Five Days

Can you believe in five days I get to touch and kiss these cute hands? It doesn't seem real.

I think our little guy likes to suck his middle fingers. Can you see in the picture how his fingers are positioned? Yes, this is how much I analyze photos of him. I was a thumb sucker for a long time so I am totally cool with the finger sucking.

We leave this Friday afternoon and are staying at the Yebsabi Guest House. We will meet him for the first time on Monday! I cannot even put to words what I am feeling right now.

I have had two very cool moments in the past few weeks that I want to document.

The first, was the night before our first court date. I was trying to fall asleep and of course I was failing miserably. I was indulging imagination and going through all the what ifs. I also was worrying about our little guy. Since he was so small when he first got to Gladney, I have known that it will take him a little longer to reach certain milestones because he needs to build up strength. Gladney gives us a monthly update that tracks his developmental milestones. I try not to worry too much about that stuff because I think he can catch up and will be fine. However, I REALLY wanted some pictures of him doing tummy time and holding up his head. I didn't have any and I just wanted physical proof that he could do it. So back to the night before our court date. I am wide awake and I hear my phone ding that I had an email. I went back and forth on whether or not I should get up and check it. I soon gave in and got up and checked my phone. I had an email from another Gladney mom, Amy H, with pictures of my boy. In the body of the email this is what she said, "He was very alert and also very strong. I have few pictures of him doing tummy time, and you can see how well he is able to lift his head." Oh my! I couldn't believe it. I downloaded the photos and there he was on his belly and was lifting his head. I was overcome with emotion and just pure gratitude. In a moment when I was worrying about something very specific I was immediately comforted. Amy said it best, "I love seeing God's hands in the little things." Life just blows me away sometimes.

The second moment was on Monday night when I went out with a lot of the adoptive moms in my group. We were all sitting at a long table and I was next to Abby, who brought home her daughter at the end of January. We were chatting about her daughter and she mentioned the name of the government orphanage where her daughter spent some time. We are with different agencies but it was the same orphanage that our boy spent a few weeks before he was in Gladney's amazing care. She was telling me that they went to visit this orphanage while they were in Ethiopia and that it was a very hard experience for her. Abby said they were there the last few days of January and she felt that the orphanage was low on food so she and her husband went out and bought formula and food and donated it to the orphanage. I paused and went through our boy's timeline and realized he arrived there just a few days after she left. I told this to Abby and we both looked at each other paused. She provided for him. Abby helped feed this little boy that will hopefully legally become our son a week from today. I was holding back the sobs at The Surly Girl Saloon in Columbus, Ohio about something that happened halfway across the world six months ago but that impacted my family in a profound way. I will never forget that.

I probably won't get a chance to update the blog before we leave on Friday so I suppose this my "and we're off" post. I have heard getting on blogger in Addis is pretty tough so I am hoping that I'll be able to get through to my sister and she can update the blog with news of our court date on the 28th. We certainly welcome any positive vibes and/or prayers you are willing to toss our way for safe travels and emotional strength for meeting and saying goodbye to our boy. I can't wait to tell you about it.

Much Love!