So I guess that’s a good sign that he’s comfortable around me. Actually when I got home to the guest house, all of the workers were quite excited for me because in Ethiopia it is considered good luck when I child pees on your leg because it means you’re going to have a baby. At this point, I’ll take anything. And I’ll also take advantage of the laundry service.
All joking aside, our visit was PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS! When I first walked in the room, he was timid and shy . . .for all of about 3 seconds. After that he sat in my lap and we looked through a picture book of his new family (our family!!!) and I tried to communicate to him that I am his ənat (mommy) and that Caleb is his tanash wändm (little brother). He doesn’t speak any English, but I am not worried about that, for it will come in all due time. I was also able to share videos of Caleb with him on my iPhone and show him more of our family. We also played a silly little game called Ninja Fruit to try and get him to interact a little more, and let’s be honest, I wanted him to think his Mommy had the coolest toys. We then went to the play room with all of the children and I saw the two year old little boy truly come out of his shell. It was so good to see him play in real life. After playing for a bit I met with his nurse who told me about all of his medical conditions (he’s pretty much healthy as a buck except for a runny nose. . .but what little boy doesn’t have a runny nose?).
After this I was able to feed him lunch and we looked through our family book a little more. Lunch consisted of rice with little bits of meat, a side of potatoes, greenbeans, and bread. He wasn’t too fond of the potatoes or the greenbeans. It was actually really funny because I tried to chop one green bean up really small and hide it in the rice, but after chewing for a second, he figured out my secret plan and spit the chewed up greenbean out. Reminds me of someone else in our family *cough* Mack Brock *cough*.
After lunch we went together and met with his psychologist who explained that mentally and emotionally, he is ALSO healthy as a buck. So, so good to hear. It was during this meeting that said peeing incident happened and I was allowed to go up to his room and change him and put him down for his nap. It was so precious. He gave me the biggest hug and then curled up into bed holding our family book. I tried my best not to cry (thank goodness for sunglasses) until we got back into the van to come back to our guest house. What a special, special gift it is to be able to embrace that little boy in the flesh and to know that in his little mind he’s beginning to understand that I am his mommy and he is my son. Adoption is such a strange, messy, and beautiful process. I can’t wait until there is more to share.
Tomorrow morning I will get to visit with him again and then I have to go over all of his paperwork for court on Monday. Please continue to lift up this process in your prayers. We are still missing the police clearance letter and the recommendation letter from MoWA. Please pray that these are ready and presented at my court date on May 30th. It’s a big, big deal that these letters get there. Thank you so much for journeying with me in this process. I’ll keep you posted as things unfold.
Until then I figured I’d post a picture of tanash wändm because, let’s be real, he’s so stinkin’ cute (and just so you know, his big brother’s going to be quite the heartbreaker too). I can’t wait until this process is complete and I can share his pictures with you as well.
