INTRODUCING KAYLA ETENESH GILCHRIST

We're back, safe and sound! God has been so good. Sorry for not having posted while we were gone. We had every intention of posting once or twice a day while we were there, but things were not as expected. No internet. No phone. No power every other day.

Kayla's given name was Etenesh, which is not an uncommon girl's name in Ethiopia. It means something along the lines of sisterly love, or supportive one. She is a healthy 20+ pounds and is approximately 8 months old. Her birthday on her passport is listed as September 18, 2008, and we're guessing that's fairly accurate. She's actually rather chunky of all things. We really expected to be adopting a somewhat malnourished child that was underweight. Instead, well, she's hardly that! She doesn't have any teeth yet, which hopefully is not indicative of a problem. We will be taking her to a doctor on Monday for a thorough physical, and should know if there are any issues then. She smiles readily (which we didn't expect) and is already very attached to Momma, which we also didn't expect so soon. She is very strong, but seems to be a little behind in motor development. We think this is due to her not having had much opportunity to move around at the orphanage. Probably, she was always either being held or put in a crib. She has shown improvement in this area already though, in less than a week. She has beautiful soft hair, which is not as kinky as we expected. Jamie has been doing research on how to take care of it. I think that will be fun for them... well, for Jamie at least.

We know only a little of her history, but we're not sharing all of it with anyone at this time. We would like to share it with her when she is older, and we don't want her hearing it from someone else first. So, no offense to anyone by any means, but please understand that we won't be giving out very much detail on that end. What we can share is that she WAS an orphan, but now she is a Gilchrist, with all the full privileges that come with being a part of our family. Are not all believers adopted into the family of Christ, and have we not been given all good things through Him? Likewise, Kayla is no second class citizen in our family. She is not "our adopted child" - she is simply our child. She is not "Plan B for adding to the family", she is simply Bryant and Lana's sister. We are so grateful to God for having grown our family through her.

Let's see. A little more info on Kayla. She is from the city of Awassa, which is south of Addis Ababa by 150 miles or so. She spent several months in an orphanage there before she was referred to us. After we accepted her, she was moved to a foster care facility in Addis, which is run by our adoption agency (CWA). The Ethiopian courts awarded her to us on April 21, 2009, after doing their research on her case. We met her for the first time on Monday June 1. I will write more about that later. Can you imagine what it is like for 5 couples in a small room to all at once be "handed" their children for the first time? Children that they have prayed for and worked for and hoped for and loved for a long time? One family's process took 4 years. It was one of the most moving things I have ever witnessed or experienced...

We stayed in a guest home in Addis and unfortunately didn't get out a whole lot, but that's ok. There were 3 other families staying there - all were Christian and working with CWA. It was really enjoyable getting to know them. After a couple of days, some sort of stomach bug began working it's way through the group. Not fun. Especially with no power and unreliable water. You can imagine what some of the bathrooms became in a hurry. Yuk. I got it on Wednesday, and Jamie got it yesterday - she is recovering today at home. Oh how we love hot showers, and cold beverages! Sleep was a little tough at times. I can confidently tell you that the roosters start their racket at 3:00AM each morning. The locals burn their trash at night outside our guest home. The approximately 99 trillion dogs in Addis (slight exaggeration) bark out the day's gossip to each other all night long. Some nights I thought I was beginning to understand them.... "Did you hear that Lulu ate another mangy cat this afternoon, that must be 10 in the last 2 days...", and "Mutt found a flea the size of a locust today, he's keeping it under his water dish." At about 4:50AM, the call to morning prayers is played over speakers not far from our guest home. It is the Orthodox call to prayers rather than the Islamic one, but it sounded the same to me. Kind of a wobbly sounding chant with a somewhat melancholy feel to it - no doubt the feel was due to the time of day! I was right there with it.

Sickness aside, we enjoyed our stay in Addis. It is not really what I would call a beautiful city - it actually reminded us a lot of what we saw of Tecate and Tijuana, Mexico. Lots of buildings and houses, but nothing particularly nice. Lots of concrete and corrugated metal. Not a lot of, shall we say, precision. The newer roads were very nice though. There are a lot of cars in Addis, and not many bicycles, which surprised us. Taxis (painted blue and white) were everywhere. Toyota seems to be the brand of choice by far. Our primary driver carried us and a few other families around in a van, which he drove skillfully, like a New York taxi driver I think. Had I been driving, I would have killed several pedestrians (and their donkeys) and totalled the van on the first day, no doubt. Our driver used the horn as much as the wheel, and both to good effect. There were lanes designated, but they were often ignored. Every few miles was a big circle, with roads coming in/out like spokes of a wheel. These were particularly fun. No rules. Force your way in, force your way out. But I never saw a single accident. Lots of donkeys, cows and goats were being herded or just wandered along the side of the road. Many people would just let their cows go in the morning to forage for food, and then the cows would come home on their own in the evening.

Will post more pictures and write more soon.

Thanks for all your prayers!