Meeting Easton

On Sunday, June 20th, I had the life-changing experience of meeting our son for the first time!!!! Here are the details~ Steven and Amy Smith joined my Mom and I after church as we crammed into a 1980 Toyota Tercel. We drove through Addis with no idea of where we were or how far away the Transition Home was. We drove past the Zimbabwe Embassy, along with many other Embassies, and then down the bumpiest road I have ever been on. I actually thought that we were going to get a flat tire and my “Metcha day” would have to be rescheduled. I asked our driver Alazar if we were getting close and he said “YES!” Steven turned on the Flip video recorder to capture the whole thing. As we drove to the Transition home we passed a man peeing on the side of the road, multiple people walking, and a husband and wife carrying a live goat my it’s feet. We all busted up laughing at this “special moment”. We then saw the sign for “American World”. My heart dropped as we drove to the gate the Alazar honked the horn for the guard. This was it, the Moment was here….and then the guard came out and said “No, no appointment”. My heart sank as I waited for the men to discuss the situation in Amharic. Then they involved a few nannies, made multiple cell phone calls, all as we prayed in the back seat. After 5 minutes of negotiations the guard surprisingly opened the gate! I have no idea how Alazar changed is mind. We walked straight into the house and back to the baby room where my driver Alazar told the nannies that A**** (name not disclosed for privacy reasons) was my baby. Right when I thought I was going to meet him, then the nanny took me to wash my hands and take off my shoes. I kept telling myself, “breath, Ashlie, breath”. After I quickly washed my hands I walked back to the room and asked if my cameraman and photographer were ready. Then I stepped into the room as the nanny brought me our son, wrapped up in a blanket. I put him in the corner of my left arm and squeezed tight. I was happy, elated, overwhelmed! Then I went to kiss his cheek and held it…I kinda got stuck when the emotions came over me and I gasp for my breath. Here is our baby, our Easton. What a moment!!!!! Then I looked up, smiled at the camera, (I have a thing for posing!)
Well, that was it, my “Meetcha Day”. Now I am excited for Ryan to have his day with our baby Easton! We received good news today that our court date should be scheduled soon. We are very hopeful that Ryan will be here in no time! Having time to blog is a little more difficult than I thought. The Internet is slow as a snail so I literary spend 30 minutes trying to email Ryan. Unfortunately, the Internet goes in and out of service, wasting a lot of the time. I would love to blog about Ethiopia and my experience later on. Right now, everything is revolving around time with Easton.
Here’s an Easton Update! He is the happiest baby I have ever been around! He has NEVER (and I seriously mean NEVER) cried with me! It’s been 4 days!! =) Lucky me! He is making my entry into motherhood a dream come true! He loves to smile, coo and tell me all about his day! He loves to be held over my shoulder, it’s his favorite! He sucks his thumb and it usually puts him to sleep. It’s only been 4 days but I’m pretty sure that he has already started to bond with me, such a blessing! The only bad part is giving him back to the nannies in the baby room when our driver has arrived. Every time I wipe away a tear and feel an emptiness in my heart. It's sad to leave him but every memory I have of him at 3 months make it completely worth the tears. Atleast I know I'll be back tomorrow to spend my entire day with him!
More to come soon!!! Thank you for all your encouraging emails and facebook messages!! They mean so much to me!
Hugs, Ashlie