Day 2 in Rwanda - Living Like a Celebrity

Being caucasian in Rwanda is certainly noticeable, but there are other caucasians here. In fact, we saw several today at the Genocide Memorial. To be of asian descent in Rwanda is unusual, but again, we've seen several asian individuals. To be chinese with caucasian parents is just completely unheard of. As a a result, Isaac has been getting a lot of attention. He, however, is completely unaware of the stares. They all ask his name, not Sean or Kate or me. They ask Isaac I believe because they are wondering about his heritage. He just answers them and moves on, sometimes he barely answers. He doesn't have time to chit chat, he is generally on a mission somewhere. So everywhere we go we get stares. We haven't been followed yet, but I believe that is because we have a driver to take us everywhere so we don't walk much. When we are done with a meeting we call our driver. When we are done with dinner, we call our driver. When we come back to the house the driver honks and the house dude opens the gate. It really is a unique life. One that I imagine must be similar to celebrities at home. The funny thing is I don't think I could really get used to this. I like having more independence.

In other news, we did visit the Genocide Memorial today. The grounds are spectacular. Much thought has been put into the layout of the gardens and the plants in the gardens. There is a garden to honor the children, a garden for women, a garden which represents Rwanda before the genocide, a garden which represents Rwanda after the genocide, a garden that represents the healing, and several more that I'm forgetting to mention. Words cannot describe the emotions felt when seeing the rows and rows of mass graves. As they build in Rwanda they continue to find bodies and as a result continue to have services at the memorial.

Here is a picture of just a couple of the mass graves.

This is a picture of a grave with recent additions.

As soon as we arrived at the memorial, the daily rain began. The rain moves in and moves out quickly but while it is here it is a deluge. They use marble-like tiles all over Rwanda. When these tiles get wet they are incredibly slick. So after the rain stopped, there were people all over the memorial grounds using a broom-like tool to clean off the tiles. Within minutes everything was dry.

Our drive to and from the memorial took us into a different part of Kigali. This is a picture of houses on the hillside. I apologize for the sideways picture. I'm not sure why it is not right side up.

Finally, there has been some movement on the adoption front. Today we were able to pick up a document from the ministry that we need to move forward on David's adoption. We hope tomorrow we will be able to meet with the sisters from the orphanage and start the process. Really, we are hoping to meet him. It is difficult to be so close to our future son and not be able to see him. Maybe tomorrow will be the day we finally meet him.

Thanks so much for joining us on this journey. Please continue to pray the ministry would be open to us adopting a girl. Pray that things would move smoothly and quickly with David's adoption so we can begin the bonding process with him. It is difficult to be patient. While I know we will be here for three weeks, I'd rather spend the time with the children than just trying to get the children. This is such a beautiful place and sometimes it is difficult to really enjoy with the thoughts of adoption always present. Every time Sean's phone rings I see Kate cross her fingers that the call is some good news about the adoptions. Pray for my current kids' hearts. It is difficult to be on display everywhere we go and they are also dealing with their own stress as we face two adoptions. They are both very excited about the new additions, but it is a big change and they realize that. And with that, good night from Rwanda!