Hey friends and family! Just wanted to let you all know that I arrived safe and sound in Addis 3 days ago and have had Y with me for two of them. All I can say now to all of those that have been through this first 48 hours... I get it.
The things that make Y such an awesome little person with attributes that will serve her well in the future is causing an intensely wild ride between the two of us being tucked away in a guest house together. And we don't speak the same language (though have been getting pretty good at my Tingrania!). And she is a strong-willed 3 year old that has had to be used to fending for herself. Need I say more? It was also surprising very difficult for her not to have Husband with me, as in her eyes, we are her unit. This has been the most confusing. She is still looking for him all day and if a car pulls up and beeps it's horn, she goes, "Eh? Daddy?" She carries our family book around with her all day and look at pictures of us (mostly him) like 3,000 times.
Realizing that I am not superwoman to help her through this confusion and all other things challenging that are sprinkled in, we have had Husband bump up his flight and he will now be here in three days. Whew! I am so fortunate to have some wonderful other people here going through the same thing, so we are being a good support team for each other in the meantime.
This silver lining to CRAZY is that the attachment seems to be going pretty well and she was very ready to go with "Mommy Yo" (my mommy) the second I pulled into the orphanage. :) And when she is being hard, she flashes a smile that melts a heart and revitalizes my spirit.
Please, everyone throw out your best wishes and prayers that we will have our embassy paperwork completed by the 4th of August. There is a good chance, but if not, it appears all flights are booked out of Addis for MONTH of August, so we would have to show up daily for stand-bye tickets - and frankly that would be the pits!
