Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Things are looking up

Tamene now is a mama’s boy and really finds comfort in daddy too.  He has been expanding his play group to include our various other children at times.  He still shows some shy tendencies as now when the cook’s come to hug him or pick him up, he clings to his mom or dad, which is probably progress.

Geta, on the other hand, is a Courtney’s girl.  She likes Courtney to do everything with her and go everywhere with her.   The one exception was when Kristen, Geta and Tamene and I had to go the Embassy to get their final documents.  Geta didn’t know what to think of the bus ride and I am afraid she thought she would never see the other kids again.  But she made it through it.

Nighttime wasn’t as eventful as Kristen had suspected it would be (thank goodness).  Geta wasn’t up for sleeping until Courtney laid in the bed with her, but once Courtney laid down with her, she fell asleep immediately.  I am not a fan of having our children sleep with us, but all the literature on adoption says it is very reassuring and is something that should be done, so we let it happen for the first night.  Tamene didn’t feel comfortable sleeping without being in our bed.  I was actually downstairs when this happened, but as soon as Kristen put him in our bed, he went right to sleep.  And here is the great news.  They both slept through the night.  At 5:15, Tamene made a quick peep, but I put my hand on his head which didn’t help much, but Kristen looked at him and said something (I was half asleep) and he went right back to sleep.  They both typically rise at 6am, and didn’t get up until shortly after 7 today.  That is my influence of course.  I really think the days are only to get easier and better, but there will, of course, be tough days.

The one thing that I think is tough that Geta can communicate in Amharic, but none of us speak it.  So, she is going through her third language transition in about 9 months.  But she doesn’t seem to concerned about it.  She can already count to 20, which I think is from her former schooling, and she can also say all of our names.  She is picking up other  words and we have a great book at home that some of Courtney’s classmates made for us.  It has a picture of an animal, object or something, the word in English and then on some of them, the word in Amharic.  I wish we had it here, but believe it or not, we will be home in a couple days.

It has been an adventure, but an awesome adventure.  Ethiopia is so rich in culture, so joyful in spirit, but so poor materially.  But it doesn’t seem to bother the local people at all.  We picked a good 2 week stint as the electricity has not gone out at all.  But I was told by an American who works over here, the week before we arrived, electricity went out every night from around 6 to around 8 at night.  Dinners were tough, but it didn’t phase them.  They also recently had a cement shortage, which means no work for those in construction, and again, no one complained, they just went about their lives.  There is incredibly patience over here, and they have many attributes we could certainly emulate.  Oh, that reminds me, let me tell you about the driving.  There are no stop lights at all.  And there are plenty of 6 or 8 lane roads.  My interpretation is the right away goes to the one trying to merge into traffic.  If that person didn’t have the right away, he or she would never get on to the road.  You just kind of pull in and the other drivers move over, slow down or go on the other side of the road (even if it is the wrong side of the road).  But what I find most amazing is, there is no road rage whatsoever.  They just go with the flow.  I don’t think driving over here is for the faint of heart, but they have a system and it works well.

We are very excited about our return home.  We are anxious for our new children to get acclimated to our home, to meet Oscar and to get into life as we will know it.  Bill and I are anxious to maybe read a USA today, and get caught up on what we have missed.  I think Bill also longs for an easily accessible cold beer, and the news.  Don’t tell anyone, but he was reading a book today.  Okay, just the back cover of a book, but still.  I will be happy to have easily accessible internet that can interact with my own personal computer.  But this has been an awesome journey.  Originally, I thought I could never afford to bring my family back, but now I wonder how I can not bring them back.  But that is a ways away and a different topic.  See you all soon.

Mike

 

3 comments:

  1. Wow - only one day left before you begin your journey home as a family of EIGHT! Amazing. We are so happy you are doing well. Wishing you safe and uneventful travels, with the least amount of stress possible :).

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  2. How exciting for you all! I am sorry to tell you, you must keep this blog going once you get home and your adventures with your new family. I look so forward each few days to reading it! Good luck, I hope it keeps going so well for all of you!

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  3. Wow - I can't believe it is time for you to come home. How awesome for all of you. I am glad that your first overnight went so well. God Bless you all - and safe travels - and know that you have been given all the tools to make this happen, and you will - and you will be great at it too. :O) You are all a very special family - and now even more special. Love you guys and I am also a big fan of this informational system and hope you keep it up. Can't wait for pictures.

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