Ethiopia {day 4, part 2}

Ethiopia {day 4, part 2}

Happy birthday, sweet baby Bek!  We had hoped to get to have our adoption day and your birthday be the same, but it seems like God would rather you have two separate days to party!!

So, after our disappointing news that we had not passed court, we were pretty downtrodden as we headed to the House of Hope to visit our boy.  We made a stop at a kitchen "store" and to get some unroasted coffee beans, but we were still upset and stayed in the van with Leslie and Kristine.  While we waited, the cutest little boy (maybe about 8 years old) came up to the van, flashed us a big smile, and stuck his hand in the van.  Leslie handed him two suckers and you would have thought he'd won the lottery!  He took off cheering, only to return a few minutes later.  Leslie just gave him the whole bag of dum-dums then and he whooped and ran home.  When we left, we drove by his family where he was waving so big, his little sister beside him with a sucker in her mouth, and his mother weeping behind them.  We decided maybe he would sell them to help with the bills.  It is a whole different world here.

After the stop, we were finally on our way to see the birthday boy.  When we got there, his nanny was feeding him cereal, and he looked at us and stared while we smiled and waved.  We went into the room (that our group has dubbed the "rainbow room") and then I went down to get pictures of the toddler boys. At that point, Hermella told me that Bek was done eating and I could go get him.  I could hear him crying from downstairs (yep, I already recognize his cry!), so I raced up the stairs and got him from his room, and (can you believe it?) he stopped crying!  This was the beginning of what was a VERY good day with our boy!  We believe Bek could tell we'd had a hard morning and that we needed to have a great day with him.

We changed him into his birthday outfit that we brought for him and he totally came out of his shell!  Throughout the course of the 5 hours we were at the HOH, we watched our boy reach for both of us multiple times, get down to crawl, smile, smile, smile, laugh, babble, say "mama", "dada", and "nana", cruise along the chair, and walk with us holding both hands and then one hand!  I am still in awe about the amazing day God gave us with our little boy.

In addition, we had some birthday festivities including a coffee ceremony, popcorn, the Happy Birthday song from all the new parents, three of the nannies, and Hermella, and zebra cakes for the adults.  It was really just the most special birthday! When our five hours were over, we brought Bek back to his room and said our goodbyes.  Today was by far the most difficult goodbye, though I think tomorrow will take over that dposition.  Two of the families left today, which means they said goodbye until embassy, anywhere from 2 to 4 months.  It was difficult to see their pain as they said good-bye to their babies, and I was reminded that we will be feeling the same heartache tomorrow.

I am so thankful for this process and for the beautiful boy that it is bringing into our family.  Although it is extremely difficult, it has changed me.  I'm NOT strong enough for all this hurt and heartache.  I CANNOT do it on my own.  I am so thankful for my savior that picks me up, dusts me off, and carries me through when I can't do it on my own.