Our First Day as a Family

It has been only 2 days and there is already so much to say, therefore I'm going to do it in sections! THE MEETING: The meeting and the first day were better than we could have ever expected. We got ready in the morning, packed our bags for the day because we thought we'd be spending the day at the transition home but it turns out we were only there for 20 minutes. When we got in the car the driver said it was only a few minutes away but a few minutes turned to 30. We were pretty distracted by the sights we were seeing and all the people we noticed starring our way. Our trip was also full of prayers, not just prayers for what was about to happen but prayers for our safety as we weaved in and out of traffic. When we got to the transition home we gave our camera to our driver Daniel just in case the boys were there as soon as we walked in. That wasn't the case. But when we did walk in we were greeted by probably 10 little smiling faces. We had noticed several of these faces from our agencies website and it was so fun to get to see them in person and to know that all of these little precious orphans were not going to be orphans for much longer. When we arrived we asked for Bruike and Sitotawe but Bruike was getting cleaned up by his nanny so we spend some time to play with the children. Tony brought a huge blowup ball for them to play with and they loved it. They all went wild. Sadly though this one little girl got trampled on and her finger started to bleed. She started crying and me and Tony were the only ones there to pick her up. Most of the Nannies spend time with the babies and there were two middle school aged boys watching the older children. As I picked up the little girl I almost wept thinking that no one was there to see or kiss her boo boo. So I did it for her. She was sweet and I know soon her mother will be there to heal her wounds. Well the time came and we walked up the stairs and there Abram (Bruike) was. I had been anticipating this for a long time now. I tried to prepare myself for the worst and decided to try to stand off just a little bit. Well as soon as I saw him I stuck out my hand and he walked over to me and put his arms around my neck. I picked him up and he just laid his little head on my shoulder and squeezed my neck. I don't know what was going on in his head but I was thinking is this really happening. Could this be as sweet as it seems. The first day just continued to get sweeter. I held Abram for a while and they took us to the baby room. As we walked in they handed Ellis (Sitotawe) to Tony. We were all smiled at this beautiful baby who just let us hold him. The next few minutes the boys just let us hold them while we asked their Nannies questions about their schedules and what not. Within a few minutes it seemed as though us and the boys were ready to leave. By this time Tony had Abram and I had Ellis in my awesome new Moby wrap! Anyway, the young boys who were watching everyone took Abram out of Tony's arms to give him a hug and he immediately started to cry. When Tony took him back the tears were gone. On the drive home I was thinking this is crazy. Ellis fell asleep on my chest and Abram laid his head on Tony's. No tears, no need to bribe with candy. They just sat there and took it all in. THE FIRST DAY: It seemed as though they had always been ours. When we brought them into the room Ellis was ready to eat so I made him a bottle and Abram just went and laid on our bed. He spread out and smiled. From that point on we played as though we always had. From what we had seen of Abram before we thought he would be quiet and reserved. But that hasn't turned out to be the case. He's full of laughter and joy and can even be a little to crazy at times! The first time we heard him laugh we jumped to get the camera. It was only a few minutes after we'd been in the room and there has been much more laughter since then. Abram has become Tony's little buddy. I'm so thankful that Tony now has someone else to throw a ball at and Abram likes it. He runs and laughs and then tried to hit Tony back. He also enjoyed coloring, playdoh and all the usual things. He seems to be very smart. We love him and it's funny to see the simliarites between him and us. He is our child. :) One scary and unexpected thing was he is sick! He seemed ok in the morning and then after lunch you could tell he felt terrible. He slept for 2 hours and then woke up with a 103.5 temperature! All within God's providence our Guest House owner and his wife a nurse came to visit us. The nurse was there when we took his temperature and immediately sent someone to get him antibiotics. Thankful to say those antibiotics are working and Abram has felt wonderful all day. When I checked that temperature and gave him his medicine is when the tears began to flow. I was scared and so sad thinking he had been sick for so long and there was no one here to give him his medicine. I know that is will be hard to leave but I'm thankful for the timing that we are here to make sure he gets his medicine and will hopefully be healed by the time we leave. Ellis is a sweet baby who begins to smile at me more and more as I changed him and feed him. He's pretty laid back but seemed to be a little high maintenance until I started putting Gripe Water in his bottles. Things are getting better although he's on his own schedule and seems to be wide awake from 2-4 a.m. But that was only the first night. Another scary thing happened today when Ellis projectile vomited out of his nose and mouth right infront of me. I think that this is normal and he seems fine but please pray that he is. Sorry for the details, the last detail I'll add is that he's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. :) THE FIRST NIGHT: Our first night was crazy! Abram was sick and Ellis likes to eat when he wants so I can honestly say it's the first time I've seen the clock every hour in one night. But we made it and have better hopes for tonight now that we've figured maybe one or two things out and can better prepare ourselves. Looking back on what was happening in the night is pretty funny to think about. We were scrounging around looking for bottles and wipes, flashlights, chairs. We had 2 wet beds and the baby pooped everywhere! I went to move him a little and stuck my hand in poop. However, I was just thankful that he did poop and was concerned when he hadn't. Both of the boys are asleep now and hopefully this night will be better. If not we're still thankful for God's provision in our lives and for the opportunity to love these boys through it all. This is a long post and I probably have much more to say. But that is just a little glimpse at how these past two days couldn't have been better. Abram seems to fit right in and continues to come out of his shell. We are starting to learn things that we never knew and are excited that the journey has only begun!