We busted him out! :)

Psalms 31:14 - But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God."

After talking to our agency last night, we found out that we did not have to have the actual court decree to take him out of the orphanage.  The orphanage just needed to talk with our agency to know that we officially passed court.  They officially spoke this morning, so when we went to visit a little after 9, we got to actually take him out of the orphanage for the day!!!  One of the sisters prepared some things we would need while out for the day.  One of the things that we didn’t have that was a MUST was baby wash and lotion.  We had our driver, Ermias (who is awesome), take us to the supermarket.  Another cultural experience for us J, but it went well.  We got him to the guest house and showed him off to some of the others staying here, and then it was right up to our room, so I could scrub that boy down in the sink J.  He is so good natured that he seemed to enjoy it, and he squealed afterwards.  See for yourself... :)

I mean, really...he is too much!!!  He is a squealer when he is excited.  I love it!  Then we were able to dress him in some of the clothes that we brought…so nice!  We fed him, ate lunch, and then he got a little fussy.  This boy hardly fusses, so I knew he was tired since he already ate.  We took him up to our room, and I laid him down in the middle of our bed in a way as similar as I could as they do at the orphanage.  It was so sweet.  He immediately stopped fussing….looked around a bit….sucked his thumb….and went right to sleep.  Precious!  It was one of the most precious moments that the Lord has given me with him.  I could hardly take my eyes off of him, as I studied and took in everything about him.  I tried to do some prayer time while he slept, but I couldn’t get past just saying “Thank You” over and over again to our faithful God J.  You can see why…just check out the view that I had below……

I know!  He melts me J.  I am keeping a journal while here that I am writing to him.  I wrote an entry while he was sleeping…such a beautiful gift the Lord gave me today.  Still smiling!  We then went out with a couple of the other girls doing some missions work here to attempt to purchase some things that are still needed for the guest house…mini fridges, microwaves, and beds.  I have to say this was quite the experience attempting to do these things in Africa J.  We weren’t able to stay the entire time with them, but we did get the fridges purchased.  Definitely an experience…whoa J.  Let’s just say there are no Walmarts here, and they speak Amharic…you can only imagine J.  Yes, we had a translator, but it was still quite the adventure J.  Then it was time to bring him back.  Oh yes, and I forgot to mention that there are no car seats here.  You hold your baby in the back seat.  Yep!  I know it’s not the safest, but we sure did love it J.  I am getting used to going to the orphanage at this point and prepared for what I will see…not used to it but prepared.  It is always so strange and sad to leave him there.  Really, just awkward.  I kind of feel like we are playing “house” with him, but I know God has this, and in no time he will be with us for good J.   So looking forward to tomorrow with him!  What a cool thing to wake up to every day…knowing I get to see this child we have prayed for…for so long!

I cannot forget to mention that yesterday we had the opportunity to do some missions work in the morning with the Ordinary Hero mission team that was (most of them left last night) staying with us.  We traveled to the poorest of poor part of Addis…Korah/Kore.  We debated back and forth on this decision as we gave up some time with Micai, but we decided to do it, and I am glad that we did.  Since the referral, I have prayed for Cai’s mom off and on.  I just cannot imagine what kind of a desperate situation a mother would have to be in to abandon her child.  My heart hurts for her still.  I have no idea what level of poverty he came from, but I know that it could’ve been this kind.  I am still processing this experience, so I honestly do not have the words to describe it yet.  Eye opening … shocking … heartbreaking … unfathomable … these words don’t even begin to scratch the surface of this experience.  I have seen poverty in a 3^rd world country before, but not like this.  In Ethiopia, there is a rainy season and right now is the beginning of it.  We brought tarps to some of the “homes,” and a church to help protect them during this season.  A conversation I had with the pastor of the church we were helping can give you a glimpse of the experience.  In talking with the pastor, I asked him how many people attended church.  He said 100-250 … it just depended if they had food or not.  If they had food, they would come.  If they didn’t, they would go to the dump to get food.  I have no words….

The missions team that stayed at the guest house was such an encouragement to us!  What an amazing experience to be surrounded by such awesome people in the body of Christ at such a time as this.  God blessed us so much by surrounding us with them!  On this team, there were people that had adopted, some starting the process, and some considering.  Some of them were even from Illinois!!!  God just keeps blowing me away with his goodness and control!  Wow!  Here is a pic of the team outside our guest house before they left….

 

We would so appreciate any prayers, as my heart is heavy to leave already.  However, the Lord has been showing me scripture as comfort and reminding me of His GREATNESS.  He is just so good!  Love to you all from Africa!