[Since I can’t post their names yet, I’ll call my future daughters L and B. I’ll also remove parts of my entry that were mostly notes for another family on their own daughter or things that say too much info about L and B.]
I spent much of the day – from 11 AM to 5 PM – with L and B. The Lord was good and I did have some time to connect with B [who doesn’t speak English]; I let her and L try to teach me Amharic. 🙂 They couldn’t stop laughing at my attempts! I also spent a lot of time watching B play. She’s athletic and seems to enjoy any game with a ball. L mostly stayed by my side. She’s very sweet and quiet. Well, by quiet I think I mean thoughtful. She likes to read and have times by herself. She gets tired of the noise at the orphanage sometimes and tries to find a quiet place to sit. I told her that our house gets noisy, too, but not quite as noisy as the orphanage!
L really seems to want to bond with me. That should help the process a lot. She said she wished I could just stay at the care center while I was in Addis, and she told me she’s happier when I’m there. She’s a very sweet girl. I’m concerned that she may be trying too hard to please, though, and might not be willing to tell me when she’s unhappy.
B is sweet, too, but more shy than her sister. I think she’ll do well with the children in school because she loves to join in games, but I’m afraid getting to know her heart may take a while. She’s full of fun, that much was obvious!
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Oh, and when asked their ages, L says she is 13 and B is 8. We’ll see what the courts decide to put on their birth certificates.
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L very much wants me to come back to the care center while I’m here, but I told her I didn’t know if I would be able to. I’d like to make it back one last time before we go so that I can say goodbye. I wish I could bring them home with me.
After talking with L, I’ve been thinking more about dating and courting. I wonder if it would work to mix the two. Could a boyfriend be required to court her until we’re comfortable with them going somewhere together? Especially if the “dates” were with a group rather than alone. I don’t know. We’ll need to think about it soon, though. L is already a young lady. And a very lovely one at that.