has helped the time pass.  On August 14th we FINALLY finished Addy's readoption in the US.  She is FINALLY a US citizen, and is officially Addy Rose Williams.

 

Eli celebrated his 7th birthday, with an Ethiopian party!  I'm one of those crazy moms who loves throwing birthday parties.  I just love celebrating my childrens' lives and the joy the day brings to each of them.  I've got to say, this was my favorite yet!  This sweet, compassionate child ASKED ME to be sure his friends knew he did not want gifts this year, but wanted them to bring donations for Detcho and Nahagi's orphanage. 

Seriously.  How sweet is he?!?!?!?
We also put together a slide show of our trip....Eli stood up so proud, telling his friends all about Ethiopia.  He spoke for AN HOUR---to about 15 children and 10 adults!  We finished the evening with an Ethiopian dinner with family (doro wot, injera, sega wot,shiro, and lentils).  A birthday celebration we'll never forget!

 I also spent a great deal of time these past two weeks preparing my new classroom!  Many people keep saying I'm nuts teaching this year with everything else going on...I see it as a complete blessing!  God opened the doors and my heart to quit my previous job and accept the 1st grade position at my children's school (Hope Christian Academy).  I'm co-teaching and working just mornings, I have my very own Eli in my class, and I'll be close by D and N when they come home and make adjustments!  A blessing indeed---and I've got to say being able to start the day each morning with my kiddos singing praise songs...the BEST!

Today Eli, Ayla and I hopped in the car for our first day....(and in a few weeks there will be FIVE of us loading the car every morning!).

As far as adoption news goes....

WE GOT AN EMAIL EARLY THIS MORNING THAT OUR CASE WAS SUBMITTED TO THE US EMBASSY!!! 

This means we are on our final stretch. Our boys are soon going to be home, and we CANNOT wait!  Now we wait for news from the embassy as far as our case goes.  They will investigate their orphan status, check their medicals, and then tell us they are ready for us to return!!!

The wait isn't over, but we are almost there!  Please continue to pray for our family.  I shared this photo from one of my devotionals on FB the other day....praying I can continue to lean on Him and remember He has FULL CONTROL!

Removing the Facade

Façade: a superficial appearance or illusion of something...

Dear family and friends,

I'm writing this post to pull the reigns back a little bit, and to hopefully remove the façade that I've created.

There is a tough line adoptive parents have to walk along.  On one side of the line lies the wonderful, happy, great aspects of adoption and the child(ren) that God has placed in your family.  On the other lies some painful, hard, discouraging truths that must be trudged through.

Sharing too much information one way or the other can very easily create a façade that in the end is indeed a superficial representation of the truth.

Without sharing information that we have decided to keep private, I'm telling you that just because we traveled across the seas to a foreign land and had a great meeting with our boys, it's not that simple.

There are many trials and hard times lying ahead.  Some that we even experienced while we were there...

Let me put a few superficial truths to rest:

• Yes, both D and N can speak enough English to communicate and interact. 
  No, they are not fluent English speakers, readers or writers.
• Yes, our time in country with them was wonderful and they were much more open and comfortable with us than we had expected. 
  No, we do not expect it to be easy for them to leave a place they have called home for almost FOUR years and all the friends they have made.  They have a big, hard adjustment coming.
• Yes, there was a strong connection and bond made.
  No, we are by not by any means passed the bonding or attaching process.  Not even a wink.
• Yes, they were in the US for a year with His Little Feet. 
  No, they are not accustomed to the US way of life---we've got some silly stories proving it;)
• Yes, they are considered "healthy" children.
  No, we are not in the clear from various issues regarding their health.
• Yes, they are extremely excited for school at Hope.
  No, school is not going to be easy for them (or their teachers, or us!).
• Yes, we know a lot about them and got to know them well in the short 10 days we were with them.
  No, we do not know them inside and out.  We have a lot of learning about each other to do, a lot of catching up to do, and a lot of healing to do.
• Yes, the boys bonded very well with Eli.
  No, this does not mean the bonding with the rest of our family will necessarily come as easily. 

My intent is not to be negative, but rather for others to understand some of the truths behind the façade I may have portrayed that everything was wonderful, great, and easy.

