Chocolate Muffin

His name was Yared and he was 6 months old when I first saw his little face.

Yared means "sent from Heaven" but of course it does because I had asked my late husband to send me the cutest baby in all of Ethiopia and I would name the baby after him and would call him Ziggy. My husbands was born Zigfreid in Germany and then adopted and his name changed to Steve. 10 years later on the anniversary of his death, on January 11, 2011, I received a picture of my son and he was the cutest baby in all of Ethiopia!

I got the phone call first and literally fell on the floor sobbing as if I'd just given birth. It felt the same. The release, the exhaustion, the relief, the love. I forgot I was on the phone.

I met him when he was 10 months old. He was sitting on the floor in the toddler room at a Transition Home in Addis Ababa. This is where they bring the children from an orphanage after they are matched with their parents until they can come home. He was sitting there looking solemn and I walked in and sat directly in front of him. I had told myself I had to stay calm so I wouldn't scare the little guy. I did pretty good. We looked at each other and I put my arms out to him. He reached for me and I scooped him up and we hugged. He hugged me so tight. He knew I was his mama. He knew it. I could feel it in that moment and he still has that uncanny sense of 'knowing' now almost 5 years later. I pulled away to get a good look at his beautiful face and he slapped me. Then he started to cry as if to say "what has taken you so long?" It was a life changing moment in my life.
I couldn't wrap my heart around the fact that I had to love him like only a mother could for a full week and then leave him for an unknown number of months before I could finally bring him home. But I wouldn't think about that now. I was so in love.

We spent the whole week playing and getting to know each other but it was honestly like we always had. He was strong and smart and he was starting to walk around the furniture right on track. I gave him his bottles and his little naps and then I would give him back to the nannies at night so his schedule wouldn't get ruined..I knew I had to leave him. How would I possibly do that? How could I? But I had no choice. Would he forgive me? Would he resent me? I couldn't explain it to him. I couldn't make him understand that the reason one trip had recently turned into two was because many a family had gone to pick up their child after the Ethiopian Government basically attended court for them and adopted the child for them so they would only have to travel once for a week to bring them home, had rejected their child once they met them. So the Ethiopian Government decided that parents need to come and attend court themselves...meet the child and adopt them on the first trip, leave them for ? months and then come again to get their VISAS and bring them home. It was heart wrenching.

During the next few months Ethiopian Adoptions slowed from 100 a month to 10 and 1000 children already adopted by their parents and waiting on the second trip would likely stay stuck for years because of the 'slow down'. Until it was determined that children weren't being 'stolen' for adoption. It was the hardest 4 months I ever spent. Luckily the powers that be allowed the 'stuck' children to go home and 4 months later I was back in Ethiopia with my boy in my arms. He remembered me! He didn't resent me! He was so happy to see me! I couldn't believe the trust of this precious child!

He had spent the last 4 months in a stroller with nothing to do. He couldn't walk around furniture anymore. His legs had grown weak. Children that are starting to get mobile are harder to watch and can get into more trouble so they are confined to a stroller for the day and their bed at night. We brought  gates for each of the toddler rooms in hopes that they could be installed and give the children more mobility. I don't know if they got installed.

He never stopped smiling. He knew he was home. He started talking right away. Of course we didn't understand a word for several year but that didn't stop him. It wasn't Amheric or English but more of a language all his own. He just wanted to be heard. He would start talking at 6am and he didn't stop until 6pm when he went to bed. He had so much to say. It's like he was thinking out loud.

He is still that way now, 5 years later except now he is full of 'facts' about animals or machines or pretty much anything. He has the memory of an elephant and at 3 years old could recite an entire book literally word for word, a book we read every night for a month before bed and then didn't read for several weeks. Not a 'baby' book though. A book with each page filled with words from top to bottom. I still can't believe he had done that at 3. I got it on video.

Ziggy Lion is so smart. He loves learning anything and everything. He is starting to read and write all on his own. Because he wants to. He will be 6 this July and wants to go to kindergarden so bad. i have to let him go. He is a social butterfly this one.

When he found out we were finally going to bring his sister home from China he was beside himself. He talked about her day and night and carried her picture around. He loved her. In China she was not a fan of me but she loved Ziggy right away. He is so good with her and she has learned so much from him. They are best friends. He is so good with her and dotes on her constantly. He tells on her and then when she is in 'trouble' for it he tells me how she didn't really mean it.

When I told him we were bringing home another sister he was over the moon excited. This was 5 months ago and not a day goes by that he doesn't talk about her and how we will bring her home. He worries if she has enough to eat. He wants to bring home ALL the girls from China he said!

There has never been a more loving, compassionate and grateful child. At least every hour he wraps his arms around me and tells me he loves me so much. That is at least 12 times a day. He appreciates everything I do and he tells me so. Especially when I prepare food!

God broke the mold with this Treasure. What a wonderful gift of a Big Brother both of my little girls will have.

Remember how I said he 'knew' things? We had just come home from China with Zoie Love last year and I was DONE adopting. I had my two and the process was hard and it was expensive and I had no money. I was very content. He said one day "My grandfather in China told me we are going back to China". Hmmm. It was months before I knew I would adopt again. Like 5 months after he said that!

But Seriously...after this I am DONE. <3