Lichty's Adventure to the Land of a Thousand Hills... and Beyond: May 11, 2011

I have loved thinking back over our trip last year, one day at a time. There were so many things we couldn't share with anyone while we were in it. Things that we weren't allowed to share until we finished and other times we just didn't have the internet connection to share anything. It seems like it was so recent and yet also so long ago that we were in Rwanda. I have so many great memories. There were so many hard times, and yet with the passing of time and the Lord's blessings those things aren't as hard to remember as they were to live through. We have seen so much good come out of some of the things that were so hard at the time.

The hardest part of the trip was always being behind, waiting and waiting to get the next one piece of paper we needed to get on to our son, to the place where the other families were. Not that it was all easy for them, it wasn't!, but we just wanted to get to where they were because they had met their children already, or they had their children during the days, or whatever. But we saw even during our trip reasons why our experience was different, because of God's plan.

On the day when we finally had passed court and could take Isaac for the day (which was yesterday's post) we saw a big reason why God waited with us. We had only visited with Isaac at most 3 hours in a day, usually much less, at Home of Hope up to taking him out for the day. When we had him with us he opened up so much. He had played with us a little during visits and he had never minded us holding him or anything but he slept a lot and he was just what I thought of as zoned out most of the time. We knew we had turned his world upside down already because he was used to being in his room, not outside, and we were strangers and with different coloring than almost anyone else he saw daily. So we didn't think his behavior was unusual at all.

At the hotel though, he was different. He was smiling so much, he was engaged with the toys and us, he was talking-babbling, he was alert, his eyes fully open. We were so glad to see him getting used to us. But when we returned to Home of Hope in the afternoon, the moment we walked back through the gates he changed again. During the visit that afternoon he zoned out again, he wasn't talking at all, he didn't really smile, his eyes closed down again. We saw God's hand in our timing then. The other kids seemed to be adjusting so well, over the time with their visits and the days when they would go out but have to be brought back, I hadn't seen them each day of course but they seemed to me to be connecting well with their parents/grandparents and being back with the nannies. We were so thankful that we never did have to leave Isaac at Home of Hope again after we had custody during the day. We don't know for sure but seeing his reaction when we returned we just don't think he could have handled being left, or what he would have thought when we returned the next day. As it was we did have custody to take him "home" to the hotel and the moment the van pulled away he was back, he was smiling and alert again. In that moment I knew God had planned our documents, all the timing, perfectly because for this little guy he needed to leave only once with us. I would definitely go through all that again knowing it was the best. I knew God's plan would be the best and would work out but it was hard to keep my thoughts on that during the hard times, how I would love to go back and enjoy all the great times with 100% certainty of the best as I know it now. Not being envious of those whose journey was different, we all had so many difficulties, so much waiting that was just so hard, but God worked it all out in His timing for each of us. We could see sometimes why and others we didn't but He had good reasons.

So, one year ago today, I contemplated all of this a lot. We had a great day of just being with Isaac. We still waited for our "to whom" letter, not knowing if the minister would be able to sign. She was in her office but of course there are a lot of things to do besides our one document. We really did so many fun things this day. We went again to the market and we were able to pick out more items to bring home, after our donations to Home of Hope we even had room in the suitcases.

We had the best time at the hotel. We spent a lot of time with the Stengels just enjoying having our 2 babies together, after the 2 years of dreaming that we would one day be together. We were overwhelmed with the blessing again that God let us travel together. And we played with them, watched them sleep, ate together....it was wonderful!

Aren't they the sweetest?!!