Ethiopia Trip Two: Gotcha Day!

I am so thankful that we got a great night's sleep last night! We slept from about 12-6 and then went down to breakfast. We were told last night upon check-in that we were getting picked up "around 8" but this morning they gave us our official itinerary and it said 11:30 am was pick-up. It also gave a rough outline of his daily schedule, so we knew that from 11-1 was naptime!

Since we had a lot of time to kill, we went back to our room and tried to nap. Will was successful, and I couldn't stop thinking about our big day! As I was doing a double- check of our room and what we needed, I started to be filled with nervousness and doubt. I just kept thinking - what if I'm not a good mom? What if I don't know what his cries mean, or I can't soothe him? What if this week is terrible? What if everything goes wrong?

I hate to admit that, but my head was just filled with insecurities. So thankfully, God led me to Psalm 34 and I was put at ease.

After feeling refreshed, I was relieved to see that it was almost time to head downstairs. Our driver, Danny, was waiting for us! We went with another family that was picking up their daughter at Hannah's Hope.

The drive was kind of surreal. I still couldn't believe we were actually seeing our son again! It still doesn't feel real, and he's sitting in the room with me.

We went inside the gates and were directed to his bedroom, where he was napping (as we suspected). We were really surprised when one of the special mothers gave us a bottle and directed us to wake him up. If you've ever been to Hannah's Hope, you know the special mothers are sticklers for naps and routines!

When we woke him up, he immediately smiled up at me! My heart absolutely melted. He may not have actually remembered us, but God was gracious to us to let our reunion be one of smiles!

We had a quick meeting with Almaz, and for the most part Israel was super happy. We gave him a bottle and he kept peeking out from it to smile at us. Then, he must have remembered that it was naptime and he missed his- so he had a freakout moment. I tried the ergo carrier but it was making him more upset. Will held him for a minute and then we tried again- success!

We didn't get to see many of the kids at Hannah's Hope this time, as it was naptime for most of them. But we did get an amazing farewell from the older kids- one of their friends was going home that day (the daughter of the other family is 6 years old) and they were all waving and blowing kisses. Precious. They were so excited for her to have a family.

The drive back to Hannah's Hope was good- Israel started to fall asleep and we were thankful that he wasn't freaking out! When we got to our hotel room, we immediately stripped him down and changed his diaper. I put his clothes he was wearing (an outfit that we brought on trip 1) in a zip lock bag that will hopefully preserve the smell of Hannah's Hope for him one day.

He was talkative and cuddly, but we knew that he was overdue for a nap! We tried many different methods but nothing seemed to work. The doubts about being a good mom crept in again... what if he doesn't sleep at all this week? Thankfully, he DID fall asleep after a long time and I decided to follow advice of others and take a nap too!

He woke up after about 30 minutes so I took him out of his moses basket and just held him. He slept for another hour and I don't think I could complain a bit!

When he woke up, we had a great afternoon playing together! Will went downstairs to order our food for lunch, and I had about 30 minutes alone with him. He sat in my lap and just smiled at me for the whole time. My heart felt so full, and I couldn't help but tearing up! God is so good. We have our son. At 4:30 we decided to take a walk downstairs, so I strapped him in the Ergo and Will & I went to the restaurant for some coffee. After a few minutes, he was asleep! It was so sweet. We went upstairs after our coffee date and played some more. We also attempted to skype some family members to show off his cuteness!

We decided to go downstairs again for dinner, and I waited to fix a bottle for him until we were seated. He drank it pretty fast and was asleep again in the Ergo! Small victories, people... I could get my son to sleep!

Ethiopian food while holding my baby. My first of countless meals holding a child, right?

After dinner, when he woke up again from his brief nap, we showered and lotioned him up. Before we had a chance to put a bib on him, he spit up on his pajamas- I guess we'll be more prepared next time!

We used our tangle teazer to to comb his hair over... Will said he looked Italian, haha! Don't worry his hair is back to his beautiful curls already.

The first night went about as well as we could expect. Israel was up every hour to two hours, and I think I finally figured out how to get him back to sleep! It was a long night and we all were tired in the morning, but being tired because we are caring for our son is worth it!!!!

I want to finish this {very long} post with a few praises. God has been so gracious to us today and it really couldn't have gone better.
- He has taken his paci! The kids at Hannah's Hope don't use pacis, so he is used to being comforted by a bottle. The paci has been a huge success and I hope that will help us on the plane.
- He likes the ergo! This will be great for bonding.
- He has certainly cried a few times, but hasn't had a big meltdown yet.
- He is making great eye contact with us.
- It looks like his neck support is getting better (he was very wobbly when we were here 2 months ago). Hopefully he will catch up developmentally in no time!

Also, we want to say thank you for all of your beautiful comments, facebook messages and posts, and for the blog mentions. We have read them all and I cried over them. Thank you so much for rejoicing with us today!!!