Tariku's Birth Mom

Well today was amazing!! We left this morning at 6:30am. We drove out of Addis and got to the countryside. So it was not what I was expecting. Southern Ethiopia is mountainess and lush and beautiful. We saw so many huts, rivers, children, awesome trees that you only see in movies (the ones that are flat on top, Like a bonzi tree), mountains and it is beautiful. I was expecting dry, desolate and a barren land. I was told northern Ethiopia is like this.
We drove 270 KM and we got into Mussie Orphanage in Hosanna. Mussie has 8 different locations in Ethiopia. I was confused for so long when they said the moved him to Mussie when we was already at Mussie. It all makes sense once you get here. Once we arrived at the orphanage we got out went to the bathroom in a hole, and sat down and waited for Tariku's birth mom. She arrived within a minute and we hugged her. She hugged us, and the tradition is hug and kiss one cheek, kiss other cheek, kiss other cheek, kiss other cheek. Of course we had a language barrier and it was more than we thought. She is from so far south that she speaks another language then Amharic. She came up from Durame which is 270 miles south of Hosanna. We were thankful b./c we are already back- the same day!!!
We did not want to be gone from Tariku for very long. We sat down and we talked for a long time. We asked a question and Blen our social worker here in Ethiopia came and she translated in Amharic to another person who translated to her in her language. (I have her language written down but I dont remember it)
It was a lot of translating before we got any answers. I had tears in my eyes the whole time. She is a beautiful young girl. She is 14, and comes from a very poor area and couldn't care for him. We asked many questions and we video taped the whole thing. She was so happy to met us, and she was so honored and joyed that we wanted to meet her. She was happy to hear that we are keeping his name. It was a very emotional day, I cried as we talked b/c Tariku will have pictures of his mom, video of his mom and know she loved him so much that she gave him to a orphanage knowing she could not care for him. What a gift for us and for him as he gets older. It was amazing time. Words can't express how neat and touching it was.
We got a assessment with pics when we got to Ethiopia and we gave her the pictures for her to keep. She held those papers so tight with a smile on her face. She was so happy to see how healthy he was, as he was very malnurished when she brought him in. We also had our guest house host- Burtikan get us a bible and we gave her that. She was so happy. She held the things tight that we gave her.
She also is a christian and so joyed to see that Tariku was in a christian home. She asked if we would tell him about her, and we said,"yes, absolutely."
Aaron prayed over her and we put our hands on her. Before she left, she hugged us, and kissed us, and kissed our hands. I can't even say how we felt. I had to keep it together, but I could have cried the whole time. She was very quiet and I held it together, but still had many tears.
We also got to tour the orphanage and see what room he was in at this orphanage. We gave gifts to the orphanage. It was such a amazing experience.
We had lunch and headed back. We loved having Blen as our translator and traveling all day with her.
Tonight we are going to a traditional dinner, I think its watching them dance too. We will see- sounds like fun!!
Thank you for your prayers- today was one of the best things we have done so far, except for getting Tariku of course.