March 17th - Day 5

Today was a day that will be remembered for the rest of our lives. We left early this morning for a day trip to our son's village - Asella. We left Addis Ababa early in the morning and drove south for about four hours. The plan was for us to visit the orphanage that Isaiah was dropped off at and to meet his birth family. The countryside was beautiful and it was hard not to imagine what our son's life would have been like if he stayed in Ethiopia. Where would he live, what would his occupation be, would he live in one of these small round huts? Every village that we came to along the way had people everywhere. And for every person we saw, there was at least one animal...sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, camels, dogs - and none of them were in pens. We made it to the orphanage a little before noon. There were a few small buildings and a small yard. This was the place that Isaiah was taken to at about 3 months of age. We don't know his exact birth date because he was born at home. The nannies and staff were very friendly and welcoming. Soon after we arrived, we were told Isaiah's birth family was not here yet. This was a little disheartening as we were not able to meet anyone during our court date because the family was sick. We were really hoping to have this experience. We wanted to be able to tell our son as he got older about his birth family. We knew that it was going to be a very awkward and uncomfortable meeting, but we couldn't miss the opportunity and always wonder. There was one other couple meeting their birth family today also. So they had their meeting while we visited all the babies and children. There were probably 10 babies there waiting for their paperwork to be processed so they could be referred to a family. They were all so cute! I can only imagine how excited their future parents will be when they see their picture for the first time.

After a short time, our translator came up to us and told us that they went to the place that Isaiah's birth mother last worked as a house maid. She no longer worked there and they did not know where she went. I felt knots in my stomach and tears filled my eyes. The stress of getting to meet her and then just as quickly being told that they couldn't find her was a little overwhelming. There was the fear of meeting her and not knowing what she will think of us. There was the fear of what to say to her and what questions to ask. Then the fear changed to, we will never get to ask these questions and we will never have the opportunity to meet her again.

We left the orphanage and ate lunch at a restaurant in town. Asella is known for its marathon runners and we ate at one of the Olympic runner's restaurants. During the meal we started to come to grips with the whole situation of not meeting the birth family. We knew God had a reason for everything, and we were going to accept His decision. As our van was leaving the village our translator's phone rang and she quickly announced that they found Isaiah's birth mother. Our stomachs flipped, our hearts raced, and a few minutes later we pulled into a little courtyard. Once again, our day did a 180. Before we knew it, we were standing before our son's birth mom. We sat around a table in the courtyard with two translators since she did not speak Amharic. We were able to ask her questions we had on our hearts and she shared willingly with us. It was hard having to go through the translators. They would talk for a minute and then we would get a one sentence answer. We would have loved to know exactly everything she said, but we cherish the information that we did receive. One thing for sure was that she loved Isaiah very much. It was much more emotional for us than we thought it was going to be, but we thank God that we had the opportunity. She gave us each a strong hug. We were able to take pictures with her so we can someday give them to Isaiah, and if he chooses, he can show them to others. We also traced her hand so he can see the hands that first held him and showed him love.

The drive home was much more quiet than our drive there. There was much to think and pray about. We got back to our guest home a little after 7pm. We were drained and went to bed early.