WOW

I have no idea where today went...Janika, Kael, Elli and Micah all started cross-country this morning. There are two practices per day and Micah LOVES IT! He is a natural runner and is quite speedy according to the other three. I think they are getting by on sheer competitiveness. Tonight's practice included 1 hour of running in the outdoor pool. I wish I could have seen his face as he got in the water, but I was home with the little ones. It will be super fun to watch them all progress throughout the season...

All of our homeschool materials have been ordered. I needed a few days to determine what the kids knew and am so thankful for the education they received at Kids Care. They are way ahead of where I thought they'd be with both letter recognition and math skills.

We've been doing pretty well, considering we have 4 kids speaking Amharic, and 5 kids speaking English and Mommy and Daddy trying to use our phrase books to bridge the gaps. It's amazing to see Gavin teaching them all English, since he's only known it for about a year. I hope they all speak as clearly as he does in another year. Gabe seems to be picking up English very quickly and they all seem to joke a bit in English, which is a good sign of learning the language. As we were practicing saying, "Hi, My name is_____," I heard, "Hi, my name is Ice Cream.", "Hi, my name is sister." and "Hi, My name is Mommy." I think Micah could live on ice cream, so I might have to start calling him that.

Please pray for us to all extend grace and have patience over the next few days and weeks. This isn't for sissies...it's wonderful, yet tough. As another adoptive mom put it, kids who have been in an orphanage for periods of time, have many layers of orphanage dust to brush off. Fortunately, I don't believe this dust is too thick on our children, as they all have very tender hearts. They are all very eager to please and try to help in any way they can. We see many more smiles than frowns and have only seen a few small cases of tears. God is sustaining everyone during this transition.

We are thankful for everyone's support and prayers. As I stated before, adoption helps us all see our own sin nature several times per day. It's a humbling process.