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......