June 8, 2016. After over three years of waiting, we finally went to the airport to greet our daughters Sifa and Safi.
A day of the greatest joy imaginable but also fear and anxiety. I look at these pictures and I see it all and I grieve for Safi and Sifa. It is a very hard thing for a five and six year old to leave the only life they know and join a already-made family who doesn't even speak their language. Can you imagine asking your child to do that? It is heartbreaking, and you can see it on their faces in these pictures.
I felt like I was going to pass-out or throw-up at this point.I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. I felt so happy they were home but so sad for them and so scared about helping them through it. Add in three years of off-the-chart stress and the lingering sadness of my mom's death six weeks before this, and my body was a mess.
Oh, Sifa. I can barely recognize you here. I am so glad we know each other better now. You tried to put those gold shoes on last week and could not for the life of you squeeze into them.
Coming home to find our home had been secretly decorated buoyed me up more than I could ever describe. I knew it had been done by some women who had prayed long and hard for us.
It was a day none of us will ever forget. We talk about it often with Simone and Safi. They laugh at how much Sifa (Simone) hated me then. I am glad we are were we are and I know time will only bond us closer.
