Gotcha Day!

A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul…Proverbs 13:19

Yes! We have her!

Sleep was hard to come by last night as we were filled with anticipation of this day! I awoke 2 hours early to make sure everything was ready for her arrival. We ate breakfast with eggs and toast at the guest house. Abebe picked us up and we headed to the CHI offices. This was going to be more on our way to Adama so Abdissa picked Sifan up at the Thomas Center and met us at his office. We arrived a few minutes before they did. So we watched as they drove up and his wife got out of the car with Sifan. She smiled at first but then whimpered a little as she was placed in my arms. We walked into the offices carrying her in my arms and up the stairs to a gathering room. By the time we were up the stairs she had settled contently in my arms. She was not all smiles but not crying. She had a wide eyed questioning look trying to take it all in. They presented us with a bouquet of fresh flowers for the special occasion. Sifan was dressed in a pink and orange t shirt and a pair of pink pants with flowers that looked more like capris on her as they were 6-9 months size and she is 18-24 months in size. She was also wearing a strawberry shortcake pink jacket. They had little black loafers on her feet. We took a few pictures in the meeting room and had a plate of cookies and a coke and then loaded up on the van to head to pick up Abebe’s family, his wife and his brother Joseph, and Tezerra who would all be traveling with us to Adama.

Sadly, Abebe and Joseph’s aunt passed away while we were on our trip to Gimbie. Abebe had attended the funeral while we were away but the tradition is for the family to gather for 3 days after the funeral for visiting and mourning on the 3^rd day. We were to drop Joseph and Abebe’s wife off in a town called DeBrezite on the way to Adama. We pulled up to the home where the aunt had lived and all the family had gathered. We were out in the van visiting with the neighboring children while we waited for them to greet the family. Abebe and Tezerra would take us on to Adama. While we were waiting, a family member came out and invited us inside. With Sifan in my arms, we went inside to offer our sympathies to the family. Abebe’s aunt had eight children ,all except one who was in America, had gathered together along with other extended family. We greeted Abebe’s uncle and offered our prayers and also saw another sister who was also in her eighties. Many of the family were sitting on mattresses on the floor of the home. They offered us a seat and we visited with the family. Friends and family bring food and they eat together during the 3 days. They offered us a Fanta orange soft drink. I started drinking and realized that Sifan was going to want some. I was not at all sure that it was culturally appropriate to offer a soft drink to a baby but I decided it was more appropriate than having a crying baby on my hands, so I turned the glass bottle up and she began to drink. And drink…and drink…Abebe went to the car and got her sippy cup and we poured the drink in it and she thoroughly enjoyed her first soft drink. Everyone was smiling so I guess it was OK. Soon we expressed our sadness to the family and we were headed to Adama.


When we arrived at the home , I had an overwhelming sense of God’s presence as we walked through the gate and were greeted by the widows and 3 of the older children in the home. Yes, THIS is where God , the defender of the fatherless, the One who sets the lonely in families, said He would be. And as I watched the widows and other orphans shower Sifan with hugs and kisses , there was no doubt He was here. He brought these widows and orphans together as family. For this moment in time they needed each other and oh how sweet it was to see the love they shared for each other! God had brought beauty from ashes for sure and it was a glorious sight!

Tezerra had the staff prepare lunch for us and we sat down to a wonderful meal of fresh baked bread and injera, mashed potatoes, cabbage, and berbere sauce. It was all delicious! We visited with 15 of the babies in the infant room and then we headed to the market with Tezerra. She assisted us in finding a shop which sold traditional Ethiopian dresses and we purchased a dress for Sifan as a souvenir. They sewed the dress there in the store in minutes while we waited. We then returned to the orphanage where we soon had to say our goodbyes. I found myself with tears streaming down my cheeks as I tried to say thank you to those who had first loved my daughter. These people may be poor in worldly riches, but they are rich in spirit and the love of Christ overflows from them. It is this love our daughter thrived under and she is forever blessed. Tezerra agreed to pray with the widows that it would not be long before we returned to visit again one day. We will agree with her in prayer that this be so. Many hugs and kisses later we were back in the van and pulling away. Sifan was waving from the van window and my tears could not be contained.

Before heading back to Addis, we would stop and look at the construction of the new widow and orphans home. They are making progress and will soon have even more room for both widows and orphans as well as mission teams that come in to minister. I decided I would let Battle and Abeebe check out the second floor while Sifan and I stayed safe on the ground. I was not confident in my ability to balance with her on the bamboo scaffolding . Once on the road, I decided it was time to let Sifan get more comfortable with her daddy and we realized that puffs and cheerios would do the trick. She sat in his lap while he offered these to her and she was quite happy.She also enjoyed playing with sunglasses and copying Battle as he moved to the music playing in the van. They were quite funny together and no doubt she soon will adore her daddy just as our other 3 treasures at home do.

We arrived at the guest house and decided after a long day it was time to give Sifan her first bath! We filled a small baby tub with warm water and sat Sifan down. She loved it and was not even bothered by the water running in her face when I was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. She played in the water for awhile.Then I wrapped her up in her towel and put a clean outfit on. I sprayed some detangler on her hair and combed her hair out for the first time. I decided to let it be natural tonight and put a coordinating headband in her hair…too cute!! I will have fun learning and experimenting with her beautiful hair! It is so very curly and she has a lot of it! We played with her downstairs in the guesthouse until bedtime. We gave her a jar of oatmeal with fruit which we had brought with us and she really liked. We then headed upstairs to put pajamas on and make her first bottle. I gave her her bottle as I held her in my arms. After finishing her bottle I sang Jesus loves me and Jesus loves the little children. I placed her on her back in the crib in our room. I sat down on the bed out of her sight and listened as she talked to herself for a minute and soon was fast asleep. Oh sweet girl, you will never know how much your mommy and daddy love you and how thankful to God we are for not allowing us to miss out on this beautiful blessing! Yes! This is Gotcha Day and we Gotcha for good!