Tuesday June 28th PART 1

We woke up around 8 am. We took showers and ate a good breakfast of french toast. Then we waited for our CWA driver to pick us up. He told us that he would pick us up around 10 am. What happened is.....CWA only lets you see your children two days and only for two hours each day. Usually they pick the families up from the airport and give them an itinerary of times when they get to see the children and the times for court and times for any other appointment they may have. What happened with us is we got in Addis at 1 am in the morning and the office was closed on the weekend so no one came on to give us our itinerary on Sunday so starting off Monday morning we were confused on when we would see Gracie. It was a misunderstanding but it would have been nice to have our schedule right away.
SO we weren't really supposed to go on Tuesday but we didn't know that. It ended up working out better for us in the end :)
Anywhoo...they didn't get to the guest house till around 11 am. The driver took us on a different route then the one the day before had so it was fun to see different scenery.



The gates to the Acacia Village~Where Gracie is now


When we arrived at the Village we went into a little office and talked with Beza about Gracie and about her health. She asked us if we had any questions and we didn't really. Then one of the nannies brought her to us. She ran into our arms and hugged and kissed us :)
I took her measurements (YAY I am having so much fun buying clothes!!!) I gave Gracie some clothes that we had brought her. She was so sweet....she {{Loved}} them! Then we went upstairs to the little room we were the day before.


I asked her if she wanted me to paint her nails....her smile was very readable! I can tell she is going to be a girly girl. I had brought 4 different colors and I let her choose...she chose pink :) We did her toes first because it was almost lunch time.
We put little stickers on her nails also :)
showing her how to put on chapstick....so weird that she has probably never seen such a thing.

She was so happy with her nails and her little feet were so cute. I asked her if she wanted to paint my nails....she smiled and I let her choose which color...she chose pink :) She did such a good job! She tried to do it so nice for me :)






Then it was time to go downstairs for lunch. They served pasta and bread and some vegis to the children today. The other two couples that we had met the day before {Hi Heidi :) } were telling their children goodbye. They had got there earlier then we had and we only got two hours :( I started crying watching one of the Dads say goodbye to their son....tears* I dreaded what was ahead. I had to walk to a corner and get myself under control and get my tears wiped up. Britton came over said Gracie was worried and that I needed to get myself together because we were trying to spend as much happy moments as we could together.
All the little girls were talking and talking about her nail polish...they would look under the table and just chatter away. Gracie was beaming. I wish I would have had time to do all their nails so I ended up leaving all my polish with the nanny and I told her that Gracie could do all their nails. As soon as lunch was done and she got cleaned up she took my hand and led me back up to the room to do her nails :) While I was painting them Britton showed her some videos of the boys we had taken for her before we left. Then we read some books and sang some songs. Then the nanny came in and was translating for us to her. We asked her if she wanted an American name and and then we told her the name we had chosen for her. We decided to keep Bereket as her middle name because her Mother gave it to her and it means "blessing"
Then we gathered up all the little toys we had brought her and took it all to her bed. I had a bag of bubble gum that she passed out to all of her friends. Then we went downstairs and ate lunch with the staff. (It was the childrens naptime but our two hours wasn't over yet) They served spaghetti and it was very good. I held her on my lap while I ate. She watched every bite that went into my mouth :) It was so fun just to kiss her cheeks and hold her close. She just laid her head on my shoulder and I treasured every moment as they were ticking away.
Then it was time to say goodbye. Our driver had pulled up and was waiting on us. My heart started pounding...I hate goodbyes and especially this kind :( We took her back upstairs to the little room we had spent some time in. Britton carried her and she just laid her head on his shoulders and she had her brown little arms wrapped tightly around his neck. You can tell she really likes her Daddy. We all kneeled in a little circle...She was in between us and Britton tried to say a prayer. We were all sobbing...I was wiping her tears and telling her I was ok and she understood....We told her that we would be back as soon as we could. And we told her that Jesus loves her so so much and He would watch over her while we were away. Then the dreaded...She put her little arms around us and held on for dear life. Britton had to pry her away and lay her in her bed. They were both crying and she covered her head with a blanket so she wouldn't have to see us go. Britton and I stood in the hallway for some time after we told her goodbye. We cried...the pain was so sharp in our hearts. Then we went downstairs out and out of the foster home not knowing when we will see our beautiful daughter again...God only knows.

