Day 7..July 15th,2010..in ET

What an emotional exhausting day that was. From the day we accepted Ageze & Tesfas referral, we knew if possible, we'd like to meet any birth family they might have... However, we didn't find out until the morning we were to meet!! Fortunately..we were called early that day, and told the birth families had arrived at Sele Enat..Oh, how my heart pounded...what do we ask?? How do we get through to them how MUCH we love their sons?? How will Ageze & Tesfa react when they see them again?? Will Ageze & Tesfa have a hard time saying good-bye again?? Well, after we were picked up from our guest house we immediately asked our driver if he knew where Sele Enat was...as this was not the same place where we had picked up our boys..he assured us he knew exactly where we were headed...not quite..instead he was heading right down the same alley to the Care Ctr...not good!!! The boys both noticed the gate and started shouting "NO!" How frightening, confusing and sad that made them..talk about making this momma's heart hurt. We re-assured them they were staying with us, and that they were going to be ok...but, man, after just seeing the gate, I really began to feel nervous about being back at Sele Enat with the boys. We finally pulled up in front of another gate, honked the horn, and proceeded inside the gates. There sat Ageze's father & stepmother, and Tesfa's aunt whom had cared for him...Tesfa immediately turned his head away, and started crying, while Ageze walked right up to his father..gave him a hug and began showing him pictures of his new family. How was his father feeling at that moment?? Part of me felt horribly sad. and the other part felt relief that Ageze was handling the situation this well. He continued showing him pic's, hugged a few times, and we were to begin asking any ?'s we had. We had made a list of things we felt would be important for Ageze and us to know, questions were answered to the best of their ability(considering a few different languages were being spoken) and then his father proceeded to tell us how thankful he was, how much he loved Ageze, and wished us well. We exchanged a few hugs(& tears), gave him a few photos of our family, and a few of Ageze, and said our good-bye. What a hard day.. We then visited with Tesfa's aunt..asked a few questions, gave her a few photo's of Tesfa, all while Tesfa is tearfully clinging to me...what a hard couple of years Tesfa had. He was so very scared, had no desire to even look at her, and was definitely not going to hug her. Now, don't assume the worst...but this was Tesfa's reality..we can tell now in conversations that Ageze has fond memories of his family, and Tesfa, well he is only 2 1/2..but he has obviously been scarred..both physically and emotionally. (I don't say any of this to be demeaning towards his aunt...i believe she did the best she knew how, considering the situation, and also know, just because she felt it was necessary to relinquish Tesfa...I don't believe for a second that it was easy for her.) I pray their hearts continue to heal while processing the old and smile while welcoming the new:) They are truly precious little boys...full of smiles, laughter, silly faces & even a bit of stubborn-ness..just like the rest of us!! I'll leave you with 1 photo of their birth family and us!! I hope one day these pictures will be a treasure to them...              xo kristen