Gotcha Day

Our official, never have to stay at the orphanage again, gotcha date is 09/09/09. We were FINALLY able to get his travel document from the Ministry today. Whew! Last night when we took him back to the orphanage, he was very distraught that we were leaving. I told Justin I didn’t think that I could do that again. We gave him his first bath after we got back to the hotel, and it was a little bit of a rodeo! The water scared him. In the end, he got sufficiently clean without too much trauma.

Enjoy the random pictures from the last few days! The group picture is all of us with Veronique, the woman at the minister’s office who processes all our paperwork. She is a very important person!

Please pray for us that we can get his passport expedited and still leave for Ethiopia on time.

So … I lied. In my last post, I said that we would be able to keep Moses tonight, but it didn’t work out. The other families that arrived today were delayed by a few hours and by the time everyone got back to the hotel, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion was closed for the day. We have to pick up Moses’ travel document from them, take a copy to the orphanage and check out, and then take the original up to the U.S. Embassy so they can process his passport. Tomorrow, we will be doing all that, and all the families will go together. We did pick Moses up around 11:00 today and took him back to the hotel for his nap. He wanted both of us laying down right by him, and he fell asleep with his hands on my neck and his face about 3 inches away. So sweet! He is getting more and more playful each day. Lots of smiles! It was definitely harder to leave him tonight, but soon, very soon that will not be the case!

This morning Nyanja took us to the genocide memorial here in Kigali. It’s hard to even express the depth and range of emotion that I felt. I have studied Rwandan history and know all the facts about the genocide, but … well, there are some things that books and movies can never convey. One of the last exhibits is dedicated to the children who were killed. I had made it through the museum up until that point, but as we walked out of there into the gardens, I couldn’t help but weep. Not just a few tears … I was sobbing. I surprised several gardeners with my blotchy, wet face. The garden area is very beautiful and peaceful with neatly groomed hedges, flowers, and pathways. They have 258,000 victims buried there in mass graves. There are still fresh flowers being placed on the graves and signs that say, “Never forget. Never again.” Nyanja said that before the genocide, there were only 3 orphanages in Rwanda. Now there are 300. Only 29 of these are registered, and only 1 has all the proper paperwork in place (hence the reason all the referrals are coming out of Home of Hope). Now, those children who were orphaned during the genocide are having babies that they can’t take care of and creating more orphans. Nyanja did tell us that Rwanda is a much better country after the genocide than it was before. People here have had to learn how to reconcile and move on. They are committed to healing and improving their nation.

We went to pick up Moses right after that. I’m sure he wondered why I held him so tight! While we were there, the police brought in a baby that had been found just hours earlier, abandoned on the side of the road. He was days old. This is the second baby that’s been brought to the orphanage just in the three days since we’ve been here. The sisters told me this afternoon that they decided to name him Moses, too.

We are glad that the Himes and Higgins families made it safe today! It was wonderful watching them meet their children for the first time. It’ll be fun to watch all the kids interact and play together in the days ahead.

Here are some pictures from our first meeting. It takes forever to upload pictures with this connection, but I’ll do my best to keep doing it!

Today we went back to the orphanage first thing and picked up Moses for the day. His eyes got big when we walked in the room and he kept pointing at us. Good sign! He came to me without crying today and didn’t protest when we left the orphanage. We headed to Bourbon Street Coffee (it’s like a Starbucks, except they serve meals as well) to hang out with our guide, Nyanja and some friends, Torri, David, and their 9 month old daughter Ineza (she was adopted from Home of Hope also). It was so nice! So laid back! We spent the whole morning just chatting and letting the babies play. Moses was very reserved at first, but by the end of the morning he was playing with us, smiling (we didn’t get to see any smiles yesterday), and Daddy even got him to laugh a few times. He loves to throw things, balls preferably but any toy will do. We did a little more sight-seeing, fed Moses dinner and then took him back to the orphanage. He is so much fun and is such a lover! He interacted so much and it seemed he was much more comfortable today. When the sister took him from me to take him back to the toddler room, he reached back for me. Another good sign! He really loves the sisters and the nannies at the orphanage, and it is very evident that they love him just as much. One of the sisters teased me about Moses being spoiled in our family, but later I overheard her telling Nyanja to please bring more families to adopt children. They know that adoption is the best option for these kids, and we have been received very warmly by them. We weren’t sure how we would feel about spending time with him and then leaving him at the orphanage for a few days, but now I am so glad that this is how it has worked out. An orphanage is all he has ever known, and he truly loves his caregivers. This has been a lot less traumatic for him, as he’s gotten to know us over the last couple of days. Tomorrow, we will be able to take him for good, no more nights as the orphanage.

