Ethiopia Day 11 - Meeting Their Birth Mother, Oromo Countryside

The boys' birth mother made the long trip to Addis in order to meet us and say goodbye to the boys. That meeting was planned for Friday morning but we had to postpone due to Taye's illness. Our agency arranged for meals and accommodations for her while he regained his health and by Sunday morning we decided that everyone was well enough to move forward.

I had been thinking and worrying and wondering about this meeting for a very long time. Now that it was upon me I felt completely unprepared, even though I had painstakingly written down a list of questions to ask. If you are preparing for this meeting yourself, there was some great advice given on the blog shower that Rebecca threw for me before we left. Thanks again to those of you who shared your experiences with us.

I expected the meeting to occur inside our agency's office, but as soon as I got out of the van a pretty young woman came forward, embraced me and planted several kisses on my cheeks. I was surprised by her age, as the report we have says she is 42 (my age) but this woman was young enough to be my daughter. The boys have her eyes, and I see her in them often.

Our time together was brief and difficult. The boys clung to me and our hearts broke for her. I couldn't tell if the boys remembered her. It had been 10 months since she had relinquished them due to extreme poverty following the death of their father. Through two translators I asked if she had any questions for us. She wanted to know how she would get the updates that we have promised to send each year until the boys are 18. I explained that she could get them through our agency. I asked her some questions myself but she was very sad and it just didn't seem right to grill her with a long list so I just told her how much we love the boys, that they would know how much she loved them, and then we held hands and let her say goodbye to her sons. It wasn't enough.

We spent that afternoon driving out to the Oromo countryside. I highly recommend this trip, especially if you don't have time to travel to another region in Ethiopia. Oromo is a day trip and it will give you a much better feel for the country. We saw many wonderful sites including a church carved out of the ground built by the same architect who built the churches in Lalibela. He died before it was finished so it is not as ornate but nonetheless worth seeing. If you go I recommend wearing socks, as you will have to remove your shoes before entering the church. We also saw ancient stone carvings, colorful farmer's markets, rivers and scenery, teff being processed the old fashioned way with oxen, and of course many beautiful people.