Teenager update

Our kids are all safely back in Addis Ababa now, though we hope that it won't be for long. Here are some of my favorite pictures of each of these 3 wonderful kids.

Aschal0

Yesalemush

Genet with Carson

What more can I tell you about each of them? Our last day together was bittersweet. We took the kids bowling and, as expected, had a great time. After that, we headed to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the Bright Futures gang, had a wonderful Ethiopian meal prepared by the Kidmia folks from Arlington, and then it was time to say our good-byes. Yesalemush could not stop crying. Aschalo hugged us all and then turned his back to us, but kept hold of my hand the whole time his back was turned. Genet just hugged over and over again. It was heart wrenching! Our car felt strangely empty all the way home with only two kids in it. But we all knew from the beginning that this had to be. Now it is time to find them a permanent home.

So, here is a little more of the low-down on each of them.

• Aschalo is very quiet, shy and reserved. He really opens up to you when he gets to know you better. As I mentioned before, he is extremely smart and studies a lot. He told me that at home, he often wakes up in the middle of the night to study because that is when things are quiet and he can concentrate. Once he gets to know you, he is very open about telling you when he doesn't understand you. And if you are not sure he understands and keep trying to say things a different way, he'll tell you, "I understand, I understand". Maybe that was just his way of getting me to shut up?? Of all of them, Aschalo was the most open to trying new foods, and he ended up developing a liking for Mexican food! He is such a sweet, gentle young man. He was quite fond of both Carson and Kali and would often pick them up to carry them. While we were at the zoo, Carson fell and Aschalo was the first one to him to pick him up and console him. He will make a great father someday.

• Genet too is a little more on the shy, quiet side. Like her brother, she is also quite studious. After watching all of them for the two weeks, it appeared that Genet and Aschalo had the closer relationship of the three kids. More than likely it is because of their desire to learn and study. Genet loved our little kids. She would always play with them and be silly with them. She wants to be a pilot when she gets out of school, if that tells you anything about this girl's ambitions! She loves to play volleyball and basketball, and it was very easy to entice her into a game of one or the other in the yard. Genet would always try to be a part of the conversations, even if she didn't understand what was being said. She pays attention to everything and you can see it soaking in.

• Yesalemush, Yesalemush ... our little artist. I can never remember which side of the brain is for the arts and which side is for the math and science, but whichever side the other two kids have, Yesalemush has the opposite. She has the most beautiful smile, which certainly goes with her beautiful face. Even though she knows the least amount of English, it doesn't stop her from trying to communicate with you, although it is normally in Amharic. One evening, Aschalo was telling me that Yesalemush does not like to learn, and I had to laugh and tell him that I had already figured that out. She is the "girly" girl ... loves to dress up and wear new clothes, play with fingernail polish, play with her hair, and she loves to be silly. I took them all to the book store and bought both girls some old novels (Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie type) and told them that reading would help them with their English. Yeslamush took the books grudgingly, but she had a lot more fun picking out VHS videos to take home ... she picked out a movie with Jason Priestly on the cover, and I don't think she picked it out because of the movie!

One would think that the language barrier would have been our biggest hurdle, but it turned out to be food. After trying many different things, especially the normal teenager fare, turns out that they all love fried chicken, fried fish, biscuits with honey for breakfast, and the Mexican food was growing on them. They do NOT like pancakes or waffles (thanks, Belay!), but turns out my dogs do! The girls each had half a waffle on their plates when I went to the kitchen for approximately 1 minute. I returned from the kitchen to 2 very clean plates, 2 smiling dogs, and 2 girls trying to pretend that they had eaten the waffles. Considering that it took them about 10 minutes to eat the first half of their waffles, I knew what had happened. And now we can't get the dogs to stop hanging out underneath the table while we eat!

Our deepest thanks to all of you out there who have added our blog to yours with regards to these kids! With everyone's help, we WILL find them a home.