Fikadu with his HH friends at meal time in the hotel.
We are finding some kind of a little routine here in country. Get up, get dressed, go to breakfast...order yummy coffee and visit with the other families that are there at breakfast...find out how everyone did in the night. By now...we are ALL tired. Each one of us in our group is ready to head on home. Ate simosa (lentil pocket) and yogurt at breakfast (again).
Today is the birth parent meeting for 2 of the families in our group. Everyone else has a child from the southern region which means no birth parent meeting. Regina is here by herself so we decided to go and support her for her birth parent meeting. Sad to say the other birth parent meeting never happened, the birth father wasn't able to make it. I wasn't going to bring the boys back to HH but this actually proved to be a good thing for our boys. We went over to HH with the 2 families for their birth family meetings. Fikadu had a really hard time once we got there. It became clear to him that he just didn't belong here at HH anymore. They scooted him out of the class room and wasn't included in the meal or snack time. It seemed liked he could tell he felt out of place.
Because of this, he was sad and he cried for the first time and let me snuggle him. Chuck was busy video taping the birth parent meeting for Regina, so I had both boys, the sling, the back pack and the fanny pack all on my lap trying to comfort our little guy. I am grateful for that moment and the closure it might have provided for Fikadu.
Fikadu has itchy scabies bumps all over him. He is so uncomfortable and itchy. I wish that I had brought more to treat to itching reaction to scabies. He is coming to me for his needs, but I wish I could do more to help him out.
Another treat of visiting HH again was to take some more pictures of all those sweet children. It was morning time and the babies were out for their sun bath. Too cute. It is so clear how well cared for the children and babies are. They are all happy and have a simple joy that is contagious. I tried to walk around and pray for each child I saw and the special mothers too. Prayed that these children would be a blessing to their forever families, for God's mercy and grace in their lives. Prayed that they would connect and bond with their mommas and daddies. Prayed for the whole adoption process in Ethiopia, that God would continue to keep it open for the need is so great.
As soon as we left, we went back to the hotel for lunch and and then it was off the the meeting with Almaz to get our paperwork and documents that allow us to leave the country and enter the States. The kids played while we had our meeting. Almaz shared with us a piece of her heart and her passion for the children their, her country and the Ethiopian people. She is such an amazing women and I will continue to pray for her. I am so grateful my boys were blessed to have her as a special caretaker of them.
I feel like we were so blessed with such a great travel group. These families will forever be part of our lives. We have experienced the most amazing journey together and I praise God for our group.
Fikadu with his buddy. Notice the dramatic Ethiopia look on his face.
Fikadu with his buddy. Notice the dramatic Ethiopia look on his face.
The evening was the second special event of the trip. The cultural dinner. WOW...what a night. The food and dancing was fantastic. Fikadu wasn't happy about being pulled out of his nap in order to go to this event, but once he got there, he had a great time.
Some of our group at the cultural dinner.
Notice the hand washing and all the fantastic Ethiopian food. The boys ate and ate and ate.
I can't even begin to capture the evening in words. We were all mesmerized by the dancing. The moves were nothing short of spectacular. Shoulder popping, hip wiggling, head swinging fun. If you are preparing to travel....make sure you go to this event. And bring your camera and video camera, you don't want to miss any of it.
Abush eating out of my hand. He still does this. And I have become the human high chair. He eats almost every meal sitting on my lap.Dear Sweet Peas,
I hope we can find ways to incorporate your Ethiopian culture into your life. It is full of history and passion. Watching you both soak up the evening at the cultural dinner was a highlight of our trip.
Love, Mom
i've heard about the cultural dinner from a couple families and it looks/sounds awesome! i can't wait!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you could experience some of this rich culture!!
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