....Laundry at the orphanage drying in the breeze

Her room is to the left



The CWA driver stopped at a little shop on the side of the road because we wanted to buy one of the Orthadox umbrellas that they were selling. I wanted a pink one for her room.




TO BE CONTINUED......

Monday June 27th "Meet You Day"

We woke up around 8:30. We took showers and got ready for the day. We thought maybe we would see Gracie today but we weren't sure. While the staff was making breakfast Yonatan took us down to the bank and helped us exchange some money. 100 bir = 6 American dollars. We counted money in 100 bir...so like I bought Gracie a dress for 350 bir so that was like 21 dollars.
We ate our breakfast of eggs, rolls and coffee. Around 9:30 we called our CWA driver and he said that he would be there soon! We thought maybe he was coming to give us our itinerary of times we would see Gracie so we still weren't for sure if we were going to see her or not.
Finally around 10 am he pulled up in a red van. Britton went out to check and make sure we were going and YES we were!! So we loaded our donations into the van. There were two other CWA families that were going to meet their children also for the first time. We bonded right away. We acted like we had known each other forever. We all had the same case manager :) One couple had two bio children and they were adopting a 17 mo old girl. The other couple had six children, five bio and one from Kazakhstan and they were adopting a 10 yr old boy and a 1 yr old girl. We talked and talked the whole way. We had a special connection. The drive from our guest house to the foster home was 45 min. Besides just out of our guest house this was the first time we saw the city. We realized we were staying in a very nice part of town. The farther and farther we went the poorer and sadder it became. So hard to describe what we saw...interstates like 75 but instead of cars driving fast it was people everywhere sleeping and going to the bathroom, some just laying in the dirt. We saw dirty poor children, donkeys with huge piles of straw on their backs, lots of cars that would honk very loudly and we would swerve out of the way. Trash everywhere and so much pollution, the smells made you feel sick.

I felt so nervous when we pulled up to the gate. It was SO weird...the moment had finally come. I was excited and trying not to cry. Once the gate opened we pulled up to a big beautiful several story building. When we got out of the van we met the nannies, and the staff. We told them who we were and who we were here to see. We walked through big glass doors. In front of me were stairs and on the left was a big playroom and on my right was a huge kitchen and eating area. I spotted her right away. {{Oh be still my beating heart!!}} She saw us to and she waved and smiled! She started running to us but they stopped her because they only wanted one family to go in at a time. By then the tears were coming...I just couldn't help it.
Finally the little girl we had been dreaming about for at least 18 months was in our arms. She was hugging us and we were giving her sweet little brown cheeks kisses. She gave Britton the biggest hug. It was by far one of the best moments EVER! She just belongs...we kept saying, "We love you so much!" She was smiling so big and you could tell she was very happy.
They took us to a little playroom upstairs where we could sit down and be with her. They told us, "NO PICTURES!" But we got LOTS ;) and we took lots of video. We gave her a candy necklace, sunglasses, animal crackers and some juice. She was so pleased with all of it. I kept saying I will hold some of it for you but you could tell she wanted to hold them
For at least a hour we just read books and colored. She wrote her name for us and counted to 20 in English. She knows some words like dog and snake and elephant :)


