Ethiopia - Part three

Continuing from "Ethiopia - part 2" - After crying, hugging, and unspeakable joy at seeing my daughters for the first time and being back together with my husband after 2 weeks we were piled into a VERY SMALL car. Our luggage was spilling out from the "trunk" onto us in the backseat. I put the trunk in quotes because this was a very small car, kinda like a Ford Festiva. The backseat consisted of Claire holding a baby, me holding a baby and the nanny; we were barely able to shut the doors it was so tight. Up front was Isaac and the CWA representative who was driving. So began the unforgettable rides we discovered were part of getting around in Addis. The streets we were on were mostly rubbles so there was A LOT of bouncing.

After arriving at the New Flower Guest House we went right up to our room. The room was so small, Isaac had also reserved a small room for Claire. From then until the middle of the 2nd day is all a blur. I know for sure that even though i hadn't slept more than 2 hours during the whole travel, i was still not able to sleep as our girls had us up every hour or so.
Aliyah Konjit and Ariel Tarikua were perfect. When i first went to change their diapers i was in shock. Their little bodies had been so covered in blankets up until then that although i realized they were little, i had no idea how little until that first diaper change. I almost started to cry at that point as their little bodies were so very tiny and fragile. They were maybe 6 pounds at that point. Their legs i called "cricket legs" because they were so thin and they had no butt at all. i was afraid i might break them! My boys came out at almost 9 pounds so having these little sweeties in my hands was shocking.

The first night i saw them cooing at isaac. They knew him. Claire swears they knew me instantly too. Part of her testimony is how blown away she was by the way the girls already knew me. They were different when they heard my voice and were in my arms than they were with her. I assumed until we were home and spent all the time with them they wouldn't really know the difference between me, Claire and any other female caregiver they had. But they did. We believe it was a supernatural thing bc/ they instantly knew me. It was like they had been waiting for me like i had been waiting for them. They had been growing in me during the 8 months of our adoption process even as they were growing in their birth mother. The Father had been growing our family in their spirits just as they were growing in ours. We had prayer from many for just that.

The first day we stayed around the guest house. We tried to re-coop from the trip and familiarize ourselves with being in Ethiopia. The next day we headed out of the guest house for the first time. We had our driver Alazar (a mighty man of God even in the face of persecution) take us to the orphanage where the girls had been. Isaac had become friends with everyone there (i think it's a Klepac trait!) nanny's, children, etc. We had legally adopted the girls after the court hearing on March 11th but because Isaac was there alone with no supplies or real way to take care of the girls, we didn't have them full time until the night he met us at the airport. i had assumed we would go get the girls the morning after we had flown in but isaac asked and was allowed to have the girls with him when we got off the airplane. What a blessing to not have to wait a moment longer! I was very emotional at the orphanage. I was flooded with emotions, too many to recount. When we left there i was totally DONE; spirit, soul and body.

On the drive around Addis we realized the room we had been moved into at the guest house was not going to work for us. The 2nd day we moved into a small room (all 5 of us) that had a full bed, a cot for claire, a crib but no room to walk and we shared the bathroom with the whole floor. We needed something else. I could elaborate but i won't as the place was good for the time being but now we needed something else. After more miracles on our behalf we ended up at the Ghion Hotel in one of their apartments. It was perfect for us. We had plenty of room for ALL of us and we were able to make it our own. Through prayer it became a safe place spiritually, a place of security. Actually i didn't want to leave the apartment for several days. I needed to nest and recover. To be continued...

PS - The picture is of me feeding Ariel at the Old Milk House restaurant in downtown Addis before we went to the orphanage.