This morning, Addie was playing with a little toy car. I was kind of cracking up at the car sounds she was making as she played. Sena told her, "I brought that from Opia!" And she was right. When we traveled to Adama to meet her all those months ago, I brought some toys that I was hoping might break the ice a little bit. It was the little toy car that elicited the first (and only) smile she had for us that day:
Not one minute after this picture was taken, she dissolved into some serious tears.
Later that day, we took her to the transition home in Addis Ababa where we would visit her the next two days. We brought the toys with us on day 2 and a little girl named A. was REALLY interested in the toy car.
Upon our arrival home, I actually inquired about A. She had not been matched with a family yet, but there was a problem with her paperwork so she was considered unadoptable at that time.
She took a bit of a shine to me and wanted me to hold her (in hindsight, I'm certain it was because I came bearing toys.) She was a hoot and they told us that she pretty much ran the transition home. I will never forget walking up to Sena's room and seeing A. and another little one scooting around the room on their potty seats on wheels after lunch.
A. quickly worked her way into my heart and I didn't have the strength to ask for the toy car back after she claimed it as her own. It was never to be seen again...or so I thought.
As I was shopping for Christmas gifts a month later, I came across the same little car again. I bought it for Sena and we brought it with us on our embassy trip. You can see from this picture that she is super excited about it. As Sena reported to Addie today, she did bring that car home from Ethiopia. But what about the original one?
We received this picture last March while waiting for clearance to bring Addie home and I noticed something interesting about it. Do you see what I see? The original car is in the lower left hand corner! Addie got to play with it in Ethiopia, too.
The end.
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