Happy Happy Joy Joy

Yesterday marked our one month anniversary of having the boys.  I is amazing how life has changed for all of us.  The boys are doing very well.  

Yared's english is expanding EVERY day.  He is amazing.   The only down side is that his very first sentence was about Nati's poopy diaper.  He is very confident talking on this subject and likes to talk about it at least 8 times a day.  He goes through the whole family and talks about we have stinky poopy.  I don't want to discourage his language but poop is not my favorite topic of conversation.  He rarely throws fits now.  He does pout a lot.  If he thinks he is in trouble he will pout.  He is a good kid so normally is only being told no when he might hurt someone.  He also likes to think that he is Nati's third parent.  I get told in English and Amharic what I am doing wrong.  It is cute but the teacher in me has a hard time being told what to do by a 4 year old.  He wants Nati to get whatever he wants.  I know that the age of TWO is approaching and the last thing we want is Nati thinking he will get whatever he wants. 

Nati has gained two pounds and is walking faster everyday.  He is generally a very happy little guy who makes the whole family laugh.  He loves Yared, except when Y wants to kiss him too much.  If you do tell Nati the dreaded NO he can become a bear for quite awhile.  He can hold a grudge like a junior high girl.  He is calling me Mama and Ben Dada but then again the cats are also Mama and Dada as is bread, milk, toys, cars:).  

I wanted to be all sophisticated and have these video clips edited but there is NO time in my life.  We found the boys are in love with bicycles so we got them one each.  There is a shot of Yared's excitement with that.  There is also one of Y entertaining N.  This often happens.  Finally you will see how Yared overcame is fear of water.  By the way, the way they wear their hats is all them.  We have nothing to do with it. 

Our Ethiopia Trip - VERY LONG!!!

Yesterday marked three weeks since we became a family.  I meant to have a Blog post about our Ethiopia trip earlier but as those of you with kids know, there is very limited time. I am writing this as much for myself as I am for my blog readers.  It starts in depth and becomes more pictures as I just don't have time to write all that I remember and pictures are worth a thousand words.  

Saturday/Sunday. 

We left Saturday March 28th and drove 4 hours to DC to catch our flight. We were on Ethiopian Airlines and they had told us we needed to be there four hours early. We ended up getting there five hours early but better early than missing your flight. The flight was fine but long and we sat there trying to imagine what it would be like to do this same thing with kids. We thought Ethiopian Airlines was fine and were impressed when we got Italian wine with our meal for free. The movie system was a bit rough but we figured out that if you kicked the box hanging  under the seat in front of you it would clear up for a bit:). Poor soul that sat in front of us. Kick Kick Kick.

When we arrived in Addis we were not prepared for the 2 hour wait to get our visa, go through passport control and get our luggage. You have to have your luggage re-xrayed when you go out. We thought this was funny but did it. They saw our camera and wanted to know if it was professional. I guess if it had been, it is illegal to bring it in. 

Our poor Taxi driver had waited five hours for us so was very excited to get out of the airport when we got there. We got to our guest house 20 minutes later. It was so nice to be back in Africa. The smells, sights and sounds just made me feel peaceful and happy. It had just rained before we landed so there was the rain in dust smell to make it even sweeter. We feel asleep fast that night and slept like logs. Our room was right off of the garden and very peaceful.

Monday
We woke up to the smell of fresh roasted coffee and a rooster crowing. I thought this was great. The guest house gave us free breakfast. It included some of that fantastic Ethiopian coffee. Ben even drank it and he never drinks regular coffee only espresso.  The guest house was full of nurses and physical therapists who were in Ethiopia for relief work.  They were so excited about our adoption journey and bombarded us with questions. 

Today was our errand day. We went to the SIM Mission guest house that I remember from my child hood and from visiting my parents when they lived there later. Here is a picture of me with my mom(sorry mom I know it is not your best look:)) and then me now taken at same spot.  

This picture cracks me up as my Dad stuck his initials in the gate of their apartment.  I am sure most don't even notice it but I had to get a picture with it. 

At SIM,  we met up with a friend of my mom's who helped us buy some medicine for the boys. We wanted to make sure we were armed to treat the amoebas, giardia and worms that are often associated with Africa.  

We spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs and presents for the boys.  We enjoyed local macchiatos, fresh Ethiopian Tea and went out for Ethiopian food for dinner.  

Ben at our coffee shop find:). 

One of the many mini-bus taxis. 

The funny part of  eating out that night is that my Amharic is useless and when we ordered I was just listing dishes I remembered.  We got food, but it was cold:(!!!  We never did get great Ethiopian food in Ethiopia.  That night I felt so nervous about meeting the boys the next day.  I had a hard time falling asleep.  I thought I would be excited but really I felt more nerves than anything else.   I kept wondering how someone could just hand two boys over to us and think we could raise them:). 

Tuesday

We woke up Tuesday and enjoyed another great breakfast.  I had nervous butterflies in my stomach the whole time.  Our faithful taxi driver picked us up.  

We thought we were going to the orphanage but we were actually going to the main office for our agency.  Once there we found out we needed paperwork and money we had left at the guest house.  Talk about anti climatic.  We had to do the whole trip again.  I took these two pictures on the second trip.  These homes are directly across the street from each other.  That is Africa - rich and poor side by side. 

We did the whole trip again and then finally we were on our way to the orphanage.  It was at the end of a long, bumpy, wet road.  We got there to find out the boys were at the Embassy for medical check ups.  We started taking pictures of all the kids to share with those in our agency waiting for their kids.  All the sudden I turn around and there was a man holding Nathaniel. Nati was hot and sweaty and very disorientated as he has just woken up.  They put him in my arms.  He was more beautiful than any picture could ever do justice. My heart was breaking for him as he seemed so confused.  The staff had dressed him in the shirt we had sent six months earlier.  He had on jeans and Sunday dress shoes.  Ben was able to capture this first moment together. 

Our first moments with Nati.

Then we heard that Yared was downstairs.  We walked down and saw him sitting in an empty room with a huge plate of Injera and shiro.  He also looked hot and confused.  His cheeks were super rosy.  They told him to hug us and he faithfully got up hugged me and then hugged Ben. Again my heart hurt for him as I felt it was a lot to ask of a small child to know we were his Mom and Dad.  He was obviously starving.  Nati saw the food and wanted some too.  

Our first hugs.  He gives them freely and often now:). 

We sat while they ate and then played and interacted with them.   There is no way to describe this scene.  You are in an empty room interacting with these two small boys that you have waited so long to meet.  They are so sweet and playful, yet you know that you will be asking them to give up all they know to come with you.  It is a beautiful memory but tinted with sadness, as adoption always combines joy with sorrow.  The Caregivers would come by and hug and kiss the children goodbye.  Some of the older boys grabbed Yared and hugged and hissed him goodbye.  

The orphanage always holds a traditional  Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony for the new family.  We took part in that but to be honest things felt a bit rushed.  Our Taxi driver had been waiting for us for two hours and needed to get going as he had to pick his daughter up.  Looking back, we should have had him come back for us.  It would have been good to talk to the Caregivers more, to see the boys more in this surrounding, and to have spent time with the other children.  The Caregivers obviously loved the children and I am sure saying goodbye over and over must be so difficult to do.  

The coffee ceremony where even the boys joined in and had warm milk and sugar in little ceramic cups. 

A family shot as we leave the orphanage. 

Surreal is the only word that can describe driving away from the orphanage.  We are the back of an older taxi with Yared on Ben's lap and Nati on mine.  They are excited to be in the taxi and are looking all around them.  Yared is chatting away in Amharic.  

That first afternoon and evening at the guest house were not exactly what I imagined. First, of all I had somehow gotten sick so I felt awful if I moved around.  I wanted to play and interact with the boys but I also wanted to crawl into bed and sleep.  We tried to take it easy and sat in the beautiful garden and played with the boys.  The other guests were so excited to see us become a family.  They wanted to take pictures of us and for us. The rest of the week was pretty much spent at the guest house getting to know each other or riding in taxi's to do errands to complete the adoption.  All these errands were done typical Africa style, which is you arrive on time and then wait long periods of time for things to happen.  This didn't bother me as it felt so normal and my old habits of just sitting and waiting came back.   

