We are home!

Thanks to Shanna, who posted all of those blogs for me while we were gone--I couldn't post to Blogger while in Ethiopia, which I'd forgotten until we got there. I e-mailed her those entries and she put them up for me. And, as she said, she got to cry first ;-)

It was an incredible trip. We wrote an extensive travel journal and will be sharing some of it, but tonight I'm a little tired. We got home yesterday around 5 p.m. Patrick and Melkamu fell asleep in the car; Melkamu woke up until about 7:30, when he fell asleep while eating dinner with a pea in his hand. Both boys (and how much do I love saying "my boys") woke up around 2:30 a.m. and were up until around 4 a.m.--Patrick had missed dinner, so he had some cereal and a glass of milk, while Melkamu needed a change, a bottle, and plenty of cuddling. Then they slept again until about 6 a.m., when we all got up for the day. Melkamu took a quick nap from 9-10 a.m., then he, Patrick, and I went to synagogue.

As we were driving, I was feeling pretty smug that I'd managed to get both boys ready and out only a few minutes later than normal. Then I realized that I hadn't brushed my hair.

At least it was clean.

Melkamu and Patrick are pretty happy with each other so far. Melkamu thinks Patrick is the best person in his world and wants to imitate anything that Patrick does. While reports that we received of Melkamu talking seem to have been quite exaggerated (I suppose he could be talking in Hadiyissa, but it sounds exactly the same as when Patrick babbled as a baby), he does say "Broh!" whenever he sees Patrick--we think he's trying to say "brother", as we often ask "Where's your big brother? Where's Patrick?" Patrick, for his part, likes Melkamu a lot. He's not entirely sure what to do with him, but gives him lots of hugs and is very happy to have a little brother. He thinks it's very funny when Melkamu imitates him. And he covers his ears whenever Melkamu screams, as Melkamu has a scream that could probably shatter crystal. Thankfully he's easily soothed.

It's quite late and I'm getting tired, but there will be more details and lots of pictures to come.