He Joins Our Family

This day was the Farewell Ceremony at the Care Center.

We all sat in chairs along the outside wall in the main gathering  room. The older children sat in rows of chairs in a room overlooking us. Then, one by one, the nannys paraded down the staircase with our children dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothes. The older children chanted the names of each child as they descended the stairs.

When it came time for the nannys to hand our children over to us, Samson resisted once again. His nanny handed him off to me and he began to cry and was inconsolable at first. I held him tight and whispered ishi ishi (it will be OK) over and over again in his ear. I also told him "I love you" in Amharic. He also wasn't feeling well. Many of the children at the Care Center had colds and runny noses. At one time when I was holding him, his snotty nose wiped across my teeth. I was continuously wiping his nose so that would not happen again.

This is a picture our agency took of our family, not sure at what point of the ceremony but it looks like we are a little more excited than Samson is about this event.

Samson's crying didn't last long, he soon settled down and appeared to be at ease with our family.

The Farewell Ceremony included prayer time, beautiful singing from the older children and heartbreaking goodbyes. The nannys really bond with the children and care for them and love them very much. Not surprisingly, saying goodbye was not easy for them.

The Ceremony also included a traditional cake cutting event by the oldest boy and girl being adopted in the group. Samson got to cut the cake with his special friend Meazi. (Hi Meazi!! We've enjoyed your mom's blogging!!)

Loading on the bus to head back to the guest house:

This is one of my favorite pictures of my kids:

We could not take our cameras inside the Care Center but as our bus pulled away, I quick snapped one of this balcony. If you look closely, you can see the potty chairs lined up inside the (not code) wrought iron rails. This is where the toddlers had "potty time". The first day we met Samson, he blew our family a kiss from his potty chair while we were getting ready to pull out with the bus.

We not only celebrated this day as our first day as a family but also Samson's half birthday. So that evening, we got out the bubbles and balloons and partied in our room until late at night. By this time, Samson had relaxed a lot and was taking it all in.