I know a lot about Zinabu. We are coming up on our two year anniversary of his adoption. But there is a lot about Zinabu I don't know. For example, he has a large scar on the back of his hand, wrist, and arm that looks like a severe burn. I don't know how it happened. He probably put his hand in the fire--or fell in the fire--when he lived with his birth family. His family lived in a small farming community and cooked all their meals over a fire. It's our best guess, but we really don't know. We are overjoyed to be celebrating his two years with us, but we are not yet to the point that he has lived with us longer than anywhere else. He came to our family when he was three and a half, so he's lived more than half his life not with us. The "I don't knows" seem to bother other people more than they bother us. It drives one of my friends crazy that we don't know Zinabu's actual birthday. She cannot fathom this. Perhaps because we focus on what we do know about Zinabu, we are better able to deal with the mysteries of the unknown. We focus on what is real and true and so undeniably him. His smile, his giggle (oh, if only you could hear it!), his sense of humor, his non-stop talking, his love of adventure, his love for his daddy... This is what makes up our Zinabu. I treasure each and every moment we've had with him.
5 comments:
I know what you mean. Tariku has what sounds like a very similar scar on the back of his leg.
Sometimes I let the unknown get to me, only because I want to tell him about it. His birthday is coming up and he's always asking me about his birth, just as Trysten did a week ago. Hard times then but otherwise it's not.
I'm with you. The awesome part of the whole thing is knowing that those things you know about him (laugh, giggle, non-stop talking) were probably true in Ethiopia so you can tell him it was always like that since how could it not be?
Love Zinabu!
This is so sweet.
congrats on two years!!! awesome.
Great picture of Z! He looks adorable and it seems to capture his personality. Congrats on the 2 year mark. We celebrate 1 year with Biruk this month. Good stuff!
Abiye turns 4 on Friday! He has only been with us for 3 months. I have been thinking so much this week about the "unknowns". I dont even know if this is his real birthdate, but it's what we were told, so, it's what we will accept! I try to imagine what he looked like as a baby. I will never know. Mostly, I am thinking about his birth mother and what SHE must be feeling this week. Thanks for this post. It helps to be reminded we arent alone in this. That we have other families who totally "get it".
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