Metcha Day!

"We will never be the same" was taken to a whole new level today. After waiting many months, we finally got to meet our kids today. :)))

We were supposed to be picked up by our driver at 10:00, head to the Transition Home (TH) to meet our kids, and then go to church and spend the day together. Well the driver called and had tire troubles, so he was 1/2 an hour late. We were getting a little antsey, and I started to feel a little stress that we would be rushed in meeting them and trying to get to church by 11:15. But I remembered so many before me saying to throw out all expectations of what that first meeting would be like, and so I did.

When we did arrive at the TH , there were a several toddlers playing out in the yard, but all of the school age children were gone, since they go to 1st service at church. We waited a few minutes for our kids to come out. Those first moments were sweet and a blur, so I am glad we have them on video. The kids seemed a little scared with no smiles, but were willing for us to hold them.

After just a few minutes of pictures we piled in the van to head to the International Church. The ride was bumpy and wild (as usual) and the kids just sat quietly on our laps. During church, we got out stickers for the kids to play with. Lydia covered herself, put them all back on the sheet, and then covered me, and then back on the sheet. Josiah enjoyed his too. Isaiah played with one sticker and then decided he was more fascinated with our watches.

The sermon at church was from Esther and posed the question "Why has God placed you in this place at this time?" The pastor talked about how we have to be willing to lay on lives on the line because the lives of others are at risk. This hit right to our core, as we know God has called our family to lay aside what we thought our lives would/could look like for the sake of giving life to these three new ones. It has taken us to places that seem and feel wild and crazy and yes, even scary! But we know that it is worth all of the risk we are being asked to take. (And we know God will equip us with whatever we need to carry this out!)

Ok - back to the kiddos. After church, we took them out to lunch with Robel and the Parks family. Robel is very close with our boys, so he helped alot with translation and transition. Robel thought we should just order the kids pasta, since that is what they are used to at the TH. When Isaiah's plate came we could see him getting upset and I asked Robel what was going on. Evidently he didn't want pasta (can you blame a kid who has eaten it every day for a year!), so Kevin traded and he was very happy to have a burger. All of the kids are BIG eaters. And they dip everything in their drink cup to get it wet before they eat it. We're assuming this is tied to how injera is usually eaten with some type of sauce? hmmm ... I'm thinking we'll need to redirect this before Kaden picks up on it too. :) After the kids ate, both Lydia and Josiah gave us their first smiles. They played around with us at the table and got a little more comfortable. Isaiah was still pretty confused.

We then took them to the Lion Zoo (which I wouldn't recommend). It has a number of black maned lions in cages that you can basically stick your arm in, if you aren't too smart. There were lots of people, and it was hot, and we weren't allowed to take any pictures of the kids in the park, because you have to pay for photos there. There was a swing set and slide in the park, so the girls took Lydia and Josiah on slide rides. Isaiah went on a little ferris wheel ride with the Park's son Sentayu. We learned you have to really hang on to Josiah, because he tries to bolt on you for fun. Oh boy! We decided the new Semlow family motto is "Do we have everyone?"

After a brief stay at the park, we could tell Lydia was getting really tired, so we headed back to our guest home (hotel) to wind down a little. This is where we saw the kids really loosen up. Lydia konked out on the van ride back and didn't wake up for an hour or so. With her "nap", we did figure out that she will sleep through anything, as the boys were playing all around her sleeping on the couch. We got smiles and laughs out of all of them. Josiah really likes reading books and playing hide and seek. The girls took him on the balcony and he tried to climb over the rail. He let himself out of the room and ran down the hall. I'm so glad we brought the Ergo!!! We found out you cannot leave ANYTHING electronic around Isaiah. He was using Kevin's camera, Hollie's video camera, and Corinne's ipod anytime we turned out back. We played bubbles and balloons, read books, and ate popcorn. At one point, Kevin was laying on the bed with the boys reading a picture word book. Kevin would say the name of the picture and then the boys would repeat it. It was really sweet! We were ALL wiped out by the time we were due to take them back to the TH for dinner. And the room looked like a tornado had gone through. Whew! We have our work cut out for us!!!

Tomorrow we will do some shopping in the morning and then head to the TH for the afternoon to visit with them again. We will get them for good to have in our room with us on Tuesday.

We're going to try to get some pictures posted here before we head to bed. Love to you all!