Ever since 2006, the day after Thanksgiving has been significant for us. It's the day we met and held Ellie for the first time. Friday morning in sharing with her about this special little 'anniversary' Nathan held Ellie in an impromptu re-enactment after breakfast. "Hold me longer, Daddy," she said. We'll hold you forever, Els.
Given that Friday was also a holiday in Albania (Liberation Day), we arranged with the help of our friend Kerri to meet up in Elbasan with Reni's Dyzi. We are indebted to Dyzi for her love of our Reni boy until we could get there to hold him ourselves. We hope we can maintain a relationship with her as Reni grows.
We met up at a little shopping mall (new since our stay in 2010) with a play place and let the kids play. I know the photo below isn't tack sharp (between the low light, motion, and shooting through mesh... yeah, excuses) -- I just love the look of joy on Dyzi's face.
I don't know that my children have ever gotten to play in a real ball pit before! They loved it -- and I love it that Dyzi jumped in with them!
We were pleased to bring our dear friend, Vera, with us to Elbasan for the day. Kerri is center and Julie is on the right. Thank you, friends, for translating for us! Hopefully we won't need your translation assistance forever!
For those of you who have adopted, I'm sure you can understand how much it means to know that your child had someone to show them love and to love in return before you. I know it was terribly hard for both Reni and Dyzi when he came into our family, but he is an emotionally healthier individual because of Dyzi's love!
Here's to more visits to Elbasan. It's nice having family in Albania.
(don't Nathan and I look like giants?)
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