Saturday, October 23rd~ Wolaita

yesterday morning we woke early to make the long journey to Wolaita.  never could we have expected what would transpire there.  we drove for six hours into rural Ethiopia, out of the hustle and bustle of Addis and into a fresh and beautiful countryside that reminded me of scenes from a movie.  as we drove i kept thinking how remarkable this journey was.  to visit the district of Wolaita (i've clarified the spelling, and this seems to be the most common way), A. Z's beginning, was such a privilege...what struck me most about the trip was the number of people that were walking the highway, to and from a market or well, with giant loads of hay, sticks, water, etc...Children everywhere, many walking the road without an adult in sight.  young boys Adam's age attempting to steer 5-6 donkeys in the desired direction.  women with babies slung on their backs, cattle in the middle of the road (our driver was a master driver who could dodge or swerve at a seconds notice).  the highway the entire way to the region of Wolaita was recently paved and in good condition.  long curvy roads up hills and down. 

we travelled with another Imagine family from BC who are adopting a three year old boy.  the drive was long, but so interesting....joelle and hannah were champs, again, and neither needed to hang their head out the window to...well, you know....

we arrived at Kingdom Vision International Wolaita in Sodo, and were greeted by Solomon, a dear Ethiopian man with a heart for children and his country.  he welcomed us with traditional coffee (aka Redbull, which was good because we hadn't had lunch, or much sleep the night prior :) ) and "soda" for the girls.  he spent some time explaining the Ethiopian process, how a child comes into the care of the orphanage, and that there are actually 13 meticulous steps before a child's adoption is completed.  there is great care taken to ensure that the parent/family is proven to have inadequate means to manage the upbringing of a particular child. anyway, that was reassuring and good for us waiting parents back home to remember when we become impatient.  then he asked us if we'd like a tour of the orphanage, or to make a visit to the villages of our boys about 18 km away......more surprises.....we were not expecting this, and hadn't been told that this was, in fact, arranged.  we were so excited and shocked.  of course we were eager to see the village and meet the families of our children, so he said this was fine, but that we needed to change vehicles to handle the roads.  so, we parked the van and loaded into a land cruiser and off we drove.  i tried to imagine what this would be entail, but my imagination fell short....

we got pretty deep onto a red dirt road which was crazy bumpy, and  the driver said we then needed to walk the rest of the way.  it is completely beyond me how the social worker ever found the place twice (once on the initial visit to determine whether Alemayehu's grandmother was indeed in dire need).  jeff later described the journey as being just like the World Vision commercials you see.  he's completely right.  we walked and walked, now on a one-foot wide path that wound around trees and brush and small garden plots.  we had a group of children that had now gathered and were right there walking the path with us.  there are children everywhere in this country.  they were fascinated and so precious.  at the end of the path we arrived at the home of  the grandmother.  she was waiting there, with i'm guessing around 30 other people.  she stood in the middle, and when she saw us she came to greet me.  more hugs, raising of hands, smiles, etc...very touching.  we spoke through the social worker who could translate for us, and she expressed gratitude that we'd come to her home. we saw Alemayehu's sister, and this was emotional as well.  he looks so much like her.  same eyes and dimples.  she clung to her grandma.  we asked a few more questions that we'd missed the day before, and she showed us a picture she had of A.Z's mother.  one small 2x2 black and white photo.  she had it together in a frame with the pictures we'd given her of us the day before.  her home was a wood and mud rectangular shaped building that looked to have been there for a long time.  she showed us inside, exactly where Alemayehu was born. on the ground. no beds, just a few chairs and basins/pots hanging on the wall.  it was dark, with a dirt floor.  yet she was so proud to have us enter and share that moment with her.  we also met her other daughter, Alemayehu's aunt.  we took some more photos, and all the people joined in the picture because they just love having a photo taken to see it on the screen.  some seem so shocked to see what they look like.  safe to say most wouldn't own a mirror.  as we said good-bye and walked away, i asked hannah to pinch me, just to be sure i had really lived those moments.  it was like something out of a dream.  the emotion and beauty and sadness i felt right then was difficult to articulate.  we then did the same thing all over again for the other couple as they met the birth family of their new son.  what a gift.  i cannot say enough about Imagine and KVI for providing this opportunity for bio and adoptive families to connect.  invaluable for our son to have this information some day.

it is good for me to write down some of these details, because i don't want to forget, but i apologize for those that prefer the condensed version.  i also don't have spell check, so sorry if the spelling is less than accurate. tomorrow evening we board a plane and leave Ethiopia.  hard to imagine getting back into our normal routine at home, but we're sooooo excited to see A, L and H.

we have one final visit scheduled with A.Z. at the transition home at 10 am, and we'll be able to give him a photo album and some treasures we brought for him.  we are excited, yet sad to leave him behind. 

one more thing...we found out after court that the passport and other documents will now refer to our son as Alemayehu Jeffrey VanderSlagt.  this has definitely thrown us for a bit of a loop with the whole name decision.  there are many different options being discussed, but we're torn.  so, it may come down to a vote.  opinions welcomed!! there is "Alemayehu", on its own (pronounced Al-e(short e sound)-MI-u), there is "Zake "still (even though that has dropped from his name on paper, there is "A.J". (A.J the second, because Adam will always be A.J the first), and there is "Alex", which we noticed some of the nannies were calling him at the orphanage, and apparently is a common short form to his name....so, you can imagine the opinions and preferences, especially from papa! :) 
oh, and another shot of A.Z....just because! and yes, that is some leftover breakfast in his hair.