Rwanda-Day 3

Today was a big day. It seems like 2 days in one. We woke up at 5:30am for 6am breakfast. We left our hotel by 7 to head to MIGEPROF, which is the government agency in charge of adoptions. Our sole purpose there was to introduce ourselves and make sure they knew we were in Kigali, beginning the adoption process. From MIGEPROF, we drove to the Sector, where we waited about 3 hours for our paperwork to be complete. Then, each family signed the Act of Adoption, which we would equate to a marriage license. Its purpose was to commit to adopting our daughter. There was celebratory applause and hugs all around. We are traveling with FUN people. We mesh well and have great conversation during the long waits in parking lots and strange rooms of government buildings.

Outside copy machine at sector

After the Act of Adoption, we went to the big grocery store (small Target kind of place) to get more water and chocolate. By the way...every time I brush my teeth with bottled water, I give thanks for the availability of clean tap water every day at home.

Car carts in Rwanda

After lunch, we had a small break at the hotel. I had a nice conversation with the bellhop about his dream of coming to the US to study IT. He wondered how much university cost. I told him, "A lot."

At 2:30, we were off to the orphanage to see our kids. They brought them out to us one at a time. Baby girl was wide awake today. She has stunning, huge, curious eyes. The babies at the orphanage never go outside, so this was the first time she's been in the sunlight with her eyes open. She seemed quite content to look around at everyone while sucking her fingers. While the finger sucking is adorable, we realize she probably does it so much because she is not comforted as readily in the orphanage as she will be in her family.

She fell asleep on my chest at the end of our visit. She is sweet joy. It was more difficult today than yesterday to give her back at 5.

We did get a chance to speak with her caretaker, a Sister . We asked how long our daughter has been there and learned that she has most likely been there since very early in her life...probably since weeks old. She also gave us information on how much she is fed there.

When we first approached Sister to ask about our girl, we asked if she usually cared for her and she said, "Oh yes. I love her," with the type of kindness in her eyes that gave me peace.

Scenes from our day...mostly taken from the parking lot of the Sector.