And the saga continues...
Day 4
It was another great day in beautiful Addis Ababa. The gang wanted to go shopping again, so we did. We discovered this really neat charity they have here while we were in town. It is called “Hope Enterprises”. They sell tickets to tourists that are good for meals. So instead of handing out money you can just hand out a ticket that will get the bearer a square meal. 8 tickets cost just 4 Birr or about 50 cents. We bought a ton and handed them out all day.
Greyson is doing really well. He still is not attached to us in a way we would like but seems to be doing pretty well. The nannies here are so great that he is really attached to them, which is to be expected. He seems very smart and curious. But as we would find out soon, we didn’t know the half of Greyson’s story.
Mulat, a staff member came to Heather and I and told us that there was a potential problem with our birth mother visit. Apparently her mother, Greyson’s grandmother, had been sick and Greyson’s mom came to Addis Ababa to be with her own mother but no one knew how to get in touch with her. Heather and I were distraught. We had been thinking and praying about that meeting for so long that we were really bummed that it may not happen. Dr. Tsegaye promised that they were doing their best to find her but that it may not be possible. Heather and I decided we would still travel to his town because we were hoping to meet his birth family and see where he was born even if the birth mother was not going to be there.
After lunch, the group decided to go to another museum. Heather and were not up for it so we reluctantly decided to stay back. As we were having a follow up conversation with Dr. Tsegaye, he once again reassured us that they were doing everything they could. As we turned to go back into the house his phone rang. We didn’t think anything of it until he said, “Heather……good news. She is here.”
We responded, “You mean here in the city?” and he answered, “no outside of the compound…..at the gate.” 30 seconds later she was walking straight towards us.
We were not quite sure how to react. This is the type of thing that you would like to be gathered for in advance but there was no time for that. Here she was. She is very young, only 22. She was attractive and very friendly. She explained that her mother was here in Addis Ababa because of a stomach condition and probably requires surgery.
So there we sat in the middle of the dining room ready to have our powwow. Heather began the meeting by attempting to read the letter she had written several days before. That lasted about a paragraph before Heather, and Tsege (mother) began crying. That is when I took over reading the letter. That was a much better plan. They both settled down a bit and we got through the letter. As I mentioned in my previous post, it was a very touching letter that Heather had written and it hit the mark.
We then gave her a chance to ask us questions. All she wanted to know was if we could bring him back in 4 to 6 years for a visit. We assured her that we would love to do that at some point in time but were unsure as to when it might be. Then it came to our questions. There were a few basics…..turns out there is asthma in Greyson’s family, no big deal. No other family medical history so that was good news. His father was a carpenter. Then we asked how his father died. This you will not believe.
One day, while in an area next to his region, a rival tribe came around. They did not like the fact that there were other tribal people in their region from another tribe. In fact, they disliked it very much. They killed 300 people that day and Greyson’s father was one of them. We do not know how they did the killing but we can only assume it was gun fire because they killed them all quickly and buried them in a mass grave. It was a tragic end for Greyson’s father and one that is too often repeated in Africa. Greyson was born 5 months after his father’s death. His mother, sensing that God’s hand must have somehow been in everything decided to name him “Yabsira”, meaning “work of God”. Heather and I sat, speechless for a few moments.
Then Dr. Tsegaye, the orphanage director and a huge saint of a man, told us that Greyson’s mom would be traveling with us to Awassa and return with us the next day to Addis Ababa. Unbelievable. Most families get, at most, an hour to spend with the birth parent(s); we were going to get 24. This was a real answer to prayer. For those of you who know Heather well, this was her biggest concern…..meeting Greyson’s mom. Every time we think God has outdone himself, he just keeps showing off.
As our meeting wrapped up, we agreed to let her spend several hours alone with Greyson in the compound, as it would more than likely be the very last time she would see him, at least for a very long time. We also gave her a photo album that contained various pictures of family members, our home, our church and the school Greyson will most likely attend. As she looked at a picture of Maddie standing on our deck, she commented what a beautiful school she attended. We had to explain that the picture was taken at our home not Maddie’s school. Just another realization of how blessed we are. We left some blank pages for the pictures we promised to send regularly.
Heather and I wrapped up our day by having dinner at the Hilton and a glass of wine afterwards. It was a relaxing night after what turned out to be a very emotionally draining but beautiful day.
