On Saturday night, we took Aubree to Gojo for some Ethiopian food. I've cooked some Ethiopian dishes for her since she's been home, but this was the first time we brought her to our local Ethiopian restaurant. To make the night even more special, we went with some friends that we traveled with during our embassy trip. Their daughter was in the same orphanage as Aubree. She is quite a bit younger than Aubree, but any familiar face is a comfort. The girls were pretty happy to see each other. We told Aubree we were going to eat injera that night, but she didn't really understand where we were going. When we arrived at the restaurant, her face lit up when she saw the painting on the restaurant window. It was a lady in a traditional Ethiopian dress preparing a coffee ceremony. We ordered a couple sampler plates to share between all of us, and let the girls dig right in. It is always so much fun to watch Aubree eat with injera. She was in her element and loving every bite. She kept saying, "injera GOOD!" (as opposed to the version I make at home, which is edible but earns the comment, "injera yucky.") LOL!
Aubree was very happy as we left the restaurant. She waved goodbye to Sam, the owner. I caught a little sense of relief/happiness when she was around Sam and our waitress, who were both Ethiopian. It made me happy and sad at the same time. I wish I could give her more when it comes to the comforts of her birth culture. I'm sad that she's missing out on that, especially because I love Ethiopia so much. She had a great time at the restaurant though. I asked her how she liked it as we were leaving. Her response was, "FUN! Injera fun!"
Sunday was another big day. We decided that it was finally time to take Aubree to church. This is something I've been dreading, to be honest. I've really missed going to church over the last 2 months, but the thought of taking Aubree there was overwhelming to me. Because we're working on attachment, we knew we didn't want to leave her in the kids' program while we went to the service. She would have to come to the service with us. We've never taken our kids in church with us, other than when they were tiny sleeping babies. So the thought of keeping a 4 year old quiet during an entire church service just didn't seem like a very fun idea. But we're not planning to leave Aubree in the kids' program for quite some time, so we just decided that we had to bite the bullet. We sat in the very back in case we had to make a quick getaway with our screaming child. I packed her Princess Tiana purse full of quiet activities to keep her busy. The first part of church was great. She loved the singing, as I knew she would. The rest of the service went well too. She sat on our laps and colored pictures in her little Hello Kitty notepad (thanks, Auntie Mel!), or just cuddled close. It was actually really nice to have her there, and almost didn't seem real. So many times over the past year, I would be sitting in church thinking about her. Almost every week, our pastor's message seemed to relate to her in some way. Whether it was to encourage us to take a next step in the adoption process, or to just encourage us to hang on a little longer when the waiting seemed unbearable. And now suddenly here she is, in my lap. It was an AMAZING feeling!
We were so relieved that church with Aubree went well, because our big day wasn't over yet. We had plans to meet with some other adoptive families that afternoon, where Aubree would be reunited with 3 other friends from her orphanage. The purpose of our meeting was to brainstorm about how we can can kick off a BIG fundraiser for Yezelalem Minch, an organization that touched us all while we were in Ethiopia. More on that to come SOON! :) While the adults planned, the kids got to play and get reacquainted. It was just amazing to see them together again. These kids have been through a lot together, and are like family. It is evident that they truly love and care for each other. What a blessing it was to see how happy they were to see each other again. It makes me so excited for our adoptive family camping trip this summer, where we'll get to see so many other familiar faces that are currently spread over many states. Aubree had a great time with her friends, and we are all looking forward to seeing them again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment