Ethiopia Court Trip-Day 2...

We woke up Sunday morning to the sounds of people, dogs, and some kind of religious chanting.  And when I say Sunday morning, I mean around 4:30am!  The guest house we stayed out was awesome.  It was not a hotel, but rather a home with many rooms.  Birtakan was the head of the house and from the minute you stepped in, it was as though you had become family.  She embraced us, celebrated with us, prayed for us, and served us in so many ways.

What was amazing was her story.  She had grown up as a World Vision Sponsor Child.  Someone had sponsored her as a child and it changed the course of her life.  She grew this passion for orphans, eventually opened an orphanage, now has a feeding program, and runs the guest house to assist families who are adopting.  She is an amazing woman of God and we are better people having met her.

We also had the chance to stay with other families in the guest house which made it an even more awesome experience.  We met a family who had three kids, two of which were teenagers, who were adopting as well.  We stayed up talking, playing cards, laughing and just doing life together.  There was also an amazing team of college students doing missions who were staying there as well.  And on the last day, we met an awesome couple who were close to our age, have a passion for missions, and a deep love for orphans.  It was so fun to be with people who are in the same process.

We spent Sunday going to church, going out to eat, and hanging out at the guest house.  Around 6pm I started to seriously think about what was going to take place the next day.  We were going to be meeting our son for the first time.  I had dreamed about this for the past three years of my life.  I got in bed that night knowing it was going to be a short night of sleep.  I decided to journal before I went to bed and this is what I said:

"Tomorrow we are going to meet our son!  Even as I write these words, my heart is overwhelmed.  We have pretty much waited for this moment for the past years of our life.  I keep trying to picture what it will be like but I almost can't fathom it.  It still feels surreal to me.  I imagine holding him, embracing him, and feeling like a huge piece of our life is finally in its place.  It's overwhelming.  It's scary.  It's indescribable.  I feel like I don't even have words to explain my heart tonight.  This is everything I have been waiting for."

 Talk about a lot to process.  After journaling and then laying in bed for awhile, I decided to get up and write a letter to Biruk that I will hopefully give to him when he gets old enough to really process it too.  That in itself brought a hold bunch of emotions I didn't even know I had.  And then I laid in bed for about 4 hours just imagining what would become one of the best days of my life.


Comments

  1. BonnieMay 31, 2013 at 4:51 PM

    As I read your post today I was overcome with joy. I think of my own children and how they make my life complete. There is something very special about an adopted child, you chose to love this little one without meeting him. We who have been blessed with baring our own children should love them unconditionally no matter what.

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