221 Days

The baby was in care in Ethiopia for 220 days. Today marks the 221st day that he has been with us. He has officially been with us longer than he was in care.

He was only with his first family for 11 days.

11 days.
221 days.

Doesn't seem fair at all.

In 221 days we have learned that he has a great sense of humor, loves to eat, is very easy going (unless you try to take away an inappropriate toy like the remote control or scissors), that he is a fast learner, that he loves to be outside, that when he is at the park he prefers to watch others at play over actually playing himself.

We have learned a lot about this little baby boy who is now more of a toddler than a baby.

We have learned a lot about ourselves too. I learned that some days all it takes is him to smile at me and I realize that life ain't that bad. I learned that Ben has surpassed my expectations as an ababa. I learned that you can actually survive with very little sleep.

And I've learned lots of big, important lessons as well.
That no matter what I do or Ben does or Little Babes does people will always stare at us, sometimes disapprovingly.
I learned that it's more important to find out why that is than to ignore it.
I learned that international adoption isn't all it's cracked up to be no matter what anyone says.

I learned that no matter how many days have gone by it will never stop being unbelievably heartbreaking that Little Babes only got 11 days with his first family who will only learn all the things about him that we know through pieces of paper.

And, most importantly, I learned that I still have an incredible amount to learn.