Journal Excerpt : Day 2 with Judah; Culture Day

5/1 Day (who knows) Second Day Meeting Judah
It’s good to be with Holt who desires for us to learn about the culture and see the city. Today was a cultural day for sure. We spent the morning going to the University Museum where it is a general history of Ethiopia. It’s a holiday here (May Day) which means things are closed. Fortunately Holt called ahead to make sure the museum would be open. Unfortunately they were given the wrong information and the University Museum wasn’t open. Though we asked, multiple times, if we could go shopping instead, Tsegaw informed as the schedule said “city tour” and that’s what we were going to do. Bummer. We ended up at the National Museum which holds “Lucy” bones – the supposed oldest human remains that walked upright. This theory of millions of years ago completely goes against our biblical world view and the museum was not a place we desired to go. In fact, this “Lucy” is nowhere near the full skeleton they refer to. We had 90 minutes to walk through the museum and were done in 30 so we enjoyed a seat in the shade on the steps of the building. Some of the students inside the museum were on a field trip. Someone in our group chatted with the adult leader and found out that he was the head of Compassion International in Ethiopia and all the students we saw were Compassion students. That was pretty exciting for me to see considering we’ve been sponsoring a Compassion child for quite a few years. Insert Compassion kids pic From there we enjoyed lunch at Lucy’s Café where we also had a coffee ceremony. Wanting to truly experience the culture, I jumped right in and tried to fan the coals while the woman roasted coffee beans. More than once she took the fan from me because I didn’t fan it right and it wasn’t warm enough coals. I tried. I even enjoyed the coffee I tasted (thankfully they are small cups).

Eventually we made it to our choice place – the care center. It felt super wonderful that I without a doubt recognized our son when he was carried through the room. Praise God. We played a little and he was the same quiet little boy who was happy to be in our laps. Until I brought out the plastic easter egg designed like a school bus. He loved it and laughed and smiled a bunch with that toy. He finally began to get comfortable around us. We were thrilled with the chance to see a little bit of his personality shining through. He easily went to both of us and wrapped his arms around us. Our little Asfaw-Judah is recognizing us too.

We had our few minutes visiting with the nurse who didn’t have much to say except that he’s healthy and didn’t have past records of vaccinations so they started him on where he currently should be on vaccinations. Hmm, sounds like we’ll be getting titers checked when we get home. The nurse also informed us of a bacterial infection on his scalp that was cleared up. I’d noticed the bumps and wondered about them so I was glad he addressed that. He also said that he had no signs (diaharhea, sore tummy) and doesn’t seem to have an issue with giardia. One of the helpers in the room speaks Wylotinga (Judah’s native tongue) and he taught us how to say “I love you”. Judah looked up right away as we tried to correctly enunciate the phrase. Back upstairs to play.

We played some more and laughed and chased toys around. Eventually he needed his diaper changed (Shoot, I was hoping he’d be potty trained) and I took him upstairs for a change. It was such a great experience upstairs. He quickly became his normal little self as he called out to other kids, climbed under a crib and up the side of a crib. It was so good to see. Of course, I played with lots of other little ones too. I hugged and loved on Bethlehem, Chrissy’s little girl, as she told me several times what her name was. Four other young girls quickly attached themselves to me when I allowed them to play with my hair. It was precious. They braided and twisted and the oldest of the girls was quite possessive of my hair. Precious moments and I’m so glad I was up there. I felt bad for leaving Ryan downstairs but I was so enjoying the moment. I’m looking forward to Asfaw’s next wet diaper so I can sneak upstairs!!! By time I went downstairs, it was time to leave. We got back to the hotel with enough time to borrow Shonda’s phone and call the kids. My sweet in-laws were curious about how things were going and I tried to politely tell them it cost $3 per minute to talk and needed to get off the phone. We chatted long enough to say hi to the kids, tell them about Judah and ask them to call my mom and Ignacio.

Tonight was the cultural dinner. And culture it was. It was buffet style and I’m glad. I had injera which has a lemony taste to it, tibs which I didn’t like, a banana cake topped with hamburger meat and Et cheese which I didn’t like and several other things I enjoyed. Then we enjoyed several cultural dances representing the different tribal groups or regions of Ethiopia. Very cool. I even danced with one of the guys – of course it was totally white girl dancing but I was experiencing Et. During the dancing, we also had another coffee ceremony. I drank another bit of coffee and was shaky! I think the recent coke (not diet caffeine free like I’m used to at home) and the coffee have me wired even though my body is physically exhausted.

Tomorrow morning we leave early for Durame. This trip will allow us to see some country side and hopefully allow us the opportunity to meet Asfaw’s birth mother. Oh Lord, would you grant peace to all the families involved as everybody wants what’s best for their child.