Day 2 at Bright Hope/ Day 1 With Bereket

The big event today was the decision to take Bereket back to the guest house with us. We had a very good morning. He came right up to us, and we spent the next couple of hours together, reading, playing, and eating. Even though it is very soon, the caregivers thought we should continue with the good momentum by taking him with us! We piled into Tegist’s crew cab truck, our two kids (that still sounds strange) and her two kids. Like typical Americans we had too much stuff piled all around: backpack, laptop bag, camcorder, camera bag, stroller, etc. They were filling the floorboards and our laps. Bereket sat on his mom’s lap as we went to the Ethiopian National Museum to see some of the world’s oldest bones. After that it was back to the guest house. They cooked spaghetti and meat sauce for us. We think we’ve found Bereket’s love-language (or at the least the key to contentment)--food. The boy can eat! He’s also more solidly built than most Raines’--at least at this point. We had a great time playing in our room. It was a special family gathering together with books and blankies on a queen sized bed. So far he is a very quiet and observant boy, though we're starting to get some smiles cracking his otherwise serious demeanor.  My proud moment of the day came when Darcie was putting him to bed. I was in the next room helping Mark. Darcie put Bereket in the crib, and he starting crying, “Daddy, daddy, daddy!” He ended up falling asleep in Darcie’s arms. They’ve told us he sleeps very well if he’s had a big enough dinner. We'll see.  I’m certainly counting on being up with him at some point tonight. This has been a great Christmas with a most special gift.