Our first day was ridiculous! We spent almost thirteen hours on a plane, met two other families and our driver at the airport (after literally fighting away very persistent men who wanted to "help" us with our bags), and had an exciting ride with eight people and ALL of our luggage in and ON a little van. When we arrived at the guest house there were so many people! We were the last three of fourteen families in our travel group. I'd connected with most of these families on Facebook, so they were introducing themselves and I was trying to make the mental connections. We were told we had five minutes to check in the hotel and grab everything we needed for the day. We were leaving to meet our daughter. Okay....STOP!
Go with me here: We couldn't sleep on the plane (even with a sleep aid) because we were so excited! We get to the hotel and there is so much activity and so many people. We take our stuff to our room and we barely have enough time to use the facilities much less process anything that is happening. You with me so far?
Eight families were leaving for court and the rest of us were headed for the transition home (where all of our children live). The experienced families were great. They explained what would happen, took our cameras, and assured us it was all going to be great. Do I have to tell you that we were in shock? We were in Ethiopia about to meet our daughter. We were sleep deprived, confused, and hungry. I'm pretty sure that even this part was God's plan. The families explained that it would happen right away. They would be bringing her out of the house as we were getting out of the van. There is so much emotion that you can literally feel it in the air. All of the families gather on the porch and they get your child and encourage her to go out to her new family (and a crowd of people with cameras). She was just as overwhelmed as we were.
I can't show you the pictures of her when she came out, because we haven't passed court yet. That is a story for another day. We all smiled at each other, gave some timid hugs, and them moved out of the "spot-light" to get to know each other. We played together all day; she called us Mommy and Daddy from the start.
Our little girl was so proud of HER Daddy! She introduced him to everyone: adults and children. She wanted him close to her. This was also the day that she discovered he could lift her high over his head. She was all smiles and her giggle was the sweetest sound to our ears. We had a wonderful day! She had her Daddy wrapped around her little finger on Day 1!
Makes me happy and sad at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI can't find the words big enough to say how PROUD we are of you and Mike. God will continue to bless "little girl" with great parents-in His time. Love you, mom and dad.
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