The Day we met our new Children...

Tuesday 22nd August was a BIG day for the group as we all got ready to meet our children for the first time.
We had a meeting before we left for the foster home and then we loaded into two vans and were off across Addis.
The van we were in was a bit quiet and people were taking deep, deep breaths...this was it.
Mountains of paperwork, months of waiting, agonising, staring at pictures and imagining this very day.
What are they like?
What will they do when they meet us?
Will I cry? (silly question!)

We turned into a very bumpy road and slowed down at a huge gate that slowly creaked open to reveal lines of washing hung out in the courtyard...and a couple of staff smiling and welcoming us.
We got out of the vans and stood in the courtyard, looking around at each other and I felt waves of emotion wash over me. Inside were my babies, I was about to meet them.
Families were called in one by one and I felt as if I couldn't swallow.
Then..."Dave and Lesley and family come in please" and we were walking up the steps, taking off our shoes and walking inside.
There they were!! FINALLY!! In the flesh...I held out my arms and Moses was handed to me. I kissed his cheeks...so real and warm. I stroked his black, curly hair, so soft and springy...I looked into his big brown eyes and I cried and cried.
Ayana was brought out and they said in Amharic, "Ababa (daddy), this is your ababa" and she went into Dave's arms and held on tight, snuggling right into his neck.
Can words really describe that moment? That solid reality of holding them? I wanted to shout and laugh and dance and scream and sing all at once...what I did was cry and laugh and cry and laugh again!
I looked around and saw the other families holding their babies, crying, playing with older children with huge smiles and lots of laughter.
Ayana just clung onto Dave and looked around the room with big, wide eyes. Moses stared at me for a long, long time and then, started to coo and smile...I don't know how long I just sat there, staring at him, cuddling him. It was a sweet, blissful time that will never be forgotten, I had my baby boy.

Ayana then came to me as Dave took Moses for a hug and this shy, scared, tiny girl looked up at me and smiled..my heart melted and I cried all over again. The trauma that they had experienced over the last few months, the bewilderment, the sadness, the sense of loss and abandonment...all this washed over me as she smiled into my eyes. I remember praying and thanking God for the awesome priviledge of raising these children that he had hand picked to be a part of our family.
She was so very anxious, she smiled but took deep, open mouthed breaths as if she couldn't get enough air. She continued to do this for the whole visit.

There were lots more hugs, more tears, tons of video and millions of pictures. At one point, all the children (except for a little tiny baby) sat in a circle on the floor, playing with a ball and we saw a little bit of personality sparkle out.
It was so wonderful to see our three older children playing and hugging with their new, little siblings. My five children...all together at last!

We had to leave after a couple of hours and we were sad to see them being taken back into their rooms, we had left their special clothes for the next day when we would pick them up...on Gotcha Day!

We then went shopping and later in the evening went to an awesome restaurant with live music and dancing, I'll tell you all about that next time.
This post will be too big to allow pictures, so I'll post some pictures of our first meeting (be warned..I am seriously crying! ) in another post too.