Two Mzungus with a Rwandese Baby

Our daily adventure today started off with Serge picking us up and taking us to the orphanage to pick up our son Isaiah. We are still waiting on that last piece of paper so that we can take him for good. Having to take him back every night is getting pretty difficult for us both as parents and confusing for Isaiah... we hope to have this resolved on Monday morning.

We were then off to make copies of his original documentation so that we can have them notarized at Sector headquarters. This is all for immigration purposes that we need to take care on Monday as well. I will spare the rest of the details except one thing I have learned about taking care of matters over here is the lack of "cue lines". Everything is kind of a free for all... whoever gets better feet and shoulder position wins. Everybody thinks that they have a reason to get ahead of the mass and to the person at the window instead of you. It's a whole frustrating experience for a polite Canadian because we all know how much we love our lines.

Anyways, on to what you want to hear about - Isaiah :) After all the documentation, we decided to take it easy this afternoon back at our bed & breakfast. We decided to try out the Baby Bjorn to see if he liked it. Sure enough, as long as he is close to you, he is a happy boy. It didn't take 10 minutes and he was out like a light for almost a 2 hour afternoon nap. We walked into town (which is just around the corner) for lunch. And he slept and slept. We get some interesting stares and whispering as we do stand out like a sore thumb... two mzungus with a Rwandese baby :) The people here love him though... a lot of them reach out to shake the little guys hand and talked to him in Kinyarwanda.

For the rest of the day, we took it easy and were able to Skype with both sets of Grandparents and Sebastian. They loved seeing Isaiah live and in person for the first time. He was very happy and very vocal for the entire time... quite a ham in front of the camera.

Working on his core strength

Today we are showing off his core strength. We didn't bring along our camera today... but he slept most of the day anyways. We thought we would give you another video from yesterday.

Day 2 - He grows closer to us

Today was a waiting day. We didn't have to chase documents so we sat by the pool at the Novotel. Isaiah sat on grass for the first time and quite enjoyed it. He also enjoyed watching the kids splash around in the pool.

When we picked him up from the orphanage in the morning we gave him his "Who Loves Baby?" photo book of our family and friends. He took the book, opened it to Johanna & I and started touching and kissing our faces... very moving :)

At the pool, we showed him a picture of Snickers (my mother & father-in-law's cat) and when he saw it, he squealed and smiled.

We then headed out to a different Cafe Bourbon even nicer than the one we visited on our first day. This place blows Starbucks away... they serve a full lunch - Johanna had a nice Penne Pesto. We were here with our good friends Serge & Jennifer. They have been such a huge help and blessing. They have picked us up every morning, take us to the orphanage, chase documents and make phone calls for us... basically putting their lives on hold to help us and make us feel completely welcome in Kigali.

After lunch, Jeff and Isaiah had a afternoon nap together. He is a loud breather who sucks his last three fingers with some serious suction. After he woke up, the first person he looks for is his momma. He is definitely a momma's boy :)

Our first full day with our boy

Today we were able to take Isaiah out for the whole day from 9-5. If the day was any indication of what this boy is like, we have quite a mild tempered boy... He basically spent the entire day in a warm truck as we went around town trying to get some documentation work done. He was happy just to be with us... never fussing or crying. He had really never been taken into town. He loved sitting perched up on our laps, staring out of the truck - watching everything pass by. As you can see from the pictures below, we got to see his first smiles (for us) and by the end of morning, had really warmed up to us. Like Sebastian, this kid can sleep whenever, wherever.... even during a loud, crowded lunch.

So enjoy some the pictures we took on our first day...

Already imitating his father

I think I've made an impression on him... he is already impersonating me :)



Our first full day has ended with him, pictures will follow.

More pictures from our first meeting

Okay, so it's 5am over here and either I haven't got used to the time change or my excitement being a daddy is overwhelming me :) Only 4 hours until we see him again. Until then, as promised, some more pictures...

Our First Family Portrait!

We are here in Kigali enjoying nice 26 degree weather! We were met at the airport by Jennifer, Serge and Momma Jocelyne/Josephine :) We were able to settle down into our nice and comfortable bed & breakfast then were taken to Cafe Bourbon. We thought we were going to go without Starbucks... but this is just as good if not better! After lunch and cafe lattes, it was time to go to the orphanage!

And here he is! Isaiah Christian Giraneza Klassen! We were so excited to meet him & hold him... he on the other hand was a little apprehensive. This precious little guy made no sounds but gave us the deer in the headlights look - I think a little overwhelmed and not really knowing what was going on. The sisters at the orphanage told us that he LOVES to be held and gets upset when he is not being looked after. After about 15 minutes, we started to snuggle in and warm up... very overwhelming for us!

We still have a few more papers to take care of here in Kigali before we can take him full-time, but we are allowed to have him during the days... very exciting and will allow us to get some much needed rest.

Anyways, will post more details later, enjoy our first family portrait...