Laundry

The girls were helping me with the laundry the other day. It was so funny to watch! They just loved the washing machine and the noise it made. First they were dancing to it. Then they started singing to it. A few hours later, I found Turi just sitting next to it, using it's rhythm for a song. Again, it's the little things!

A Few More

Our bedroom, the office (with a new couch from my brother and sister-in-law!) and the girls' bedroom (with some furniture that needs re-painted :)).

Pics of the house

A little more settled...but obviously missing a bunch of stuff.
The girls' bathroom is first. Their school area, the kitchen, the dining area and the main room.

So, the girls were given some more clothing that arrived a few days back. Because I didn't know their sizes before we got them, I was guessing from their height and age. Turns out I got a lot of clothing from people that was for the youngest (or slightly too big) but not a whole lot for the older two. As we were hanging clothes together, Turi, with a sad face, said that there were so many things for Tihi but not a lot for her and Bitsu.
A few days later, a friend of a friend sent the latest batch, which turned out to be all for the older two. The girls were thrilled as they put new dresses on hangers and today got to pick out what they wanted to wear to church this morning. They decided they wanted to match. So sweet.
After we hung up the clothes, Turi turned to me and said, "In Ethiopia, I had so little clothes! And here, how many!". Thanks, Christy, for making their day.

Exhausted

Slowly the boxes are getting unpacked and things are getting put away. After 5 years of not seeing your stuff, it's been fun to go through some things. There is stuff that you knew you had but now can't find (like dishes. Whatever did I do with my set of dishes?) and other things that you have plenty of (one could always use three coffee pots). If not for my brother (thanks, Jason and Larissa!) and my parents, we would be in trouble. They gave us knives, pots and pans and a few others things that I could've sworn I had but never found.
The girls LOVE the house and play well. They spend the whole day working on puzzles, coloring, playing with all the stuffed animals that got passed down from me and running around outside. They have been helpful and have been busy in their own stuff. They have been so easy! The Lord is good.
Lastly, I had my doctor's appointment on Wednesday and we found out that the baby is a BOY. For those of you who have talked with me and I told you it was definitely a girl with no doubts...well. The Lord does have a sense of humor. Wonder what I should do with all the girl clothes I've been collecting...
Pics to come...

The Insides...

...of the house. This is a view of the main living area, kitchen/dining room table area and kitchen. The second picture shows the front door and stairs leading up and down. The ones go right up to our bedroom and bath and that's it. The ones leading down go first to the garage and then down to the girls' room, an office room/guest bedroom and a school area.
Here's a pic of Turi getting into raking. They all wanted to help out as I was trying to clean some things up before Curt arrived. I finally couldn't find anything else for them to do and sent them outside. She found the rake and raked half the yard. Awesome.
Curt got in great! He's exhausted but arrived at 5. Thanks for praying!

The girls' first movie

We went to the library where they were showing a 3D movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth). I never saw the 3D part, which was sad the girls didn't get to experience that. Also, the two youngest asked to leave because it was too scary for them after the first 20 minutes or so. So, they played while the oldest watched. She loved it. The others were just excited they got to keep the 3D glasses.
We also attended our first storytelling at the library the other night and the girls loved it, even though I'm not so sure they could follow the story. But it was fun watching them have a good time and I can't remember the last time I got to go to one!

Chores

Since Curt's been gone, I have been giving the girls more things to do. They now wash the dishes after lunch and dinner, wipe down the tables, makes their beds, fold their clothes and take care of their personal stuff. The funny part is, they fight over who gets to do what. Everyone wants to prep for dinner or wash the dishes. How long will it last? And do I intervene when they're fighting over the dishes? "Now, Bitsu, you washed the dishes at lunch so it's Turi's turn. You can wash them again tomorrow at lunch." Yes, I really had that conversation.

The House

Here it is! I don't think you can tell from the photos but it has been snowing here all day. It's not accumulating but there's been a constant snow/sleet mix all morning. What state am I in again?
The girls miss Curt like crazy and ask about him every hour or so. He is currently on the road in PA after picking up stuff from my parents' place in north NJ and my brother's place in south NJ. Onto OH!

Language

Curt left today and flew back to NJ to start gathering together all of our things. I signed the lease on the house we chose. It was a hard decision but we picked the house "outside of town". It's in quotes because it takes 10 minutes to drive from the house to where NAU is located, where Curt will be spending his time. In most areas of the States that wouldn't be considered far but here, it is. It has a little bit of land, enough that the girls can go outside and play. It has more space in the house, which will come in handy as we start school. And the rent is the same as smaller places "in town". We hope that it'll work out great for us and trust the Lord that this is where He wanted us. Tomorrow we'll head out there and take pics so you'll see them.
On another note, we had some friends ask us how the girls' language was coming along and how communication is (thanks, Yarringtons!). Our oldest, being the typical oldest, is doing great. We (maybe after several tries) can usually communicate almost anything to her and she gets it and can respond. Our middle one is having the hardest time, which makes it very hard to communicate when we need to get something across. We find our oldest one translating a lot. Our youngest seems to understand just as much but doesn't speak at all. I have a feeling she will start speaking perfectly in 3 months.
The hardest challenge is disciplne. It's hard to disciplne if you can't communicate why. That's been the hardest part of our adjustment.

