Things on my mind....

So yesterday was Wednesday and our case can only be submitted to the US Embassy on Wednesdays.  They had Temesgen's passport on Friday, but couldn't take him for his medical appt. that is needed until Monday.  All was good, but since he had to have a TB test, those results wouldn't come back until Wednesday.  Should've still been fine, but the results didn't end up coming back in time for the staff to get them and get it all over to the embassy.  So it came down to the final hour and it didn't happen.  It was super disappointing because everyone was really expecting that it would happen yesterday.  So we wait for another week.  The good news is that we know our case is complete- we're not waiting on anything so unless something crazy happens (which, in international adoption, I don't rule out the crazy happening!), we should be submitted next Wednesday.  We are praying for crazy fast clearance from the embassy so Jonah and I can hop on the plane and go bring him home!!!

I've been thinking about his life for the last 2+ years a lot.  I know a week long delay isn't a large amount of time.  I get that, despite how hard it is for us to wait that extra week (really wishing it wasn't summer because school days tend to go a lot faster!).  But when I look at it from his point of view, it makes me so sad for him.  He has been at the care center since July of 2010 (for the couple of months before that, he was in the regional orphanage in Gambella).  In that time, he has seen so many different children come and go.  Just since the time we were there a month ago, there are probably 8-9 new kids that weren't there when we were there.  So many loving parents coming and they were never there for him.  Making friends with children who he had to say good-bye to.  Forming bonds with people who would leave him.  Through it all, he had his 2 best friends- the 3 amigos:).  But they've left too.  He will see them again since they're in Colorado Springs, but he doesn't really know that.  The 2 boys he could count on to NOT leave because they were in the same boat as he was- they were older boys and that made them not as desirable to adopt.  But they have found loving families and have started their new lives in America.  And now he waits.  I'm so thankful that we were there before 1 of his friends left.  I'm thankful that we've met him and showed him how much we love him.  I believe that he understands we're coming back in his head.  I believe that I'm coming back in my head too.  It doesn't mean that my heart doesn't ache with wanting to fly half-way across the world to bring him home NOW and let him start his new life.   Let him have the stability of a comfortable home, good, healthy food, parents who love him, brothers to play with, the chance to RUN and play without walls around him, go to school to learn new things, go to church to learn about the God who brought us all together.  And so importantly, to have parents and brothers who will not be leaving him.

We are praying for his attachment to us.  We did start the process when we were there and he definitely knows who we are.  Each day when we would leave the care center, he would wave happily at us as we drove out of the gates.  The last day, after he had been told in Amharic that we would not be coming the next day but that we would be back in a couple of months, he hung his head and sadly walked away as we drove out of the gates.  Landon was sobbing next to me in the car- it was a hard day.  But the fact that he showed that he was sad makes me think we started that attachment process.  It might be a long road though for him- we don't know how he'll react when he finally gets home.  We don't know if he'll see us as truly his mom and dad, or as just some other caretakers.  We don't know if he'll put up walls- to not let us (including his brothers) get too close because he'll be afraid that we'll leave him too.  He's lost his birth family and has lost his 2 best friends and countless other friends who become like brothers when they live together.  We couldn't blame him if that makes him a little unsure and insecure about what a family really is.  Please pray with us that he will be able to attach to us as his parents- that he will see his brothers as his brothers (seeing him play with Landon, I think this part will be easier).  That he will find security in our home.  And most importantly right now, that he will feel loved and hopeful as he waits for us to come back.  Because we're coming back, Temesgen!!!!
I'll post a picture from the first day we met (I was feeling so horrible this day- I went to bed shortly after this picture was taken and slept off and on for the next 16 hours).  But it was memorable!!!