Travel to Nairobi

Today we flew to Nairobi, Kenya. The flight went fairly well, except for a major blow out on Carington’s part. Greg was across the aisle with headphones on and I couldn’t get his attention. I threw a toy at him and scared him. Fortunatlely the plane was mostly empty and Greg and I took her to the back and layed her across some seats there to change her.

Carington has so many funny quirks. She gets really upset when she sees a bottle because she wants it and cries and fusses until it is ready. She does this when she sees another baby with a bottle as well! I noticed on the plane that her fingernails are very flat, almost indented. Then I noticed that it was only 2 fingers. I couldn’t figure it out until she stuck those fingers in her mouth and I realized that those are the fingers she sucks all the time! I opened the backpack on the plane to find batteries for the camera and Carington saw into it where all the toys were. She got very excited like she had just hit the jackpot!

Kenya is totally different from Rwanda. My first thought when we were landing is that this is exactly what all the pictures of Africa look like. The trees are very distinctive. Our hotel is a high rise in the city. All the families are spread out on different floors. I really miss Chez Lando in Rwanda. All the families were close together and our room and patio looked right out into a beautiful courtyard were all the kids played. When Carington was napping I could watch her from the courtyard or our patio. We were spoiled there and I miss it.

Tomarrow we leave at 6:45 AM (5:45 Rwanda time) to go start the kid’s medicals. It is supposed to take all day. Tuesday we work on visas and then Wednesday we get to go on a safari. Hopefully we will have the visas by Wednesday evening. We hope to fly out Thursday night but right now there are no flights available so we may have to stay till Friday night. Up until this point I have enjoyed every moment. I’ve just tried to soak up every aspect of the whole experience. Now that we are no longer in Rwanda (and when inside our hotel room it doesn’t feel like we are in Africa), I’m just feeling homesick. I know I will enjoy getting to see Kenya and I’m very excited about the safari, but its not the same. I felt such a connection to Rwanda since it is my daughter’s birth country. I don’t feel the same excitement about Kenya although I do want to see it while I’m here. I miss Aiden and Noah and I can’t wait for everyone to meet Carington.

Carington Meeting Her New Doll!

Our little "Sissy Sue"

Pictures from January 29

Nyanja with the babies

Relief

I am very relieved tonight to finally know our daughter's story, however few details there may be. It felt like this was one huge emotional hurtle left to clear and now we have cleared it. We spent several hours driving to all the locations of where are children were left or found, except we have not been to Carington's location yet. We will do this tomorrow. I am thrilled to know that her birth date is accurate. She was born in a hospital so we know her true birthday. This is a luxery that many of the children do not have. We have not decided what, if any, details of her story we will share.

We drove into the countryside this morning and it is absolutely beautiful. We were able to go into one of the huts and see the people. One of the families brought beenie babies that we gave out to the kids. Some of the kids were scared of the beenie babies because they didn't know what a toy was. One little girl tied the beenie baby on her back and carried it like the women carry their babies here. I wish we had more time to spend in the country but I am happy to have seen some of it.

I have so many great pictures from today but it was hard enough to get these 2 posted. The first shot is the whole group minus one mom and baby that weren't feeling well. The second is the moms and babies that were all together in the baby room. I've got a great shot of them all sitting on the grass crying but couldn't get that one loaded. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post more.

More Emotional Overload

The last 2 nights we have had a time getting Carington to go to sleep. She is just so happy to have room to move that when we lay her down on our big bed she gets all excited. She rolls around and smiles and giggles. She crawls up on us and tries to get us to laugh. She sticks out her tongue and rocks on all fours. We have seen a huge improvement in her mobility and trunk control already. After seeing her crib yesterday I was very surprised at how small it was. The babies very rarely, if ever, leave the room they are in. Carington is just to excited to have space that she cannot seem to fall asleep!

I had warned my family before we left not to expect to much from her when we come home. I said she might not show much personality for a while. Boy was I wrong. This little girl has got personality to spare! I am so impressed with how well she has handled all of the changes, especially knowing that most of her life was spent in one room and one small crib.

This morning she had an episode of inconsolable crying for about 1 1/2 hours. I think it is her teeth. She is getting her first 4 teeth all at once! Once the motrin kicked in she turned into her smiley sociable self again.