Then she took us to her bedroom and we saw her little bed and where she sleeps. She had a little purple dog blanket that she had won as an award for learning the most about America. She was so cute talking to all her friends. They were looking at all her food she was eating :) Then her and all her friends sang several African songs for us. It was SO neat! They sang "If your happy and you know it"
Then we went back downstairs to the big toy room and she showed us some of the toys. The nurse told me she likes to play like she is a Mother and make tea and cakes. She wanted to show me a little Ronald Mcdonald toy and she put a babys dolls bib on it and it made me excited to show her all the little dolls and toys we have for her. Britton started playing soccer with a little boy while I held her on my lap. She loved watching and she laughed when Britton messed up or kicked the ball wrong. They told me she wants to play soccer when she comes home.
Then it was time for her to eat lunch. She sat down by all her little friends and it was so cute seeing them all chat away. We of course had no idea what they were saying but by the way she kept looking at us and smiling I think they were talking about us :) They all stood up and said a prayer and then they served injera. (I will explain what injera is in the coming posts) She scooped it up and wanted Britton and I to eat some. What we didn't know but soon learned is that it is a honor for the host to feed the guest out of their hands. It was so gross! :/ I tried to act like I liked it. They were all stuffing their faces using their hands. Britton kneeled down beside her while she was eating and and was talking to her and rubbing her back. I got tears in my eyes seeing how happy she was and one of the little girls noticed my tears and told Gracie. She kept looking at me to make sure I was ok and she kept smiling at me. {so sweet}
Then when she was done eating she went and got a drink and then we went outside where they wash their face and hands. Then we went back to the playroom. Her nanny answered some of the questions I had while Gracie played soccer with Britton. I asked the nanny if she was happy to see us, if she was sad to see her mom go, and if she is excited to come to America. She told me she was so happy to finally meet us and she was not sad at all to see her mom go. She did tell me that it was really hard for her mother to say goodbye. (Of course! I can't imagine the sacrifice) She told me she is excited to come to America and they are teaching her about America. Then she interpeded to Gracie some of the things I was wanting to tell her. I told her about our kitties, ducks and chickens, our trampoline and our garden, her new room and all her clothes. I told her that her new brothers love her and pray for her every day and are so excited for her to come home and play with them. I told her about Grandma Kay and the Nanny asked if she would like to play with her Grandma and she said, "I would love to." I told her that her Grandpa is silly and I held up her arm and tickled her like my dad is known to do :) She laughed :)
Then the Nurse came in to talk with us about her health. They told us that her hair has some sort of fungus in it that they are treating ( this is totally normal in a orphanage situation) and also she has a skin infection on her face that they are treating but we will be taking her to a dermatologist right away when she comes home. Besides that they said she hardly ever comes to the Nurse. Then it was time to say goodbye for the day. :( We took her upstairs to her bed and said goodbye...she gave us lots of hugs and kisses. She crawled into her bed (it was naptime for all the children) and we blew kisses.
The way back to the guest house was so weird. Everyone was chatting about seeing their children and we all agreed {We wished EVERYONE could have this experience!} When we got back we went upstairs to take a nap. Neither of us slept we just kept thinking about our morning. Then we checked email and updated facebook.
Then we loaded our backpacks with crackers, candy and a soccer ball and headed out on the streets. Yonatan told us that we were not supposed to hand out money to the beggars. Right away we saw our little shoe shine friends and they smiled and laughed when they saw us. They came running to give us high fives :) We saw some of the young girls again. They told me they were 13 years old.


One of them was pregnant and the other had a little baby. They kept saying to me, "Hungry! Give me new clothes!" I just stood there and looked at them and a sadness came over me like never before. Why have I been so blessed? It seems so not fair. I thought 20 was so young to have a baby but 13? I wish I could be there Mother. They need someone to just rock them and hold them close. It haunts me every day.
Then we went shopping. (I had big plans to buy all this stuff to bring home but God showed us that we didn't really need any of it when our friends were starving) But I did get Gracie some dresses...one for now and then one for when she is 16 or so. They are the cultural dresses so she will think that is neat someday.

Then we came back to the guest house and had a cheeseburger, fries and a cokes (YUM)

Then we talked with Ashley ( the other guest at the house ), Leah and Yonatan about our days. Then we watched a movie and went to bed. We were so emotionally tired. We missed the boys alot!