Here are some of my memories that stand out from the rest of our week together. 

 

Hearing the boys giggling with us and with each other.  

Watching first hand Yared's tender care of his baby brother.  

Waking up and watching Yared wrap his arms around Ben's neck and hug and kiss him then run his hands all over Ben's face. 

The hysterics that happened when we tried to shower them. 

Hearing Yared's first English words, "Yellow Jeep" from a book we brought. 

Having Nati reach for me when strangers tried to take him. 

Trying to get food for dinner each night before melt downs occured.  It sometimes took two hours from the time you ordered it to the time it arrived. 

Waking up one morning to Yared getting upset and yelling an Amharic word over and over.  We could tell a fit was on the way so I ran upstairs to ask the staff what he wanted.  It was his hat.  

Witnessing the trust these small boys showed us to take care of them. 

The way Yared would have a melt down if Ben left the room - he would literally run away from me:) to get to Ben.

Nati tottering across the lawn to fall laughing into my arms. 

Learning how to get two small boys to fall asleep and stay asleep. 

Laying in the dark whispering to Ben about the crazy emotions we were feeling. 

Seeing how amazingly patience Ben was with the boys. 

Interacting with the guest house staff, who treated the boys as treasured nephews. 

Oh yeah and the horrendous trip home.  Never do I want to repeat that adventure:)!!

Here are random pictures of our days there. 

 

Eating shiro and injera for the last time in Ethiopia.  
Playing with the wonderful guest house staff. 
Going for a walk with Daddy and the guard. 
The garden outside our door. 
Why you put bumpers on your cribs:). 
Seeing videos of himself on the computer.
The first shower which was rather traumatic.  Luckily the glare makes it censored:). 
Daddy with his boys. 
A toy one of the other guests gave him.  
Posing for family pictures for the American guests. 
Nati so exhausted from his big day that he almost fell asleep on the ball. 
Daddy changing the first diaper. Yes, it was poopy and yes I was laughing my head off while taking pictures. 
One of the many local stores - literally a hole in the wall:). 

View from the top floor of our guest house.  We walked up there many times as it entertained Yared. 

Yared and his good buddy from the orphanage who we set up a play date with the last day we were in Addis. 

It was a tough week overall but I wanted to write down my memories to be able to share them with the boys when they get older.  They continue to do better every day.  They are so much fun and I love being a Mom!!!

I survived!!!

Hello all!!

I survived my first day as a stay-at-home mom.   I was really nervous but I know lots of people were praying for all of us.  THANKS!!  The boys woke up at a reasonable hour.   Yared seemed to accept that Daddy was at work but would be back for dinner.  I met up with friends for a play time and story hour.  We had lunch, Skyped Grandma and played play dough.  Ben made it home early and Yared let out a huge shriek of excitement to see him. Nati was thrilled too. We purchased a used Honda Odyssey this weekend so I really looked the part driving around town. Luckily Yared thinks it is a taxi, which in his mind is the ultimate compliment.

One note on my previous entry, my mom informed me that Yared was telling me that the clothes are "New clothes" not that his clothes smell like flowers.  Glad to have mom back to translate for me:).  For those of you don't know my parents speak Amharic. They have been in Egypt for two weeks and I have been dying for them to be back in the US to chat with Yared!!

Sweet sayings

Everyday Yared's English is growing and expanding. It is amazing to watch. It is sad that he uses less and less Amharic but I know it is for his best right now. He says somethings that crack me up. While Ben has an old Ford pickup which Yared adores, he thinks that Mommy's car is very special. He calls my Honda, Accord, "Mommies sports car". He picks up anything we say. I said whoopsydasiy once in front of him and I heard him attempting to say it throughout the day but it would come out Whoopsa de daisy. It sounds adorable with his accent.

Another crazy thing he does is he smells EVERYTHING. When I lay clothes out for him he will put his face to the ground and smell them and then say something like "lapis addis". We have figured out that lapis means clothes and I looked up what Addis Ababa means and it is "new flower". I think he is saying the clothes smell like flowers. He will smell his food, his hands, your hair, your skin. We thought he might sleep better with a pillow so we gave him one of our extra ones. He lays down, smells it and says "Mommy". It smells like my mouse:). He loves to smell us after we shower and will say. "Shampoo?"