Turi continues to lose teeth. She has lost 3 total and loves pulling them out when they get loose. We try to get her to stop, telling her that she won't have any teeth left!
We think we have finally settled on a house and when I get pics, I will post them. Curt will fly back out to NJ tomorrow (pray for his flight) and spend the next 4 days going from my parents' to my brother's to his parents' in order to gather all of our things and head back to us. Then we'll move in. Pray that he would get some rest while he's gone. He's already tired and that's a lot to do in 4-5 days.
This pic makes us laugh because Turi asked us to take it and after she looked at it on the camera she said, "Daddy's so white!". Well, yes, he is.

The Day of Firsts

It snowed today in Flagstaff. We probably got about 10 in. total by the time it was done. The girls went crazy. First they were really afraid of it. Then they realized it wasn't going to burn them so they started to frolic. We have some pretty funny videos. They were a little cold (considering I didn't pack snow gear!) but they got around to loving playing in it. Also, Turi lost her first tooth with us today. She was pretty excited, as were we. No way to explain the tooth fairy but that saves us money! JK.

House Hunting

It's going ok but I guess I wish we would've found something by now. Curt's been doing everything he can to keep on top of relators and listings and we have/had 5 places signed up to look at today. We did find a wonderful house but a little outside town, which is a not exactly what we want.
The girls are helping. They tell us if they like something or don't. The first house we saw which was so rundown was an immediate no with them (and me!) but it's funny that they thought so. The house I really liked, they were really excited about, without any prompting from us. So, we'll see.
The two older girls got up this morning, put their bed together (a foldout couch), folded all the blankets, stored the pillows and waited for us to get up. Can't argue with that.
The pics are from a few days ago in the pool with my parents. They LOVE water and a pool is heaven.

Made It

You know, it wasn't that bad. Before we left, a friend of mine called and asked what sort of treats I had in my goodie bag to keep the girls occupied. Goodie bag? Was I supposed to have a goodie bag? She suggested we stop at WalMart. We did make one stop to pick up Dramamine because, it turns out, the little one gets car sick. I asked Curt to pick up some things for the girls to do. I wasn't all that specific and he got the stuff we already had: coloring books.
The girls did really well. They colored for hours. They sat. They listened to their CD and only in the last 3 hours did they start asking, "Are we there yet?". It took us longer than we thought. Maybe around 30 hours, which we did in 2 days. We only had to stop 2 extra times than we normally would've for the bathroom. They really were amazing. No fighting and not a whole lot of extra energy that needed to be diverted. Lots of full coloring books, though. And they're doing well with jetlag, as we are now three hours off the time they adjusted to in OH. They didn't wake up until 6 today and so we all got a good nights' sleep (considering we went to bed at 7:30 AZ time).
We are currently in a suite in a hotel where we have our own kitchen and enough beds for all (which is nice). We will be house hunting today and until we find something. Please pray for us as we search. The sooner we find something, the sooner we can move in and the girls can get settled.

Moving To AZ

Yes, we are off tomorrow. 26 hours of driving. How long will the girls last before we have to pull over for a hotel? 2? 15? We'll find out. Pray for us as we go. That they would have good attitudes in the car and be able to be ok with the long drive.
My parents have visited over the last couple of days which has been awesome. They have had a great time getting to know the girls. Here are shots from the playground time. The girls crashed that night. I think the pics say it all.
See you in AZ!

Somehow normal

There are days when I wonder where the time goes and wish I could just get one more thing done before I crash. Today was not one of those days. The girls didn't wake up until 7:30, which makes me feel a whole lot better. Turi and I went running together and she completed a mile and a half before saying she needed to walk. Guess who's gonna be a sprinter? It was a beautiful day and we had some friends over (thanks for coming, Pete and Amy!). The girls got to play outside and do some crafts and it gave me some time to get some packing done for AZ. Overall, a really great day. Good moods, good attitudes and fun as a family. I mean, we had our pouting sessions but no one's perfect.

SO busy...

How can life get this busy? The lists begin to pile and I try to tackle one thing a day and that's usually after they're in bed and I'm exhausted. Inevitably, one of the girls (depending on the day) will wake up around 6:30. That's a tad early for me :). The day usually consists of cooking, cleaning up, getting the girls ready, maybe running errands and being home in time for lunch, stuff in the afternoon (what? I couldn't tell you), dinner, clean-up, bath and bed. With the girls needing to be around us, it's hard to get away for just 30 minutes to accomplish a task. Sometimes, they get into playing with something and that can occupy them for awhile but usually one of them (or all) comes searching for one of us.
We had medicals done today. 4 hours in the clinic where they drew blood, we met with a PT, had a physical, and had their wrists x-rayed to attempt to determine their actual age. We went to a McDonalds' playground afterward and they had a blast playing for an hour and a half. And got rid of some of that energy! As you can see, it knocked them out.