Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Letter to Our Trio


Dear Sweet Trio,

Hello from Texas and your family.  We think of you every day.  We cannot wait to come to you.  Every day, we pray for you.  Every day, we wish you were here with us.  We will be there as soon as we can.  Right now, we are waiting for the United States Embassy to tell us we can travel to Ethiopia to become a family.  They will work hard to make this happen as quickly as possible.  In the meantime, we will keep getting ready for you.

There are a few things we would like to tell you.  The most important thing is that we love each of you.  Daddy and Mommy love you Nigusom.  Daddy and Mommy love you Hewan.  Daddy and Mommy love you Tsehaye.  And your brothers and sisters love each one of you.  Second, you are precious and treasured.  We have dreamed of the moment we would be able to hug and cuddle and kiss you and tell you how precious you are!  We also want you to know that we are doing our best to make our lives and your home ready for you.  We want to tell you a little bit of what will happen when we come to you.

We will come to Ethiopia to be a family as soon as the Embassy says we can.  When we come to Ethiopia, we will come to get you FIRST thing.  You will come with us to stay at a home in Addis.  We will stay there for a while and see some very exciting parts of Ethiopia.  It is a friendly guesthouse run by our friends and Ethiopian family.   We will stay there for a while as we get to know one another.  During that time, we will learn more about being a family together.  We will do our best to teach you English, and you can teach us some Amharic.  It might be hard for us to talk to each other for a little while since our languages are different.  Please, be patient and know we will do our best to help you.  Also, you might be scared leaving the foster care.  You can tell mommy and daddy anytime you are scared.  We will keep you safe because we love you.  We will protect you from scary things because we love you.  We want you to feel safe because we love you.  We will hug you and kiss you and pray with you and remind you that you are safe.   Do not be afraid to tell us what you miss and how you feel.  We want to know, and we want to help you.  Have I said, “We LOVE you?”  

When it is time to leave Ethiopia, we will go to the airport.  We will fly home on a very big airplane.  The flight is long.  There will be many people, new sounds, and the flight will be very long.  You should know daddy, mommy, and your brothers and sisters will be there with you the whole time keeping you safe.  You do not have to worry, but you can tell us when you are scared.  We LOVE you.

The airplane will land in America in Texas where we live (where you will live).  The smells here are different.  The cities look different.   The sounds here are different, too, because most people in America speak English.  The food is different.  We will do our best to help you with these changes because we love you.  You should tell us when these differences are hard for you because you can trust us to help you.  Do you remember why?  BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU.   When you come to America it will be summer time.  That means it will be hot.  That means we will be out of school.  That means we will have time to play and explore.  That means your brothers and sister will be home, too. 

We will live in our home together, Mommy, Daddy, Hunter, Ann, Tiger, and Mez.  We have 2 dogs that are friendly.  One dog is very small.  Her name is Penny.  One dog is big.  Her name is Chin.  They are very nice.  H-Man is your oldest brother.  He is 14 years old.  He loves you.  He likes to read and play soccer and to play in the woods by our home.  H-Man is funny and loud and brave.  Nigusom, he has been dreaming of you being home for so long.  He cannot wait to show you how to ride a bike.  He wants you to teach him how to say things in Tigrinya.  Princess is your sister.   Princess is 10 years old.  She loves you.  Hewan, she cannot wait for you to be home.  She’s always dreamed of a sister to share life with.  She’s been busy getting your room you’ll share ready and helping pick clothes for you.  Princess likes to ready books.  She loves gymnastics.  She hopes to teach you how to do a cartwheel.  She wants you to teach her how to braid hair.  She says you have the prettiest hair she has every seen.  Tiger’s is your next brother.  He calls himself “Tiger” or “Telek Neber.”  He loves you.  Tsehaye, Tiger cannot wait for you to be here.  He is silly and funny and laughs a lot, just like you.  He loves to play baseball.  He wants to show you how to play baseball, and he wants you to show him the karate you do.   Mez is your baby brother.  He was born in Mekele, Ethiopia.  He is 2 years old.  Mez is very strong and very busy.  He likes to play cars and build blocks.  He will be bossy sometimes because he is a baby.  He will love you, too.  He knows you each by name.  WE ALL LOVE YOU!!!!  This is our family, your family in America.  Do you know we are your forever family?  We will NOT leave you.  You are safe with us.

We know you had another family before us.  We love that family, too.  When you are ready to talk about them, we will be happy to hear about them.  We love every part of you. 

Mommy and Daddy love you each very, very, very much.  We will do everything we can to make you feel safe and help you with all the changes in store.  We will teach you about your new home, new sister and brothers.  We will help you anytime need help BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU.  Nigusom, we love you.  Hewan, we love you.  Tsehaye, we love you.  You are precious.  You are a treasure.  We cannot wait to see you, to hug you, to hold you, to play games, and to grow as a family. 

May God keep you and protect you and carry you while we are apart.  May you know HIS love.  We are coming soon.

Love,
Mommy-ye Lori, Ababa Josh, H-Man, Princess, Telek Neber, and Mez-a-zu


Our Trio

2 comments:

  1. Oh Lori, it's perfect! All the things they will hear & need to hear over & over! When they roll their eyes because they've heard you say it 100x, say it again. Can't wait to meet them!

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    1. Liz,
      It is so hard to capture all the thoughts, dreams, concerns, and fears we each hold. I wish I could literally ring my heart out on paper for each of them. I just find it so hard to put to words our love for them.
      L

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