Superman, Annie, Moses, Blondie & Benjamin

At night I wonder if we did the right thing by taking Benjamin from his home country to live with us (I know the answer but I still think about it).  But then I think of all the other people, real and fictional, who've been adopted and they've altered the course of the world we know, so how bad could it be?  Superman, Annie, Moses, Blondie, Steve Jobs, Steve Inskeep, Babe Ruth...the list is actually surprising.  Out of curiosity, I Googled Charles Whitman.  Not adopted! 

We are home now with 8 days of parenthood behind us - safe and sound and life could not be better.  We giggle, play, eat, go for walks and generally laze around with goofy smiles on our faces most of the time.  If we're not smiling it's because we've face planted onto our beds, hoping to catch the odd nap or 4 hour stretch of sleep when we can get it.  Benjamin's a good baby and is learning to get on a schedule, but we're not quite there yet.  Paul is a gracious Daddy, eager to share all the responsibilities evenly, although I think he leapt ahead of me in karma points by volunteering to collect the 3 days of stool samples from Ben that the International Adoption Clinic wants us to return by Friday.  Sorry for the poopy talk.  It just happens.

I wanted to provide an account of our last few days in Ethiopia since we did not have Internet access and have gotten lots of questions.   We took custody of our son on Monday, October 18th.  It was the exact opposite of our first visit to Ethiopia ("not a Hallmark Moment" as Scott Simon says in interviews about adopting his 2 little girls from China).  Benjamin was inquisitive and almost immediately responsive to us.  Paul kept saying "I think he gets it" and I think he was right.  The whole experience felt right. 

To describe the scene when they handed him over to us, we were in this very large play room (also a cafeteria) which is in the new school/home that's been built by our adoption agency.  It is located at the foothills of some mountains just outside Addis Ababa.  There are 5 or 6 other couples from our adoption agency waiting with us and then the nannies start walking our children in to us.  There are screams from some of the babies, tears of joy, looks of hope and apprehension and above all, rapidly beating hearts.  It was the begining of the rest of our lives.  Like a biological birthing room at a hospital, the emotions were palpable and hugs are plenty.   Here's a little video, in case you're interested.  Note some of our new found friends receiving their children in the background.   

The rest of our week was spent doing paperwork for our Embassy appointment and getting to know our son.  We spent long days (and nights!) trying to figure each other out.   Thankfully, we had other friends at the guest house to rely on and bounce questions off of.  We ate all of our meals together at a communal table with 3 other families (one from our agency, one from Children's Hope International and one from Gladney) and their children.  It was a wonderful experience and we think we've made some life long friends.   Here are some pictures: 

L-R:  Jessica (Hermala's mommy), McKenna (aka Kenna, daughter of Stacey), Stacey, Jada & Todd

Ethiopian babies also enjoy being thrown into the air.  Yipee! 



Figuring it all out.  Note Kenna, who came along to meet her new baby sister, taking a picture of Hermala. 



Hermala discovers the joy of blueberry suckers.

This last one is of a darling couple from Tennessee who are adopting two older siblings.  Their son (far right) is a real charmer and his social worker said of him (to his parents) during the exit interview, "He is a handsome boy.  And he thinks he is more handsome than all the other boys".  How soon their personalities come out! 

I'll probably post a few more times with other pictures from home, including the most heart warming "Welcome Home" greeting at the airport after our grueling 27 hours of travel.  We've never felt so loved, nor imagined how quickly we'd be marginalized to "the holders of the baby".   :)  He was a star.   

For now, here's a picture of Benjamin on our last night in his beautiful, mountainous, loving, warm, broken, generous and ancient country.  We'll always go back to Ethiopia (spiritually and we hope physically) with thanksgiving and grateful hearts for the greatest gift we've ever received. 

 


Peace,
Mandy, Paul & Benjamin Barata Dorsey