A taste of home

August 09, 2010

Last Thursday, we left for a visit to Colorado, so that Abel could meet my family there. We stayed at my mom and step-dad's house, and then took the kids so that Abel could meet my dad for lunch on Friday. Poor Adrianna had a fever with some kind of bug, and barely made it through lunch. But Abel showed off for my dad, eating his usual, incredible amount, dancing to Chipotle's music, and beaming with smiles.

Friday evening, my sister Catherine and her family came for dinner at my mom's house. Olivia especially enjoyed playing chase and capture with Abel. He, of course, loved the attention and the action.

And Catherine captured a few hugs from Abel, as he got to know her.

On Saturday, we all went to Catherine's pool, where, of course, fun was had by all. Their pool is cool because the shallow end is a large section of the pool, making it fun for all the younger kids to join in.

Later Saturday afternoon, we headed to an Ethiopian market that my brother-in-law Matt let us know about. He cleans their grease traps quarterly, and knows the sweet Ethiopian woman who owns the store. Catherine and Matt and their family met us there, where Matt introduced us to the owner. For the next hour, we basked in the sweetness of Ethiopian people and their culture. The owner and her husband cooed over Abel, kissing and delighting in him. We also met the owner's sister, who worked in the back of the store. Both she and the owners thanked us for caring for their children. Such humbling gratitude. Ethiopians are so compassionate, that they want their country's children cared for, and do not resent that people from another culture are adopting their children. The owner even expressed her desire to adopt from Ethiopia, but explained that it is very difficult to do so as foreigners in this country.

Not only were we blessed with meeting Ethiopians in the U.S., but we were also blessed when we went back to our car with our stack of 40 pieces of injera (Ethiopia's bread). We opened the bag to let Abel have some... Oh, what joy! It seemed that Abel was instantly transported to his homeland, with taste of his people's bread.

He signed "More" as soon as one piece was in his mouth. His eyes danced with joy in recognition of something so familiar. We knew we had done the right thing in buying much of it to take home to freeze for the coming weeks and months.

Sunday morning, Adrianna and Abel played with my mom and Richard, while Scott and I packed up.

And then we headed for my dad's house, so that Abel could meet Debbie.

We enjoyed a quick brunch, as Abel grew more comfortable with his grandparents.

We had a very long ride home (four stops will do that!). Abel was even so tired from the weekend that he fell asleep eating his snack in the car (quite an accomplishment for a boy who loves his food!).