Gotcha!! Our first moments with Atsede & Kebrom

Words can't really do it justice. Paul & I were up in our room, trying to decide exactly which toy we had brought that might make Atsede & Kebrom like us right away. We were not above bribery!!

We were told the kids would arrive between 9&10, and so often Ethiopian time, we'd been told, travels at a slower pace. At 9:05 we were just starting down the stairs & head the shout 'The kids are here' and then the words echoing up the stairwells. We ran down as fast as our feet could go, to the gates of the guest house, where beautiful, wide eyes were peering around the corner.

Children who were truly leaving their pasts behind, to begin a new life. The only possessions they had were in a ziploc bag, or on their backs.

I didn't cry, but oh, how I wanted to cry. Tears of joy, that they were truly in our arms, no more waiting. Tears for their pain, what they had survived. Could they possibly understand what was happening?