Rescue - Day 2

Day 2 - Rescue - June 25, 2010

We arrived in Addis Ababa today after a very long flight. Nothing terrible went wrong, but with all of our kids flying with us, neither Mendy nor I got to sleep very much. So needless to say, we are exhausted. We picked up our twelve bags and were greeted at the gate by Trent, Carmen, KiKi and Gavin Post, and Nicco! Man it was great to have people who know you and love you – greet you. After a quick drop off of our bags at the house where we are staying, we headed over to the see our kids. The anticipation was huge, we opened the gate and Lindsey spotted Tizita right off.

I wish I could describe to you the hugs that I saw between all of our kids. I know we have described to you the journeys of our hearts, but our kids have been on their own journeys as well. They each prayed, hoped, longed for, and ached for this to happen; so the huge smiles on their faces were no surprise Tizita was really excited, but Geremo was VERY tentative. They knew we were coming today and I felt as though Geremo knew his whole life is about to change, but wasn’t sure of what it was going to be like. The fear of the unknown was very present.

I think that this is completely normal. After all, Geremo doesn’t really know us and has very little reason to trust us at this point. It reminds me of the tentativeness I see in people who are trying to decide if they are going to believe God and trust Jesus’ work for their life. They just don’t really know yet everything God has planned for them – they haven’t experienced his character, his grace, his love… and so they are fearful of what the future holds and tentative to trust Him. I understand why Geremo is hesitant, but it still makes me sad. I want him to be secure and free and excited… and rest. I know this will come in time, but I want it to be soon.

We looked at their birth certificates today. They state that their birthday is September 3, 2004. We are not sure this is correct, but if so that means they are still five years old – about 10 months younger than we thought.
Birthdays

We were talking with Tsday and Muluken (the case workers at our agency) about Tizita and Geremo’s journey to this point. We had spoken with Tsday and Muluken numerous times and so I think they feel comfortable around us and they are unguarded in their speech. We were talking about what it was like to travel out to the island were our kids are from. She mentioned the journey and then she said, “there is a curse… the people are under a curse… a generational curse.” Now Tsday does not speak very good English, but Muluken was describing that there is a belief by everyone around that the people on this island are under a curse. Both Muluken and Tsday affirmed that they believe that this curse is why this adoption was such a hard case to complete. I didn’t inquire much further, but when Muluken was describing the curse he said it, “keeps people tied up.” He didn’t think I understood what he was talking about, so he used the phone cord and wrapped it around his hands to illustrate what he meant. I got the picture loud and clear. I was in tune with what they were saying and I believe God was speaking to my heart saying, “pay attention David, this is part of my plan.” I long to be a force of freedom for these kids and for the people of this island, someone God uses to share with them of Jesus who broke the power of death and sin, to set us free.

As we were driving away from the orphanage and to the restaurant, we were in the heart of the city. There were beggars everywhere and poverty was all you could see – particularly if you are a child and had never seen this kind of poverty before. About 10 minutes in to the drive, Lindsay (our 6 year old) climbed to the front of our van, grabbed me and said, “Daddy, I want to go home.” I comforted her and said, “Baby we are going home right after we get something to eat.” She said, “No, daddy, I want to go back to our real home.” I comforted her again and helped her know that God has a plan for this time. We prayed and she seemed a little better. I think the whole day and the surroundings were just too much for her to bear.

We arrived at the family restaurant. I wanted to make sure our kids knew that they could get some decent American food while we are here. As I was reading the menu, I was literally falling asleep. All of us are exhausted and in light of that, I think we are all handling things pretty good. Back to the orphanage tomorrow morning.