Home Sweet Home!

Sorry it has taken me so long to give an update! We are just now starting to feel kind of settled into the "new normal'. The kids are doing great - things get better every day. They are learning so much, so fast - I think this transitional time is going to fly by and I am going to quickly forget all the funny, crazy things they do right now. Their health is great so far, they eat everything we put in front of them, and they are fully potty trained - all issues that we were really nervous about. They have a long way to go behaviorally, but that will come with time.

The remainder of our trip went very well. Our trip down to Nazret was amazing. We visited an orphanage down there (Yosef Orphanage) that we gave most of our donations to. The orphanage that our kids were in (KVI) was very nice and well funded, but Yosef orphanage needed much more help. We gave them all of the formula and diapers that we brought, plus we were able to buy a YEAR supply of food for them with some of the donation money! We bought almost 1 ton of grain for them! They were so grateful - they couldn't believe we would give that much, but it was only about $650 - we felt like we wanted to do so much more! We also went to another small orphanage (Ebeneezer orphanage) and when we got there, they were all eating their lunch on the floor - they didn't have tables or chairs for the children. So we had 2 nice wooden tables made, and 14 chairs. We hope to get pictures of those when they are delivered sometime next week.

The flights home were LONG and torturous. Our first flight from Addis was delayed by 5 hours, so our 7 hr layover in Dubai totally disappeared and we weren't able to see any of that city. The 15 hour flight from Dubai to Atlanta could have been a total nightmare - I was alone with the kids in the middle of the plane and Kevin was a few seats away, trapped behind a big guy on the aisle. As we took off and both kids were crying, I just sat there with tears running down my face - looking at Kevin like "What am I going to do?" My prayers were answered though - Micah slept for 12 hours and Sophie slept for 10! I didn't sleep, however - my main goal was to keep the kids asleep so they didn't upset everyone else on the plane. I would almost start to fall asleep, then one of the kids would wiggle around and I'd grab them and hold my breath, praying they wouldn't wake up! It was the longest 15 hours of my life! I honestly wanted to kiss the ground when we landed in Atlanta!

Thank you again for all of your generous donations and gifts for our kids! Our biggest problem with them right now is that they are getting spoiled! They have an attitude of entitlement right now - we are trying to nip that in the bud! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers on our behalf - we need them even more right now!

Love to all!

Kelly