Reflections

Yesterday I assembled a photo album of our trip. 200 photos. I noticed a couple of common themes. Tamene moves a lot. Tamene likes the bus. Tamene can throw a great tantrum.

In most of the pictures Tamene is smiling and as adorable as can be. You can see those huge eyelashes in almost every picture. But there are a couple of occasions where we have a play-by-play of a full blown tantrum. Head back, body on the ground, face in the dirt, pictures don't capture the fine sobbing noise he has mastered over the course of his short life, but is it humorous.

The light is different in Ethiopia. Maybe the elevation, maybe the positioning in relation to the equator. I am not sure. But it is beautiful. Some of the pictures are so amazing. The light in Africa made everything more beautiful... visually. I continue to be hesitant to comment on the people and the culture of Ethiopia, because I cannot do it justice. Through my Western filter there are so many blind spots. Since meeting Tamene's birth mother, I have wished many times that I could view the world through her eyes, just for a moment. I do not wish to have a different life or to be in another time or place... but I wish that I could have the capacity to see the world in many different lights, just one of those being this woman's eyes whose heart I wished I could comfort.

I live in a beautiful place. There is a pond I can see from one window and the colorful effects of fall upon the trees through another window. A cool breeze across my face as I snuggle into my warm clothes, with an apple and a cup of tea. An infinite supply of information at my fingertips. This is a great place to be. I am grateful and blessed and would not give it away, but I do feel that I have missed out understanding the complexity of planet Earth. I have a new desire to understand what lays beyond the edge of my world. I have a slight sense of panic realizing how much more there is to learn, and how little time we are given to do it in.

Eleven days ago we returned from Ethiopia. I cannot say that I am rested or recovered from the trip, the whole experience. There are still many pieces of the trip that I cannot put into words, and then of course there are periods in time that I don't even remember.

A few people have asked what I would do differently, or maybe what advice I would have for others. I am satisfied about the time I spent making lists, it didn't seem waisted. I was happy with the amount of packing I did, I felt prepared for most any situation I encountered, as well as a couple for fellow travelers. I would have been more prepared had I ever traveled out of the country before. I did enough research that there were several things that felt "familiar". All in all, I feel good about how things went. Trent and I were very, very grateful to have Jamie along. I can't say I would recommend that other people bring a travel companion, unless you have a Soul Sister you can bring. This isn't just any trip, and not just anyone will do. I won't speak for her, but I don't think Soul Sister's services are for hire. So I can't offer any additional advice about how to make the trip better for someone else. But if I had to (or do do) it all over again, having my Soul Sister there was the core of what little sanity I took with me and I would do it again.

Tamene continues to adjust and is doing well. We have a few minor (and very temporary) medical issues that we are dealing with. But this is all to be expected. He has been communicating with us well - all non-verbal at this point. And he seems to understand most things that we tell him.

I continue to plan to close this blog in the near future. I am just keeping it as a security blanket to give me the opportunity to add any new thoughts that come to me about the adoption or specifically our trip.

I continue to feel extreme gratitude towards all those who have walked with us during our adoption journey.