Journey to Ava Birhanesh - Gotcha Day!

Today had so many emotions that it was hard to separate what are feelings were. In the morning we had our paper party. This is nothing more than finalizing the paperwork with the adoption agency. We went to a outdoor lunch area at the Hilton in Ethiopia. It was really nice. However, we were all anxious to get moving. Still the paperwork had to get finalized and we had to eat lunch before we left. Hannah expressed, many times, “can we go get Ava now? I don’t want to wait any longer.” Funny, I bet each of the parents were thinking the same thing, “can we wrap this up quickly so we can get our children?” I know I was. Hannah just had the innocence to be able to verbally express it.

Lunch was done and it was time to hit the road. We all met our children yesterday so today was just like having a joyous reunion. Before Erin and I did that though, we had some work to do. We had some pictures to take for waiting families. All of the children were adorable! As we were in a room taking pictures, the room to the nursery was open. I kept seeing people walk by and didn’t think about who it was. Then I realized that there were a couple of adults and one child standing looking over at us. I looked at the child and realized it was Ava Birhanesh. The nannies laughed and pointed at Hannah. Then one of the workers came over and told us that Birhanesh recognized and remembered Hannah. I figured it was just remembering her from yesterday. However, the worker told us that Birhanesh has a picture that we sent her of us Hannah and she is wearing the same outfit today that she was in the picture! That is why she was standing there staring! It’s amazing how things work out. If you ask me, this was a spiritual moment.

Erin and Hannah went into the nursery and hung out with Ava Birhanesh. I had some time with another adorable boy that I was taking pictures of. Then I went in and played in the nursery too.

We were able to talk to the nanny that cared for Birhanesh while she was there. You could tell that the nanny was attached to Birhanesh. It was a moving moment which ended in a long hug and a big thank you and the nanny turned with tears in her eyes. It was great to know that she was well cared for while she was there. One of the things we asked her was, “if there was anything she would like us to know about Birhanesh.” Her reply was this, “love her and take good care of her.”