I’ve been the proud mother of MT for 6 months now. It’s amazing, tiering and wonderful!

Even though I have problems remebering every detail, I have a clear memory of our first half an hour together; alone. MT cried and cried. He had been so happy walking away from the home, but when we had to say goodbye to the other boy (we lived in the same building down there, but not the same room…) he started crying loudly and desperate. Poor MT didn’t understand my words, and when I tried to comfort him he got even more angry. So I sat there close enough to awoid being hit all the time, I talked to him and sang for him, told him that eventually everything would be good again. But I so understood why he cried and I think I cried a little bit with him as well.

After what seemed like forever (but was only about 20 or 30 minutes) he calmed down and after a little while his smile was back on his beautiful face. That was one of the first things I saw meeting him the day before, his smile. He often shone up in a big smile when he had fun or was happy. He was (and still is, in fact) easy to amuse. I so love that smile! Anyway, back to the story: We went to the bathroom, wiped off the tears and then we went out and he was rejounited with the other boy. During his cry I had tried to tell him that they sould meet soon, but he didn’t understand and had no time to listen either. Together we went to a resturant and celebrated our new kids.

We had a few days together in Addis Abeba. Some very packed days where we started to grew together as a family. I’m glad I got to see, smell and hear this land, it’s so different from Norway and almost impossible to imagine without being there…. This is where he had his first 2,5 years in life and even though he might not care one bit about it when he’s older, I know this still will follow him as the place he started his life non the less. And if he want to listen I have many things to tell and also many photos to show him! And one day in the future we will return back and visit the town he was born, I hope.

One thing I clearly remember (the days in Addis I’ve told about here) is the journey home to Norway. We were so tired when we finnally got here!! MT was so excited about the flight. He just loves airplanes. All day he talked about it, while I and my firend packed our suitcases tried to get all of our new stuff to fit into them… (hard work, I tell you!). When we drove to the airport MT and also the other boy and his brother almost lifted from their seat in antisipation. Sadly the flight was a late night one and the many hours on the airport was not so much fun. MT should have been to bed a long time ago and there was so much new things, so off course he cried and cried in frustration and tiredness, by the time we got on the plane I was so tired. But MT was finally happy. HE LOVES AIRPLANES! He sat in his seat smiling while the plane lifted from the ground, so amazed about the lights that got smaller and smaller. And he had great fun eating dinner at 1 am (!), even he understood there was something not quite right about that! He slept a little, but not much, and he kept falling off his seat too bad I didn’t think of making him use the seatbelts all the time. Guess I was to tired to think straight.. I did not sleep, but rested a bit. We arrived in Frankfurt early (I mean early!) in the morning and had some time to kill there. Now we had to say goodbye to the other boy and his family since they took a plane to another city in Norway. But first we spent some hours together at McDonal, thankfully they had a play room that kept them occupied for a little while.

When we arrived at Gradermoen airport in Norway I thought the hard part of the journey was over. But no, the trafic at the airport was slow and we had to wait over 2 hour extra before our final plane was ready to take off. Most of that time (and some hours before that) we spent with my parents, but still I so longed for my own house and my own bed. When the plane then had to make an extra landing in Bergen because of to much fog on our local airport I almost started to cry. MT slept beside me, I so much wanted to join him. Luckily the fog lifted and we were able to land later on - several hours too late. I can’t tell you how good it was to see my friend Benedicte standing there waiting for us, ready to drive us home.

And then the days went on and became weeks and months. When I look on photos from back then and compare them with MT today I can see lot of changes. He’s bigger, his hair has grown and he talks Norwegian like he has done it for ever. He still smiles a lot and laughes easily, but can also get quite angry if things isn’t going his way. He sleeps well at night and seems to have adjusted well. I can’t imagien my life without him and feels like I’ve been giving the best gift of my life. And even though he’s adopted I find it so amusing when I can say; well, he got that from my side of the family. I find myself in so many things of his and feel that we are so made for each other…

I love you kid, can’t wait for the next days together with you