The Orphanage

I thought I'd write about this as a highlight in a list, but it is weighing on me, so I figured I'd write about it now...The day we went to the orphanage, we fully expected to meet Micah Yabsira's birth mom. She had agreed to meet us and we were nervous and apprehensive, but also very curious and excited that we would have this experience to share with him later. Unfortunately, his birthmom did not make it. We were told that she had to work, but we both feel that wasn't it - we both feel that it was just too hard for her. We learned that she came to visit her son every day at the orphanage until he moved to the House of Hope. Every day. Knowing that, we know there is no way that she missed seeing him again because of work. We both felt separately that she may have been on the street, watching us as we went into the orphanage. That is probably our fantasy, but we both felt it very strongly.

I am incredibly sad that we did not get to meet her. Not for us, obviously, but for Micah. The things we hoped to learn from her, and the pictures we hoped to have for him to see have all been lost. We completely honor her decision not to be there - I cannot imagine the difficulty of that moment for her - but I still grieve the missed opportunity. It is especially hard reading of other families who have met birthmoms - I feel envious when I know I shouldn't. (I also feel very happy for them - I'm just being honest here.)

One wonderful thing about that day at the orphanage is that we were able to see where Micah Y. spent much of his time before coming to the HOH. We saw his crib...

We met the amazing woman who is the orphanage director and the nannies who loved Yabsira so much. When they heard he was there they all yelled out his name and came running to hold him. There is no doubt in our hearts that he was LOVED while he was there.


As we were leaving I started to cry and the orphanage director (I don't know how to spell her name or else I would use it) told me not to cry. I told her they were happy tears (although in truth mixed with sadness) and she came over and hugged me and kissed Micah Yabsira goodbye. It was an amazing, and very emotional day that we will carry in our hearts forever.