I am not the newest mother of my friends. We spent last night with one of our dearest friends who brought home two boys yesterday from Ethiopia!!! Bringing home these boys was a difficult process!! For over 2 years, their family fought to bring them home. And now....Tahja is a new mother of 6 count them, 6 boys!!! Her boys are very special to me and our family. While we were in Ethiopia bringing home Selamnesh; our family, these two boys and some helpful people sat in a small room visiting with these boys. Not knowing if they understood a word I was saying I tried to tell them through my sobs of grief that their mother was fighting for them, and that she was doing everything that she could to bring them home. While inside wondering if it was God's will that they should be in the United States. God's will is not always what we think is the "right" thing to do. What if it was God's will that these two last boys of a group of seven children were to stay behind to change their world?? While I prayed that my will, will be done?? Last night I watched 20 of our children sit around a dining room table eating dinner together and one third of those children were chosen to be part of our families from Ethiopia. I couldn't hold it in, I went outside to loose it!!!!!!!!!!
Why??? For many reasons........ For childhood friends that were reunited. For the miracles God has shown us. And that His timing is perfect!! And I grieve......I know that I see the lives of these 8 Ethiopian children differently than their adopted families. Each of our families sees adopting our children differently, for different reasons. We each have a love of Ethiopia. But my love for the country is different from the rest of the families. I see a people that are content with what little they have. A people that truly love one another. I see a country of people that is so taken advantage of. I see a country of happy people. The devastation is so great, but THEY are truly thankful for what they have and praise God for what they have, and don't concentrate on what they don't have and what they want. I grieve for the 7 children who were taken out of this loving country. Yes, they have more than they ever would. But I grieve for the loss of a culture so unknown to us... Yes, their country could not provide for them what we can give them, but they left behind a culture that we can never replace. I sat on a roof top for hours and would watch children play in the streets. They were happy!! Laughing, playing, like any group of friends in any country. These were children playing with a waded up peice of paper for a ball. Some children had clothes, others did not. Some had shoes, others did not. Day after day we would watch them play and their wasn't any judging of children. No clicks of kids with clothes or without. They all played together... Here we would look at them and think, What was that mother thinking... But they are a people that cares for their children like we don't. We are so consumed with ourselves. We worry about offending the parents of our children's friends by yelling at them. We would never think of disciplining our friend's children. Heck we don't even disapline our children in public. Imagine if your house had no walls...... And we don't love our friend's children as if they were our own. SO different of a culture there............They really have a village raise a child. Children that are respectful, children that are loving to all, children who are treated as children and not as equals to adults. How many parents share all the family secrets with their children. Children are children. They are a nation of children who are loved by neighbors as if they were their parents. How many people in your neighborhood would take your children if something happened to you, and not expect or even accept a penny for it??? NO WAY...Maybe if it was a friends child, but not for stranger's children.......... We would want some financial assistance. Look at our foster care system. People can stay home, raise some one's children and actually make money doing it......... What if you didn't get a penny of help for raising those children?? Would they do it then?? I have a passion for the people of Ethiopia!! I don't see it as rescuing children from a bad life. I don't think I can give Selamnesh a better life here is the United States. I wanted a little girl, and a little girl I got. But I got so much more!!!! I learned humility that I couldn't anywhere else. I am no better of a mother, they are better than I. I can give material things, and education, but they really are loosing out on something more precious than I can give. I love a woman who I share a child with. I grieve for Bizunesh. I love that woman. We share mother's day. A day that is Hallmark. Did Bizunesh know what we did was special today?? NO!!! But I grieve for her loss. She did the last resort. She knew that her baby girl was going to die if she didn't get the only help left to her. As Bizunesh told me on a September morning, "You are her mother, I am Bizunesh". So we share a child that without either of us would not be here. And I share this special day with her. She taught me so much about being a mother that I would have never learned without her. I don't think I will ever be the mother she was.... I love you Bizunesh!!
So on this special day we went to our favorite place........... The Zoo!! Selamnesh has a connection with the Lions. They love her. It might help that we go there every weekend...... But they have come right up to the glass and look into each other's eyes every week. It would not surprise me if she worked with lions in her life. The next Jane, but with lions. We fed the giraffes. That is so much fun!!! We break wasi crisp crackers into tiny pieces and they take them out of your fingers. It's really awesome!!! We could go to the zoo and stay for hours and only visit 2 exhibits. The giraffes and the lions.
Spending the day with my mom was really special!! We don't get enough days together!! I miss my mom so much!! I remember being a teenager thinking that I love her so much, and struggling with loving my mother and being a teenager. My mom got to feed a giraffe for the first time. It was very special to see my mom do something for the first time. I feel that there is so much in life that my mom has not had a chance to experience. I want to help my mom experience every thing that she can. My mother is not old, but a very young 67 years old. But I realize that she will not be around forever. If something happens to my mom, she knows that she will be living in my house and be taken care of by me. But God willing, nothing will happen to my mom for many more years. And until then I want to help my mother see things and do things that I feel she has missed out on. Mostly because she was busy trying to care for 3 selfish children. I love you mom!!
It was a long day. But Selamnesh always has the most energy!!
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