1 full day home

It's Sunday morning here and we were all up at about 6am. I am actually sleeping at night, Doug is having a little bit harder time adjusting to the time, but really we are doing quite well.

Yesterday was our first full day home. She is still sick, so it's been tough for her in that aspect. It dosn't take long to wear her out. I think the antibiotics are finally kicking in though. She is a bit of a drama queen I am afraid, but wouldn't you be if someone rescued you and gave you hugs and rocked you when you complained your throat hurt. :-) I am pretty sure not much of that went on at the orphanage.

We finally decided to tackle her hair yesterday. It took 2 hours to undo her braids, but mostly because she didn't want to cooperate. Then we finally were able to really see she did in fact have lice. We got out the shampoo and then it was time to sit and work on getting them all out. Well, she has beautiful, yet thick hair. After 1/2 an hour of her throwing her head back and forth and nothing getting done we decided we had no choice but to shave her head. They shaved their heads in the orphange, so it didn't seem too traumatic at first. Ha! it was definately the calm before the storm. I held her in a bear hug, while Doug tried to shave her head as it is flaying about. She cried for almost 2 hours before passing out. Not sure if it the trauma of just the change, or if they were not nice about shaving their heads in the orphanage or if it was losing her hair. In a way I am glad we shaved it, because it was so damaged from not being taken care of.

This morning she woke up early with me and we snuggled on the couch for about an hour. Doug got her to eat some eggs. That is another thing, she has not had anything except Ethiopian food her entire life. The Ehiopians rarely use sugar and they have no "desserts". We are trying to limit giving her these items as I am sure she will be introduced to them soon enough. She doesn't even like apple juice. She loves carbs though. Will eat lots of bread if you let her.

She really doesn't like Keesha (our dog), but is warming up to her as well. She doesn't shriek loud enough to shatter windows anymore when Keesha walks into a the same room as her. It's progress.

She does get quite shy and scared whenever there are more than 3 strangers in a room. So, we will definatley be staying close to home for awhile. She had no outside world experiences, as the orphange never took them anywhere, so everything is new. Things we take for granted everyday, like walking into the kitchen for a glass of milke or opening the drawers and pulling out clean clothes and actually have choices. These are all so new. Plus, living in a family environment, learning the rules of just being part of a family. We have no language to explain anything that is happening, but surprising smiles and hugs mean the same thing in every language.

I still can't believe we have only been home for 2 days. We are excited that the kids have a long weekend and then soon summer vacation in 8 days.

The next 2 weeks will be filled with doctors appointments and just laying as low as possible without going nuts.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all of you who are serving and have served our great country. We also thank the families who have had to make sacrifices for our country. God Bless you ALL!