The Day We Met Our Children

On March 9, 2010 we met our son and daughter for the first time.  It was a day we had long anticipated.  We were tired from a long flight, but we couldn't wait to see their faces and hold them in our arms, these precious babies the Lord had given to us.

The man who ran our Guest House drove us to the Transition Home where our children had been staying for the last 20 days.  Driving in Ethiopia is a lot different than it is here in America.  Most of the time we were in a car in Addis Ababa we were fearing for our lives.  Okay, that's an exaggeration, but it was pretty scary.  There are usually horns honking at all times.  They don't seem to have any stop lights or signs that we noticed.  I'm not sure whether they have a "right of way" there.  So as you can imagine, our hearts were beating quickly for a number of reasons.

We drove up to the house where our son and daughter were, a place that is etched in my mind now.  We were led through a short tour of the older kids' rooms, kitchen, etc...most of that is a blur in my mind.  We were in the same building as our children!!  We were about to meet them!

Finally they took us into a baby room upstairs.  They pointed out a sweet, small baby in a crib by the door.  Then they pointed to another crib against the far wall.  "This is your baby," they said.

How can words do justice to that moment?  Our baby girl, whose face we'd studied in pictures for hours on end, was lying there in front of us.  In person.  Sleeping, just like she was in the first pictures we'd ever seen of her.

I couldn't let her lay there!  I picked her up and held her, my daughter.  She smiled at us and I thought my heart would burst.

We enjoyed her for a few moments, then hubby asked about our little boy.  They walked us to a common area, and there was our son.  The same boy that we'd loved from a distance, here before us.  We'd recognize him anywhere.  He was being held by a nanny, and there were a number of other nannies there waiting to enjoy our first moments together as a family.  Looking back, we think they were being strategic about the way they introduced us to our baby boy.  He's happiest when he's just eaten...and we could see traces of formula around his mouth.  He was also wearing a bib that said "Feed Me."  He's a boy, through and through.

We held our son and daughter.  And we were happy.

Psalm 72:18-19  Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.  Blessed be His glorious name forever!