Easter!

Home for the Day

Well... most of the day.

Our time here has been very scheduled and very busy.  As Rach will discuss in a later blog we are spending our time with 8 other families.  We spend a lot of time on a bus big enough for about 5 families, but we make it work.   Needless to say, none of us look forward to getting on that bus.

Monday morning however, was a trip on that bus we all looked forward to.  We were able to pick up Rayne and bring her back to our guest house for the day.  Amazing fun….  We fed her, played with her, rested with her and gave her a bath.  For the first time in 18 months things felt just like any other day you would have with your child.  We’ll take it…. Even if it was for 4 hours.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 5,000 words or so.  Blessings to you all.

Easter

The rickety red bus weaved through the relatively quiet city of Addis Ababa just as the sun was rising above the green hills.   Inside the bus our minds were heavy with the day that lies ahead of us.   A four hour drive to the Southern Region of Ethiopia, to the city of Hosanna, to the place where our babies were first relinquished.  The bus was crammed, and in true African style the bus made a few unannounced stops to pick up new passengers, filling our bus to max capacity.  I don’t think they really have max capacity actually!  Jeeva and I knew this would be a hard day, but one that we would treasure in our hearts for Rayne, when someday she would have questions.   (And answer some of ours too!)  The burden of our hearts was lightened by the consistent honking and weaving around the donkeys, goats, and small children in the middle of the road.  I am not sure why they bother to put lines on the paved parts of the road because they drive right down the middle or wherever there are not people walking or animals crossing.  We moved through the city and into the Ethiopian countryside -  beautiful, rolling hills, high mountains in the background,  sun shining on the green pastures and farmland.   Easter…as the sun came up.  It is Easter.  Sunrise. Hope.  New Life.   Can’t be a coincidence.  So, I will walk in that hope today.  

We walked into the meeting place, into a courtyard, and sitting by the tree was the birth mother of our little girl.  We recognized her, since we had seen her in a picture the previous day.   We had been told about the process, but how can anyone be prepared for this meeting?  I trust we will know what to say.  We were first to be called into a cold concrete room with a desk and chairs.  We entered a room with an ashamed mother not making eye contact with either of us.  Feeling less emotional than I had expected, we gave her the two gifts we were permitted to offer.    The first gift was a double-hinged frame (very specific instructions about what we could offer – no baby buying allowed!) filled with a current picture of Rayne and the other of our family of four, including Caleb and Nathan.  She kissed the pictures, and she kept looking at her daughter.  The only smile we saw on her face in this meeting was one of joy as she looked at her daughter. The other gift was a map of where we live, depicting Ethiopia and Colorado.   She gave a big gasp and said, “America,”  with a sigh of excitement and a look of interest.  When she dropped her baby off at the center four months ago she did not know where she would go.  We, then, began to ask some specific questions about Rayne’s story.  She spoke in Ahmaric and the graceful interpreter communicated her words.   I sat on the other side of a desk from her, which was way too much barrier to communicate my heart to her.  So, I approached her on my knees and sat at her feet while we finished our meeting.  We both asked her questions that we thought Rayne would like to know someday, and we assured her of our love for Rayne, and asked her hopes for her.  We mostly just loved her in those few moments.  We thanked her for the sacrifice, in order to give Rayne life.  We would never meet her again, according to Ethiopian law, but we did remind her that early post placement reports would be filed at the center, where she can come and see them.   “Any more questions?”  Asked the interpreter.  Yes….I probably have a million but I couldn’t think of any more…at least for that moment.   We took a picture together, and as the picture was being taken she leaned her head into mine.  The center gave her a picture and she walked behind the building.  She would return for a special ceremony.   Jeeva and I sat down outside the building to be sure to record all that we had heard that day, so we could share it with Rayne.  And she appeared from the side of the building and sat down next to me.  So close to me…then, she layed herself across my lap and asked for another picture.  She jumped over to sit between Jeeva and I and her spirit was light.  She looked at another family with tears and the birth mother was full of tears. .  She pointed to them, and she spoke in broken English and touched her heart, and she said that today was not a sad day…it was happy in her heart  She found hope in her daughter’s new life today, and that made her happy.    During the candlelight ceremony, where the birth parents offer you a candle, marking their giving up of their child to you, we wept.  We hugged her, and we wept.  We wept for her loss and her sacrifice.  We wept for Rayne.  We wept for our new life.  Transformed by his love for her and his commitment to take care of her daughter,  this birth mother clung to Jeeva and hugged him.  She kept repeating, I love you.   

Today was Easter.  Good Friday comes first.  The grieving and the sacrifice of Jesus’ death leads to abundance and new life.   Feeling the burden of death lifted and the hope of Easter in our hearts.