Memory Box

Most of the memories and milestones of our adoption journey to Ezra are documented on this blog and I am so grateful that we will have this to look back on someday. I hope to at some point have all of the important adoption related posts put into book format for Ezra. However, there are few things I have saved that I want to keep as memories for him. I try not to hold on to a lot of stuff because that isn't usually what matters. I am actually wanting to rid our house in an effort to keep things simple. (a topic for another post) But there are certain things that will be fun to show him and will make it easier to tell him stories about the beginnings of our family of three. I bought a small container to store those items. If I get really motivated I might try and decorate the container but we'll see if that actually happens. I may realize I have other things but at the moment here are a few of the items that are in the box.

1. Photo of Ezra for the plane ride: I printed one of my favorite photos that I had received during the wait and placed it in my book that I was going to read on the plane. I knew the long flight would test my patience and so the plan was that all I would have to do is look at his picture and be reminded that it was all going to be worth it. I did end up having to look at it several times. This is the photo I used as my motivation. He looks so young and tiny.

2. His first outfit: I kept the clothes that he was wearing when we took placement of him on August 15th. I have everything down to the socks he was wearing. The staff at Bejoe washed it for us and since we were there during rainy season it took the whole week for it to dry. I almost forgot it and the lovely Marta from Bejoe reminded me and I am so glad! It isn't the cutest of outfits but that it what he was wearing when we started our family so it will always be meaningful to me.

3. The Blue Link: Do you see the blue link he is chewing on in the above picture? Travis told us that Ezra was pretty upset when he was taking him from the care center and so he just grabbed something to try and distract him. Travis said that Ezra just clutched to that thing the entire drive. In a lot of our photos from that trip Ezra is still holding the blue link. I kept it and for some reason it always makes me teary. He was so scared and that was his one link (literally) to his old home. It just makes me feel sad for him knowing how frightened he must have been.

4. Traditional Outfit from Special Mother: It is a Gladney tradition that when the families go back to the care center for a final visit and coffee ceremony the child's special mother (main caregiver) will dress them in a traditional Ethiopian outfit as a gift. Ezra looked so cute and even though it doesn't really fit anymore we are definitely saving it!

5. His Prescription: I mentioned previously that Ezra had some tummy issues while we were in Ethiopia that were causing some serious troubles for him. The Gladney doctor called in a prescription for us one afternoon and Genet (owner of the Bejoe) and I walked to the pharmacy to get it. I think I brought with me the equivalent of about $50 and it cost $2! I saved the piece of paper from the pharmacy with his prescription and that will for sure be an embarrassing story to tell him later. I would say trying to give him that medication was my first big Mother Fail moment. It was torture for the both of us.

I might put some other important photos in the box as well. I also was thinking that perhaps we could pull out the box every year on Ezra Day (August 15th) and talk about how our family came to be. The items and photos in the box could help facilitate that conversation. My hope is that it will be one of our many future family traditions.