Life with our new family is good. Life is often chaotic, noisy, unorganized, challenging, tiring and the house is messy. But life is good.
Today I woke up very, very tired. The weekend had not provided much rest after my first week of being on my own for meal preparation and grocery shopping. (I got spoiled by all my terrific friends and am so appreciative of all the help during our transition.) The time change did not help matters either. It thankfully did keep everyone asleep during my devotion time though. I prayed Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 and it did wonders in giving me the right start to my day.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
The girls are doing so well. They are still laughter, fun and giggles and lots and lots of energy. Of course, David has already taken them fishing and Jeri caught the first fish! This past Sunday David took them running on a trail, then to a park and then did a work out video and they were all laughter and giggles and still not ready to go to sleep in the evening.
Sunday we also took them to church for the first time. All week they pleaded to wear some beautiful white dresses my sister game me. I kept telling them they had to wait for church on Sunday. Saturday we went to the store to pick out some white shoes for Betty. It was amazing how particular she was about her new shoes. They didn't have the right size in any of the shoes she liked so we left the store empty handed. I was surprised that she did so peacefully. Later we stopped at another store and found the perfect pair. Sunday they proudly wore their new dresses to church. They looked absolutely beautiful.
Saturday David and the boys were out so I took the girls to our only Ethiopian restaurant in town for a dinner of Injera. I must say our date was much pricier here than in Ethiopia! Jeri has really been missing her Ethiopian food though and is very reluctant to try American food. She likes her food berbere spicy! I have found that she does likes taco soup and chili which has a little bit of the same spice flavor. She sprinkles everything she eats with extra berbere spice. I am quickly running out of the spice I bought in Ethiopia! It is helpful too that both girls love most fruits and vegetables. They fight over broccolli like it is candy!
Today we met at the park with two of the girls' friends who are from the same care center in Ethiopia. Betty and Jeri were so excited all morning before meeting them for our picnic and afterwards asked over and over if they could go see their friends tonight too. I am looking forward to an evening with other adoptive mothers from our agency this Thursday. It is cool that we have a new community of friends and support from other adoptive families.
The wrist x-ray did age Betty at 6 and Jeri at 8. We will now try to get their birth certificates changed when we do readoption through our state's court system. They will turn 7 and 9 in August and September respectively.
Betty had an x-ray done on her previously broken arm and it has healed satisfactorily.
Both girls had an eye appointment and poor Jeri is terribly near sighted. The doctor said her field of vision is only about 3 feet in front of her and she has to put a book right up to her nose to read. She picked out some frames and we are waiting for them to be made. Won't the world look different to her when she puts them on! The membrane walls in her eyes are also very thin from being so near sighted and she will have to be dilated annually to make sure she does not have any retinal tears.
Hair is still a challenge. My friend suggested I buy a hot comb to help with Jeri's thick, very curly hair. It did help tremendously in spreading the oil through the hair and making it soft. We only had a short time for hair styling when my friend came so we did some twists all over Jeri's head. I don't think it is her favorite style. I prefer the french braiding but it is very time consuming.
Hair is still a challenge. My friend suggested I buy a hot comb to help with Jeri's thick, very curly hair. It did help tremendously in spreading the oil through the hair and making it soft. We only had a short time for hair styling when my friend came so we did some twists all over Jeri's head. I don't think it is her favorite style. I prefer the french braiding but it is very time consuming.
It is incredible how quickly the girls are picking up on English and how easily we communicate. I have been told that they both will quickly lose their language at this age even though they still speak to each other in Amharic.
Michael and Stephen have been great with the girls. They get a little upset when they get into their things. We had to put door locks on their bedroom doors. Stephen loves to play with little kids and is great at entertaining them and Michael is my mature, responsible guy who helps me out. They actually listen and obey him.
Well it has taken me two days to write this post so I better sign off before it takes three!
Blessings!
