Wednesday - Blen!

Wednesday. D-Day. It's finally here and everyone is freaking. We can't go to the orphange (Enat Alem) until 2:30 so we went to St. George's church and museum and the Holy Trinity church and museum. Ethiopia is a predominately Christian country with their own orthodox church. A lot of it is like Roman Catholicism with some variations. Ethiopians believe that the queen of Sheba visited Jerusalem and got pregnant with Solomon's child, a boy, and he became king of Ethiopia. Anyways, we saw the first church and museum, but before we could go to the second one, a bunch of people wanted to go back to the hotel and "get ready" (??). Joe & I went to the second church & museum (which was probably the best of all the tours of museums).

We got back and milled about for a couple of hours then went to Enat Alem. Everyone was so nervous. Lots of comments about how we could maybe just go to the airport instead or at least take the long way to the orphange. Two years of preparation and waiting and waiting and waiting and wondering if it was going to happen and now here we are at the gate of the orphanage!

We went in and they said "Do you want to meet your kids?" We went into a cramped room third after two other couples - once again chaos, kids crying and people all over and then we saw the nurse holding Blen. This time we both had tears rolling down our cheeks and she was - on cue (like every picture we saw of her) crying. I had to run back and get a toy so Wendy could lure her into her arms, and then Blen was fine. We kept crying. We took her back into the courtyard and Wendy walked around with her while I kept snapping photos of them and all the other families who we've grown so close to. It's strange being overcome with joy for people you met less than a week prior.

Blen had such sad eyes. Too sad for a girl her age, she looks like she has seen so much sorrow in her 19 months. She let Wendy hold her, but she didn't really hold back, just kind of hung there semi-limp, watching everything around her. We had a small coffe ceremony (yes I drank it and kind of liked it), took more pictures and then I was able to hold her for a little while (she didn't allow this earlier). What an amazing thing to hold her. All that it took to get there and there she is in my arms... She soon tired of me and went back to mommy.

We talked with the nannys and got info about her from the last couple of weeks and we asked about the necklace we saw on Blen. They said her mother gave it to her and she would not allow anyone to take it off. Again the floodgates of tears opened, that she would have something that her birthmom gave her. We eventually thanked the nannys and the director - many of whom were also crying saying goodbye to their kids and we were gone. It is amazing to see the love and care the workers at these orphanages have for the kids. It's a great comfort knowing they are so well cared for, even if they don't have the resources.

So we load in the van with our kids on our laps (they don't have car seats in Ethiopia) and take to the chaotic streets of Addis. Safely home, we all go back to our rooms as new families.

Blen remains very withdrawn but stuck to mom's shoulder for the first several hours. No expression except what appears to be sadness. After a while, while Wendy is singing her a song, she starts to get tears in her eyes and soon is wailing, a gut wrenching mournful deeply sad wail. Inconsolable. This keeps us up for what seems like forever and eventually we get her calmed down and a little food in her belly and she's out for the night at 6:30. I guess it was a big day for her too. Seeing her sleeping there in her crib next to our bed, it was really surreal to have her there with us.

And of course, we are exhaustted and fall asleep soon after.