Our last day with Eden definitely held some very high highs and some very low lows. Like we've said before, the adoption process is a roller coaster of emotions! But we know that it will ALL be worth it in the end!
God’s timing is so neat. And His attention to detail is cool, too.
By our third day with Eden, we were discussing how we hoped we would have the opportunity to change her diaper and possibly even give her a bath. Because of the timing of when we were allowed to be at Hannah’s Hope, it just hadn’t worked out thus far. Well, on our last day with her, we were able to do both!
The morning of day 4, we had only been at Hannah’s Hope for a few minutes and we realized that she needed her diaper changed. We asked her special mother if we could change her, and she showed Lauren to the changing table. Eden had saved an extra-special stinky diaper for her Mommy!
Eden was so content as her diaper was being changed! No fussing or wiggling around—just playing with a toy while Lauren got her cleaned up. It truly was a blessing to get to change our baby girl’s diaper while we were on our first trip.
After her diaper change, we tried her out in one of the “exersaucer” things—she loved it!
And we had some more play time—she absolutely loves her Daddy!
The afternoon of day 4 (our last visit with her before leaving Ethiopia), we arrived at Hannah’s Hope as Eden’s special mother was giving her a bath. As soon as she saw us, she moved out of the way for Lauren to step in (her special mothers are awesome!). Lauren got a crash course in bathing a slippery 6-month-old!
Again, Miss Eden was so content and happy. She just LOVES the water and that is great news for our family who also LOVES the water! At one point, she propped her leg up on the side of the tub and just laid back—so cute! She even liked it when Lauren poured the water over her head to rinse off her hair!
After bathtime, she had more fun lying on the changing table while we applied all of the baby products for her hair and skin. She quickly found her foot and started sucking on her toes—pure cuteness! She was so bright and alert the entire time and was “making eyes” at her Daddy (and the camera).
We had some fun play time after she was all clean and dressed. She got the hiccups, which was kind of funny and sad at the same time. Ben tried some “tummy time” to see if that would help…
Later that afternoon, we were trying to gather more information from Eden’s special mothers. We wanted to understand what type of formula she is on, what her schedule currently looks like (nap times, etc.), and any other Eden-specific things we needed to know. Our little translation book wasn’t cutting it, so we called Waas in to help us.
With Waas’ help, we got the information we wanted and also made sure that her special mothers know how much we appreciate them. Then Waas dropped a bomb on us. He said it was time to go. What? We thought we had another hour with her. No, it’s not time to go. We told him that we weren’t ready and we made sure he understood that this was our last time with our baby girl on this trip. He said that he understood, but that it was still time to go.
Looking back on it now, we see that it was best that we not have the opportunity to prolong the goodbye. It would have only made it worse. Plus, we were able to say goodbye to our precious daughter while she was still awake. The emotions came on faster than either of us expected. It was a very tearful and gut-wrenching goodbye—one that we don’t wish upon anyone.
Eden’s special mothers were very sweet and kept assuring us (using body language) that they would take great care of her and that they love her, too. We can’t imagine better people to be taking care of our baby girl if it can’t be us.
We love our baby girl SO much (you parents out there can understand) and we pray that she is home VERY SOON! Please pray with us.
