What day is it?

Well, I realized that I haven't been good about posting. Where do people find the time to keep up with this? Okay, to be honest I have the time, I just don't think about it. We are having too much fun enjoying our new daughter and keeping up with our 4 girls!

Mahlet is doing very well. We are so lucky. She is sleeping through the night. She takes a nap, but we will be weening her off of that, cause I don't think she really needs it. however, mom and dad enjoy the little break for some alone time.

She has slipped in her eating habits a bit and has gone to all carbs. I hear this is common with older children from Ethiopia when they come here.

She is definately seven years old. We have our power struggles as we both struggle with some launguage barriers. Really, the language isn't a problem until we ask her to do something and she doesn't want to do it and I have no way to explain, so it usually ends in her talking back to me in Amarhic (trust me, talking back sounds the same in any language) and her in a time out.

Everything is new to her. Our trip to the pet store to get more dog food was interesting. The first thing she saw was the wall of fish tanks. She clutched her chest like she was having a heart attack ("It's the big one Elizabeth). When I finally convinced her to walk up to the fish tanks and I showed her there was in fact glass holding them in, she was completely awe struck.
The snack behind glass did not go as well and that is when we left. :-)

For the most part, I understand things are new and stores and malls (which we have not attempted yet) are going to be difficult, but I have to admit some things I never thought would be an issue have come up. For example.... walking to the little park by our house to play. Isabella, Samantha, Mahlet and I all get on our tennis shoes (tennis shoes, a whole 'nother story) and we start heading out to the park. We get about 5 steps off the driveway and she starts screaming in Amharic and crying. She buckles her knees and won't walk. She is pointing to the house. I am standing there like an idiot going, "okay, why is this a big deal? Why would a walk freak her out?" Then I have to figure out what to do. Turn around or keep going? I decide we need to keep going. She has to see that going for a walk doesn't mean we are walking away and not coming home. I'm not even sure that is why she is freaking out, but that is my theory. She I carry part way and then set her down. She takes a few steps and quits walking. I pull her along. The normal 3 minute walk to the park takes about 20 minutes. Once we get there, she has a great time. I think, "Okay, this is good." When it's time to go, she willingly comes along. She asks, "bayt?" Which means home and I say yes. She takes off running full steam. I have to send her sisters after her. I can run, but not as fast as a 7 year old anymore. Once we got home I told Doug, I used to have an old horse that was the same way. It would take him half an hour to go a 1/4 mile down the driveway, but once you turned him around to go home, it would take 30 seconds. LOL!

Again, the other night after dinner we decide to take a family walk. In the nice weather, we love to take family walks after dinner. The dishes can wait, but hanging with the kids can't. Well, we all get our shoes on and she is actually cooperative. We head out and get about the end of the cul-de-sac and she decides that walking is no good. She buckles her knees. So, Doug and I end up dragging her through half our neighborhood with her crying, snot running down in droves (and I mean LOTS of snot). I have no kleenex so she has to use a leaf. I keep thinking, our poor neighbors. If I was looking out the window at this specticle I would have to wonder. She did finally walk the last half home, but not without testing all the boundaries.

So, the gist of it is, you just never know what to expect. The things I thought would be difficult, not so much. Then things that I thought would be fine--like going to the park---big ordeals.

I have to say though. I would so recommend an older child from Ethiopia. It's been a really good transition. Even though she gives us a few more things to deal with than Samantha, I think it's more an appropiate reaction. With Samantha we had the hurdle of the chinese nanny telling her to be good or we wouldn't want her, so a lot of her adjustment was false and took a lot longer.

Speaking of Samantha. She is doing okay with the new sister. She has to share the bedroom, so more of an adjustment is required of her.

Briana is heading out to Germany on the 15th! I can't believe she will be gone for a month! How crazy is that? We will miss her. She is a going to be a senior, so a year filled with lots of adjustments. She is looking at colleges and trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. I tell her to be a good person and make sure that comes with dental. LOL!

Oh, and Mahlet had her check up and she is doing swimmingly. The doctor was very impressed with her overall health. We again, are very blessed.