Home!

We made it home!! Elijah and Merete are doing so well! Both slept pretty well on the overnight flights and napped here and there on the day flights. Not that anyone can really tell what is day or night while we're up in the air! Ethiopian airlines likes to wake people up and feed them. We had dinner around 11:30am, breakfast sometime in the middle of the night, and lunch right before we landed in DC at 8:30 am. All 3 boys managed to get enough sleep, whereas I've probably slept an hour total since Thursday morning Ethiopia time. I don't even want to calculate how long that is, but I am fighting to stay awake until 9:00pm to try and get my system back on Florida time. I feel a little spacey though, so I'll save my reflections on the trip for another day ;-)

I will say that the boys gave me a perfect first day home together! Merete seems very interested in the house, mostly all the toys. Elijah did a great job showing off his trains and of course every noise making toy he has! Bathtime was no problem (except for me still trying to figure out what to do with his hair) and in fact started a giggle fest that lasted a good 30 minutes. I'm fairly certain they were laughing about farts at first, and then one giggle just lead to another. They did chill a bit before bedtime, when Elijah showed Merete how to visit the bathroom and then hustle down the hall to be the first to jump into bed. Next were kisses all around and then the boys fell fast asleep. At this point I can't tell if Merete fully realizes we are his family forever, but it sure seems like he's enjoying us right now :-)

Unfortunately Merete is scared of Beau, but because he is so quiet all that means is that he hides behind my legs or tries to climb me like a tree when Beau comes around. Once I pick him up he sticks his feet high up in the air so Beau can't sniff them (I know that's all Beau would do, but who knows what the little guy is trying to avoid!) Even in the couple hours home Merete seemed to relax a bit around Beau, so I think they will get along soon. For those wondering why dogs are a bit scary for some of these children, we hear it's because there are wild hyenas in the southern regon where they are from, so it's very possible he's had some of those being chased from his hut just months ago. My guess is things were thrown at the hyenas, because Beau very nearly got a little shoe tossed his way! The good thing is that Beau is just happy we are home and doesn't even seem to notice that Merete isn't crazy about him yet.

I'll go through and fix the blog of all those weird line breaks and add more pictures soon. Thanks to everyone who followed our trip and wished us well along the way We had an absolutely incredible time, and all told the worse side effects are a few breathing problems we all (except Merete) are experiencing. Han had trouble early on, but it didn't really seem to bother Elijah until the last couple of days. He's got a cough now, but I hope it will get better now that we're home. I feel like I'm catching a cold and every day my lungs felt tighter and tighter, but I'm definite breathing easier now. I'm sure going from 7,600 ft over sea level back down to less than 200 is helping with that :-)