The downright truth:  adoption is not easy.  We are learning....and we've got a long ways to go!  BUT....we are so blessed by the 6 children God has entrusted to us, and we love them so very dearly! 

The distance between us is very, very hard.  But, we know both their hearts and ours have a lot of preparing to do before we are cleared to bring them home. 

Best Day Yet!!!!

Today we took our boys on a car ride out of Addis, and it was SUCH a breath of fresh air to get out of the city for a while. The drive was absolutely breathtaking. We passed village after village, with shepherds guiding their animals, farmers working the land, and rolling green hills stretching out in every direction. It was one of those drives where I just wanted to stare out the window and take everything in. 

At one point, we pulled off to the side of the road near a group of farmers so we could see their work up close. They were preparing the fields to plant teff, one of Ethiopia’s most important crops, and our friend Chip even gave the plowing a try! It was such a simple stop, but I loved getting to see this part of everyday life up close instead of just watching it pass by through the car window.

To be completely honest, I still don’t know exactly which falls we visited! I thought we had headed toward the Blue Nile Gorge, but later realized that wasn’t where we were. ;) We asked our guide where we were, and he gave us the name of the river, which he said eventually flows into the Blue Nile, but I have never been able to find it on a map. At this point, I’ve decided the exact location really doesn’t matter, because the day itself was AMAZING.

One of the coolest things we saw along the way was an old bridge that, according to our guide, had been built in the 16th century using limestone and ostrich eggs. Seriously — OSTRICH EGGS! Whether or not I’ll ever understand exactly how that worked, it was such a fascinating piece of history to see standing there in the middle of the countryside.

The biggest gift of the day, though, was getting to spend almost an entire day with our boys OUTSIDE the orphanage. Normally that wasn’t permitted, but because the boys were still living at their orphanage rather than the agency’s transition house, their orphanage director had given us special permission to take them with us.

That made the day even more special.

We had hours together to cuddle, talk, explore, and simply enjoy being a family without the usual distractions of the orphanage. I loved every second of it. Nahagi opened up SOOOOO much during the drive and told us story after story about his childhood as we passed through the farming villages. It was incredible to hear him talk about the places and people that were familiar to him and to see how excited he was to share those memories with us. He was also an amazing source of information throughout the day and seemed to know something about nearly every person, plant, and animal we passed.

And then came one of Eli’s favorite parts of the entire trip.

BABOONS!!!!

Eli had been hoping we would see some sort of monkey while we were in Ethiopia, so imagine his excitement when we saw them in the WILD rather than behind a fence at the zoo. And we didn’t just see a few. There were baboons EVERYWHERE — around the falls, along the cliffs, and near the village beside the falls. It felt like there were THOUSANDS of them!

Baboons on the cliff

Watching them in their natural surroundings was absolutely incredible. We would spot one, then another, and then suddenly realize there were dozens scattered across the hillside. It was such a fun, unexpected part of the day, and Eli was in heaven!

But as much as I loved the scenery, the falls, the farmers, and even the baboons, my favorite parts of the day were the quiet little moments with our boys.

Before this trip, I remember telling people that I was worried Detcho and Nahagi might be too old to want to cuddle with us.

Well...

I guess I was WRONG. :)

Detcho curled up and slept on my lap during the drive there, and Nahagi did the same on the way back. There I was, with these big boys I had worried might be too old for snuggles, and both of them were perfectly content to curl up with their momma.

My heart was FULL.

Poor Nahagi wasn’t feeling very well on the drive back, though, and that was HARD for me. Every mother instinct in me wanted to take him back with us, tuck him into bed, give him medicine, and take care of him until he felt better.

Instead, we had to drop him back off at the orphanage.

That was one of those moments that made the reality of our situation hit all over again. These were our boys. We loved them. We were bonding with them. They were beginning to feel like OURS in every possible way, and yet at the end of the day, we still had to leave them behind.

I don’t know how we are going to say goodbye to these boys in three days.

My heart absolutely aches just thinking about it.

But we have three more days, and we are going to soak up EVERY SINGLE MINUTE we can.

Today truly was our BEST DAY YET!!!!