Gotcha Day!!! and so much more.....

Before I begin - let me explain the Hairy Billy photo - we were shopping and a merchant ran out and told Billy that that wig was real monkey hair and he put it on Billy. It was really funny! In another picture I am standing with Robel and 2 street boys. Shelley - the package you sent with me to Robel was delivered and do you see the boy in the picture? That's the one you are helping! He is a doll! I just loaded the other photos, but I already forgot which ones they are... oh well..... now to the day's story:

Gotcha Day! And so much more…

We woke this morning with a lot on our plate. Today was not only the day to receive Gracie forever, but also to deliver care packages to babies/children for other families, take photos for 5 other families, deliver all the gifts for the transitional home staff, meet all the kids at the transitional home, deliver any donations (lots of formula, in our case, because so many of you gave!!!!) and so on.

I had to pack and organize for all of that first thing this morning. Libby slept like a champ last night and woke in a great mood. My sweet Libby is back!!!! Just in time!

She was AMAZING today!!!! Thank you Jesus!

We were supposed to be downstairs ready to leave at 8:30 for some morning shopping. But this is Africa and 8:30 ended up being more like 10:30…. 2 hours of just sitting around. I was a little frustrated because Billy and I the plan that he would stay at the guest house with Libby while I had some time to myself shopping. But when it all got pushed back and we found out we would not be back at the guest house, they had to join me. When the bus drivers and AW staff arrived they told us to bring all the donations, staff gifts and our diaper bags with us because we would not be coming back to the guest house until after we picked up our babies. Let's just say that the bus was full BEFORE we packed it with donations and gifts – AND we still had shopping to do!

We finally arrived at the market area near a post office.  Billy took off with Libby so I could still manage some "alone" time (if you can call being surrounded by merchants, beggars and shoppers "alone" time).  I had a BLAST shopping. I found some amazing artwork. One is a big painting on a fabric canvas of King Solomon receiving gifts from the Queen of Sheba. It is so colorful and beautiful! I also got a painting of the Last Supper – Ethiopian style! Love it! We found some more baskets and jewelry and Ethiopian crosses too. It was fun. I ran into Billy and Libby half way through and Libby was having a ball with her daddy. He had taught her how to barter and she would ask the merchants "how much?" and they would tell her the price and she would say "you're breaking my heart!" And they would laugh so hard!

Libby had asked her daddy if they could get something special for me so they bought me a necklace and a basket. So sweet! I bought Libby a drum.

During the shopping craziness, Billy and Libby decided to sit on the bus for a while and chill out. Beggars swarmed to the window to ask for money. Libby stood up so she could see out the bus window and she was saying things like, "sorry. I don't have anything to give you".  We have been asked not to hand out money as it causes a swarm of beggars to arrive. But Libby finally couldn't take it anymore and she tapped me on the shoulder and said, "mom, these people are really poor. They're hungry. Maybe we can give them my fruit snacks." My heart melted and we gather all her snacks out of my bag – trail mix and fruit snacks – and she handed them to the old woman standing by the window. Some kids tried to steal her food and the woman was getting mad and Libby shouted out the window, "You have to share! Share!" It was so cute to see her in action.

After shopping we had a fabulous lunch at a pizzeria. Libby fell asleep on the bus right before we arrived there so we put her in the stroller and found a quiet, dark spot in the pizzeria where she proceeded to sleep for about 2 hours. It wonderful! We saved some pasta for her and she ate it on the bus on the way to the transition home.

Once we arrived at the TH we were asked to sit on the small grass lawn so they could start bringing children out to us who we were supposed to take pictures of for other families who have either not passed court yet and/or have not had a chance to travel to get their children yet. We waited and waited and waited and finally I recognized the Portillas and the Crawley's kids along with the children of 3 other families.

Billy got both pictures AND video of each of the children! It was such an awesome feeling doing that for those families.  

After taking pictures for the families, we gave out nanny gifts and donations and then walked through the transition home, school, boarding, and outdoor areas. All the kids are longing for attention and desperate for someone to play with them. There were also lots of babies.

Libby was amazing through all of this, I might add. She was very interested in the baby rooms and wanted to walk up to each baby to put a blanket on them or just see what was inside their cribs.  She played with the older kids outside for the longest time and it was like she was at home.

She also fell into big sisterhood with the greatest ease today. No meltdowns, no jealously. She was just eager to get her baby sister. At one point in the day – before getting to the TH – she told us, "I can't take a nap today because I want to get my baby sister" – That came from the fact that she sleep through most of our meeting Gracie yesterday.  Once Gracie was handed to us,  Libby wanted to keep checking on her. As we walked around the TH she would say things like, "do you think her diaper is okay?" or "I think she is cold". She tried her hardest to make Gracie Lu laugh the whole bus ride home. She just loves her sister and is doing great! It was our best day with Libby on this trip BY FAR!!!!

One of the hardest parts about today was watching 2 older girls (ages 3 and 5) cry their eyes out as they left the TH with their new family. The older one, in particular, was just crushed to be leaving her friends. The nannies and her friends were all crying as we pull away. Once we were on the street the older girl started beating her chest as she grieved and yet it is so obvious that she is IN LOVE with her new family. That is just a load of emotions for such a young girl. The other sad part was that one of the boys adopted speaks a language other than Amharic. There was one other boy who speaks that language and as his friend rode away with his forever family, the little boy left at the TH was sobbing with grief. The only friend he had who could speak his heart language was leaving..... I cried like a baby watching that.... oh, that is so hard. That little boy still at the TH is on the waiting list. Please pray that God would reveal to a family very soon that that sweet, smart, bilingual boy is their son! He is an amazing kid. 

Once back at the guest house, we came upstairs to give Gracie her first bottle and bath. But before the bath was ready, she had some ugly looking poo poo. Not sure what it should look like, but it was green with lumpy white stuff in it….. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???

She loved her bath. She is such a content baby. The only thing that has made her really cry so far is her HORRIBLE diaper rash.  I have NEVER seen anything like it. Her ENTIRE bottom is red, and terribly raw and even peeling… it is awful!!! We got some triple  paste on that bottom really fast.

We then went downstairs for a great dinner. The cook at the TH is AWESOME!!! Dinner was just really late – after 8pm – so we were all so hungry and tired by then.

Currently – Libby and Billy are sleeping in the queen bed. Gracie is sleeping on me as she sucks on her paci and we are 15 minutes from another feeding. All is well – just very tired!

I can't believe we have Gracie with us. Billy and I feel clueless. Gracie's main nanny was off work today and most of the other nannies could not speak English – so we did not ask any questions about her napping schedule and such. We did get a feeding schedule, but that was it. And we feel even more clueless about how to hold her, move her around, get her dressed – she is just a tiny little thing and can only hold her head up a very tiny bit. Wow! She is so small!

Gracie's chicken pox look better today than they did yesterday and now we're putting antibiotic cream on the big pox we see and getting her dry skin lathered up too! She'll be looking healthy and pox free in no time!

I am so grateful to the Lord for bringing my sweet Libby back to her old self. She was singing songs, hammin' in up and goofing around just like she normally does AND she transitioned into being a big sister so well. We just praised her all day and we are so proud of her.

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Billy and Cindy Foote
Billy Foote Music, Inc.
3531 Hilldale Point
San Antonio, TX 78261
817.371.0689
www.billyfoote.com
www.myspace.com/billyfooteband
www.followthefeet.blogspot.com
www.adoptingaria.blogspot.com
www.libbysong.com