It was a long flight but we made it safe and soundly and with all 13 bags! Can you believe it! Our hotel room could not be more perfect! Lots of space for the extra bags and thanks to Edwin Miller we had a dozen roses in the room when we arrived. We all were able to sleep and woke up this morning with great expectation to see Tam! Our appointment was for 10:30am. We pulled through the gates and I could see him sitting on the steps and I watched recognition in his face as he saw me in the van. It felt almost surreal as we met him. He did not run into our arms or leap for joy but was very appropriate considering he has never met us and we are strangers to him. We spent some time at our agency’s care center learning a little more about him. Of course he got glowing reports. “Brilliant” was one of the adjectives used to describe our new son. I can only say that he is more precious than I could have ever imagined.
We had the privilege of delivering two photo albums for our friend’s the Huges who have two children in the same care center as Tam. We got to meet both of them and give them their albums. They are beautiful children who were so excited to learn that their friend Tam would only be living 10 minutes away from them.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch and Kara you will never guess who I ran into in the lobby! BeBe! He was our translator on our missions trip last summer. He then shared lunch with us and was great help with Tam at lunch in talking to him. We then traveled about an hour to the Adera orphanage where Tam was dropped off by his birth mother. It was obvious that Tam was adored by the Director and his wife and they admitted that he had actually spent more time in their home than at the orphanage. We brought donations, took pictures, learned more about Tam and I was able to leave a letter and pictures for his birth mother. We were so glad we went as it was touching to meet the people who had cared for him and had loved him so much.
After a very long day we headed back to our hotel to see yet another old friend, Surafel! He had come to the Hilton to try and find us and just as we were coming through the lobby from our day we ran into him. He shared dinner with us and was such a blessing as he translated so many things for us to Tam. We were worried about whether Tam knew any English? Well, he is reading Madeline’s chapter books? I think he is still shy to speak but I suspect he knows lots of English. He can certainly read and can beat Madeline in running down the hotel hallway!
We miss our sweet Bella and hope she is doing well! It’s late here so I am going to sign off by saying God is good! More to come tomorrow!
Tam slept through the night with out any issues although he looked a little nervous as we put him to bed. His personality has come out so much more today. He is so sweet and fun. He called me Mommie which made me tear. We suspect he knows way more English than he is letting on as he can read Madeline’s chapter books. When we ask him questions about colors, numbers, and body parts he knows them well. He is way ahead of where we thought he would be. He eats Ethiopian food for breakfast, lunch and dinner which consists of sponge like bread called injera along with a very spicy meat. I don’t think he has ever had any other types of food. We took him to the pool for his first every swim. How fun it is to see him experience things for the first time. It was a beautiful day today so we got to swim and they also have a park for kids where he had a blast swinging and sliding and teether tottering! We are back in the room now as he naps from 1pm-3pm? I think I am going to try it with Maddy! Maddy just peeked in on him and said he is sucking his thumb. Tomorrow we will be visiting Hanna’s to play with kids and deliver supplies. Please pray for Tam’s finger as he has a bad cut that is infected. He also has a severe cough so we started him on antibiotics the first day we picked him up to try and prevent possible anything serious from developing.
We had the pure pleasure and joy of being giving Tam his first ever ice cream. He has had so many firsts in just two days! Eating ice cream, riding in an elevator, trying fruit roll ups and going swimming. We are continually amazed at how much English he already knows. Today Stef went to work out and we walked by to say hello and Tam said “Sports club.” Who knew? Maddy and Tam are bonding like crazy giggling and laughing and racing down the long hallways in the hotel to our room. She told me today that “she loves her brother and that he is so much fun.!” I told her to give it a few weeks! Of course we are in the honeymoon period but loving every minute of it. Thinking of you all and so appreciative of your love, support and prayers!
Just wanted to share a cute picture of the kids together after racing down our long hallway to our room. Madeline let Tam beat her the first few times but no longer.
Blessings...
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