We're HOME!

Well, we made it! We're finally home with our beautiful daughters in tow. They are a delight. I am a bit out-of-my-league with a girl older than I expected, and am just getting used to life with a toddler around as well (showers? computer time? What the heck are those???). However, it has been fun discovering the sugar and spice of life. They are definitely girls, and immediately went through the closet and counted shoes. Tse picked out the frilliest dress I had bought for her and refused to take it off all day. She played out on the swing and attempted to ride Noah's bike, with flowing blue satin billowing around her. I bit my tongue and let her enjoy it.

The boys seem to enjoy their new sisters, for the most part. Wyatt is saddened that he is not the oldest (Tsegereda is formally eight years old, as we were told that her birth year would be 2004 on her Ethiopian birth certificate and instead it showed 2002!), but he is beginning to realize that he is still the oldest son and his sisters need a lot of guidance in this crazy world we've dropped them in. Noah is feeling a bit jealous and I think he is searching for his place in the new family dynamic. He's feeling like a third wheel, but I think as soon as he realizes that if he focuses attention on Rodas, he'll find his place as a big brother. Rodas loves to be held and played with and she and Noah could tell stories to each other all day long (neither of course understanding what the other one is saying...but the telling is what is important for each). Tse is very academic and loves to write--she can write a number of English words (including all our family names)--but she is afraid of school. I think as her English gets better and we are able to socialize her a little more with American peers, that fear will not be so strong.

Both girls love water and want to swim very badly (I gave them what appeared to be their first warm water bath on Sunday and they LOVED it). Tse saw pictures of Wyatt at the swim pool and asks a lot when she can go. I guess a trip to the wave pool is in order. We're trying to introduce things slowly and have kept them home quite a bit, so this might be a fun excursion for them.

There have been bumps, and we know the journey will likely get rougher before it smooths out. We are dealing with girls that have not known a lot of authority in their lives, very little consistency (coming to America has been their fifth move) and who expected America to be full of dresses and dreams come true. What they know of family is that family leaves you and so we have our work cut out for us proving them wrong about that. The pouting and the demanding and the tantrums will fade away (hopefully!!!), but I hope they do see that our guidance and rules are an expression of our love and that America is a land where dreams come true but that one must work hard to make it happen. It is our commitment to show them that we will not leave them and will be behind them as they search for their dreams.

Sugar and spice. Yup, that pretty much sums them up. Blessed are we for the family we are becoming.