Three years ago today we met all four of our Ethiopian children for the first time.  I’ll always remember that day which was filled with so many unknowns and emotion.  [...] We stayed at a missionary guest house near Little AHOPE, where Dimples lived.  We didn’t realize that we were supposed to wait for the social worker to come get us, so when our hosts told us they would walk us over to Little AHOPE, we were glad to go.

It was stressful for us because we were also meeting our little boys that morning and that agency did not know we were adopting Dimples – they had refused to place her with us due to her medical status. We had to get to AHOPE and back before they came to pick us up.

We walked down the dirt road and found the blue gate.  When it was opened we saw many little ones playing in the courtyard.  The children were excited to see visitors, especially our hosts who were grandparent-age.  I scanned the children’s faces and caught a glimpse of Dimples.  She took my breath away – I nudged Russ and pointed toward her. She was running and playing, occasionally grabbing her too-large pants and pulling them up.   An older girl decided to get a chair for our friend and ran inside returning to place the chair in the shade.  The children gathered in a circle around him.  I didn’t know it then but the helpful little girl would become our daughter seventeen months later.

Finally I couldn’t wait any longer and I knelt down next to Dimples.  I said, “Do you know who I am?  I’m Mommy.”  She smiled, not understanding a word I said.  “I touched my chest and said, ‘Mommy’, then I pointed to Russ and said, ‘Daddy’.”  All at once the caregivers figured out who we were.  They began ushering the other children inside leaving us to take photos and get to know Dimples.  Our hosts spoke to her in Amharic explaining who we were.  She had a huge smile on her face and hugged us.  We took lots of pictures and played with her until one of the AHOPE staff arrived.

Eventually the other children came back outside and played with the toys we had brought.  Dimples passed out candy to her friends while we talked with Gelila.  Honeybee was one of the oldest children there, so she helped blow up balloons and make sure everyone got candy.  Much too soon it was time to walk back to the guest house where we were being picked up by the other agency driver to meet out little boys.  Gelila explained to Dimples that we were going to meet her brothers and would be back later with them.

Can you even imagine how strange this all must have been for Dimples??

We hurried back to the guest house where we were met by the agency van which drove through the busy streets finally arriving at another gate.  The grounds of this facility were very nice, with grass, gardens, and large buildings.  We were taken to the back door where a group of children was eating lunch.  There, sitting in a row of toddlers, was Eby being fed by a nanny.  He seemed confused that we were interested in him…and a little bit nervous.  We said hello to him, and I gave him a little kiss, but I knew it would not be wise to pick him up.  The Director called us into the next room to meet Little Man, so I reluctantly left Eby and walked into the room where we would meet our baby boy.

He was in the arms of his nanny being fed a bottle.  At less than five months old, he was tiny.  The nanny smiled at me and transferred him to my arms.  He looked up at me with his huge eyes and his body felt light in my arms.  I was clumsy with the bottle, having only given them on rare occasions to babies I was caring for. When the Director said they had made lunch for us and I could give Little Man back to the nanny while we ate, I declined to part with him.  I had years of experience eating while holding my babies.

There is much more to the story, but no time to tell it.  I am exceedingly popular with my children today.

We are celebrating Forever Day tonight with one of the kids’ favorite chicken curry dishes and a cake that Ladybug and Honeybee are going to make this afternoon.  We’ll tell the story of meeting each one of them and give thanks to God.

If you have a few extra moments, please take look at our Forever Day video.  Rusty made it for me two years ago on the first anniversary of Forever Day.  We have come a long way since then!

~Lisa