Meeting Our Daughter

I am sitting in my hotel room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We arrived here safely Friday night. It was a long trip, and we were so glad to finally be here. We slept pretty good that night, but it was not easy, because we were both so excited about meeting our daughter on Saturday morning. 

Saturday was an incredible day, the day we dreamed of for so long. I really didn't know what to expect with meeting our daughter. We had heard that she was shy and reserved. We heard that she was a little bit afraid of people and we expected it to take her a while to warm up to us. When we went downstairs for breakfast we met another couple who had spent the week visiting their two children at Hannah's Hope. They told us that Mia M was very sweet and that she went around saying, "mama, mama." This made me very happy, but I still didn't know what to expect.

After breakfast, our driver arrived and we and another couple, who have become dear friends in the past couple of days, loaded into the van. It was such a surreal feeling to actually be here and Ethiopia about to meet our children. The van pulled up to the famous black gate of Hannah's Hope and I could barely contain my excitement.

Justin spotted Mia M almost immediately. When we got out of the van I saw her too. I started walking towards her and her special mother's (her caregivers at Hannah's Hope) pointed to me and told Mia, "It's Mama." She ran ( or walked very quickly) to me saying, "Mama, Mama" and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I could not believe it. She was smiling and laughing. It was sooooooo amazing!

She then played a game with me where she would give me a high five and laugh. Her laugh is incredible! Before this trip, I had only 2 pictures of her smiling, and it is a very sweet, shy smile. Since, we have been here, we have taken so many pictures of her smiling. She laughs and smiles constantly. 

We were told that when she first came to Hannah's Hope (just a few weeks ago) that she was afraid of everyone and cried a lot.  Now, she loves everyone and is so happy in her new home. We also love everyone we have met here. The special mothers and other workers and just heaven sent. I am so thankful for them.

We had a phenomenal first day with our daughter. I was on cloud 9 the entire time. She gave us lots of kisses, said mama and daddy, and showed us her really cute dance moves. Poor thing was dancing so much, that at one point, she danced herself right into a bucket of soapy water. I had to fish her out quickly and go upstairs to change her clothes. 

She is so cute and I wish I could show the many pictures of her great big smile, but we can't post pictures until she is home. When it was time for us to leave yesterday, we took her upstairs to her bedroom. I lay her in her bed for a nap and she waved, blew us a kiss, and said "chow." 

We are so thankful to the Lord for uniting us with our daughter. He is so, so good! 

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!!!" Psalm 126:3