First of all, you may have noticed I've been posting a little less often lately. Something about TEN kids is keeping me crazy-busy. I wanted to remind you that there is tons of information in the archives. Just click on 'Categories' to the right to see the many topics I have already covered. There's enough info here to make a book, I suspect. If you're overwhelmed by the bulk of it, try reading just one category from the archives each time you visit. And by all means feel free to suggest new topics if you search the archives and cannot find something.

Now, on to the update on our family. Our girls came home four months ago today, and I am grateful to say that life is getting much easier. We had some very rocky times at first, especially between the two and three month mark. I had been warned by a very experienced friend to expect fireworks then, and that was definitely true for us.

I think that time was especially hard for the girls because it was finally sinking in that this was their new life, for better or for worse. All the newness had worn off. Various fantasies about life in America had turned out to not be true. And yet there was not yet enough comfort with their new country and family to settle in and relax.

At that point their old life in Ethiopia looked very sweet -- and yes-- at times preferable to the one here, never mind that they had been living in an orphanage. It was, after all, a very good orphanage and they had made many friends. They had many times of unhappiness as they longed for their old life, and chafed at every restriction of the new. They were grieving. Hard.

It was a difficult time for me too. I’ll share some thoughts in a future post about the hardest things for me. But in any case I am extremely happy to report that now at four months things are markedly, markedly better. We’ve turned a corner. I know that we will still have difficult times in the future. But it really feels like we are gelling as a family.

The girls are much happier overall than they were even one month ago. They come to me for cuddles naturally. They seek out my attention. They are resigned to everyday family requirements like showers and clean clothes and chores. They don’t go into a tailspin when they don’t get their way or when I correct them for misbehavior. If they do get upset, they don’t go as deep into the pits of unhappiness. And often now, I can do something to help them cheer up. We have shared jokes. We have shared routines. We have shared memories.

Maybe it is a little scary for waiting families to read about the rough times. Certainly some kids have easier adjustments than mine have-- some have tougher. I think it is wise to prepare yourself for challenge. Then when and if it comes, you just have to keep faith and work hard and pray a lot and hang on for the ride. Eventually you will have made it though those rough first months and it will all be worth it.