Today was a rough day.

It started off great…Belane woke up happy and singing, singing, singing, which is the MOST adorable thing ever. She sings “If You're Happy and You Know It” in blurred English, and also “This is the Day that the Lord Has Made” and “Deep Down in my Heart”, which are two Christian songs that the kids sing in a lot of the orphanages. They are also in English, and she was very surprised I knew the words.

She was very sweet with Josh this morning…not hanging on him or being completely care free, but she did sit and play with him happily for about half of my shower, she smiled and showed off for him quite a bit, and she didn’t give him the “no shoulder” even once.

We got ready on time, with breakfast and showers and then headed down where Selamneh picked us up again. We headed over to Layla and Wanna, the big orphanage where most of AAI’s children are. We got the grand tour, spent lots of time with the kids, delivered letters to kids from their families and took a ton of pictures. There were many, many older children who are all so beautiful and so full of life, and happiness and hope. They all so very much want to be adopted. I hope more people are willing to consider adopting older kids.

Layla is an awesome place. I have been thrilled with AAI from the beginning of our process, but since seeing their facility, meeting their staff in Ethiopia and seeing first hand how committed they are to caring for older children, sibling groups, special needs kids, etc., I have a whole new appreciation. It would be easy to do as many of the agencies do and just take in young babies, toddlers and the occasional school aged child or child with minor special needs, but I think it shows true dedication to be willing to open your doors to any child who needs you. That is what AAI does, and it is beautiful.

Anyway, it was at our visit to AAI that we got our first bit of bad news. They had gotten a call from the Embassy, and while they had great news for our friends…their son’s waiver was approved and he will be escorted home next week…there was no news on ours. So we knew we definitely would not be making the flight tonight.