We decided to try to
leave the guest house by 8:30 on Friday morning. Our driver was supposed to be there for us
and we were headed to the Orphanage. I
was READY! Well, to be honest
emotionally I was ready but well… the morning did not work out as planned.
In the guest house there
are several rooms, each sleeping different numbers of guests. My room could hold up to four guests, but I
was the only one in my room and my room shared a bathroom with two other rooms
on my floor. The four girls shared a
room with its own attached bathroom.
Then the one guy on the trip had his own room with a shared bathroom,
though I think he was the only one in a room using that bathroom during the time
I was there.
We planned to eat
breakfast at 8:00, so at 7:20 I was up and in the bathroom. When I got in there I locked the door and put
my things down only to realize that I had left my towel in the bedroom. So, I attempted to go back to get the
towel. Key word? Attempted.
Herein lies the problem. As I
attempted to unlock the door, the door remained locked. Panic rose up in me. So I brushed my teeth and tried again. No luck.
I went to the bathroom and tried again.
No luck. I tried and tried ‘til
my hand was sore. The door remained
locked. And I wasn’t sure what to
do. The only thing I could thing to do
is what I did, I started banging on the door.
After a couple minutes another guest on the floor with me (thank
goodness they were still in their rooms) heard me and came out. He went to get the guest house host. I slid the key under the door (the key is
used to lock & unlock the door both from the inside and outside). But it did not work on the outside
either. I was stuck.
I sat on the side of the
tub. I just shook my head and smiled –
only to keep from tearing up. The three
on the team who were stuck with me in Chicago had joked about us being “Job”
and as I sat there I began to wonder. I
prayed too. I prayed for God to open the
door. I was moments away (ok probably a
couple hours away but you get the idea) from seeing my daughter and I wanted
OUT. As I sat there Alayu worked on the door. He ended up first banging out the handle and
keyhole area. The door remained
locked. Finally after being stuck in the
bathroom for 55 minutes he broke the molding on the side of the door and the
edge of the door enough that the door finally opened. I thanked him profusely and inwardly promised
myself I would not lock another door while I was there. (On a side note another one of the team ended
up locked in a bedroom after I left as well.
Not sure what it was with those locks…).
Now I had another
problem. It was 8:15 and I was not ready
nor had I eaten breakfast and the driver was to arrive at 8:30. I rushed over to the girls’ room to shower
and did my best to get ready and eat as quickly as possible. At 8:40 we left the guest house. I was relieved.
To the best of my
recollection from last year it took about 45 minutes to get from the guest
house to the Orphanage. So, that was my
expectation. But as time drug on it
became clear that 45 minutes was no longer accurate. It felt like traffic was so much worse than
last year. I confirmed this fact several
days later with a family living in Ethiopia.
Apparently there is a lot of road construction going on with a new
railway going in and every week more roads seem to be closed down due to the
construction. So, yes, it took longer to
get there due to the traffic. It took
nearly an hour and a half.
The entire trip my mind was
consumed with three things. 1) I was
looking at scenery for anything familiar.
2) I was going over my Amharic phrases I had learned. And 3) I was playing out the scene I imagined
that was about to take place, the scene where I would see my daughter for the
first time in over a year. I had so many
questions. Would I cry? Would she cry? Would she run out to me? Would it be weird or amazing? And there was the niggling doubt in the back
of my mind that kept recurring… what if last year was all in your head? What if she doesn’t want you? What if you imagined it all? I had been pushing this fear aside for a while. I knew it was from the Deceiver. And yet it was there with me even then. During the past year I had placed that fear
at the feet of my Redeemer. I asked Him
to show me what was true. I believed He
had, and I believed She was MINE.
Then. We.
Arrived.
We pulled into the
Orphanage through the gate. I saw very
few kids. As the van came to a stop and
we started to get out the kids started coming out, mostly boys at first. They were giving hugs and greeting us. I recognized many of them from last year,
though I didn’t remember their names.
After what felt like forever something caught my attention, and I turned
around. She was standing there, just
steps away. It was surreal. The next thing I knew we were hugging and I
had lost it, tears falling down my face.
Her hair was wet and I realized why she had not been there when we first
came through the gate. She was getting ready. She was preparing herself to see, well,
me. The team told me afterward that I
wasn’t the only one emotional they were too.
The next two hours were
overwhelming. I spent nearly all of them
with Her in the room she shares with 4 other girls. The first thing she did was paint my nails,
purple, a favorite color for both of us.
I shared the items that I had brought her that I put in my
carry-on. I gave her the ‘H’ necklace my
sister-in-law Jaena had so thoughtfully purchased for her. I gave her a card Abi had made and a photo book
I had made. I had other things to give
her, clothing, art supplies and school supplies but they were in my checked
luggage who knows where at that point.
We took pictures. We played
games. It was priceless time. Time I will treasure forever.
All too soon lunchtime
came and we left for a local hotel to have lunch. It was
a nice time and the owner came to greet us.
He invited us to stay for a coffee ceremony. This is an Ethiopian tradition when guests
arrive (or leave). It was very kind of
him. Then we asked him about his
establishment. He showed us around and
an idea crept into our minds. What if we
just stayed here, at the hotel, while we were working at the Orphanage? It was less expensive and we would have little
to no taxi expense. In addition, we
would be able to be with the kids longer since the commute would be so much
closer. We were all interested in
pursuing the idea as long as 1) our luggage came in that day and 2) we were
able to not have to pay (or at least not have to pay all of) the costs for the
nights we would be gone from the guest house.
With that in our minds we headed back to the Orphanage for the
afternoon.
The afternoon was more of
what the morning was like, plus soccer and crafts. As was the case last year, my camera, and
this time my IPhone, where absconded on several occasions by kids, to return to
me with interesting photos. The kids
also at some point during our days at the Orphanage found the games on my phone. Temple Run and Fruit Ninja were
favorites. The Orphanage also had a
coffee ceremony for us, complete with sweet popcorn, another traditional
feature of coffee ceremonies. Wonderful
memories.
Around 4:00 we received a
call from Alayu. The airport had called
and our luggage had arrived! We were
beyond excited! Around 4:30 we headed
out to get back to the airport and then to head to the guest house. At the airport after a bit of time our
luggage was located and we headed back to have dinner at the guest house. We also spoke with Alayu who decided to let
us out of half the cost of our lodging so we could stay closer to the Orphanage. It was a deal. We called Kassa, the owner of the hotel and
made arrangements. The girls would be
staying in a bungalow with 2 bedrooms – one with a double bed and one with two
twins. I would stay on the couch in the
living room. Robbie would have his own
separate room. It was set. We’d stay at the guest house that night, then
head out to the hotel and Orphanage the next morning.
Then we had dinner that
night at Yod Abysinnia, a cultural restaurant with Ethiopian food and dancing
presentation. I have been every time I
have been to Ethiopia. It is a
treat. Of course at this point I love
the food J and sometimes the
college students don’t share that love.
But the experience is still worth it and I wanted to make sure that they
had that experience while I was in town.
So it was. We headed home before the
show was over because we were all still exhausted from our trip there and now
also from playing hard all day with the kids.
It was quite the
day. So much had happened. Locked in a bathroom, time with my daughter,
retrieval of prodigal luggage, a cultural dinner, and new plans for the next
three nights – my last three nights. My
trip was nearly half over. My heart was
already beginning to grieve the separation I knew would be coming in four days.
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