Fun in the Snow!

OK, so I'd rather be warm, but you can't do this kind of stuff when it's nice and toasty outside. I know I'll get tired of having the snow around, but for now I'm thinking these little guys are lovin' it!

- Dave

We Have Liftoff!

Charis has decided to become mobile...just in time for Christmas so she can crawl around the Christmas trees and yank ornaments down! We're always scrambling around chasing after her so she doesn't cram something in her mouth or take a dive on the many stairs we have in our house. Maybe Charis will get some baby gates for Christmas! She'll only be 10 months old...she won't care. We'll have a lot of explaining to do when she's older and sees the pictures of her sweet presents from 2009 though!

- Dave

Family Pics

Got our family photos. Our worship pastor and pro photographer Matt Paddack took these for us. He did a great job of capturing the girls' beauty. Here are some of my favorites.




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An Inside Look

Here's a few videos of the girls adjusting to living in the U.S.







Hope you enjoy!

- Dave

Two Months and Counting

We are having such a great time with our girls. We're becoming more and more like family every day.

I've started trying some things with Jacee's hair. It is still really short and super curly, so I am very proud of my first attempts at ponytails. They make her feel pretty, so I'm glad to put them in.



We had fun during the Halloween season, even though I'm always glad when Halloween is over b/c of all the yuck that comes with it. Kids love it, though.





David's parents are visiting. We are not coffee drinkers, so we never have coffee around. Jacee has said several times, "I like coffee." We've wondered if she realizes what coffee is and if she's really had it. Being from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, we figured she very well could have. Since David's parents drink coffee, we decided to give her a little bit to see what her reaction would be. Sure enough, she drank it down and said, "I like coffee." The girl has definitely had coffee. However, I don't think we'll be giving her much over the next several years.


Whenever any of us is on the floor, Chelsea is right up on us. This is a common sight to see Chelsea and Charis hanging out together.


The girls have a lot of fun together.


Charis has started sucking her thumb. Hopefully it won't turn into a problem.

The next post will probably have our family photos that were taken last week. You're gonna love 'em; the girls are gorgeous!
--Gina

Good News and Frustration

After all the tests on both the girls has come back and everything is normal...with one exception. Charis had the BCG shot sometime while in Ethiopia to help eliminate the chance of her developing TB. So when she went to get her TB test it came back as a false positive and we had to get the chest x-ray (came back normal) and now they have to treat it. The treatment? 9 months of antibiotics! We're totally glad that she does not have the disease, but frustrated to put her on the meds for something she most likely doesn't have. Anyone else have to do this that adopted from Ethiopia?

I guess it's all part of the journey but I'll tell you this: If you have an HSA and are adopting I highly suggest you start dropping some serious coin in the account because you'll need it. Those lab tests were ridiculously expensive!

Other than that all is well on the home front and we're getting family pictures taken tomorrow. Come back for a visit to see!

- Dave

Monkeys & Snow

MONKEYS

Soon after we got Jacee home, we had to buy bedrails because she fell out of her bed a couple times. She has always slept in the upper left side of the bed. I assumed this was because she had shared a bed with several kids at the orphanage, and that became her "spot". We've been trying to get her to learn to sleep in the middle of the bed so we can eventually remove the rails. We have her move to the middle, but she always ends up back in her "spot, "crammed against the bedrail.

A couple nights ago, I decided to try a new approach. I put a pillow on the left side, forcing her over toward the right. She got a concerned look on her face and said, "No! Monkeys!" while pointing at the window on the right side of the bed. After a few minutes of discussion, I came to the understanding that when she was in Africa, monkeys would come in through the window at night, get into the families food, and make a mess. Jacee's still working on English, but this appears to be a genuine concern based on past experience. I look forward to asking her about this when she is older to see if monkeys really did come in their house.

I assured her that no monkeys could get in the house. She slept fine and left the pillow on the left side while she slept closer to the right. Again tonight we had the discussion about monkeys, but I think she understands now that no monkeys can get in the house. David had the idea to put on an ape mask and wake her up during the night, but we decided that wouldn't be a good idea.

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SNOW

This morning I told Jacee to take Chelsea (the dog) downstairs and outside. Before long, she was back in my bedroom...

J: Mom. Trees.
Me: Trees? (Then I remembered. The forecast had said there could be snow). Trees white?
J: No. Blue. (She then pointed to something that is white. Okay, so we're still working on colors).
Me: That's white. Are the trees white?
J: Yes, trees white.

I went down and looked. Yup, snow. October 10th. Crazy. And it's quite a bit of snow.
We bundled up the older girls and David took them and Chelsea sledding for a bit.
Aside from the crying spell from cold hands, Jacee enjoyed her first experience with "sah-noh."