The Homefront

Well, I've decided that I must simply believe that the three kids at home really are doing okay. Many people from our family and circle of friends have pitched in to help out with them these past two weeks. And I have thoroughly interrogated each of them as to the well being of my three children at home. Every single person has told me that they are doing really good and seem to be very happy and content. My Amharic speaking friends (three) have all assured me that Yosef and Mihret both understand that their family is permanent, that Mom and Dad will indeed come home, etc. Yet I've been so worried about them. But today, it dawned on me that if the kids weren't okay, that at least one person would have let it slip by now! Let's face it- I think I have kids who are content and secure, even the newest additions. And I have to believe that God is holding them safe in the palm of His hand and that when I get home, we'll be able to deal with any issues that may have arisen in our absence.

Even Kaitlyn, my melodramatic little sweetheart seems to be doing okay. She did have an incident on the school bus today though. There is a girl who is periodically mean to Kaitlyn. Today, this girl teased Kaitlyn saying, "Your daddy smokes cigarettes!" Now, this is completely not true, but it hurt Kaitlyn's feelings and she told me that she cried on the bus. She related the story to me in tears as well. Poor baby!

Kaitlyn also reported to me in whispers on the phone so as not to be overheard that Mihret is not obeying Uncle Shane very good. :) When I asked Mihret, she insisted, "No, me very very good. Me tazazgi (basically means "obey) Uncle Shane!" Just in case, we told Shane to give her a "time-out" if she disobeyed! It melts my heart when she tells me, "Mommy, me love you. Yes, very very love. You come home today. Yes?" She's been with me for less than two months, but our hearts belong to each other. She is mine and I am hers. I miss her sweet little hugs so much!

And Yosef seriously is getting cuter by the day! He got a new bike for his birthday, which he totally loves. He also got lots of little bike accessories, which he has thoroughly enjoyed. I need to hurry home so I can watch him riding his new bike!

And my little Lucas. He's so sweet, even when he's as grouchy as he's been the past couple of days. He likes checking "his" email. And he's gotten so many nice cards and little packages in the mail. The poor kid had a tragedy happen though, and he doesn't even know it. Carrots is his green bunny that appears in many family photos. He's been a long-time best friend to Lucas and shows signs of extreme love on his stained self. When I say that Carrots is green, I mean that he's neon green and orange. Very bold colors. Yet, evidently, not bold enough, as the hospital laundry service picked him up amidst all of the WHITE hospital linens. And he's gone. We tried to find him, but he's just gone. Avery, the outstanding dad that he is, went on ebay though and found a new Carrots. The only problem is that the new Carrots is just that- NEW! He doesn't show any of the signs of love that the old Carrots showed. He actually has whiskers, he has a bow, his neck isn't smashed down from so many hugs that his head flops around. So we decided to tell Lucas that Carrots had gotten burned in the accident just like him, so we sent him to a special "stuffie" hospital where he would get all fixed up and that he could come back when he was better. We thought this was a very appropriate lie in this situation, as we didn't want him to be brokenhearted over his little Carrots and we knew that he would definitely notice the difference between old and new Carrots. Well, when we explained all of this to Lucas, his response was a very casual and off-handed, "Why didn't we just buy a new Carrots?!"