Last Christmas Without You

Melkam Gena – Merry Christmas! Today is the holiday of Gena, or Ethiopian Christmas, celebrated according to the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar. For several years now, our family has celebrated the holiday sharing an Ethiopian meal with friends. This past Sunday night, we did that again with our small group. Becky has learned to make a number of Ethiopian dishes, and even makes her own injeera (Ethiopian flat bread). The meals are always amazing.
This year, it is a special Christmas – our last Christmas as a family of five. Here are a few updates and thoughts as we pray that sometime in the next 2-12 weeks we will hear from the courts in Ethiopia and make a trip that direction.


Visiting the Boys in Ethiopia: It has been two months since I was able to visit our boys in Ethiopia. Two days before I left, we learned that the boys had been moved back to an orphanage in the city of Asosa, a ten-hour drive from Addis Ababa. After a whole series of logistical hoops, I was able to find a flight to Asosa and visit the boys there. How does one share the rush of emotions from something as special as that moment in a format like this? But suffice it to say, the time with them was amazing. What joy to see them, to hug them, and to begin getting to know them. Leaving Asosa that Monday morning was a feeling of sadness I had not felt in quite some time.

After the initial hesitant awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time (with 20 other kids all looking on), we found some ways to communicate and bond, despite the lack of a common language for conversation.  I shared small gifts with them; we were able to FaceTime with Becky and the boys back in Chicago, we played soccer. The kids danced and sang, we shared oranges together; they showed me their room, shared with the all the other boys in the orphanage. We looked at the photo books of the family (with their pictures interspersed on the pages), we read together, and we took silly photos together.

I have so many questions for them and look forward to the day when they can share in words their own thoughts, fears, and dreams.  I loved watching them interact with each other. I love the impish grin of one as he posed for selfies on my phone; the other, with a slower to come, but radiant smile that can light up a room.

What joy it was to play, to begin the long process of bonding together.

Last Christmas without You: Eight years ago, we purchased Dawn of Grace, the Christmas album by Six Pence None the Richer. On it was a song called The Last Christmas without You. That song became dear to our hearts as we would listen to it, anticipating the birth of Micah in February. We listened with tears in our eyes as the song depicts both the birth of Christ and the waiting for the birth of a family’s own child. This year, we did the same again. While we do not feel the heartbeat of a babe in the womb this time, we look at smiling faces in the photos we have. We watch videos I took on my visit in November, and we pray. So grateful this will be the Last Christmas – without them.

From The Last Christmas Without You  -by Six Pence None the Richer

I feel your heart beating inside my own skin
And I think of Mary in BethlehemThat night in a stable our Saviour was bornYes, we have so much to be thankful for
On the last Christmas, the last ChristmasThe last Christmas without you
They're choosing the colors, preparing your roomFor one day midsummer the advent of youTogether we wait for a heavenly giftIs winter a wonder? Enchanted that this is
The last Christmas, the last ChristmasThe last Christmas without you
See the stars shining from aboveHear the Seraphim singingPraise to the Giver of life and loveMaker of beautiful things
I feel your heart beating inside my own skinAnd I think of Mary in BethlehemWhen darkness was shattered the dawn of God's graceAnd the journey began to the first Easter Day
On this last Christmas, the last ChristmasThe last Christmas, the very last ChristmasThe last Christmas, the last ChristmasThe last Christmas without you

Hear the song at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUXjB1XL0AE

Process Update: Since I visited the boys in November, we have seen some of the details progress. The boys are back in Addis. Two critical official steps have happened. We are now waiting for the Ministry of Women Children and Youth Affairs to offer their positive recommendation, match the boys paperwork with ours, and then (finally) receive word to come to Ethiopia for a court date.
We will likely make two trips to Ethiopia. The first will be the court date. Once that is complete, it often takes 6-8 weeks to get an appointment with the US Embassy to complete visa applications so the boys can travel to the US and become US citizens at that time.  So, our current window is somewhere in the next 2-16 weeks. It’s getting closer.

In the meantime, we wait and pray - grateful that next Christmas they will be part of our Gena celebration.