Day 4
It was another great day in beautiful Addis Ababa. The gang wanted to go shopping again, so we did. We discovered this really neat charity they have here while we were in town. It is called “Hope Enterprises”. They sell tickets to tourists that are good for meals. So instead of handing out money you can just hand out a ticket that will get the bearer a square meal. 8 tickets cost just 4 Birr or about 50 cents. We bought a ton and handed them out all day.
Greyson is doing really well. He still is not attached to us in a way we would like but seems to be doing pretty well. The nannies here are so great that he is really attached to them, which is to be expected. He seems very smart and curious. But as we would find out soon, we didn’t know the half of Greyson’s story.
Mulat, a staff member came to Heather and I and told us that there was a potential problem with our birth mother visit. Apparently her mother, Greyson’s grandmother, had been sick and Greyson’s mom came to Addis Ababa to be with her own mother but no one knew how to get in touch with her. Heather and I were distraught. We had been thinking and praying about that meeting for so long that we were really bummed that it may not happen. Dr. Tsegaye promised that they were doing their best to find her but that it may not be possible. Heather and I decided we would still travel to his town because we were hoping to meet his birth family and see where he was born even if the birth mother was not going to be there.
After lunch, the group decided to go to another museum. Heather and were not up for it so we reluctantly decided to stay back. As we were having a follow up conversation with Dr. Tsegaye, he once again reassured us that they were doing everything they could. As we turned to go back into the house his phone rang. We didn’t think anything of it until he said, “Heather……good news. She is here.”
We responded, “You mean here in the city?” and he answered, “no outside of the compound…..at the gate.” 30 seconds later she was walking straight towards us.
We were not quite sure how to react. This is the type of thing that you would like to be gathered for in advance but there was no time for that. Here she was. She is very young, only 22. She was attractive and very friendly. She explained that her mother was here in Addis Ababa because of a stomach condition and probably requires surgery.
So there we sat in the middle of the dining room ready to have our powwow. Heather began the meeting by attempting to read the letter she had written several days before. That lasted about a paragraph before Heather, and Tsege (mother) began crying. That is when I took over reading the letter. That was a much better plan. They both settled down a bit and we got through the letter. As I mentioned in my previous post, it was a very touching letter that Heather had written and it hit the mark.
We then gave her a chance to ask us questions. All she wanted to know was if we could bring him back in 4 to 6 years for a visit. We assured her that we would love to do that at some point in time but were unsure as to when it might be. Then it came to our questions. There were a few basics…..turns out there is asthma in Greyson’s family, no big deal. No other family medical history so that was good news. His father was a carpenter. Then we asked how his father died. This you will not believe.
One day, while in an area next to his region, a rival tribe came around. They did not like the fact that there were other tribal people in their region from another tribe. In fact, they disliked it very much. They killed 300 people that day and Greyson’s father was one of them. We do not know how they did the killing but we can only assume it was gun fire because they killed them all quickly and buried them in a mass grave. It was a tragic end for Greyson’s father and one that is too often repeated in Africa. Greyson was born 5 months after his father’s death. His mother, sensing that God’s hand must have somehow been in everything decided to name him “Yabsira”, meaning “work of God”. Heather and I sat, speechless for a few moments.
Then Dr. Tsegaye, the orphanage director and a huge saint of a man, told us that Greyson’s mom would be traveling with us to Awassa and return with us the next day to Addis Ababa. Unbelievable. Most families get, at most, an hour to spend with the birth parent(s); we were going to get 24. This was a real answer to prayer. For those of you who know Heather well, this was her biggest concern…..meeting Greyson’s mom. Every time we think God has outdone himself, he just keeps showing off.
As our meeting wrapped up, we agreed to let her spend several hours alone with Greyson in the compound, as it would more than likely be the very last time she would see him, at least for a very long time. We also gave her a photo album that contained various pictures of family members, our home, our church and the school Greyson will most likely attend. As she looked at a picture of Maddie standing on our deck, she commented what a beautiful school she attended. We had to explain that the picture was taken at our home not Maddie’s school. Just another realization of how blessed we are. We left some blank pages for the pictures we promised to send regularly.
Heather and I wrapped up our day by having dinner at the Hilton and a glass of wine afterwards. It was a relaxing night after what turned out to be a very emotionally draining but beautiful day.
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