Thursday, November 04, 2010

Meeting Seth

He’s as perfect as his pictures...

The drive to see Seth was about two hours South of Addis Ababa, in a city called Adama. The drive was crazy, zigzagging through traffic, with cars, vans, trucks, bikes, cattle, and donkeys. They have no traffic signals or signs, just horns that they continually honk. We saw three very bad car accidents where you could not even recognize the front from the back of the car, scary.

I was accompanied on the drive by the head nurse from the Transition Home and the gentleman that will attend court with me on Friday.

When we first arrived at the Kingdom Vision International Orphanage (or KVI Adama), two young children, about age 3, immediately came running up and hugged me and followed us around almost the whole time, always reaching out for more hugs. I met the director and few staff and gave them a bag of donations. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. Soon they escorted us to the baby room - there were three small rooms with about 20 cribs in total. Most of the cribs were filled with smiling bear-bummed babies (it was changing time for all of them).

As I entered the last room, one of the workers came from outside holding Seth. All of the six workers in the room were pointing at me and smiling at Seth saying “Mama, mama”. He was shy and put his head on the workers’ shoulder.

They laid a mattress on the floor and placed 7 babies, including Seth on the mattress. I was able to sit on the floor and interact with all of them. They were crawling and slobbering all over me – it was fun.

Seth was the biggest child in the baby room. He is beautiful, he has a wonderful smile. His eyes were bright and alert. He is not walking on his own, but could walk while hold someone’s hand. He looked and seemed very healthy, but smaller than I had thought – still wearing size 12 month clothes. I measured his foot with my hand; it was about 4.5 inches long (now I can start buying him shoes!!!!).

What I was not expecting during this visit was physical contact with Seth, BUT, along with the other babies, I was able to hold him in my lap, kiss him, stroke his face and hair, blow into his neck to make him smile, tickle his toes, and beep his nose. We played with a small container, where I would put it on my head and let it fall, he would give a big smile each time, and even bigger when I put it on his head. Then all the babies were trying to put it on their heads...so cute.

At one point, one of the workers came into the room and picked up one of the babies. Seth immediately started fussing and whining. I was told that this worker was the one Seth had bonded with. I asked her to join me on the floor with Seth and after she put down the other baby, Seth clung to her and berried his face in her shirt. You could see how much they cared for each other. I was able to get only one picture at the orphanage; it was one with this worker. It will be great to be able to show this to Seth while he is growing up.

I was here for only about 30 minutes, the time went by very quickly. They would not let me take any pictures of Seth, and trust me, I asked about a bazillion times.

The day I met Seth is a moment I will never (or want to) forget...

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhhhhh Laura!!! I have re-read this several times and am crying such big tears of joy for you!!!Wonderful, wonderful news!!! Keep smiling, I'll be thinking of you on Friday!! xoxo
Joan L

Anonymous said...

WOW!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS.... It sounds amazing. Seth sounds like such a wonderful boy.
Debbie.

Joy said...

So lovely to read this!

The Better Good said...

So very happy for you Laura, what a dream come true!!!

Anonymous said...

That was beautiful to read! Good luck on your court appearance, I'm sure it will be great!

Carolyn said...

I have goose bumps all over! So thrilled for you. Fingers crossed that the rest of the trip goes well.


Carolyn

Gwen said...

Ohhhhhh Laura! I'm so happy to hear that you've finally gotten to hold your son! What an amazing experience... thanks for sharing this with us!

Maria said...

Just wow, thanks for sharing and i will be thinking about you tomorrow!

Dianne said...

Ooooh, so happy you have met your beautiful boy!

Leslie Lloyd said...

Laura and Chad - what a treasured moment. The whole experience must be sort of surreal and holding him must have melted your heart. Praying all goes well on Friday and so thankful that he's had a chance to rest in his mama's lap.
Love you! Les xo

Dana said...

What a great story. Thanks for sharing Laura. I'm so happy that you got some time with him.

Kelly said...

Laura,
What a sweet moment with Seth.
I am so happy for you!
I will be thinking about you Friday!
Blessings,
Kelly(DTE Oct.2008)~I have been quietly following your blog for a few months. I am loving your blog and your journey to bringing Seth home!
Thanks for sharing!

Hi from Ruth! said...

AAAAAHHHHHH!! Laura, you met him!!!! You met your son!!! I am thrilled for you...and am praying that court goes smoothly.

Can't wait to hear more.

Ruth

Tammy said...

This post brought the biggest smile to my face. I'm so thrilled that you were able to meet him and HOLD him! Such joy! Will be thinking of you tomorrow. :)

TheButterfly2 said...

Such a moving post! Cant wait to see pictures and to hear that you have him home to cuddle for good!

Janice said...

Amazing Laura! What an awesome surprise!! Our thoughts are with you every step of the way.
Love Janice, Darren, and Keira

Bonnie said...

Wow. I am so happy for you Laura. It must have been wonderful to finally hold him. Thinking of you,
Bonnie

lesli said...

how exciting!! my little boy is at the same orphanage so i keep picturing you interacting with him too :) i can't wait to hear more updates!!

Dancin' Momma said...

Yeah!!!! :) Love it!

Sharon L. said...

Oh Laura, that was SOOOO amazing to read. Wow, I am just beyond words. I am so so so happy that you were able to interact with Seth the way you did. Beautiful. Just beautiful. You know what I want to ask you... but I won't. This is about you and Seth. wink.
I'll be praying for you tomorrow (or today.. what time is it anyway!!)

Derrick, Alysia, and Levi said...

Wow Laura! That's so awesome!!!! I'm so happy that you were able to meet and interact with your precious baby boy. What a blessing. And soon he will be legally yours forever! Congratulations!

Historica said...

I am really happy you had the opportunity to meet your son. Thinking of you tomorrow for your court date.

Jenny said...

Fricken Awesome!!!!!!!! Don't wash your face you might wash off the love slober!

Enjoy!

Jenny

Natalie and Chris said...

Wow, i'm so happy to hear you have finally met your son. Congratulations.

emily said...

Oh Laura, I am SO happy that you got to have that time with him. He sounds amazing!

Kendra said...

Thanks for the update. So wonderful that you were able to have actual contact with Seth! Good luck with the court date tomorrow.

Sharla said...

So wonderful to hear that you were able to hold him even just a bit and have that time with him. So glad for you! Can't wait to hear how court goes.

darci said...

oh wow!! what a moment! so so happy for you!!!

Connie said...

Wow, what an amazing time! I'm sure you'll treasure it forever. All the best with the court appearance (which has probably already taken place as I type this). Hope the rest of your trip goes well for you!

Janice said...

Awesome, even the second time round!

Ramona said...

I've got tears running down my face- so happy you got to touch and hold and breath in your little Seth. Oh I can't wait for the day you come back with him in your arms (I want to welcome you that time like you did for me!!).
Wow.
Ramona

Ranavan said...

Amazing!!!!!! Oh Laura!!! This is just amazing!!!