Born for this

Day 2: No luggage. No toothbrush. No problem. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself. The airport says that my bags are coming tomorrow “after they inspect the contents and clear the bags for delivery.” I am just hoping for contact solution, allergy meds, and at least one outfit with accompanying clean underwear. And everything else can just be.

So today we went to the bank, the market, bought things for the nursery, and a few food items for me. We weaved through LOTS of people and traffic, negotiated near death experiences (not really!), and came out the other side victorious. I was a little overwhelmed but no sleep, no shower, and general jet lag aided this problem. Oh well. The best part of the day was yet to come.

So, late this afternoon, I met the children. Ilse, one of the volunteers, says that it takes only three days to find your “favorite” child. All of the volunteers agree that we aren’t supposed to have a favorite, but that it is impossible to avoid. And even though I was determined to meet ALL the children before letting my heart fall on any specific child, I think my heart has already “imprinted.” (THAT’S RIGHT, I SAID IMPRINTED.  ECLIPSE MAKES A CAMEO APPEARANCE IN MY BLOG!) Anyway, her name is Ellie and she is just the most beautiful creature. She was in a bouncer and crying for attention. The moment I picked her up, her little tears stopped and she become silent. I was holding her close while attending to another child, but as soon as she could wriggle her little body loose she turned to look at me. All she wanted to do was look at me. And without any effort on my part, she smiled BIG and reached her skinny little hand to lay on my cheek. And with that one little movement I was won over. Gone. Done. It is a good thing that she is not available for adoption and that TZ has a three year residency policy to adopt. Otherwise, “I” would become “we” returning to the US in December.

Note to self # 1: Your heart is going to break when you get on that plane in December. Accept that there is no way to prepare yourself. Ok, then say this with me- go “we were born for this, we were born for this, we were born for this.”

~Shae