Written by Benji:
I woke up early, about 5:45, watched traffic and did crossword puzzles. Christa and Digafu woke up at 7ish. He played while we got ready for our day. All the families met for breakfast. Digafu and Tigist played ball and tag (or at least something like tag). At 10:00 we went to the care center for the Farewell Ceremony. All the children were sitting nicely in a horseshoe on little plastic chairs. Digafu walked in like he owned the place and went right down the line of children shaking hands and showing off his sunglasses. The nannies took our children up to be dressed into traditional clothes and even when they returned, Digafu had his sunglasses clipped on the front of his outfit. He wasn't about to let them go. He seemed so proud and seemed to know this was HIS day and it was his turn to be adopted. He must have seen this happen with other children and was happy it was his turn.
Tiakbech spoke and led us in prayer. Then, each of the parents got a chance to speak of care, concerns, and thank yous. Everyone had much praise and thanked HOLT and God for this amazing opportunity. There weren't many dry eyes in the place at that point. Dr. Fikru then closed out the ceremony with prayer. After we had cake, coffee and popcorn (coffee and popcorn are traditional servings in country) we spoke with Dr. Fikru about Digafu's scars and size. The orphans lunch came soon after and we were scheduled to go shopping and stop at he Embassy to collect travel visas. We left the kids there at the Care Center for a few hours (nap time). We said good bye to Digafu and that's when the "Meltdown" started. We could hear him wailing as we went to the office to check paperwork. Heartbreaking, more tears. We left feeling very guilty, but it had to be done. I guess it was his first lesson that mommy and daddy will always come back for him.
We (all parents) taxied from the hotel to the Sheraton Hotel to bank, Internet, and get some lunch "to go". It took a while to get there due to a soda truck that had flipped over at a major intersection. Broken glass was everywhere. Later our driver remarked about it saying "Coke" truck fell down.
After Sheraton, Dawit drove like a Nascar driver to the Embassy for paperwork. One couple needed to drop off paperwork at the German Embassy (more crazy driving) then we raced through town to stop at a souvenir shop. LOOK OUT SHEEP!!! We found out if you hit anything in Ethiopia you have to pay a fine. If it is a sheep, there is one price, if you hit a person there is another price. No, we didn't hit the sheep.
We stopped at this little shop for like an hour and got a boat load of stuff for 1965 birr, or $175 American. We went back to the hotel and traffic was still a mess from the overturned truck. Little kids on a bus next to us in traffic saw us and laughed, pointed at us and said ferenge (spelling?) which means foreigner. Ethiopians are so kind to foreigners. We stuck out like a sore thumb, but other than these children, no one stared at us or anything.
After getting back we rushed next door to get him. Mommy ran upstairs saying "Digafu". That boy came running and squealing into her arms. They giggled and hugged for a few moments until Daddy came up. When he saw me he couldn't get out of mom's arms fast enough (kicking and squealing). He ran up, we hugged and loved each other. It was a wonderful feeling, but bitter sweet as I feel bad for Christa. We went back to the room and relaxed before dinner.
At 6:00 we went down for dinner and SURPRISE, a new menu with cheaper prices, more to choose from, and Sprite to drink. Maybe they didn't like us bringing in Chinese food and eating it there the night before. The food was better!
Then it was upstairs for bath time. He LOVES the water. Mommy showed him a portable CD player and he listened to that until bedtime. What a sweet boy. Yeah, it's our last night !!!
No comments:
Post a Comment