He loves to go anywhere in the car. We will tell him, "Go get in the car." He now says, "Le car Mommy Le car?"

He has an adorable sense of humor and uses signs and limited words to tease and joke with us. He will hide a bath toy and look sad and say "Yellum turtle Mommy" (No turtle). Of course he thinks it is hilarious when we "find" it. I am so impressed with his ability to joke and tease even with limited English.

We compliment Yared on his "Good English" all the time.  Yesterday Ben was talking to Yared and he looked at him and said, "Good English Daddy".  Ben and I thought that was so funny.

This morning we woke up at 7:40 amazed that the kids had slept that long. AND we didn't wake to whines, tears or crying. We heard hysterical giggling coming from their room. Yared was jabbering away to Nati and Nati was doing something to make him laugh and it would set them both off. They were sitting in bed across the room talking to each other. We lay in bed listening for about 10 minutes and said to each other, "This is why we adopted two at once." And YES it is well worth it:).

Picture Update

Another good day today. I almost (I did say ALMOST) felt sad when they fell asleep tonight. We had our first visit with our social worker today. It went really well and she thinks that the boys are doing great. She also thought that our adjustment is easy. Ouch, I can't imagine if it was a hard one:). Here are a few shots of our days.

The orphanage the boys came from had a lot of kids. Yared misses the interaction. Luckily we keep running into our friend and his two daughters. It is great to see him interacting and playing. He jabbers at them in Amharic and they just look blankly at him but keep playing.

Also at the orphanage all the small toddlers are put on potties. While we are in no way trying to potty train Nati we don't want him to forget the idea. He tries once a day and is often successful. However he gets bored. We had to capture this moment for later blackmail.


Bedtime is 8 pm and Ben wanted to capture how new parents spend their evenings.







HA HA - just kidding. It is almost true sadly enough.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

It has been two weeks today since we picked up the boys. It feels like a whole lot longer than that. We are so glad to be this far along the road. There really is no way to prepare adequately for parenthood and equally so there is no way to prepare for adoption. We as a family are learning and growing and finding what works for us, but there are growing pains. I know there are those of you who read this blog who are waiting to bring your child home. I used to search the internet for blogs of personal experiences. I want to be honest and say that every day has huge highs and deep lows. I read that some adoptions have a honeymoon stage, where everything goes smoothly and everyone is getting along. We have had this with Nati but not with Yared. If you noticed I didn't blog this weekend. It was because we were exhausted. Yared needs more than 10 hours of sleep but was insisting on getting up before 5 am.

Sunday he was up at 4:45 and screamed for an hour and 15 minutes. He woke the baby, he woke us, he was obviously exhausted but still he screamed with frustration. The whole day was spent with each of us waiting to see what would set him off on another screaming fit. We took turns going to church. It was Easter Sunday. It was so refreashing as the sermon reminded us we have the power of Christ to overcome the things of this world. I felt I needed this to overcome my own weariness and impatience. It is hard to be patient when you are doing all you can and a child still screams. It is hard to be patient when you just want what is best for them but they can't see that and you can't communicate it to them. We did have the blessing of our Ethiopian friend coming and talking to Yared. He explained to him that we are famly, that we love him, that we will never leave him. He encouraged him to learn English and showed him how he himself spoke English and Amharic. He talked to him about staying in bed until it was morning time. He interacted with him and I was so jealous of the communication. If we could talk, it would help so many of our issues. Yared didn't like being told what to do, but I think it helped. We changed our bedtime routine that night. We read books and sang songs while the boys feel asleep. Sunday was a low day, I would say one of the worst we had had.

Then came Monday!!!! What a difference a day makes. Yared slept until 7:45. He woke up happy for the first time since we got him. He had one fit all day and one short cry. He played, he laughed, he tried so hard to remember the English words. We praised him, we loved on him, we enjoyed seeing this more upbeat side of him. I think this is more his true personality but he just was so tired, frustrated and overwhelmed that we were seeing his crabby side. We went to the park and he played with our friend's daughter. It was so fun to see him running and laughing. It was such a joyful day. It made me feel that I could handle being home alone with the two boys. It was just what we needed after Sunday.

