So within less than 3 weeks from getting "the call" we found ourselves on a plane to meet the twins. During the travel there we kept thinking of what it would be like to meet them ... would they be shy, would they let us hold them or hug them, would they cry and run away. It was about a 26 hour trip to Ethiopia and we got there late at night. Last time we were in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia our ride met us in the airport but we went through customs and collected our bags and found no one waiting. We had a few wonderful Ethiopians approach us and ask if we needed to borrow their phone. I'm ashamed to say I thought that they were taking advantage of me and it took us about 20 minutes of waiting and wondering to final realize that they were right and we borrowed a phone and called our AGCI ride. D answered the phone and told us to come on out to the parking lot to the van.
We rode to the guest house which sits on the property of the transition home and it was wide to walk in and find our room knowing that just feet away our little boy and girl laid sleeping (or we hoped they are good sleepers!) There was another couple who had waited up for us - actually they had already slept for 6 or 7 hours and they were up about 1030pm. They should us around and told us about their day. They had just met their sweet little and I MEAN little 3 mos old boy.
Hannah's Hope Compound where we spent our week in Ethiopia.
The next morning we woke did some meetings with A and T of the ET staff and then headed out to meet our kids. We first went over to the baby room not knowing where are kids were. The babies were soooooo small and so cute! Lots of big eyes looking at us. They we asked where we might find our kids and were told to go look in the bigger kids play room. They saw us coming and we knocked on the closed set of doors and the special mothers had brought the twins to the door. With only one door open it was hard to see them both well. The special mothers told them to hug and kiss us and our son "M" stepped up and obediently kissed us both on the check. When the special mother asked our daughter "G"to do the same she backed up a step. This was our first clue that G and M have different personalities and will react to us differently. We asked to enter the play room and we were greeted by not only our twins but about 5 other children as well. We got out some stickers and the fun began. We were putting stickers all over each other G especially enjoyed this. M wanted some more action so Brad got out a small football and played with him. He had an amazing kick! G got over stimulated and needed some comfort so after about 10-15 minutes of playing with me and the other 5 kids who were playing with the stickers. She went back over to the special mother in the room. I got out their albums and both G and M enjoyed looking at the pictures of our family. We had many pictures of us and the kids individually, our home and the local school and playground. We feed them some banana gerber snacks and M did a wonderful job and sharing them with G and making sure that she had some too. We could tell off the bat he was a sweet caring brother.
The big kids play room. The kids were found there every morning that they were outside playing. Many days we woke up to rain so this is where they played.
Brother sharing banana gerber snack with his sis! Notice the stickers that cover me.
They loved it and I kept finding them even one in my hair at about 8pm that night!
We were moved over to visit in the guest house living room with our kids to try and get some one on one with them. That was great for M but G wasn't ready to be with just us and Brad went back to the play room with G and the HH staff member and M and I explored the living room. He was so curious and had fun playing with cars, balls and turning on and off the TV. We spent 2 periods each day playing with our kids and most of them were in the living room of the guest house to have some one on one time. G finally warmed up to us and I started each visit by painting her toe nails to earn some trust and start by touching in a non threatening way. We couldn't really communicate as they don't speak Amharic the national language and no one at HH speak their regional language. We were able to understand when to take them to the bathroom and we are soooo thankful that they are potty trained. We were only there for 4 days and by the last day we were rocking with both kids, singing and doing "everybody hugs" in which the kids would belly laugh. We just loved our time with them! It was so hard to say goodbye and they truly didn't understand what was happening. They don't speak amharic and no one at HH speak there language so I'm certain they didn't know we were leaving them and this is my prayer that God can tell them we are coming back soon!
We've been submitted to the Embassy which just means that have all of our paper work. We are now just waiting for another meeting with Ethiopian side of things at the embassy and then they will schedule our Embassy appointment and we will get to travel to pick up the twins!
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