Tomorrow morning we plan on going to the genocide memorial, and then we’ll go back to the orphanage to get Mr. Moses. The other two families will come in tomorrow afternoon also.

Meeting Moses

We made it to Rwanda! The plan was that we would fly from D.C. to Ethiopia then hop on a flight to Kigali, but right before we boarded in D.C., we realized that our ticket to Rwanda was issued incorrectly. We couldn’t get a hold of our travel agent and hoped that we could change the ticket in Ethiopia. When we got to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines were extremely helpful and changed the ticket right away without charging us any fees (they are sticklers about baggage though!). Fortunately, our contact Nyanja was waiting at the airport for us in Kigali and everything worked out.

We were also able to go meet Moses for the first time, he was a little unsure of what was happening. Having toys to play with helped a lot, and he loved the truck and the ball. He would cry or start to get upset every time one of the sisters would come in the room, but always wanted me to pick him back up if I set him down. He even let Daddy hold him a little bit and threw the ball back and forth with him. Today we get to keep him for the day, and Monday we will meet up with the Higgins and Himes families and start processing his passport paperwork.

Washington D.C.

Well, the first leg of our trip is over. We made it to Washington D.C. today and even had a little time to do some sightseeing. After a few missed attempts, we mastered the bus system and walked all over downtown. We got to the Washington Monument right at sunset. Wow! Then we got to see the Lincoln Memorial. The moon was full tonight and the reflection of it off the water and all the white marble was stunning.
God has already been so faithful! Because we had such an outpouring of donations for the orphanage, we decided to go ahead and try to check extra bags, hoping that the airlines would waive the fees. United Airlines did for our state-side flight, and now we have to make the same appeal to Ethiopian Airlines. Pray that God gives us favor. Also pray that I handle the overseas flight a little better than I did today; had some moments of motion sickness, which is a very rare thing for me (except for that time in Provo, UT. Remember that, Dad? Yikes!). We were also able to test out Skype with our girls and it worked great. I think that will be a great way to stay connected with them. We love you all and are praying for you, Himes and Higgins families! We'll see you on Monday!

Away We Go!

We board a plane at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow (hope they serve coffee!) to begin the two-day journey to Rwanda. Even though it's a long trip, we do get to stop at several interesting places; Washington D.C. for an overnight stay and even a layover in Rome. We should arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at about noon on Saturday (Rwanda is 9 hours ahead of MST). Stay tuned for updates and pictures (as internet connections allow)....

Launch Date - Sept. 3rd

We are leaving for Rwanda on Sept. 3rd! One week from today! Oh my...I'm dreading that this week might be the slowest of my life. All the suitcases for the orphanage are packed. I could not believe how much stuff we were able to fit in! Thank you, everyone for the abundance of donations! If you'd still like to contribute, we'll be taking a money donation to buy some much needed items in-country.

We are traveling with the Higgins family and the Himes family who are adopting from our agency, both of whom are adopting two children each. (Check out their blogs at http://higginsadoption.blogspot.com and http://lifechange.typepad.com/lifechange/). I'm so glad we get to travel as a group. Not only does it help defray some of the costs, but we get to be support for one another as well. We are actually leaving a few days earlier than the rest of the group, for no particular reason, mostly just because we could. :) We will arrive in Kigali on the 5th, with the rest of the group arriving on the 7th. We can't go to the orphanage any sooner but are looking forward to spending a little extra time in Rwanda (I mean really, how often do we go to Africa?).

Please pray for us that everything will continue to fall into place and that this week will go by fast!