Those two days pretty much sum up our first two weeks. We go from extreme frustration for all of us to extreme joy and laughter. It is hard work to become parents overnight and try to help a hurting toddler learn to trust you with limited language. However we feel so blessed as our boys do sleep well overall, they eat well( so well we do limit them a bit), they do play, they do snuggle with us, they are happy at home. We know many other adoptions have not gone so smoothly. It doesn't always feel smooth but we know we are getting somewhere. We also have had so many calls and emails that encourage and support us. What would we do without and friends and family who pray for us and take care of us while we weather these first few weeks of growing pains.

Dad having fun with video and sound effects.

New Parents Must Video Tape Everything:)

These videos are officially titled.
How to Burn Off Excessive Energy
and
Love to Be Afraid

Communication

How do you communicate with a 4 year old that doesn't speak english? Well, first you thank your lucky stars that he is brilliant and really tries to understand what you are saying. (The only time this isn't true is when he is in a melt down mode.) He didn't want to try English at all in Ethiopia or on the flight home but once here he caught on pretty fast that none of us speak his language and he is becoming a parrot with words. It is sweet and a little sad as I wish he could keep his Amharic. He sings constantly in Amharic so I need to record that before he stops. He has tried a few time to talk to African Americans but he is learning even they don't know what he is saying. We are hoping our friend Seba can come over soon to talk to him as I am sure it is so tiring to have no one understand you. We all use our hands and facial expressions to get our point across. You would be impressed with how much can be said with no words.

Here are some of the words that he says already, "Elephant, good food, silly boy, EngElish(stress on the short e), yellow jeep, pick up, thank you, bye bye, Grammagrandpa(as one word), Nanababu(again one word), helloMamba, hellobaci(the cat's names), car, pajamas, hungAry, outside, sunGAlasses." I tried to spell them just the way he says them. He has a good sense of humor and tonight was saying, "Emama silly boy." That means I am a silly boy. He calls pictures of us Mommy and Daddy but in person calls us Ebaba and Emama the Amharic words for parents. He also has Elmo slippers and he cracks me up when he calls them his Alamo slippers.

Nati does what all 18 month old do and grunts, points, yells and cries to get his point across. He had is first bloody nose today when he took a header on the slide. He was over it right away and ready to go again. He is an adrenaline junky.

Have we told you that our boys are neat freaks. They HATE to be dirty. Yared loves to wash his hands. Nati will point out speaks of dirt on his for you to pick off. We noticed that the lotion we were using didn't seem to be keeping them moisturized enough. A sweet African American lady we ran into suggest vaseline. This must be what the orphanage used as Yared knew exactly what it was and dug his hand in and put some on his hair after bath time. Ben was putting it on Nati. Yared and I looked over to see him take a HUGE glob and put it in Nati's hair but all in one spot. Poor Nati had a little afro all around this slicked down spot and now looked like a bald patch. Yared and I thought this was so funny and we were both laughing hysterically while Ben tried to get the hair to look normal. Nati just looked at us all with his huge brown eyes and wondered why we had all gone crazy.

Here are some shots of some of our adventures.

Our Adoption Story - the week in Ethiopia. This is LONG:)

Yesterday marked three weeks since we became a family.  I meant to have a Blog post about our Ethiopia trip earlier but as those of you with kids know, there is very limited time. I am writing this as much for myself as I am for my blog readers.  It starts in depth and becomes more pictures as I just don't have time to write all that I remember and pictures are worth a thousand words.  

Saturday/Sunday. 

We left Saturday March 28th and drove 4 hours to DC to catch our flight. We were on Ethiopian Airlines and they had told us we needed to be there four hours early. We ended up getting there five hours early but better early than missing your flight. The flight was fine but long and we sat there trying to imagine what it would be like to do this same thing with kids. We thought Ethiopian Airlines was fine and were impressed when we got Italian wine with our meal for free. The movie system was a bit rough but we figured out that if you kicked the box hanging  under the seat in front of you it would clear up for a bit:). Poor soul that sat in front of us. Kick Kick Kick.

