Ethiopia-Day 6

Ethiopia-Day6

(Betsy's Journal and Perspective)

I awoke at 6:45am after finally a good night sleep. Poor Jared had been awake for hours and was already downstairs in the common room starting his day with some time in the Word.  I tried to take a shower but when all I could get was a cold small trickle, I got redressed and went and tried another shower in the guest house. Thankfully I had some warner warmer and water pressure that allowed me to feel so refreshed. (That was my 2nd shower of the trip!) How thankful I am for clean and warm water.  After I got ready I went to breakfast but only felt like drinking juice. The smell of any kind of food was making me sick and I seriously didn't want to risk getting sick with a long plane ride ahead of me! We were picked up by our driver around and went to see Isaiah's first orphanage.  We we arrived, we found out that we weren't allowed to go inside and that only our Ethiopian interpreter could take a picture of the sign for us to have.  When we left our driver informed us that his first orphanage was in the poorest part of Addis. Its hard for me to comprehend "levels of poor" in this city but trusted a locals discernment when he said this area was extremely bad off.  

   From there we went to our agency's office and got prepped for court and reviewed Isaiah's file.  We grabbed a quick lunch, did a little shopping for some local coffee, and then headed to court.  After sitting in the court room for over an hour when the judge's assistant came out, shut the door and announced in Amharic that they were done reviewing cases for the day. Our awesome interpreter immediately jumped up and spoke to her and then disappeared into the hallway for like 10 minutes.  We he returned he said our file had not been on the judges desk for today and that he went into the file room (which he called "organized kaos") found our file and asked the judge to review it!!! Shortly after he explained to us what had been going on, the judge called us and another American couple into her office.  She apologized and then proceeded to ask Jared and the other husband in the room questions about our adoptions at the same time. Then she said the words we had wanted to hear for a long time and that was "WE WERE APPROVED!!!!"  Isaiah was officially our son!!!! On the way out of the courtroom our interpreter showed us the file room and after seeing the "mess" I know that it was divine that he found our case and that the judge agreed to see us without having reviewed our case before meeting with us.  We have seen God reveal his presence and power so much in this trip! His word is so true when it says, "I will be with you wherever you go." 

   After court, the day only got better because we finally got to see Isaiah again!!  We enjoyed every second with him and tried to absorb every detail about him. 

After 45 minutes of playing with him, he fell asleep in my arms! Oh how that brought my heart so much joy!  The nannies gave me a chair to sit in and I just rocked and loved my sweet boy while he slept.  I had done so well and not cried during our visit until I asked Jared what time it was and he said 1654.  I immediately burst into tears and tried really hard not to let my cry turn into an "ugly cry!"  My heart just sank, how could I leave this boy in 6 minutes?  I had only been with him for 54 mins today and 30 minutes the first day.  Not like I was counting or anything but my heart was just aching!  So I just held Isaiah tighter and steadily wiped my tears away.  Jared was so sweet and rubbed my shoulder but eventually had to walk to the door and look outside for some distraction from the reality that was before us. A few minutes later I held Isaiah tight, kissed him and handed him to Jared and walked across the room to his bed to pull myself together. 

Knowing at this point that it was well at 1700, I peaked around the curtain to still find an empty driveway!! (Our van driver was running behind!)  I was relieved and so I enjoyed a few more minutes with Jared and Isaiah.  Jared eventually handed him back to me and allowed me to place him in his crib.  When I did, he didn't cry and I kissed him and promised him I would be back and then I just walked out of the room. Jared kissed him too and when he joined me in the hallway he reassured me that he was still not crying.  We walked out of the orphanage in silence onto the patio out front. It was raining and I felt peace in my heart and the presence of The Lord holding me ever so close.  I never looked back when we drove off in the van and again we road in complete silence as we tried to process the reality that he had just left our son behind........

    We arrived at the guest house with minimal time to eat and pack and head for the airport.  After hitting lots of traffic, we arrived at the airport that was seriously and completely crazy! I have never seen so many people in one place! While Jared settled the last few details with our driver and guest house owner, all the electricity at the airport turned off!  By this point in the trip, I was used to the power being off but I fervently prayed that The Lord would restore the power and allow us to keep our scheduled flight home.  Eventually the power was restored and we boarded the plane after some interesting experiences in a third world country airport!  We watched lots of movies, slept a little and passed on all the rubbery processed airline food to finally arrive back in America, exhausted, still processing, and a part of us feeling empty knowing we had left our son behind.  I was so strong and never cried since leaving Isaiah earlier in the day until the plane touched down in America.  Oh how I was relieved, thankful, grateful and yet brokenhearted that we had just landed in America without our sweet Isaiah.  

We look forward to the day when we will bring him home, but for now I honestly cant think about making this trip again. Im too tired, and have way to much to process before returning.  Until then, I am going to be at the foot of the cross relying on him to equip me for the next trip and our next season of life as a family of three.