What they don’t tell you before being a parent is that some days when it snows a ridiculous amount and 4 people are crammed into small spaces, you’ll count down the minutes until the kids go to bed. You’ll crack open a longneck at 5 and you’ll take the car to the mailbox going REALLY slowly for some full breaths. They don’t tell you this but I assure you dear blog readers, it is true.

What they also don’t tell you is that even in those moments, you’ll have an instant of clarity and wonder how the 5th member of the family is doing and somehow, you still wish he was here. Crammed into the madness, driving you crazy but with you nonetheless. It’s something like 3 AM in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tariku is sleeping and the courts will be opening in a few short hours to hear of one little boy and one family halfway across the world praying for each other.