Big surprise - we had another emotional day. (Sarcasm intended)
We visited the Genocide Memorial this morning. It is difficult for me to comprehend the horrible things that happened so recently here. I thought I did pretty well with controlling my emotion until we entered a room dedicated to the memory of all the children that were killed. There were pictures of some of the kids with information about them such as their favorite food or song. At the end of the list was the way they died. It was overwhelming. I broke down into all out sobbing. Outside were mass graves. 250,000 people are burried there.

After this we were supposed to go shopping, but with the emotion of yesterday and then this morning we all decided that we were done for today. We spent the afternoon taking much needed naps and then went out for a nice dinner. Tomorrow we will go visit the places that our children were found and find out what, if any, other information is known about our children. I hope that there is more to know about our daughter. If not, I am content with knowing that God lead us to her and that now she is where she was meant to be.

Emotional Overload

Today was a difficult day, a good day, but still difficult. This morning we visited a Compassion project in Kigali. It has 316 children attending there. 55 of those are orphans. 54 of the orphans live with extended family members and the only reason that the family members have been able to take them in is because Compassion is helping them. Without Compassion those 54 children would have no one. One of the children who is 17 years old lives alone.
We were a little disappointed at first because the children were not there today, but the parents were! Wednesday at that project is a day for the families to come for bible study and to ask questions about their children. We went into the church to meet the families. We had no idea the emotional experience we were about to encounter. The director had us sit up front and told the people (about 150 of them) that we had come here and adopted the baby we were holding. The excitement that errupted was unbelievable. They were chapping and cheering and laughing. He went on to tell them that we were here with 9 other families who adopted 12 children and the excitement kept growing. He told them how we celebrated Carington's birthday before we even met her and there were even louder cheers. The people couldn't seem to fathom what they were being told. Then he asked us to get up and say something! We weren't quite prepared for that. I don't really remember what either Greg or I said but I do remember the laughing and excitement when I stood and said, "muraho" (hello). The people are so amuzed when a muzungu attempts Kinyarwandan. The director asked if anyone would like to offer a prayer for us and a woman stood. She reached both arms toward heaven and through sobs praised God and praised His spirit for leading 2 muzungu's to come to there country to save a child. As she continued praying all the people began to cry and wail loudly. I've never experienced anything like it. After this another woman got up and talked about how God has a plan for every life. She said that this baby does not know that her plan is to have 2 white brothers, but that is God's plan for her! When we left the church many of the people were still crying. As we drove away one of the Compassion workers was still sobbing. Our translator said the the people just could not comprehend how God would lead people from America to come and adopt their children.
OK, as if all that was not enough we got to go visit the orphanage this afternoon. We got to see the crib were Carington spent her last year. There was another baby in it already. We were able to thank her caretakers and meet many of the other children. We also met many of the elderly that are cared for there. We did not stay long because it was difficult for the older children to see their friends with parents and know that they did not have any themselves. We are so thankful that our daughter will not spend any more time as an orphan. I just wish that I could say the same for all the other beautiful children that I saw today.

Much Accomplished!

Today was a very busy tiring day, but we got a lot done. We had 2 very long visits to the US embassy and a couple other shorter stops. Fortunately this group seems to have a good time no matter where they are. The good news is that all of the paperwork process for here in Rwanda is done! God worked a lot today to get this accomplished.

Carington is still going great. She is miss personality. Noah has some competition for family clown! Today at one of the long appointments when the adults were all laughing Carington kept laughing and laughing. She just wanted to be in on it and laugh with the rest of us. She also just started to bear a little weight on her legs and crawled just a little! We can see her changing practically every hour.

It is amazing to see all of the children changing. Some were very quiet and withdrawn at first and now they are just blooming! One little girl reminds me so much of my niece Reese. She has the same exact little smile on her face that Reese does all the time!

Carington does appear to have giardia but fortunately our Doctor gave us a prescription for this before we left. Hopefully this helps explain some of the signs of malnutrition that we have seen in her. (Her nails are almost like a newborns). The giardia makes having her a little like having a newborn in many regards. We are flying through clothes and diapers at an unbelievable rate. I think that is probably enough details for everyone on that subject!

We are loving Rwanda and it's people. Yesterday we were walking down some of the city streets and I had Carington riding on my hip in a sling. A little boy looked at me with a huge smile on his face. He said, "Muzungu" (white person), then pointed at Carington and gave me a thumb up! So so cute.

