Day 5: The Last Day

Oh, boy was this an emotional day!  We woke up excited to see our sweet girl on Tuesday.  We had been told that we would have a couple of hours with her, but thanks to Z, our driver, we ended up with about five and a half sweet hours with Mikayla Tamir.  We were so thankful that he took his time and did everything else on his schedule before coming back to pick us up!  She was sick and on medicine this day, so for a good bit of the time that we were there, we watched her sleep and cuddled her while she slept.  Poor thing!

When she was awake, we loved playing with her, talking to her, and reading to her.  It was a beautiful day, so we spent a little bit of time with her outside as well. We even got to hear her giggle a couple of times.  What music to our ears.

This was a strange day because while we were trying to be "in the moment" with our daughter, we also knew that our time with her was short and at some point we would have to hand her back to the nannies and say goodbye.  It even brings tears to my eyes as I think about it today.  Towards the end of the day, I knew I would have to let Brian hold her because I wouldn't be able to put her down when it was time to leave.  When it was time to go, we prayed over Mikayla and Brian handed her to one of the nannies.  This nanny was so sweet as we walked out of the door (me sobbing, of course) she called mama and had Mikayla Tamir "wave."  The nanny also worked her magic to get one last smile from our little one.  Priceless!  We said our goodbyes to the staff and started a very tearful journey home.  Leaving Mikayla at Acacia Village and boarding a plane for the US was the hardest thing we have ever had to do.  It is amazing how she is totally knit into our hearts, and it hurts to not have her with us.  We are so thankful that it is a matter of days until we will be back with her.  Please pray with us that we would get confirmation this week that December 28th is our official embassy date.  Part of our hearts is in Ethiopia, and we NEED her!