Forgive the Delay

We had such slow internet in Ethiopia that I couldn't get on the blog sight. So, lots of people have been waiting with baited breath...
We have them and are home! What a story. We arrived on Friday night and that began my lack of sleep. We shopped all day on Saturday until we were dead on our feet. We wanted to get lots of pictures and things to put around the house that would remind the girls of Ethiopia. That night, we were awake from 11-4 or so as we anticipated what the next day would bring. We had a quiet breakfast and I said to Curt, "Welcome to the rest of your life." :)
The van arrived to get us and we drove to the orphanage. It was an amazing feeling. Awkward, nervous, excited, reserved. We walked in and the girls were waiting for us in a room full of 20 other kids and 2 nannies. The girls walked up and hugged us and the first thing I thought was, "They look smaller than I thought." but I was too busy greeting others and looking at everything as they gave us their tour. It was a weird feeling to have 3 girls following us around, almost expecting something, but we didn't know what. Do they know who we are? Are they afraid? Have they been told to act a certain way and we aren't seeing their true emotions? We got them changed into the clothes that we brought for them, which basically fit (phew!), got back in the van and left. We were dropped back off at our guesthouse and we said goodbye to the driver and suddenly we have three kids staring at us and we don't speak their language. So, we got our the Frisbee. They liked that. I thought things would be more awkward than I thought but you know, we just started to fit together.
The next two days were so tiring. They were slowly attaching to us (already! thanks for praying!) and didn't want us out of their sight. They wanted to do everything together. We slowly began learning their personalities and how to react to them. The first week was a huge learning curve but was awesome.
The short end was everything turned out well. We had all of our appointments and that went fine. The one hitch was when we found out that the girls, with Ethiopian passports, were not even allowed to fly through Germany without an airport transit visa. They could not land in Germany and switch planes. How crazy is that? We had an amazing day of running around getting their passports and getting to the German embassy with 45 minutes to spare. We finished all the paperwork there with 5 minutes left before they closed. But we did get those visas and left on time.
The girls are doing amazing. They really are. They are just kids. They fight with each other and us. They are stubborn, disobedient, fun, lovable and just plain fun. They are adjusting well, playing well, eating well, sleeping well and yes, fighting well.
Before we had kids, everyone said, "You have no idea. You're life is going to completely change." Sure, it has. I get less done, get less sleep and somehow never seem to get enough to eat. But, as we were pushing the kids on their first swings this afternoon I thought, "You know, I don't think I'd want to be anywhere else."