Coming Home

It’s finished.  Sofani is finally ours. 

We had our appointment yesterday at the US Embassy and they approved our case.  We were all very excited and relieved to learn that the adoption is final.

We are packing our things this morning and will be going shopping for some souvenirs this afternoon.  The staff at the hotel found out that it’s Staci’s birthday today, so they’re having a coffee ceremony for her this evening at 7 PM.  We are having dinner with Alemu, our agency representative in Ethiopia, at his home at 8 PM before we head to the airport.  Our flight leaves at 1 AM Saturday (5 PM Friday EST) and we arrive in Dayton after making connections in London and Philadelphia on Saturday evening. 

The past couple of days in Ethiopia have been very low key.  We’ve traveled around the city.  We had meals all across Addis – even found a hamburger and fries last night (Avery and Jackson are going to make me stop at the first Buffalo Wild Wings that we see when we’re back in the states – they’re craving it in a bad way).  We have spent a lot of time with Linda Schrenk and her daughters from Ohio.  We are very fortunate to live so close to them so that Sofani can maintain contact with Meskarem and Hawi – his two buddies from Jane’s House.

We all played “Old Maid” last night and we learned that Sofani is a crafty card player.  He caught glimpses of Staci’s hand to make sure she selected the right cards and won both times that we played.  He’s already scoring lots of points with mom.  Sofani showers and makes his bed each morning.  He’s disciplined.  He even made Jackson get out of bed so he could make it.  Poor Jackson.  Sofani loves to dress up.  We brought several outfits for him and he’s mixing and matching his way through the week.  He loves his sunglasses and enjoys all of his new gear.  He’s proud of his new “stuff.”  He is freakishly strong and he loves music.  We can’t pry him away from the synthesizer in the hotel dining area (the other guest like it when we get him to rejoin us at the table - he needs a few lessons).  He knows the words to all of the Tigrenian songs on the radio and sings them proudly.  We all agree that Sofani is going to be a ton of laughs once he figures out the language.  He’s has a big personality and is super-social. 

Our trip to Jimma with World Vision was cancelled because of the timing of our Embassy appointment – we couldn’t get to Jimma and back safely in time to catch our plane.  We decided that this was probably a good thing in light of it all.  We were planning a 12 hour round trip to and from Jimma in a Toyota Land Cruiser only to board 3 planes over the next 24 hours on our trans-Atlantic journey home.  We did visit the World Vision office in Addis to drop off all of our gifts for Birtukan and to learn more about their work in the project near Jimma.  We were lucky enough to meet with the World Vision Sponsorship Director for all of Ethiopia and gained a lot of information about the Abaya region.  Abaya is the development project through World Vision that our church sponsors 157 children.  We’re in the process of planning a mission trip to this area in 2014 and we gained some valuable information and a key contact to help us with the logistics.  Good stuff!

Avery has been making bracelets over the past year and selling them to raise money for an orphanage in Ethiopia.  We counted the money in her jar before we left and she had $393.  We added $7 to make it an even $400.   On our way to the Embassy Avery told Alemu that she would like to donate it to Jane's House.  Alemu said that they needed $700 for a clothes dryer.  Linda spoke up and said that she brought some extra money in the event that she felt led to donate it and quickly agreed to chip in an extra $300 to pay for the dryer.  Super cool.  Avery knows first hand how many clothes were hanging on the line at Jane's House.  They hang in the only open area where the kids play.  Now the clothes can come down and give the kids some space to move around.

I can’t imagine what Sofani is thinking today.  He spoke with his Aunt last night on the phone and Girmay and Deborah this morning.  He is leaving everything familiar to him in his young life in a matter of hours.  Everything that he owns will be put into a suitcase and he’ll be starting a new life with new parents, siblings, community, church, school, climate, culture, friends, language… it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it.

He just continues to smile and laugh.  He has no idea what he’s in for and I really don’t think he cares.  I think he’s desperate for a father, mother and a family unit.  Nothing else matters to him.  He knows he’s going to have opportunities for education and a shot at the American Dream when he becomes a US citizen tomorrow in Philadelphia, but he’s too young to really know what that means.  He just wants to be a part of a family and we’re so fortunate to be the ones chosen.