Pictures, Finally ...

It's Friday afternoon, and this has been a long, long week!  It's bizarre to think that we started the week out in Africa and ended it here at home in North Carolina.  My mom and dad got here yesterday to help out, but I still haven't managed to get my head above water with much of anything.  Things are piling up around the house, I haven't returned phone calls and emails, and we're all still waking up at 4 am every day.  So, all that stuff isn't the best, but other than that, things really could not be better.  Ruby is changing every day - she is so talkative and funny now.  She loves to laugh at the boys, and they love to do things to make her laugh.  This afternoon it was jumping from the ladder of their bunk beds and crashing to the floor.  Don't ask my why this is humorous, but all three of them were cracking up.  Ruby continues to be an adventurous eater, although she is starting to express dislikes here and there, like strawberries.  She just turns her head to the side and makes a face like a little princess.  She loves to look at pictures of people in magazines - right now she is kissing a picture of an Indian doctor she found on a postcard that she dug out of the trash can (that would be the office trash can - just paper!).

Today my parents and I went with Ruby to Whole Foods for lunch, and Ruby sat there in her high chair waiving at everyone.  Who is this child who refused to acknowledge us for two days in Ethiopia?!  Shy Ruby no longer.  So we are having a ton of fun with her.  Finn and Gus are doing really well also.  They have had fun going back to school and sharing stories about the trip and their new sister.  Finn's class had a surprise party for him today, and my mom and I took Ruby.  She was dressed up in her traditional Ethiopian outfit - totally adorable - and she was very happy to sit and eat snacks with the big kids.  Finn showed off some of the things we brought back with us, and the kids gave him a book they had made while he was gone giving him advice on how to be a great big brother.  One of the children advised Finn not to mess with her or else she might "tear him up."  Good advice really, for dealing with the modern woman.  And Gus came home today with an awesome poster his class had made that counted down the days to leaving to get Ruby, and then the days until Gus came back home.  So cute!

So I have finally managed to put some of our 600-plus pictures into a slideshow - click below and it will go the album, and hopefully more will follow.  I couldn't post some of them because I didn't want to put up pictures of other people's children online, but I'll just assure you that all of the kids were beautiful.  We also were asked not to post pictures of children in any of the orphanages we visited, so that's why I didn't.

Hope you enjoy these!

Our Ethiopian Adventure

(Next post topic:  The Truth, or what I should say when people ask, "How was it?!")