We're home and we're doing really well! Tomorrow will mark one week since we arrived at home. (Like the awesome banner Uncle Rick ordered for us?!) Our adjustment as a family has really gone smooth. The four Melton kids interact pretty well; I'm anticipating more challenges once they all speak the same language ;) Tessa is really enjoying the big sister role; she taught Alexa the ropes of dress up and pretty much is two inches away from Liana, the little one, at any given time. Mark is a patient, helpful big brother who enjoys running all around the house with Alexa and trying to learn new words from them both. Alexa and Liana are learning the names we've added, and like us, use Alexa/Aster and Liana/Burtu pretty interchangeably. They're sleeping relatively well and the time change didn't impact us quite as severely as we anticipated; 5 a.m. is a little on the early end for this house so we're working on that.
Don't get me wrong, there are challenges, and when they're having conversations and sharing laughs in their native language before bed, I really wish I knew what they were saying. Admittedly, I'm a little sad that they're going to lose that in a pretty short time and replace it with "Pop it, lock it, polka dot it". I'm so glad that they have each other and that we have them.
My plan is to outline our week in Ethiopia and elaborate on some parts of that amidst sharing our summer family fun. We had a good trip and met some really wonderful people; we were also glad to experience the country of Ethiopia itself. We sure look forward to sharing that with you, too!
