Busy, Busy, Busy

Merry Chistmas everyone and sorry to for not updating this earlier. Things have been very busy with the holidays and with us all trying to get back into a routine. The boys are settling in very nicely and we are communicating really well at this point. Both are quite talkative and energetic little boys! Needless to say our house is quite loud these days. Heidi has done a great job with getting into routine during the day and we have tried to do the same at night. We have found that the more structure we have the better things seem to go. The boys had a very stuctured life at the orphanage so they are used to it. I am sure it is comforting to them to have a similar level here with us.

The biggest thing that we have going on now is the "sharing issues" that Louie, Benny and Macie have from time to time. We have a million toys in the house yet they seem to want the same exact one from time to time which results in a lot of yelling and screaming between the three of them. We are working on that and they are getting better. Patience....
All in all we could not have hoped for a better initial transition. It has also been nice to have the holidays as it has meant that I have more time off from work to be home and settle in as a family. But, it has not all been a bed a roses as they say, we have definitely had some tough times both us adjsusting to having 4 kids now and for the boys adjusting to their new environment. We have to remember that they have come from a place where they basically had about 40 little friends with them everyday and now they have us as their daily companions. I sometimes wonder if they miss some of them from time to time. Most of our frustrations come from our struggles with communication but again that is getting better everyday as the boys pick up more and more english.

The boys are pretty much celebrities at our church since so many people were following us along and praying for us in our adoption process. So many people have come up to meet the boys. The boys don't seem to see why people are putting up such a big fuss!

One of the big things were worried about was at Church and how quickly we would be able to transition the boys into the jr. kids class that they have while the grown ups stay in main area to listen to the sermon. We decided to try on the second time back to church and surprisingly they didn't ahve any issues being away from us. In fact I think they enjoy it since it is probably an environment(all little kids) that they are very comforable with. Since the boys are pretty much potty trained as well (thank you to the sisters at the orphanage!) we haven't really had any issues with that when we go out.

Also since we have been back for about 6 weeks now we have had time to reflect on our time in Rwanda and Kenya and it all seems like so long ago. Like most things, while you are going through it, it can seem a lot worse than it actually was. In other words while we missed our girls terribly while we were away, now that we have been home for while it definitely makes us feel that this was so worth the effort and we are so grateful to GOD for laying this on our hearts and for picking out these two very special boys to join our family. We are truly blessed!

That is it for now... Have a great New Year everyone. Be safe and praise GOD.