Our first night

Well as I feared, our first night with Bereket was pretty much a sleepless one.  Not for him--he slept like a baby!  Darcie, Mark and I were wide-eyed by 4am!  I think it was a combination of adrenaline and lingering jet lag.

Another Picture

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.

Pictures from Yesterday

Day 1 at Bright Hope Baby Sanctuary

We don’t quite have the jeg-lag thing licked yet.  Mark was waking us up at 5 am, convinced it was time to wake up. His reasoning?  He could hear a rooster crowing!  We spent the day with Bereket and friends at the baby home.  When we first walking in, it was a little rocky.  He was half-hiding behind Tegist’s leg, facing the other way.  After a few minutes, Tegist encouraged Darcie to pick him up and take him upstairs to a quiet room with a great view and with several books. He wasn’t happy at first but soon settled in for a sweet time.  

Mark and I got the cold shoulder for a bit longer.  It was at mid-morning coffee and popcorn that we made progress.  He started feeding popcorn to Tegist, then to Darcie, then to Mark and I.  By the afternoon he was laughing with us, allowed me to hold him, and let Mark hold his hand as they walked around the building.  His warming up to us was a very pleasant surprise, and we’re excited about tomorrow.  

For dinner we had a special Christmas buffet at the Sheraton (which is spectacular).  The food was great, but Mark’s 5am wakeup time finally caught up to him.  He was sound asleep during the main course!

Arrival!

This morning we made the final leg--Dubai to Ethiopia. The flight was fine, but we had a frustrating airport experience. After working our way through one line, we were informed we hadn’t gone to the right line. The one we needed to be in was even slower! By the time we made it through customs, ours were the only bags left on the carousel. One of our bags was badly ripped, and our stroller won’t make it until tomorrow. I was fuming by the time we finally made it to the reception area (probably 1.5 hours after landing). The first thing we saw was a driver holding a sign that said: “Rainbs.” I remember feeling a little disappointed that Tegist (the orphanage director) wasn’t there--that she had just sent a driver. We then turned and saw two women with Bereket! He went right up to Darcie and was quite content for her to hug him and pick him up. He let Mark hug him. But Darcie is still regretting handing him to me, because I immediately received the arched back, let-me-out-of-here, treatment. Meeting him there was a truly wonderful surprise. We went to lunch, and it was great seeing him interact with his main caregiver (a young woman also named Tegist). It is clear that there’s a deep bond there. Ultimately, that’s very good news--as he’s clearly been loved--but we can already tell that parting is going to be very difficult! We are now getting settled in the guest house and have met two other families who are staying here. We are looking forward to a full day playing with Bereket tomorrow!!

From Mark (during a brief break from making friends at the guest house): When I first met him, I was happy and surprised that he was there. I thought it was funny how he would throw a stuffed animal on the floor over and over to make us pick it up.

One leg down

We’ve made it to Dubai after a smooth, 15 hour flight!  Mark woke up nice and refreshed after sleeping for 8 hours straight and looked at his much less well-rested parents and said, “When can we do this again?”  We’re all doing well.  After a short night here, we’re off to Addis Ababa in the morning.