Our Trip to Ethiopia: The End (really)

Our first family photo

Our last day. sigh. Donovan and I were anxious to be home and start our new life with Noemi, but we were disappointed to not have more time to get to know Ethiopia better. We know we’ll be back. Tuesday AM we woke up knowing that only so many hours remained before we needed to leave for the airport for our overnight flight, so we planned on spending the balance of the day at Layla house. We visited the nursery one last time with Noemi, loving on those babies and experiencing their routines, including learning a little song that the caregivers sing with the babies. The babies would all begin clapping when they would chant “lem lem” (which means flourish) over and over again. We were delighted to witness this, as now we sing this song with Noemi at home. She begins clapping anytime we start singing it. It’s so sweet to have a little piece of her caregivers with us at home.

Saying "goodbye" to our goat friends who lived outside of Ritmo. I wanted so badly to sit Noemi in the grass and take a photo with goats all around her, but we thought this would be less risky.

Later in the day we helped hand out the sneakers from our sneaker drive given that there were enough for each child to receive a new pair. What a blast. Though it was a bit disorganized trying to measure the feet of 150 + children and then find the corresponding shoe size in the 7 tubs of sneakers, we managed to do it. For every child. Oh happy day. The children were excused from school and lined up one class at time to be measured and handed a “ticket” with their size on it. It was hilarious to see which kids were drawn to which sneakers. There was a pair of skateboard sneakers that we all knew would be coveted in the USA, but no one seemed to like them...until...one little boy came along, saw them on the pile and asked if those were his size. To his delight, they were. You should have seen the mile-wide smile on his face and heard us laughing when this lonely pair of shoes found a home on his happy feet. I wish we could show the faces of glee, but we may not post photos of the children’s faces. Just know that the generous donations of 296 pairs of sneakers and money made it possible for each child to be gifted brand new sneakers and a pair of socks to go with them. The old shoes that were in decent enough shape were going to be donated to another orphanage in Addis. Those old sandals were kicked off so fast…

Donovan and I returned to our room at the Ritmo by late afternoon, finished packing our bags and headed to the airport. The 18-hour direct flight from Addis to Rome to Washington DC went as smoothly as one could have asked for. Thank goodness for bassinet seating. I think the good Lord knew that Donovan and I were weary (on top of everything else, we were both starting with ear and respiratory infections) and sprinkled his magic sleepy dust on our baby. She slept virtually the entire ride home. And when she was awake, she was playful and pleasant. I’ll always remember looking out the window of the plane as we crossed over the Atlantic. It was dawn as I listened to Sara Groves' Going Home on my ipod and had a good, happy cry. Well aware that this song was not written about a parent adopting a baby, I couldn’t help but to be moved by the parallel between Jesus adopting us into his family and the joy of our own new little family. I watched my dear husband and baby sleeping beside me and knew that we had survived this together and that life was changing for the better.

Amen and Amen.

I’ve been feeling kind of restless

I’ve been feeling out of place

I can hear a distant singing

A song that I can’t write

And it echoes of what I’m always trying to say

There’s a feeling I can’t capture

It’s always just a prayer away

I want to know the ending

Things hoped for but not seen

But I guess that’s the point of hoping anyway

Of going home, I’ll meet you at the table

Going home, I’ll meet you in the air

And you are never too young to think about it

Oh, I cannot wait to be home

I’m confined by my senses

To really know what you are like

You are more than I can fathom

And more than I can guess

And more than I can see with you in sight

But I have felt you with my spirit

I have felt you fill this room

And this is just an invitation

Just a sample of the whole

And I cannot wait to be going home

Going home, I’ll meet you at the table

Going home, I’ll meet you in the air

And you are never too young to think about it

Oh, I cannot wait to be going, to be going home

Face to face, how can it be

Face to face, how can it be

Face to face, how can it be

-Sara Groves, Going Home