... Free day?

This morning my mom told us that it was our free day since she had to spend the whole day getting her Ethiopian drivers liscence (she's got to be absolutely insane :-P) so we could do whatever we wanted. So what did we do? We visited another orphanage. We didn't get to spend much time at Miscaye when we came a few days ago, so we wanted to spend more time with them and get to know them better. And we LOVED it there. We were so impressed with the kids. They were all very sweet and really enjoyed having us there, almost as much as we enjoyed being there. As we came in the door we were greeted with a welcome song and each one of them greeted us with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek. They wanted so badly to make us feel welcome and they did so without even trying. They each had an A+ personality and had me laughing almost the whole day. I took to the older kids as Christy spent more time with the babies. I could ramble on about each of them but that would probably take the rest of the evening :-) I really hope we get to spend a little more time there... the problem is we finished all the work we had to do there and dont have a reason to go back... Why didn't I think to stash my camera behind the couch so we'd have to go back till now?? :-)

Throughout all of my trips to Ethiopia, the older kids are the ones that end up stealing my heart. I love seeing their personalities and playfulness despite some of their really hard, short lives some of them have had. They're mature and experienced beyond they're years, not to have been able to enjoy their childhoods. They're the ones that really left a huge impact on me. Siblings that have had only each other for so long take care of each other so intently. It's so sweet to see a 7 year old brother grab 2 pieces of bread at dinner and hand one to his 4 year old sister before taking a bite of his, but heartbreaking to know that that's what he's had to do for the past 4 years in order for them to survive. Right now they don't even have a concept of "eat until your full" or even leftovers for that matter. They have no idea what their new life will be like where they will always have enough to eat. But my hopes and prayers that they'll be able to adjust to life in America and enjoy the many pleasures that we have, without feeling guilty, or sadness for the people that they've left behind in Ethiopia that have not been given the same opportunity that they've been given. I've gotten to see many kid's lives completely turned around once they've found a family, and the new joy in their lives have tuned the saddest kids into the most joyful I have ever seen. It's then that we're really able to see what a beautiful thing adoption is and the new life they now have through the gift of a family.