When we arrived in Addis we were not prepared for the 2 hour wait to get our visa, go through passport control and get our luggage. You have to have your luggage re-xrayed when you go out. We thought this was funny but did it. They saw our camera and wanted to know if it was professional. I guess if it had been, it is illegal to bring it in. 

Our poor Taxi driver had waited five hours for us so was very excited to get out of the airport when we got there. We got to our guest house 20 minutes later. It was so nice to be back in Africa. The smells, sights and sounds just made me feel peaceful and happy. It had just rained before we landed so there was the rain in dust smell to make it even sweeter. We feel asleep fast that night and slept like logs. Our room was right off of the garden and very peaceful.

Monday
We woke up to the smell of fresh roasted coffee and a rooster crowing. I thought this was great. The guest house gave us free breakfast. It included some of that fantastic Ethiopian coffee. Ben even drank it and he never drinks regular coffee only espresso.  The guest house was full of nurses and physical therapists who were in Ethiopia for relief work.  They were so excited about our adoption journey and bombarded us with questions. 

Today was our errand day. We went to the SIM Mission guest house that I remember from my child hood and from visiting my parents when they lived there later. Here is a picture of me with my mom(sorry mom I know it is not your best look:)) and then me now taken at same spot.  

This picture cracks me up as my Dad stuck his initials in the gate of their apartment.  I am sure most don't even notice it but I had to get a picture with it. 

At SIM,  we met up with a friend of my mom's who helped us buy some medicine for the boys. We wanted to make sure we were armed to treat the amoebas, giardia and worms that are often associated with Africa.  

We spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs and presents for the boys.  We enjoyed local macchiatos, fresh Ethiopian Tea and went out for Ethiopian food for dinner.  

Ben at our coffee shop find:). 

One of the many mini-bus taxis. 

The funny part of  eating out that night is that my Amharic is useless and when we ordered I was just listing dishes I remembered.  We got food, but it was cold:(!!!  We never did get great Ethiopian food in Ethiopia.  That night I felt so nervous about meeting the boys the next day.  I had a hard time falling asleep.  I thought I would be excited but really I felt more nerves than anything else.   I kept wondering how someone could just hand two boys over to us and think we could raise them:). 

Tuesday

We woke up Tuesday and enjoyed another great breakfast.  I had nervous butterflies in my stomach the whole time.  Our faithful taxi driver picked us up.  

We thought we were going to the orphanage but we were actually going to the main office for our agency.  Once there we found out we needed paperwork and money we had left at the guest house.  Talk about anti climatic.  We had to do the whole trip again.  I took these two pictures on the second trip.  These homes are directly across the street from each other.  That is Africa - rich and poor side by side. 

We did the whole trip again and then finally we were on our way to the orphanage.  It was at the end of a long, bumpy, wet road.  We got there to find out the boys were at the Embassy for medical check ups.  We started taking pictures of all the kids to share with those in our agency waiting for their kids.  All the sudden I turn around and there was a man holding Nathaniel. Nati was hot and sweaty and very disorientated as he has just woken up.  They put him in my arms.  He was more beautiful than any picture could ever do justice. My heart was breaking for him as he seemed so confused.  The staff had dressed him in the shirt we had sent six months earlier.  He had on jeans and Sunday dress shoes.  Ben was able to capture this first moment together. 

Our first moments with Nati.

Then we heard that Yared was downstairs.  We walked down and saw him sitting in an empty room with a huge plate of Injera and shiro.  He also looked hot and confused.  His cheeks were super rosy.  They told him to hug us and he faithfully got up hugged me and then hugged Ben. Again my heart hurt for him as I felt it was a lot to ask of a small child to know we were his Mom and Dad.  He was obviously starving.  Nati saw the food and wanted some too.  

Our first hugs.  He gives them freely and often now:). 

