Trip to Indiana-part 2

I know you all are awaiting pics of the boys, well, so am I! But the internet in ET is very slow so I thought I'd post some more pics from our trip to Indiana to see family. The first day, we went to a local park in the small town near my sister Jen's house. They have a splash pad (which is free to use). What a great idea!!! I haven't found any of these in KY so if anyone knows of any, let me know. The kids ended up playing for 3 hours! Chloe is in blue, Essie is in pink/yellow and Hunter is the white kid. =)

Glad to know Chloe is a typical kid who has to try sitting on the water

Waiting for the bucket to fill up and pour out

So I cut Chloe's head off in this pic, but I love her face

Bucket dumped on them

Essie doing one of her many happy dances

Three peas in a pod???

Essie chillin' in my sister Kelly's pool. All 3 kids could touch the bottom of the pool so they all had great fun being independent.

What a Day!

Emotional overload cannot begin to describe the day. I even cried at church tonight and for those of you who really know me, I never cry. In fact, I can remember the last time I cried. It was February 28, 2009 for reasons that I won't go into now. Luckily (or unfortunately) there were only 6 of us at prayer meeting tonight and the 2 other ladies there had already shed tears over different matters.

Anyways, on to the reason you all follow our blog. Matt texted me twice today to let me know he had the boys and that they had a very rough day. Isaiah had a hard time leaving the nannies at the transition house, and rightly so as he has lived there for almost 2 months now. Matt said things got better once they went back to the guest house and played some soccer. But his next text said that both boys had been in tears in the evening and he was trying to calm everyone down by watching "Cars". Where would we be without the geniuses at Pix*r. Please pray that everyone gets a good night sleep and tomorrow goes better. I know Matt was exhausted from traveling so the poor guy must be just drained. He also relayed the fact that our 10 year old does in fact want to be called Michael, the name he goes by in Ethiopia, and not by Isaiah, the name we've been calling him because Micah and Michael was just too confusing. In the 2nd text Matt clarified that Michael really likes to be called Mikey so now we have Mikey (age 10) and Micah (who doesn't speak any English so can't express an opinion right now) (age 8). We are totally fine with Micheal keeping the name he knows as honestly, this is the only thing the poor kid has to claim as his own. But just wanted you all know know that its Mikey and Micah, which of course will be more confusing than ever.

The sweetest moment of the day happened a few minutes ago when the girls and I were praying before they went to bed. I told each of them they could pray for Ababa and the boys and they each did pray that the boys wouldn't be scared and cry anymore and that Ababa (& the boys) would come home safe. When each was done they said, "The End". (God has to be smiling about that one.) Then I told them I wanted to pray and as I started, both of them wrapped their arms around me and hugged me tight throughout the whole prayer. When I said "amen" they both kissed me on the cheek without a word. How do kids know just when you need them to be so sweet?!?!

Now, on to school stories...the girls came home from school beside themselves with the joys of school. Essie said, "Mommy, I was quiet and listened and I had an excellent day!" Chloe was thrilled they got to see their friend Jenna in the cafeteria. She also relayed a very animated story about some boys in her class who kept talking to each other about their new shoes and that Mrs. Johnson had to keep reminding them to be quiet. They also showed me the various hand gestures they have to use when they need to line up or push their chairs in or go to the bathroom (no, Kelly, its not that gesture). They are also in awe with the fact that if they have good behavior all week, they get to watch a movie on Fridays. I mean, if you want to bribe my children in any way, its with a movie. The girls cannot get enough. They even watched Oklahoma with me yesterday as I did their hair. I wish I could have recorded the whole first hour they were home and the many stories they relayed. Telling you all does not do it justice. You really need to see them as the reenact the day. Tonight as I was trying to collect them from kids church, I told them we needed to hurry because they had to go to bed so they could get up for school tomorrow and Essie said, "we go to school again tomorrow???" Yes my child, you go to school 5 days a week for the next 13 years, at least.

The Twins First Day of School

I feel like writing that "Today is a day that will live in infamy!" The girls started Kindergarten and when I came in from getting them on the bus (after waiting 25 minutes), I had a note from our agency director that said Matt had picked up the boys from the transition house. Too many emotions to write about now but here are some great pics of the girls getting ready for school.

Last night, I gave the girls new "McQueen" shoes. They are actually Sally shoes because they are for girls. The girls were so sweet and kept saying, "WOW! Thanks, Mom." Essie is above and Chloe is below.

Chloe is in blue; Essie is in pink. Which, btw, I did not intentionally coordinate shirts with backpacks this morning, but man, are those teachers going to be impressed with me or what?

Waiting for the bus, which was 15 minutes late and since I made them go out to wait 10 minutes early, we waited almost half an hour for the dang school bus.

Getting tired of waiting for the bus and yes, that is the sun rising behind our house.

Finally the school bus arrived and now I know why they were running late. The aide had the girls turn around so I could take a picture and then put name tags on them and escorted them to their seat.

I'm not sure why they had to sit half way back on the bus as there were a total of 5 kids on the bus. I'm pretty sure we are one of the last stops for this bus. We were thrilled to learn that the girls would be riding a bus designated for pre-school and kindergarteners, much less intimidating than riding with the big kids. That's Chloe waving in the window.

Ababa is off to Ethiopia

The girls and I dropped Ababa off bright and early this morning at the airport. He arrives in Addis Ababa at 3am on Wednesday, which is 8pm Tuesday here. It will be a long 2 days of traveling and the girls and I miss him already. But we can't wait for him to get home with our boys!

Trip to Indiana

Mommy and the girls hit the road this week for a trip to Indiana to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. The drive through cornfields gets long so Mommy decided to bust out the camera to lighten the mood. Below is Essie being her normal intense self when a movie is on.

Essie's photo of Chloe (above) and Chloe's photo of the movie they were watching in the car.

Chloe's picture of Essie (above) & Mommy (below)

Meemaw had some yard sale finds lying around and of course the girls found them right away.

Dress-up with cousin Hunter is always fun too

A Fun Day with Ababa

Today Ababa took the afternoon off to spend some time with his girls. Putt-putt, ice cream, and paddleboats were some of the good times had by all:

A Weekend at Gigi's

Last weekend the girls took their first big trip without mommy and ababa when Grandpa and Grandma took them to Matt's grandparents for the weekend. (Aunt Buffy was there too.)

Packed and ready to go

Visiting with Gigi