Ethiopia Trip - Day 4

Warning! Long wordy post!!

Before we left for our trip, we told our caseworker that while we were there, we hoped to find out as much as possible about our son's story. We wanted to visit the orphanage he was in, meet the Director of his orphanage, ask questions, etc. We knew that we owed this to our son to let him know that we made an effort and that it was important to us. We wanted to explore his country and culture and immerse ourselves however possible. We didn't want to just fly in, go to court and fly home. There will be a day when he will ask questions about where he came from and we knew this was possibly our only chance to find out some of those answers. We also knew that a lot of times, abandoned babies come with little to no information.

(Us outside the gates to his orphanage)

We set out this morning for a long drive ahead. The orphanage that he was in from infancy, was about 2 1/2 hours away from Addis Ababa. Before we went there, our agency Director said he had a "little outing" for us to see some of the countryside. We were game! We passed the town his orphanage was in, and then started up a mountain...Along the drive, our Director spent time talking with us about the information we may or may not find out about our son. I appreciated him being realistic with us to keep our expectations low...but we also knew he was excited to help us in this journey. He is very proud of Ethiopia and he wants adoptive families to be as well. We looked over our boy's paperwork and talked about an "address" on there that could have been a "clue" to his past. He stated that it was more of a zone of land far up in the mountains and not easy to access by car, from what he knew about the area. Ok-no problem...we don't need to go there...

We continue up this other mountain. About an hour up, the van overheated and we had to stop for about 20 minutes to let it cool down. We were astounded by the beauty of what we were seeing...It was a nice little pit stop. While stopped, 2 little kids ran up to our van. They were in rags. They had smiles all over their faces. We spent some time playing with them and gave them some crackers and cookies. Their mother walked down the road from their hut to our van and in all honesty asked our Director if we could take her children. She had 7 kids and couldn't afford them. They were too much of a burden for her. That was very hard to listen to. Never did I think I'd have a mother ready to put her kids in our van and give them up. That hit us all hard. Our van started working again, so we hopped back in and continued up the drive leaving some food behind for this very poor family.

About 2 hours up we arrive to where he was taking us. He said we were going to go on horseback down to a lake. Okie dokie. Horses. Great. Before I know it, we are all on horseback with a guide and a "helper" to walk us down to a lake...It was a 3 mile trip down the mountain to the lake. Once again, I couldn't believe the beauty around me...It looked like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. I took a few photos but that was difficult while balancing on a tiny horse!

(Happy kiddos while we change 1 of 2 flat tires during our day!)

(You can see the lake at the top of this photo with the little girl carrying her brother to go get water)

(Adam and Mom heading down the mountain)

We get to the lake, take a paddle boat across the lake to a tiny island to a church. Our Director told us the significance of this church is that it is believed to have held the original Ark of the Covenant at one point. While the original was allegedly there, the monks created many replicas of the Ark and then sent out the original and all the replicas to various churches so that no one really knows where the original's final resting place is. There are still 46 replicas built inside this church. We met a sweet old monk who told us the stories. Then we made our way back up 3 more miles to our van. It was about a 3 hour excursion on horseback. It was breathtaking. By far one of the best adventures I'd ever done. (Even if I was terrified of my horse!) This land and mountain region is very nomadic in the way these people live. No electricity, no running water, no vehicles. Mud huts, stick huts, a lot of farm land. Because of how far away it is from any city, I'm assuming most of these people haven't been off the mountain in years or if ever!

Now we make our way back down the mountain and finally stop at the orphanage. (After 2 flat tires) The road on the mountain was more of a "suggested path" versus a road for vehicles. Ha!

We get to the orphanage and are greeted by the sweetest lady who is the Director of his orphanage. She takes us to the baby room and lets us see the crib that was his for the first few months of his life. Then she tells us that they have a coffee ceremony for us and are ready to talk to us. We sit down at the coffee ceremony and start asking questions about him. Those present at the coffee ceremony were all the people that were instrumental in his first few months of life. They were so warm and open to us. They answered as many questions as they had answers too! (Another family that was with us was able to experience all of this with us, which was great because they took notes for us because I knew we'd forget all these details in the middle of the emotion of it all!)

Our biggest surprise during this time is our Director was asking for more information on the area he was born in. They told him the name of the mountain zone and IT WAS WHERE WE HAD SPENT THE WHOLE DAY ON HORSEBACK!!! Without us knowing it, we spent the whole day having an amazing experience in the most beautiful place we've been to, that has such rich history and that is where he is from!!! It's awesome that we have photos and video of that area to show him! Our Director was correct when he originally told us that the area is rough terrain and not easily accessible by car....well apparently, since our van broke down 3 times! When they told us this information, our Director about fell out of his chair with amazement! None of us could believe it. It was crazy!

The whole day was surreal. The Director of his orphanage is amazing. She was very patient with us, let us take photos..we met his original nannies, nurses and social workers. We saw where he slept each night. We saw where all his first baths were. Where his formula was prepared. We brought supplies with us for the orphanage. They were so grateful. Where it's located, there is no store with baby formula. Knowing more of his story now, (which I'll leave those details out of the blog) we were emotional meeting everyone. We met the person who named him. They verified that his birth name means "I am saved." They are the reason he is healthy, the reason he got fed, the reason he was held and comforted in those first few months. We'll be forever grateful to them.

We can't wait to tell him all the little details of this day..All the things God knew ahead of time and planned out for us to experience and not even realizing it was part of his story. I'm constantly amazed at how the Lord shows us how much He loves us. We knew our expectations had to be low on finding out information. But the Lord exceeded our expectations in ways we never could have imagined.

Our son is amazing. Where he came from is amazing.