We sat while they ate and then played and interacted with them.   There is no way to describe this scene.  You are in an empty room interacting with these two small boys that you have waited so long to meet.  They are so sweet and playful, yet you know that you will be asking them to give up all they know to come with you.  It is a beautiful memory but tinted with sadness, as adoption always combines joy with sorrow.  The Caregivers would come by and hug and kiss the children goodbye.  Some of the older boys grabbed Yared and hugged and hissed him goodbye.  

The orphanage always holds a traditional  Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony for the new family.  We took part in that but to be honest things felt a bit rushed.  Our Taxi driver had been waiting for us for two hours and needed to get going as he had to pick his daughter up.  Looking back, we should have had him come back for us.  It would have been good to talk to the Caregivers more, to see the boys more in this surrounding, and to have spent time with the other children.  The Caregivers obviously loved the children and I am sure saying goodbye over and over must be so difficult to do.  

The coffee ceremony where even the boys joined in and had warm milk and sugar in little ceramic cups. 

A family shot as we leave the orphanage. 

Surreal is the only word that can describe driving away from the orphanage.  We are the back of an older taxi with Yared on Ben's lap and Nati on mine.  They are excited to be in the taxi and are looking all around them.  Yared is chatting away in Amharic.  

That first afternoon and evening at the guest house were not exactly what I imagined. First, of all I had somehow gotten sick so I felt awful if I moved around.  I wanted to play and interact with the boys but I also wanted to crawl into bed and sleep.  We tried to take it easy and sat in the beautiful garden and played with the boys.  The other guests were so excited to see us become a family.  They wanted to take pictures of us and for us. The rest of the week was pretty much spent at the guest house getting to know each other or riding in taxi's to do errands to complete the adoption.  All these errands were done typical Africa style, which is you arrive on time and then wait long periods of time for things to happen.  This didn't bother me as it felt so normal and my old habits of just sitting and waiting came back.   

Here are some of my memories that stand out from the rest of our week together. 

 

Hearing the boys giggling with us and with each other.  

Watching first hand Yared's tender care of his baby brother.  

Waking up and watching Yared wrap his arms around Ben's neck and hug and kiss him then run his hands all over Ben's face. 

The hysterics that happened when we tried to shower them. 

Hearing Yared's first English words, "Yellow Jeep" from a book we brought. 

Having Nati reach for me when strangers tried to take him. 

Trying to get food for dinner each night before melt downs occured.  It sometimes took two hours from the time you ordered it to the time it arrived. 

Waking up one morning to Yared getting upset and yelling an Amharic word over and over.  We could tell a fit was on the way so I ran upstairs to ask the staff what he wanted.  It was his hat.  

Witnessing the trust these small boys showed us to take care of them. 

The way Yared would have a melt down if Ben left the room - he would literally run away from me:) to get to Ben.

Nati tottering across the lawn to fall laughing into my arms. 

Learning how to get two small boys to fall asleep and stay asleep. 

Laying in the dark whispering to Ben about the crazy emotions we were feeling. 

Seeing how amazingly patience Ben was with the boys. 

Interacting with the guest house staff, who treated the boys as treasured nephews. 

Oh yeah and the horrendous trip home.  Never do I want to repeat that adventure:)!!

Here are random pictures of our days there. 

 

Eating shiro and injera for the last time in Ethiopia.  
Playing with the wonderful guest house staff. 
Going for a walk with Daddy and the guard. 
The garden outside our door. 
Why you put bumpers on your cribs:). 
Seeing videos of himself on the computer.
The first shower which was rather traumatic.  Luckily the glare makes it censored:). 
Daddy with his boys. 
A toy one of the other guests gave him.  
Posing for family pictures for the American guests. 
Nati so exhausted from his big day that he almost fell asleep on the ball. 
Daddy changing the first diaper. Yes, it was poopy and yes I was laughing my head off while taking pictures. 
One of the many local stores - literally a hole in the wall:). 

View from the top floor of our guest house.  We walked up there many times as it entertained Yared. 

Yared and his good buddy from the orphanage who we set up a play date with the last day we were in Addis. 

It was a tough week overall but I wanted to write down my memories to be able to share them with the boys when they get older.  They continue to do better every day.  They are so much fun and I love being a Mom!!!