A new life, a new week

Things are going pretty well. We have been home for a little less than a week, and we are all adjusting well. The first day home was so exhausting and exciting. The boys were amazing to see with each new "first". My friends "forked" our yard saying "Welcome Home" and gave us a pinata filled with unknowns (yes we haven't yet knocked down the pinata). I think tonight we are going to do that when Dad gets home.

The boys have adjusted wonderfully. They are slowly learning words and they understand more than they can say. Caleb (he is the middle of them, we switched their names when we met them) only knows to repeat. So if you say "Say Hi" he says "Say Hi". They both told my dad they loved him before me! Oh well, I hear it more and more now. Here are some of the words they say:

Hi, Hello, Bye, Everyone Bye
Dad, Mom, Kevin, Nick, Malcom, Brutus, Reeses, Hebgen, Sophia, and the best was Giovanni saying Grandma, Grandma over and over for my mom
TV, DVD, Spongue Bob, Toothbrush, eat, hungry, banana, bread, orange, juice, water, shoes, hat, stand up, Reeses no, Reeses come here, please, thank you, Reeses go lay down
They sing Old McDonald when it is on and the Dragon Tales song
They know how to work the microwave, tv, and dvd player
They bring their dishes to the sink and garbage to the garbage
They like to feed the dogs popcorn
They love their baby sister
They have already had hockey gear on
The brush their teeth. Giovanni can tie his own shoes
The wrestle with Malcom all the time
They love their little pool and like to "go water"
The best is that they love to act like begger children when they want something "Hallo, hungry, no food" although funny sometimes, quite annoying too.

There are so many other things too, I just don't have time to write about it.

Sophia is doing ok. She has had a rough time adjusting to our heat, language, and time schedule. The crying is less and less. She actually laughed for the first time today. She wakes up every morning at about 3 or 4 and stays awake until nap time.

We go to the doctor again tomorrow. We are hoping to get test results back soon to find out what little bugs they have in their system. All in all, they are really healthy. I think we have giardia and a couple of other parasites, but that is treatable.

Life is really much easier than I thought. We haven't had a full tantrum since last Friday. Praise God! Now they are a little easier to diffuse when they realize they are sharing and not getting things stolen. They still "hoard" the items they think are theirs or that they like a lot. They put the items in their backpacks. I tried to show them they have their own idividual drawers, but the backpacks stay. We did find out the boys are probably both about 6 yrs old. So as George always said, we have twins! It has been really helpful to have both boys. They keep each other company.

Well, it is time to get dinner together. I will leave you with some pictures (ok, one because blogger has some issues). I hope to post our journey of our trip soon. There is so much to say about Ethiopia, our experiences, the people, the country, the lives, etc. Thank you all for your prayers, love and support. I can't wait to see you all. Anyone is welcome to stop by. The kids like to meet new people!



Here is their first doctors appointment. The boys did so well with getting blood drawn, but we still have yet to get any blood from the baby! Maybe tomorrow.