1 June 2004

Wow! What a good day! I feel like a huge cloud has lifted and I can “see clearly” again. It helps me not be so homesick, too. :)
As I mentioned, our driver really wanted us to find a baby at Kidane Mehret and I dreamed about that happening last night. I did know I wanted to check this morning to see if KM had any new babies. We also talked again about coming back in September, about taking one of the other children KM had available, etc. So, we first went to Kidane Mehret and saw Sister Lutgarda. I told her the paperwork was going really slowly with the gov't (we STILL haven't heard back from them) and she said she was afraid it would take 3 or 4 months. I told her we didn't have that long . . . So, she took us upstairs to the “baby room” and looked at the babies again. Isaac is still there and a cutie. Most of the rest are spoken for, but on one side of the room were 3 little babies – one 6-wk old boy and 2 little girls about the same age. NONE of them were spoken for because they are sickly and Sister Camilla (who is currently in Washington state) normally “runs” that room and doesn't usually place the sick babies. Well, one of the baby girls was Salome I already mentioned a few days ago and the other one is Tereza. (As in Mother Tereza) I told Sister Lutgarda that I did not care if she was not a “healthy” baby, I was very much interested in her. She had not been tested for HIV, so of course, that's the assumption with a sick baby. As we waited in the hall for her to be changed, I knew that we would find a baby at KM – either her or Salome. Knowing last week would have been nice! The very first day we were there, Sister Lutgarda told us about a man who quit his job and has opened 3 homes for pregant victims of rape. The girls range in age from 14 to 20. She said that in many cases, they will deliver their babies, then just take off and disappear. So, she takes the babies. She said that in these homes, the girls don't get abortions and they don't end up tossing the babies into the garbage dumps or the sewer. I think that's a good thing!! Tereza and Salome are both tiny results of rape.

In any case, we took her for her HIV testing and I held her in the car. She is very small and very weak, it seems. She DEFINITELY needs kangaroo care and all the best of attachment parenting. She is certainly a “failure to thrive” baby, but I think I can help with that. Her suck was OK for short periods of time, but she seemed to tire easily. She had a Dr's appt later in the morning, so we had to get her blood drawn, then took her right back to Kidane Mehret. We stayed and played for a good hour and many of the toddlers were out in the sunshine, as it was such a nice day. Some of the bigger kids were there too. There is one young man now named Michael, going to Vermont with his older sister any day. His English is pretty decent. He told me that “If you not come, Bette go Germany”. I held a little boy that had been on the ground fussing. He was scared of me at first, but then he liked being on my lap. So much so, in fact, that when we had to leave and I put him down, he just started wailing!

We did have to leave to go back to the clinic to get the results of Tereza's blood test. I stayed in the car, because I did not want to burst into tears in the middle of a clinic if she was positive. I had been praying in a mantra-like fashion from the moment I learned she could be adopted if she were HIV negative. “Please let her be negative, please let her be negative.” Greg and Henock were gone for a very long 10 minutes or so. While they were in there, Greg said it seem agonizingly slow although they did a rush job on the tests. The Dr. was showing them the folded paper and asking if they would like it sealed up in an envelope. Greg said “No!”. He finally said “It's OK – everything is all right” and Greg started crying. Gotta love that man. They finally came out and Greg gave me a thumbs up – negative on everything!!! Greg said that Henock was pumping his fist in the air – yes! Another miracle! So, we went back to KM to update the paperwork. We needed a new orphanage letter, but could just add her onto the other papers. Sister Lutgarda said to come back at 3.