"Mama again...Mama kisses"

(I promised that I would say hi to my brother David in UK and thank him for reading this blog!! HI DAVE...now you have to leave a comment!! )

One of the problems with doing a reflective type of journal is that so many things are happening every day in the here and now, that I don't get to share right away. I will eventually get round to them and catch up with our lives. In my next post I will share the horror trip home from Addis Ababa, but today I am going to jump through time and share something that happened today. It is important. It is significant.

Today, out of the blue, Ayana suddenly looked at me with a very puzzled look and said,"Amaya?" (mother?) then she shook her head slowly and said "No Amaya"

She touched the little necklace that her birth mother gave to her when they parted. She always wears it, and she said,"Amaya ciao, Amaya cry" (mother bye bye, mother cry)

I tried to stay calm (i.e. not burst into tears) and I asked her if Amaya cried.

"Ow, Amaya cry. Amaya Ermias chi-chee. Amaya ciao" (yes, mother cry. Mother carry Moses( on her back.) Mother bye bye)

Then she looked at me for a few minutes in silence. With a smile, she leaned over to me and said, "mama..again, Mama kisses" and kissed me.

She skipped off and went to play, her usual sunny, bouncy little self. She left me an emotional wreck!

This tiny 2 yr old had suddenly had a vivid memory of her mummy saying goodbye to her, giving her a necklace, crying as she left, carrying her baby brother on her back and saying goodbye to him too as she cried.

What prompted this memory? I have no idea. What have my two little ones been through in their other world, their other life? I have no idea... but I want to preserve this detailed memory. Ayana told me in her innocent little way that she had a mama again and that I was accepted as that mama. I want to be able to burn the image onto my brain of her little earnest face bending over to kiss me, saying "Mama...again. Mama kisses."

We have been given such a task in taking care of these precious children. I hope and pray that I can live up to it.