Arrived Today, Tuesday

So we are all here safe in Kigali, Rwanda. I certainly have plenty of blogging material due to the hectic and chaotic and mainly disappointing nature of our trip here, but the time is lacking to use the stories and observations usefully. Scott awaits me (well...sorta, he's fast asleep) in bed, and we have to get up early tomorrow to begin the day.

Long story short, we left for Boston on Saturday at noon, stayed at very nice hotel, woke at 3 am to get to airport, flew like clockwork to Dulles for our 10 am trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Well, the sign at the gate says 10:30, then we hear at 11 that there is a maintenance problem. Actually, technically speaking we can't make out any words, just a man making fuzz on the loud speaker, but word on the street as we come to know it after 24 hours of waiting, is that there is a significant maintenance problem. Ethiopian Airlines tells us as little as possible, sometimes things like "we are almost thru cleaning" and "we are just now finishing the repair" but hours fly by until at 4:30 they announce (again, just static fuzz over the PA) that we wil be put up in a hotel. Now the logical overdrive kicks in and I am thinking about 300 people all managing to obtain vouchers and get shuttled to the hotel and then back again for the 3 am check-in now required to make the morning flight. I also begin adding up the cost to the airline for this procedure they are about to invent apparently for the first time, and the best I can figure is that we will all get to the rooms in time to sleep about 2-3 hours and then begin the process back to the airport a full 24 hours after we had done this the first time. I would have gladly accepted cash money in order to save the airline the cost of the hotel and the shuttles (they hold TWELVE PEOPLE AT A TIME, and yes I am yelling!) and the buffet dinner they provided and stayed in the gate itself snoozing on the floor... and it likely would have been more resting!

Long story but we did end up leaving Monday at around 8 am... and the flight was as marvelous as one can get a 17 hour flight to be (and that isn't counting the 3 hours to Kigali). So we just about arrive and Ariah gets sick. For the first time in my life I get to use the white lined bags they so thoughtfully place in the seat pockets. I flash to how those darn germs could have possibly spread from my neighbor to us when we have been strictly quarantined for the past 2 weeks at least. And I flash to how on earth we are going to get thru the airports now, and evade the people asking what is wrong while they hand out Swine Flu information sheets, and flash even more forward to how this could impact our plans and progress here in Kigali. It is truly amazing how quick the mind of a worried, distraught mother can work. Thank goodness I brought Scott along to help keep me balanced. I can hardly get him to look up from his Taoist book the entire time, and I can confirm now that not only can the craziest roller coaster on earth not get a rise out of him, but the flight crazies (cancellation and mayhem that ensued) and the Ariah pukes does not get any attention either. That man is truly patient and flowing. He convinced me that Ariah was merely dehydrated, something that was fixed with some serious sleep and hydration.

So we get into Kigali (all our bags arrived!) and dear friend Julie picked us up. I inquire about court first thing, and hear that there was a big problem that held up the court progress. She informs us that it is now fixed, and things are on track. After being given the option of seeing Pacifique immediately today or resting and going in the morning, we quickly resolve to rest considering all the situation, and go fresh in the morrow.

Yeah, well that lasts about 10 minutes until I say, "are we sure....?" and over rehydration, Julie informs us of the problem Sunday. She got a call from the Sister at the orphanage saying that their doctor had been by and examined Pacifique, reporting that it was likely he would never walk. Progress haults. Julie suggests a second opinion, which they received quickly. A good Belgian doc looked him over and disagreed, coming to the conclusion that Pacifique was likely a preemie and now more like 4 months old developmentally. So he is not walking yet. Anyway, this information spurs us to go meet Paci and bring him to yet another doctor for review.

My goodness. I was a nervous wreck. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't even trust myself to know what to do when I got let in the gates to the orphanage. We really hadn't prepared Ariah for this yet, not that I know how to prepare her regardless, but it seemed so sudden and I was unprepared in some ways. How that is possible after years of dreaming of this child, I do not now.

Anyway, we park at the top of the hill to the orphanage and walk down. We come to the blue gates (thanks Megan for getting me here!) and knock. I notice I have placed myself behind the entire group of us and decide I had better suck it up and move forward. The sisters welcome us and they are so disarming and pleasant and happy. Pacifique has a fever they say, so they want us to get him checked. Eventually a sister walks toward us with a bundle in her arms, She holds him so we can see him, and I greet him for a while with her holding him. Then suddenly he is put in my arms nd it takes just a minute for me to feel comfortable accepting him, actually the minute is more liek the time it takes for me to let myself love him. And when I do, I hold him over my shoulder and feel his warm head against my face, cheek. And I cry. I just cry just as my friend did when she finally succeeded in pushing out her baby into her arms in the tub. She held him and cried, as did I. As I cry, I feel the people move in around me , and sisters are coming from many directions toward us, and i feel I may actually be in a real live Hallmark advertisement.

And Pacifique leaves with us for the rest of the day... Ariah is a natual big sister, holding him so nicely and consciously, loving him, caressing him. It was so good to see her happy again. She says she loves him already just like she loved Trace.

Dad seems happy too, immediately holding him and making him smile. Pacifique reaches out to grab him, his earring and his nose. What a happy day. The doctor is wonderful, sees nothing wrong with the child, and yes, he has a fever which is unexplained to date. Tomorrow we get to go to court and see if we can proceed on to our next court date that will make Pacifique legally our son. But in our hearts, he has been for a long time now.