Day 3 Update

We've made it to Sunday! The last few days have been a whirlwind of travel, motion sickness, and emotional meetings. As in Togo, time management and organization aren't very honed skills here and a trip that was said to take 2 ½ hours turned into eight hours on the road. The other couple and their daughter, and we traveled west of Addis to meet the birth families of our little ones. The regional coordinator of the Gelgelah Orphanage traveled with us to interpret. We had no idea at the time that he knew both of our cases intimately and knew many details still unknown to us. To make what could be a novel much shorter we met Micah's family this morning. Dennis and I are still trying to wrap our minds around what we saw, heard and experienced. We realize that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and will be invaluable to Micah later. Much of what we encountered this morning can't be put into words yet, possibly not for a long time. This is a picture of some of the scenery along the way to his area. We were able to visit with the grandmother who chose to give us the gift of our son, Micah. He has many family members that we met as well. This is a picture of the house he was actually born in last September. She invited us in with classic African hospitality as we were offered stools and chairs. Dennis and I both expressed to her how thankful we were for her grandson and that we promised to make sure he always knew who his grandma was. At times much can be lost in translation, but much of our experience needed no words. The deep lines on her face, rags on her back, and sadness in her eyes expressed her poverty and need for food. I can't begin to express how much she did for Micah to keep him fed and safe the first few months until she saw it important to give him an opportunity for better at the orphanage. I've come to dislike the phrase, "give him up" as it has a negative feel to it as if you discarded something you didn't care about. In fact, it's the absolute opposite. Imaging loving someone so much that you would do ANYTHING to see that they are safe, fed, educated, and healthy. This is what his grandma did for him. What a blessed little grandson. We left her an album of pictures of him, our family and friends (that's you Auntie Amanda), our house, his bed, his school, and his toys. She kissed the pictures over and over and looked to the sky as if to say, "Thank you, God!" Imagine the most heart-wrenching movie times 100. Then you would almost have it! Tomorrow we meet Micah and we can't be more satisfied knowing in our hearts that God has had him here in Ethiopia this whole time until just the right moment. We can't believe that moment is tomorrow. I've never been so thrilled in claiming that God has sent "…good news from a distant country" just like He promised. (Proverbs 25:25) p.s. Congratulations to our daughter Kelsay on graduating from high school! We wish we could be with you at your reception,!! We love you and miss you all.