Tonight, Heather is out for a much needed girls night. So, I Adam had the kids since this afternoon. It went really well. It is not the first time, but by far the easiest. The difference was Yosef.
A couple of hours ago, I gave him a bottle, put on his pajamas and laid him in bed. Awake. With Capri in the same room. Awake. About 20 minutes later, both were sound asleep. If you don't grasp how awesome that feat is then you must re-read it:) No really. This is Yosef coming so far along. For the first month and a half he had to be strapped to Heather's back, walked around while she cleaned for about an hour to two hours. Then, sometimes, hours after the other kids were asleep, he might fall asleep still strapped to her back. I would not ever really be able to do it. If we put him in the crib to let him cry it out, (like our other 3 kids) a look of terror would come across his face and the screaming would start, keeping us from doing that. He would be completely scared to death. Scared that he was being left again. Now, he is no longer as scared. He starts to have a little whimper of a cry, just to check that we are still around, we tell him to go to sleep and then he quiets down again, confident that we are in the next room still. Tonight, his momma is gone and it was I who gave him the confidence to be able to sleep. He knows that momma is coming home, and he knows that I am his dad. This too has not happened overnight. For weeks, he really did not like me at all. And to be fully open and transparent, I did not like him either. I know, it is really awful to say and I realize that. It is however, the ugly truth of adoption. Adoption is not this blissful thing. It is ugly, yet beautiful. Before going to ET I wasn't sure how adoption could be ugly. Now I know. The ugliness comes from seeing the insides of my thoughts and attitudes.
When I come home from work now, Yosef is one of the first ones to run to the door to greet me, give me a hug and tell me that he loves me. :) It is getting beautiful.
Mahlet is doing amazing. She is progressing well in school. She loves it and works hard at it. She always has a smile on her face. I love seeing a smile on a face of a child that months ago, could not ever muster up a smile. She is a great helper around the house. She does a lot of the cleaning and she is the one that hangs up most of our laundry now. We can now laugh about the attitude that she gave us in the first month we had custody of her. Yesterday, we asked her if she remembered how awful she was to us? She did. We tell her that she has gotten SO much better and is so much easier to have around. She is fitting into the family like she has always been a part of it.
Eyerusalem is progressing as well. School is going much better with her than it was in Ethiopia. Most of the time she puts effort into it. Her English skills are improving and she is learning tons. She really has learned her role as sister to Yosef instead of Mom. She is really doing well with that. Yesterday, was the first day that Eyerus actually gave me a "real" hug. I had to ask for it and initiate it, but it was the first time that she put her arms around me and showed me that she can hug. Eyerus turns 12 tomorrow and with that makes her an official pre-teen bringing all the drama with it:) I am not sure that I could ever really be ready for it. For her birthday we got her a pet lamb about a week ago. She is going to raise it for a pet and for wool so that she can knit with it. She is super excited and is out working with the lamb and goats daily. It is nice to have a good helper outside. We tease Eyerus about the attitude that she had in Ethiopia as well and she laughs along with us. She is going to try out for a part in the kids musical at church this week and we are excited that she and Mahlet gets to do this.
We are blessed by how well things are going. We are super busy, and probably always will be. Somethings just don't get done anymore. God is Good. Thanks for the continued prayers for our family. Thanks for all of those that have come along side of us in this journey.
