A Girl that STOLE our HEARTS

This Girl. NO JOKE. It was an instant, BREAK my heart moment.  The moment this sweet Brutkon  

 came running (ON DAY 1) toward our bus, i fell in love. She saw the big white bus coming, that had NOT been there since SEPTEMBER.  SHE knew exactly WHO was coming.  No one told her that her friends were coming back to the village of Kechene.  She just saw the white bus, dropped what she was doing and literally, welcomed us with open arms.  She is a child of Kechene, Ethiopia.  In this village, she is on the streets, daily.  Every.Single.Day she is just hanging out on the busy streets, by the academy.  Just so happens, she was at the right place at the right time.  JUST in time for our arrival!  

Every morning when we arrived, she would make her way to the school.  Some days she would be there waiting for us, other days she would show up late (as maybe she did when she was a member of the academy)  Nonetheless, she was always welcomed by us.  When she wasn't waiting for us we wondered where she was. It was decided last year that she would "take a break" from Bright Future because she was a disturbance to the other children at school ( I hear ya sister B, I got that ALL the time growing up-not kidding. i did) So she was no longer a "real" student of BFA, but everyone there LOVES her, all the children welcome her-it's beautiful.

These are the shoes she came in with.....on one of her "BIG DAYS" she got a makeover-that pic will come later.....

I had a heck of a time learning her name-not sure of the spelling AT ALL but Im going with how it's pronounced for you all (BRU-T-KAN) Got that? Easy, right? Nope. I couldn't get it for the life of me, so day 2 I had asked were "Bernadette" went, THAT'S not an Ethiopian name.  But it kinda became a joke, and it stuck so for the rest of our time, she was Bernadette.  And we love it.  We even taught her to say "BERNADETTE'S BIG DAY" ! She had LOTS of BIG DAYS, everyday was something new for her, and for us-SO whatta know, we're writing a book for BERNADETTE-stay tuned for that!

She loved to show us around her village.  We took a walk with her on the streets of Kechene.  

She has the biggest heart, her smile is contagious-and her laughter is out of this world!

When the school children were learning, she got to play! WHY wouldn't you love school for Bernadette?!

The girl just LOVES.  

She gets all the same snacks at the school too when we are there!

And she would always just show up in pictures, and we loved it!

She joined us on CELEBRATION DAY!

And what we LOVED the most, is that even though she was no longer a part of Bright Future Academy (don't worry, we found a school for her-she's going to be getting an education)

they WELCOMED her as if she still was! She got the BFA T-Shirt on Celebration Day just like everyone else did! And during this photo, she was in a "bad" spot, instead of them pushing her to the side and saying "Bru-t-kan", over here please(moving her out of the picture) they said "Bru-t-kan" we can't see you here, go up here please" 

AND there she is almost smack dab in the middle of the 2 classes! WHO wouldn't fall in LOVE with BERNADETTE!!!???

(Lot's MORE to come about BERNADETTE'S BIG DAY!)

STAY TUNED.............

On the Ground in Ethiopia {Day 1}

We arrived in Addis around 7:30 am-there was NO time for rest.  We gathered our luggage (all but one piece made it, not too bad for 25+ pieces of luggage) Traveled by our bus, driven by Worktu to Grace Guest House. Loved my roomies-Nichole, Nikki and Jaclyn-all of whom i know and are now very good friends with.  That was the saving grace to my trip in all honesty.  It was a blessing to be there with friends!

We grabbed lunch at a local pizza place (i ate it!) and were off to MEET THE CHILDREN at the school.

The feeling of being back in Ethiopia after 2.5 years was just amazing.  I feel like i have used that word over and over, but let's get real-it was just that. AMAZING!  In the course of 24 hours all of a sudden i was back in Africa.  Thank you Jesus! : )

We were greeted by these beautiful, singing voices. Oh my goodness, they were so excited to be singing for us-look at the expressions on their faces, and the beauty of it is-never did it sound so wonderful to have 34 kids screaming/singing at the top of their lungs!

Of course, there were instant tears. I don't even know if at that moment i was wondering where our sweet Fitsum was (our sponsor child, if any of you have joined me late in this)...all of a sudden, there he was with a rose for me!  I think he was scared at first, who is this lady crying her eyes out wanting to hold me!? He warmed up quickly-such a sweet boy!

Sweet Fitsum. SHY, but warms up in a hurry. Loves to color and is so proud of himself!

Sweet Dereje, my sister''s family sponsors him! he is a VERY intelligent 6 year old!

 Little Miss Rahel.  My brother's family sponsors her!  She is smart and lights up the room with her eyes!

Sponsoring these children, is truly SUCH an experience.  Nikki said it perfectly while we were debriefing one night after a long day.  We all had to say something that we won't forget from the day, etc.  She had said "You know, so many times we give and give and give at home to an organization and you just HOPE that it's all going to where it needs to go.  Every person that sponsors a child, must come on one of these trips to see for themselves, that $44/month is really a LIFE CHANGING pledge".....It really is remarkable.

As a team, we have had SO many people (I, alone am in awe) respond and WANT to jump in and sponsor the new children coming into the school next year.  What is $44/month to you? What does it mean to take $44/month out of your pocket every month? Would you have to give up your daily coffee stop? Would you have to cut out eating out a couple times a month?  Does it mean your children might have to "go without" having the best of everything? It might. It might mean giving up something that is so easy for us.

Jolene and Darin have done a wonderful job of preparing our team for returning home.  It's not enough that we are gone for 12 days, witness what we witnessed, got our hands dirty of everything that makes us hurt and uncomfortable-physically AND emotionally, but they also had to prepare us to return home.  To America, where life is usually very comfortable for all of us.

Day one was VERY eye opening to those that were new to Ethiopia.  It only got better from there-it was honestly, a day that will never be forgotten!  We were READY to hit our pillows by 8pm that night-what a wild 36 hours, but WHO CARES-we were BACK in Africa!!!

A Day to NEVER Forget.......

How does one prepare for a meeting such as this?

What do SAY to a woman that has given us one of the greatest GIFTS in life?

I don't think this post will really do my morning of May 31st justice to be honest.....I'm not sure what it would be like to meet our son's birth mother any other time but now, but for some reason I think meeting her almost 5 years later was a different story.

I have struggled as to whether or not to share this day with you all.  However, this was a BEAUTIFUL moment that was captured.  It was one of the most special days, EVER. .....

All that needs to be known is that she KNOWS Rylee is LOVED.  She approves and gives us her blessing, and his honored that he is in such a loving and special family.  She told me that God has picked us for him.  What a blessing, what an honor to hear that from the woman that has given up so much for her son.  His name means "New Life", nothing more needs to be said............

Not everyone is fortunate enough to know the history of their children when international adoption is involved, more less having THIS opportunity.  We are forever grateful, what an honor and a true blessing!