Sick with the flu--

The flu really is the pits.... I have children coughing and sneezing, running fever and complaining of awful headaches. I have never seen Austin so sick for so long. Only a few of us qualify for the Tamiflu but we are making the best of it. Lots of soup, books and good movie times.... It has been almost 3 weeks since we returned home from Ethiopia. How time flies.... I still can't believe that they are here but it also seems like they never weren't here. Hard to explain but so true. I remember days on end wondering if the day would ever come that we would get to wrap our arms around them, love them and pray with them.... Everyday I get to do that now! How faithful God is!!! Tonight as I tucked my sweet smelling boys in (yes they were both clean:-) ) and I prayed with them- I buried my nose into their necks to drink deeply of the scent of my children. Muluken giggled because it tickled and Austin just said, "awwww mom". I love them to pieces.... Gifte prayed outloud for the first time tonight- all in Amharic but the girls all cheered for her- I wanted to cheer for the girls for being such great encouragers. I called home today to talk to Jared because I got to go to Walmart alone this afternoon- hence the reason I am up at 12:40am- I treated myself to a delicious iced coffee from McDonald's..... Not a real smart idea for someone who can't drink caffine past lunch time. I guess that's what happends when I have alone time :-) Anyway- I called to ask my sweet man a question and Austin said- "dad, it's mommy." Oh, melt my heart. Daddy is always daddy- but mom- is usually Mom.... Except on some occasions, like today.... Precious reminders that children really are a gift from heaven.... I am so grateful to be their "mommy" and their "daddy's" wife!

beautiful children---- Faithful God!!!

 
While we were waiting for our new tickets and hotel vouchers at JFK, I sat down on the floor with the kids- the wait was long. Before long, KK was playing with a little girl (who was from Dubai) with the lid of a water bottle across the floor and then Austin joined in. Not to much later, a little boy came and sat down with me. He showed me his book and then he let me read to him. It didn't take long before the little girl was in my lap and I had the precious opportunity to read to them. My children's willingness to play with these children and then having the opportunity to read to them made the 2 hours fly by and we were on our way in no time, with sweet memories of playing on the airport floor. Thank you Jesus for precious opportunities!

 

I think I have this figured out- we'll see.... like I said earlier, the amount of pictures is overwhelming... These first pictures are our trip to the airport, at the airport in Dallas, and then I included some pictures of the Dubai airport in this collage- it was a beautiful airport that was enormous by every definition of the word. It was immaculate..... We had a lot of fun together as we traveled. It was an adventure!!!

Some about Ethiopia

I cannot open my email to check it but I was able to send one out today to a dear sister in Christ- I am sorry that I couldn't attach the pictures. I will have my sweet hubby try to fix it later today. We are piled up watching football and waiting to leave to go to Austin's football game and then we are going to some friends' house who are from Ethiopia and we get to eat traditional food. yeah!!! I know my older "homemade" (thanks for the term Kimmie:-) children won't be excited but Muluken and Gifte and Jared and I are. It will be a time of good fellowship and some familar language for Muluken and Gifte!!! As I was looking through the pictures we took on our trip, I don't even know where to start.... I need a bit more time and I will sit down and dialogue our trip and going through the pictures. I won't be able to post many of the pictures because they are full of children's faces, several of them have homes, but many of them do not.... The country is beautiful and the people seem to really take pride in their work. It was amazing to see people plowing with mules and not tractors- how much we take for granted....

First week home-

This has been an amazing week- one that has been exciting and full of new things, which I think leads to a very tired group of people. I want to fill everyone in on our trip but I don't have the time to write it all out now- I will say that the week was great, it was joyous and sad at the same time. Ethiopia is a beautiful country with beautiful people, but the poverty there is overwhelming and excruciating to see. I will tell more about it later. I have to write about today though- it is our first sunny day since we've been home. The kids have been outside riding scooters (thanks to nana and grandpa!) and today we were blessed with 2 bikes that our friends' daughter, Maria, grew out of. Muluken and Gifte have never rode a bike before, but today Muluken was determined to figure it out. It was awesome to watch him try and try... It didn't take long and he got it. Gifte wasn't so brave today, maybe tomorrow.... They are tenacious children, which I love because all of the other children are that way. They encourage each other to try new things and then have a great time watching each other accomplish them. Tristyn was so excited to have a "new" bike, she got on the smaller one and hooted and hollered all the way down the road. The older kids like to play soccer together, which has to be what they do the most now- except for riding scooters...... hmmmmmmm , Muluken is still on the bike and so is Tristyn..... so we probably have something new that will be a favorite.
Speaking of something new- nothing has really seemed to surprise them yet. Not light switches, constant power, seemingly never ending hot water, heated and cooled houses, HE washing machines, not really even Walmart seemed to surprising..... but mini blinds, vacuum cleaners and the dryer has stumped them :-) A few days ago, I pulled clothes out of the dryer and they were hot. Gifte could not figure out why they were hot- so I showed her the dryer... In Ethiopia, they hang all their clothes outside to dry. Last night, Muluken kept opening the mini blinds, up down, up down go the slats... He was pulling the strings up and down and up and down, but he could figure out how to actually get the blinds to go down on the window- from strings to strings he went- up and up went the blinds- to the next set of strings, up down up down go the slats- no luck with the postition of the blinds on the window.... hmmmmm- pull the strings on the other side again- up more???????? I went over and showed Muluken how to pull the string to the side for the blinds to go up or down..... Amazing! He played a little while longer before he was satisfied with this new find.
Today, I was vacuuming and we have a HYLA vacuum that holds water. Gifte got on her hands and knees on the floor and watched the water spin round and round in the basin- "Mom, what that?" I showed her how the vacuum sucks air thru the hose by putting it on her hand and then I hooked it back up so that we could finish vacuuming the floors- she watched for awhile and then she wanted to try.... Not long after, Muluken wants to vacuum- not just a little but a lot- the whole living room- under the cushions, behind the couch.... I think they would have re-vacuumed the whole house if I would have let them. Interesting! It was cute!
I think I need to keep a journal of everything that is going on because I seem to have no time to sit at my computer- i think my computer is about to crash anyway- but things are going well. God is a big God who provides in ways that are small and huge. Our extra large family is such a testimony of His faithfulness. I need to remember that when we struggle with communication and bickering, (yes, they have bickered). I know that He is faithful to complete the good work that He started. I will write again soon! I have much to share......