Updates from Ethiopia--Day One and Two

Dearest family and friends of A and J,
Hi there! I'm Bekah and I'm a friend of A and J's from their church. You can check out my blog at www.oneyearofinjera.com. I'm certain that many of you are anxious to get an update on how their new little family is doing. But A has had a hard time getting onto the blog to post, so I'm going to post some of her email updates from the last few days here... I'll start with the day they met (June 1, I think) and then post the rest of the updates over today and tomorrow. Unfortunately, I'm not able to give you all what I know you really want... PICTURES! I don't think they've been able to upload any yet. But hopefully some of those will come soon. Enjoy...

From an email on June 2 (the day after they met D):

Quick summary of Day 1. Sweaty palms. J just off plane. Got to her care center and she wasn't there - at doctor's. Cried a lot in her room when I saw our photo over her bed. Pulled it together for her arrival. Met her getting off the van. She was very tired but let us hold her and ooh and ahh over her. Totally surreal out of body experience. The whole thing. Can't remember even a minute of yesterday. Glad we have it on video.

Day 2 - today.

Went to the care center at 10am and met a very sleepy D. Apparently she takes a morning nap at 10:30 or so. Wow. Spent half an hour with her. Fed her some cereal, changed diaper, etc. When the nanny went out of the room I quickly checked her temp and it was 97 so that's good! After yesterday (limp, sweaty, lifeless in the afternoon) I was sure she was running a fever. Also she had blood drawn the day before so I wonder if made her feel a little sick. Anyway, still a little chest rattle but not disastrous and nothing I would make a fuss about here. I think she'll be fine until we go home. Definitely a little respiratory thing though. All the kids have it. When we got there at 10am even though she was sleepy she gave us a big smile and really made great eye contact.

We left her to sleep and went to change money, wander this "mall" place, go to lunch at a yummy European place, and buy a few groceries like J's juice he likes and honey to replace all the honey I've been eating at Kelley's on yogurt and tea. Then we rested for a bit and went back at 3pm. Stayed until 5pm. She was SUPER happy to see us when we came back. BIG smiles, clapping, waving. She was getting her diaper changed and I think the cool air on bare legs made her cheerful. Then of course they put a million layers on her and she got progressively limper and sweatier. Poor kid. Kelley has a baby pool so we'll make use of that and the baby swimsuit when we get her here.

Anyway, we took her out by herself to the play area and sat on the slide with her. Gave her the snack trap cup (from you mom!) and she learned to pull out cheerios and yogurt melts. She was SO proud. We would yell Bravo, Yay!! And she would smile and smile and then try again. She dropped half but had fun. She is good with her fingers and she loved the cup so much. She liked to chew it too. Then we went for a slow ride on the merry go round. She clutched it tightly but didn't cry. Then we stuck tongues out, sang some songs, clapped a bit, etc. We are a dog and pony show for her. When we stop she gets a distant look or a sad look or sinks down a bit. Have to keep up the happy play or she gets nervous. She is much more comfortable back on the floor of the baby room. My guess is she doesn't get outside a lot. It's a weird world to her. Grass is a totally foreign concept to her feet. So when we went back in she would hand me toys and then snatch them away. AND when she was being held by her nanny she turned and reached to come back to me. Ahhhh. It was heavenly. I am sure we are breaking the nannies' hearts little by little but what can we do?

Other than that we admired her curls which are pure soft perfection. Noticed her semi dimples - when she smiles big. Tickled the bottom of her feet. And all around made fools of ourselves. As evidenced by AWFUL photos of us. In every photo we are white and sweaty and grinning and pathetic. It's honestly funny. She of course always looks perfect.

She hasn't cried yet at all. I am curious when/if that will come.

We still don't get custody until next week. It is going to be torture.

We said the little mantra "it's ok if we don't feel anything right away, love comes in time, etc etc" yadda yadda yadda. HAH! WE ARE BOTH SMITTEN fools. Fools. It is great though. No worries. We are in love and she is coming around. ;) J can't stop talking about her. It's cute. I shouldn't embarrass him though. He is losing the attempt to remain masculine. I'm pretty sure he played This Little Piggy on her toes today.