Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. I am not sure I can accurately put into words everything that I was blessed enough to experience today. One thing I do know for sure is that I will walk away from this a different person with a new perspective and a greater appreciation for the things in life I tend to take for granted.

We started the morning getting up early. I was up just before 5am however I did go to bed at 8pm the previous night as we didn't have electricity so it was quite dark. I am pleased to announce though I did get hot water for the first time this morning. I believe it was a sign of how great the day was going to be.

We all piled on to the bus for our trip to Hossana not sure what to expect. Video cameras were rolling and pictures were snapped. There was lots of honking, weaving between donkeys, cars, people and cows. As we drove through towns in rural Ethiopia kids and adults alike wanted to wave and say hi. When we did stop some approached the bus and wanted food. It was beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time.

When we arrived in Hossana, we stopped to use the bathroom. What we didn't realize at first was that where we stopped was the old intake center, the orphanage where all of our children were first cared for. Pictures immediately were taken and video cameras rolling. I saw my first coffee plant today as there were a few on the grounds on the orphanage. Since this is no longer the orphanage we were allowed inside and we were allowed to take pictures. It was awesome.

After walking around, a nanny approached the group asking about a particular child. It turns out that the nannies that originally cared for our children in Hossana where all there. We got to meet and take pictures with Peanut's first nanny. She was so sweet and she remembered Peanut well. She said Peanut was a very sweet baby and that Peanut really seemed to like her. She said she loved Peanut and asked to see a picture. Luckily I had one to show her. I couldn't give it to her but at least she got to see her. That was amazing.

After we left there we were off to the main offices for our meetings with our birth parents. We had left our picture frame and map that we wanted to give to Zinash back in Addis and were feeling terrible about that. I did have a recent picture of Peanut with me and we were hoping to be able to give her that. Once we arrived at the office we were brought into a large room and waited until our names were called. There were only 3 translators so we had to take turns. We were in the second group.

I have yet to decide how much to share about our meeting so stay tuned…