Tomorrow will be a very emotional day. In the morning Greg and I will visit a Compassion project and then in the afternoon we will tour the orphanage and spend some time with the children. It is going to be difficult and I'm probably going to come home trying to convince all of you to adopt the rest of the children that are still there. (Maybe we'll adopt another ourselves!) We will just have to see where God leads. His will is always so perfect. I am so thankful for His clear leading in this decision. Greg and I were just saying today that it is like Carington was always meant to be with us, and I believe she was. We love her so much and already can't imagine life without her. Thankyou God for the incredible gift that she is.

All Smiles

This morning we were able to take Carington out of the orphanage for the last time! This afternoon we should be able to get the last piece of paperwork we need so that she does not have to return at night. This morning she was more quiet and not as responsive, but after an extra bottle and a catnap the playful Carington of yesterday returned. She is so sweet and REALLY loves to be held. She has a lot of missed cuddle time to make up for.
We are really hoping and praying that she sleeps well tonight. I have been up since 1:15 AM so I really need some sleep! A side affect of the anti-malaria med that we are on is inability to sleep, just what I needed!
Tomarrow we should be able to have most of the paperwork for here in Rwanda done so we will have some days to enjoy this BEAUTIFUL country before we head for Kenya. I am excited also that Greg and I will be going to a Compassion project here is Kigali on Wednseday. Adoption and Compassion in one trip - it doesn't get much better than that!

Our First Full Day With Carington

Our Amazing Daughter

Carington is doing AMAZING! The things we have experienced with her today we never dreamed would happen until she'd been with us as least a few days. She smiles at us, makes lots of eye contact, giggles. Sometimes when we are not looking at her she leans over and looks you in the eyes to get your attention. She plays with our faces and is so open to touch, cuddling and tickling. She is babbling a lot. She is about to get her first tooth. She sucks her third and fourth fingers a lot. We feel so unbelievably blessed.
My only concern is her mobility. She does sit but looses her balance easily. We were told that she could stand in her crib but we cannot get her to stand on her legs. Her muscle tone is very low, but I'm sure with new opportunities to move around (and a physical therapist for a mother) she will improve quickly.
It is so surreal to be here with these 9 families that we have been in contact with for so long. Meeting everyone in person and seeing all of them meet their children is a huge blessing on top of the blessing of Carington. My heart is overflowing today with praise for Carington's maker!

First time meeting Carington

THE Day We've Been Waiting For

Today was THE day. The day that all our hopes over the last year came true. The day that we could set aside what our imaginations have said and embrace the reality before us. The day that we could stop just looking at pictures and reading books about our daughters place of birth, because now we are walking its' streets. The day that we can stop our obsession with studying our daughter's pictures and trying to imagine what she is like in person, because now we know. We know how big she is. We know what her cry sounds like. We know how smooth her skin feels. We know the depth of her eyes. We know the joy of knowing her and the depth of the love that God has given us for her. We also know that there is so much more to learn about our beautiful baby, and we can't wait to get started.

Officially, Legally, Forever Ours!!!

This morning we received word that we have passed court, meaning that the judge ruled that Carington Susan Carine Maddox (formerly Berwa Carine) is officially our daughter!

OUR DAUGHTER! Those words are so sweet. Not only that, but all 9 families who will be traveling together passed court and 12 children now have forever families. We confirmed our tickets today and we are leaving in 2 weeks. We will arrive in Kigali on the 23rd and meet our daughter for the first time! Words cannot accurately describe the joy and relief of knowing that she is ours and no one can take her away! Our POA, who is a wonderful Christian woman, wrote this quote in her email after she informed us that we had passed court, "Born not from our flesh, but born in our hearts, you were longed for and wanted and loved from the start." I love that and I cry when I read it, because it rings so true in my heart.

I am so thankful and filled with praise today. God's leading has been so amazing. I began researching adoption "just out of curiosity" one year ago today. If I'd only known then that one year later I would have a daughter. We also learned that she came to the orphanage on January 12, 2009. God was preparing a place for her in our hearts and family even then.

These pictures start from earliest to most recent. The one of the boys is when we celebrated Carington's birthday on December the 13th. The last picture was taken just today, the day that she became a part of our family.

Thank you God for all of the children you've given me, two you grew under my heart and one you grew in it! Your timing and your plan is so perfect!