We are home!

Thank you to my friend Jamey for guest blogging for me while we were away!
I think she did an excellent job!

Our trip was wonderful.
Truly wonderful.
I have travel notes from just about every day we were there and we have tons of video... lots of photos... hopefully someday soon I can figure out how to post some of them!

Our three new kiddos are wonderful. We are so in love with them and they honestly seem to be attaching pretty well (better than we expected at this point!)!

The "first four" kids at home are great too! So much help and they love them all so much!

We put the final nail into our craziness coffin when we took all 7 kids, plus the inlaws and their two kids to the pool yesterday... on our first full day home from Ethiopia! It was very fun and a great day to be at the pool since it was like 100 degrees! The new kids loved the pool... not afraid of water AT ALL (thank God for floating swimsuits!!).

The inlaws are here till Saturday morning, then we will be our new-normal family of 9 for REAL.
Then the REAL fun begins!!

Top of my head thoughts from Ethiopia...

• The poverty is staggering, but the beauty is breathtaking.
• Begging is different when it's a life and death matter.
• The nannies ADORE the children in their care.
• Happiness is sharing their first Snickers bar with your three new kiddos.
• Joy is discovering they don't like Snickers and getting to eat the whole thing yourself (and ignoring them pointing and calling it CaCa).
• The bead shop in the pink building across the foot bridge has very nice items for good prices and one parent can walk there after you take custody for some additional shopping.
• The grocery store two blocks down the street has all kids of stuff and saves sanity when you just need something familiar to eat.
• The trip to Durame was priceless. Meeting our kids' birth dad was incredible and one of my top moments of the trip. The hotel and the food... horrible and if we could have driven the 6 hours back that afternoon, I would have agreed to that for sure.
• Pink goats and roaming cows... you just don't get tired of some sights.
• My husband has never been sexier than when he sat on the floor of the Union hotel and colored with three non-English speaking children and told them how much he loved them.
• My new baby boy LOVES his pouch. (baby sling)
• Internet is cheap at the hotel, when it is working.
• Laundry is cheap.
• Food is cheap.
• We came home with tons of souvenirs and had all our laundry done there, and still didn't spend our budgeted money.
• Bring your pillows.
• The rainy season is COLD. Bring long sleeves.
• The guy server in the hotel has a 1 year old and 3 year old at home.. if you have extra clothes or shoes he would be much appreciative.

More later...

I am so glad to be home!!

I am so thankful for my friends and family and the love they have shown us in this process!!

I can't believe I have 7 kids!!