Lots of Smiles

No eye has seen a God besides You,

Who acts for those who wait for Him.

Sharing Things

Our family shares some things very well. Like colds and coughs. Last week Lizzie and Zeke had runny noses. This week Zeke had a fever. This week Joel and I both got sick. This morning I decided that I could either puncture my own forehead in order to relieve the sinus pressure I had or I could go to urgent care.

I loaded Zeke into the van with me. We both got checked out: he has a double ear infection ("Bet this was pretty painful," said the doctor. All I could think of were the times I had made him sit in his room until he stopped crying....)I have only one ear infected. We both started on Zithromax. Zeke looks a thousand times better already. I do not.

My cold heard me and decided it would take care of relieving some of the pressure after all. By coming out my eyes. Think Goopy Stray Cat. Do they have prescriptions for this? We'll just shroud the mirrors.

My Group Home

My children are no longer individuals. That's because I cannot remember their names when I want to. They are now in groups, except for Sadie. She is in a group but she's the only one so I guess her individuality has been spared.

I have The Baby, The Toddlers and The Older Kids. The Toddlers are currently chatting in their bed. They are having their first sleepover. I hope they can actually sleep.

Joel and I are attempting to finish a movie we started 4 nights ago. It takes a long time to watch a movie when you can only get through 20 minutes at a time before you begin to fall asleep.

Time to quash the Fun of the Toddlers. I'm motivated because on the other side of this activity waits a $3.99 bottle of wine from Trader Joe's. And a movie.

The Coffee Over Which I Obsessed

Here it is. The $.46 Ethiopian macchiato I couldn't stop writing about. I think I'm dangerously close to a Wasting My Life Activity if I try to make that little design on the top; however, I am really curious how to do it.

The girls, by the way, are doing great: fitting in, happy, playing, making messes. We're pretty tired from Sadie's late night/middle of the night feedings (only 2) but other than that, the adjustment is pretty remarkable. It also helps that we have people bringing meals. I tried to make Chinese frozen chicken with sauce and rice last night. Had to ask my husband to help me as I got lost in all of the 4 steps it took to make it.

All of this though, easier than the waiting was. The girls are here and it is remarkable.

Names

In order to have our children announced at church, we needed to have decided on names. At this point in our fatigue, it is good to have some external pressure. We could have gone round and round for years.

So, here they are:

Elizabeth Lansa Button; born December 11, 2007

Sadie Addis Button; born October 11, 2009

Lansa (pronounced Lahn-sa) is from the girls' family name Wolansa. We just lopped off the first two letters (stating the obvious), made up a whole new name and decided it worked. We had hoped to give Lizzie her birthmother's name as a middle name but were never able to find out what it was. Addis is in honor of Addis Wolde. They may each get another name (Elizabeth Lansa Caribou Button; Sadie Addis Starbucks Button) if Sadie keeps up her current nighttime feeding schedule but hopefully the official announcement will come before we resort to that.

Pictures

This is one of the first pictures of me with my girls.

Here we are in a van bringing the girls out of the orphanage, back to the guest house.

After the first bath.

Me with Fikre Addis and her mother who is HIV positive.

I Will Post Pictures When I Figure It Out

I realize these posts would be much better for two reasons: if they had any sense of order; if they had any accompanying pictures. They have neither. They just tell a small part of the story of flying across the world to get children who are now sleeping in adjoining cribs in our bedroom.

My daughter is really good at posting pictures. She is watching Singing in the Rain. My husband is good at posting pictures. He is at a meeting.

The good news is we have pictures. And they're not of Lizzie crying (like most of the pictures we had) and they're not of Sadie with her eyes closed. They're coming soon. And they're worth the wait.