Saturday, Sept 26 evening; Sunday, Sept 27 daytime

Saturday, Sept 26, evening

We were blessed to be invited out to dinner with our new friends, the Trier family, to celebrate their daughter Juliette's birthday. As we piled into Ephrim's car, we were delighted to see a woman from Oregon who was staying at another guesthouse and had become friends with the Triers as well. She held an adorable Ethipian boy on her lap- he was nestled into her chest with his little hand securely wrapped around her wrist. As we began to drive to the restaurant, she shared her story with us. I was fighting back tears the whole time. She had come to Ethiopia three weeks before with her husband, a pediatrician, to bring home two special needs boys. They were 18mmonths and two years. The 18 month old suffered from severe malnutrition and Rickett's and was functioning as a 9 month old. The two year old was HIV positive. They knew coming into Ethiopia that they would be here longer than most adoptions, as the paperwork for HOV positive orphans is "about double" what we would have done. They were waiting on some CDC paperwork to be completed- paperwork they were told would be finshed 10 days earlier at this point. Her husband finally had to leave to go home on Friday night, taking the 18 month old with him and leaving her with their new two year old. She is hopeful that she will get to go home within this week- she wants desperately to be with her other 7 children back home! Anyways, her testimony as to the calling God had placed on her and her husband in regards to adopting special needs children was overwhleming and beautiful (I seem to be using those words over and over again in all my posts). When we arrived at dinner I was in awe of this woman. We enjoyed a wonderful meal together, highlighted by the antics of her two year old. He is one big ball of personality, a total ham. He delighted in copying our words, playing high five games with Mark, peek-a-boo with me, and dipping french fries in ketchup (kids love for french fries and ketchup really is universal!). What moved my heart the most, even more than his megawatt smile and contagious giggle, was his obvious love for his mother. He was bonded to her instantly, and though he showed us attention and affection, he reserved his most tender moments for her. Priceless. It was an incredible evening.

Sunday, Sept 27 daytime
Will have to wait for later... time for dinner