How Is an Orphan Supposed to Look?

27 Dec 2011 1 Comment

by doccochran in adoption, Christian Faith, orphan care Tags: Adoption, Africa, Ethiopia, orphan

The morning of Wednesday, December 14, 2011, was one of the strangest mornings of our lives.  First, it was strange because we had been in Instanbul, Turkey, only hours before our Wednesday breakfast in Ethiopia.  Before Istanbul, we were in Chicago.  Before that, Louisville, KY.  Our first morning in Africa was a peculiar culmination of a two-day travel schedule originating from Kentucky.  If nothing else, the sheer fatigue of such a travel schedule made the morning odd.

But the real oddity of this irregular Wednesday was its connection to our adoption.  Wednesday, December 14, 2011, was the day Vickie and I would first meet our African boys.  How does one meet his child for the first time?  On prior first meetings of our children, we knew the arrangements were outside our control.  When it is time for labor, it’s time!  When labor is complete, it is complete.  When the baby is delivered–well, that’s when you get to meet him.  With adoption, it is different.  Plane tickets are purchased in advance to reach Africa.  You know well ahead of time when and where you will meet your child.

Yet, our meeting was, in many ways, the same as the biological birth meetings of our 5 prior children.  Little Misiker walked up to us the moment we sat down to eat breakfast.  We weren’t expecting him at the breakfast table.  We weren’t on the lookout for him.  He surprised us as much as any of our natural born children ever did.  There he was, looking up at us, sizing us up, wondering what it meant to call us Mommy and Daddy (as the other Africans were encouraging him to do).  There were other little children running around the room. So, we weren’t certain whether this little orphan was ours.  No one told us he would be meeting us at breakfast. So, how could we know?

What exactly does an orphan look like? I don’t know the answer, except to say that I can show you how 2 orphan boys appeared when we first saw them.  Keep in mind, of course, that these boys are orphans no more.  These are our sons: Misiker Samson (age 2) and Jack Kenean (8 mos).