Ethiopia….Day One

Travel to Ethiopia is long, but so very worth it. Jason and I knew pretty early on that we wanted to take Parker with us. Part of our plan as parents is to expose them frequently and early to the world outside of Tennessee.  We really thought through if she was ready to see poverty in a tangible way and live outside of her comfort zone for a week. As we got closer, we felt both girls were ready and wanted them to have this experience together. Together, they can have this amazing memory, but also can process it with each other in a way that they can’t with us. Needless to say….lots of excitement in our house in the weeks prior.  Our prayer has been that God would use all that they saw and experienced to cause a very real shift in their hearts and minds about living an obedient life and the desperate need we all have for Jesus.

We left Nashville on Friday, October 28 and headed to Washington D.C. We stayed overnight and flew out on Saturday.  13.5 hours later and we are there! Ethiopia is not a quick trip, but all in all, we had a great flight.  The girls did great!  They watched movies, read and slept (very little.) Jason sat next to an Ethiopian woman named Gigi and she walked with us through baggage claim and customs. She and her husband run an orphanage 100 miles outside of Addis Ababa. She was invaluable and was ready to help us in any way.

We got to our Guest House and crashed for a while.

Then we headed out to meet Obsi.

We were nervous and excited,  realizing there is no turning back. This was the moment I hadprayed for and thought about for months.  The nanny went to get him up from his nap….not good. He came in wearing clothes we had sent months earlier that looked like they had never been worn. His 18 month clothes were big on our 2 year old. The sweet nanny handed him to me and he was terrified.

He just cried and cried and cried. I carried him outside and he just couldnt stop. He then kinda sorta threw up…awesome. It is just heartbreaking. He began to calm down when the Nanny picked him back up. We played and played and played…with all the other kids. We just kept giving Obsi suckers, kicking a soccer ball and he got to a point that he would only whimper when he looked at us. He even cried when the girls tried to hold him. Our whiteness seriously scares him.  They call these people (us) he has never met, Mommy and Daddy. He is wise enough to recognize that changes are coming. Jason said to me at one point, “He is guarding his heart, which is a good thing.”

The good things I saw were how attached he is to the Nanny and the older boys who are at the Transition House. Obsi seeks them out and their presence comforts him. They were gentle and patient with him. They did not like seeing him cry and you could tell that they just wanted to scoop him up and help him feel better. That warms this mommy’s heart. I have NO doubt we will become security and stability for him…it just will take longer than fifteen minutes.

We loved playing with the kids. Parker has been saving her kids meal toys for a long time.  For months, she has put them in a bucket at our house because she wanted to give them to the kids at the orphanage.  When we got there, they began to hand them out.  You would have thought we were giving a shopping spree at Toys R Us!!  They loved these small token gifts. Some would take them and run, others would share with their buddies. So many of the kids were eager to be held,  and most were ready to play and to interact. It was truly breathtaking to watch our girls give of themselves.

October 30…the day we met our fourth child, Judson Obsi, age 2 years 4 months.