We Are Home

We pulled into home about mid-night last night, which was the second night on a plane to our Ethiopian-adjusted bodies! The girls were rather panicked at the idea of any bed, so I ended up going to sleep with Selah and Bella slept with Alei. Bella is still hanging on Alei, but we are forcing about four rounds of Alei leaving today in preparation of her going to work all day  tomorrow. So far, Bella has decided that JD is an acceptable second person in her life; thankfully he is working from home this week!  They are both scared to death of the animals, so most of them are banned from the house temporarily. 

I am debating if I need to cater to the bed time fears and just wait a week until they are adjusted to make them sleep with each other instead of us big people or if that is just going to make it harder in the long run. Last night we were all just so tired that I couldn't even consider options, we were just all desperate to sleep. My sweet sister took Selah to bed with her, but she cried for quite a while until I gave up and slept with her. I think reading this, I would think it is just making a tougher routine in the long run, but the terror that they feel is justified and I am concerned that we not traumatize them anymore than necessary. 

I can't wait to tell more stories about the trip and show pictures, but my brain is too tired and jet-lagged right now to do more than cope. So, I'm going to just bless you with some random pictures of our trip home.

We had to leave at 10 p.m. in Ethiopia, so I dressed the girls for the trip down to their shoes and jackets and had the nannies put them to bed at the usual 7:30. I so wish I could show the pictures of the girls in bed, since they sleep seven in a double bed (four across the top and three across the bottom), but I can't since it would show other adoptable children. Here is a good-bye picture with one of the sweetest ladies there - 

 

We woke the girls at 10:00 p.m. to begin our long trip home. It is amazing how cheerful they were being up in the middle of their night. 

The plane out of Ethiopia was late and we weren't on board until about 2:30 a.m. The girls only  slept only about three to four hours until we landed in Turkey for our long lay-over.

This is Alei and her travel buddy in a phone booth in Istanbul - 

Here is our group departing the air-port in D.C. I have to say that Americans are just so much more friendly than the rest of the world. We were stared at for hours in airports and the planes and seldom would anyone even smile at the girls. Once we hit America, we had people respond so favorably to the girls. Culturally, we love America!

Julia was very excited to meet her new sisters! 

This morning we handed out African souvenirs. Ben wanted an Ethiopian drum and we came through.

We got the girls Ethiopian baby dolls - 

On Alei's second trip away from Bella, she fell asleep on JD. She only stayed asleep until he put her in bed, however. At this point, we aren't going to force naps, just start working on bed on the earlier side tonight.

                                                                                                    Jenny