Extravagant Auntie

It was mid morning and we were waiting at our hotel for the children to arrive. As we looked out over the veranda, you could see the big city of Addis Ababa. Inside I was stirring, how was I going to do this? Again rehearsing my inadequacies to take on this huge task. Then came the van and we watched them come out with an extra woman in-tow ... who was she? A Nannie perhaps?
Mommie!!,Daddie!! they yelled as we stood from the balcony waving at them. Jeff turns and quickly runs down the stairs to greet them. But they are faster and are running up the stairs to greet us. This unknown woman comes up the stairs with them carrying a large suitcase. She is smiling ear to ear and introduces herself; I'm still thinkin "nannie", and wow! these kids sure brought a ton of stuff with them.

After a few times around the introductions of each other we come to the realization that this "nannie" is the girls' aunt! Who would have thought we would meet their aunt?!? She was so happy to meet us, and the suitcase was filled with things she had got for us. We were honored to be given such graciousness, and shown such extravagant love. She bought all the children traditional outfits (including Abenezer who is not related to her), a coffee set (with all the extras needed to have a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony), leather wallet for me, a belt for Jeff, necklaces, headbands/wristbands for the boys, bracelets for all the girls at home, weaved baskets, unroasted coffee (or so we thought,but 4 months later found out it was a dried grain snack,ha.ha:)and spices.
She does not have the means to do this easily, it took great sacrifice on her part to give us such an abundance of gifts.
She was so happy for the children,for them to be given a home and a family,and her joy was so very evident. I kept thinkin, 'You're such a stingy American, Cindy' --how could I not look honestly at myself in light of whatI was being shown. She wasn't carrying a Christian label or trying to get me to see how great she was, she was just being who she was -- "giving" -- and I knew that I wasn't even close to her in heart, and that hit like an arrow in my selfish heart. Really, I felt so inadequate to be given so much, and trusted with so much. She trusted us to care for her family and wanted to honor us with all that she could muster ... What do you do with that?

We had a good visit (considering the language barrier) and we're delighted to meet more of the girls' family and find out a little more about them. The girls had been given time with their aunt who lives in Addis Ababa, which we were totally unaware of until then. She gave us a beautiful picture of the girls when they had their traditional clothes on, and I've kept it in my Bible ever since. She is the one we have connection with to this day, and I cannot express how thankful I am that we have this relationship since we have adopted older children, this is more than helpful to them.