best day ever!

 

It’s Thursday morning, and I’m sitting in the room of our guest house – listening to kids play outside, and enjoying the view of Kampala. There are chickens in the lot nearby, and every now and again, we hear them cackling. I can't think of a better way to spend the morning, because....

Yesterday we got to meet our kids for the first time! The whole experience felt a little surreal – we weren’t just going to play with kids at a VBS or do a mission project with children that we’d see for a week. These are our kids. At the end of the day, they belong with us and will stay with us. Wow.

Sumaya

We met Sumaya at her babies’ home first thing in the morning, and our first glimpse of her cracked me up. Instead of them bringing her out to us, we happened to see her as the director was giving us a tour of the facility. We saw where they cooked the food, where the children eat, and where Sumaya was sitting on her potty. Ha! As we continued our tour, we also got to meet the nannies (“aunties”) who take care of the babies there. Each time they heard that we were there for Sumaya, their eyes lit up. It was so fun to see how much they love the children, and especially how much they love Sumaya.

The home has a good feel to it, and we will visit frequently to see Sumaya before we have physical custody of her. There are quite a few babies there, and it made me laugh to see all of these little personalities in the room.

When she was ready, they brought her into the play room where we go to play together. Before we even sat down, there were babies all around us. Some were bringing toys to us, some were making themselves comfy in our laps, some were watching from the sidelines. It was so much fun! Meanwhile, we were trying to get acquainted with Sumaya, who seems to have a little cold. She sat in my lap the entire time that we were there, though she was a little hesitant of her daddy. After awhile, she started to loosen up, and we realized that we have a firecracker on our hands! She has a joyful spirit and loves to help the other babies in the home.

We stayed until tea time, when we went with another family and with the home director to meet with our attorney. As it turns out, he has done work for Aid Sudan before and knows our friends Kerry and Bob. It was a fun connection to make. He mentioned that our judge is a good one and that he didn’t see any items where we might have concern. That’s pretty good news. The only thing that we needed was Ibra’s HIV test form…more about that later (spoiler: everything is fine now).

Ibra

After lunch, the driver at the guest house took us to Ibra’s home. It was a 90 minute drive from where we are staying, and there were a few times when I wondered if we were lost and hoped that we wouldn’t get stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere.

Ibra’s home is run by a man named Wilfred, who is about 26 and has been caring for children since he was 17. We’ve heard so much about him, and it was wonderful to meet him when we walked in. After our introductions, we asked where Ibra was, and Wilfred laughed and dared us to find him. Oh man, talk about being put on the spot! Not only were kids running around inside and outside, but I wasn’t entirely sure that I’d be able to pick him out, even after our daily studies of his picture!

Andrew found him first, and we didn’t have to look very far – he was sitting with a friend in a bed nearby. He was much smaller than I thought he’d be, and his pictures don’t do him justice. He has precious ears that stick out a little at the top, and his smile is brilliant.

He sat on my lap for a few minutes before latching on to Andrew for the rest of our time there. Andrew could not go anywhere without this little man clinging to him. Wilfred told us that just recently, Ibra saw his friend Ben get adopted. Ibra told Wilfred that he wanted a family too, so it was a happy day for him with Wilfred told him that we were coming to get him that day!

While Andrew was occupied with our son, I took the opportunity to love on some of the smaller children who are at the home. It was so clear to me that they deeply need a mom. The home is primarily run by men – and while they do a great job, you can’t take a momma’s place. Three of the little ones in particular clung to me so closely that I couldn’t move without knocking one of the over. They were often vying for position whenever I turned around, and simply brushing their faces with my hand thrilled them. They are so hungry for love, affection and physical touch – it was so hard to leave them. One of them – a 5 year old who they nicknamed “Celebrity” – was tough to put down. He is missing his two front teeth, and apparently, his verbal skills are very limited. I spent the most time with him and cried when I saw that he was waiting for me at the car when we were leaving to go home.

My greatest hope in our entire adoption process, besides the redemption of our children, is that other people may see and take action to bring these little ones into their families. It grieves me to see the depth of their need, and it fills me with joy to see Ibra and Sumaya with us.

It was such a joy to meet our kids, and it sent me over the top when Ibra got to come home with us last night! He was amazed at everything on the ride home and was struggling with all of his might to stay awake for all of it. He was ultimately successful, but went right to sleep as soon as we put him in bed.  Best. Day. Ever!