Audra from Ethiopia

This is Katie - Audra's sister-in-law. She sent out an update today and asked me to post it here. Enjoy!!!

Hello Family and Friends...

The Internet is slow here, but not too bad! The weird thing is, I am unable to access to Blogspot, so no blogging from me :-(! I am going to have A LOT of catching up to do when I get home!

So, as for an update...

THEY GAVE US OUR KIDS A DAY EARLY!!! They asked us when we got in yesterday if we would like them today and of course we said yes!!! So, this morning was the big day! I was nervous, but I did not dwell on it too much! Then they came! 10 minutes before they came the guy in charge came and that is when the butterflies started! They came in and you could tell they did not know who to go to, who to hug, who they belonged to. When they realized they were with us it was so hard because they did not know a word we were saying. Then... a miracle happened in the form of balloons...

We came with a couple from Charlotte, Leanne and Charlie, and they met their daughter at the same time. He had brough balloons! AND BOY WAS THAT A BLESSING! We went into their lounge area, blew up 4 balloons, and that was it... instant bonding and happiness! They started hitting balloons in the area, we hit them back and forth to them... and that was it... we were family! Hahaha! Who knew balloons would be such a blessing? After playing for over an hour with balloons and wearing ourselves out, we went upstairs and they colored and we went to lunch. They are taught to be quiet during lunch, but we soon broke the ice by stealing their shoes off their feet and switching them under the table. And Charlie was making them giggle by doing silly things with his napkins and Levi was balacing a butter knife on a bottle... simple pleasures!

THEN... Yonas discovered THE CAMERA!!! And there has been no living with him since. He has taken pictures of EVERYTHING, then he sits down and tells us about them in perfect Tigrinyan... and WE HAVE NO CLUE WHAT HE IS SAYING... but we just smile and he seems to feel VERY connected with us! Selamawit is daddy's girl ALREADY!!! As I am typing this she is shooting him with sponge rockets and running away! Then he will hide and when she comes around the corner he will grab her and tickle her. She will NOT let me put anything in her hair! But she did want to wear her new clothes! But a pretty butterfly hairclip... NO WAY!!! Isabella Haragu already has a love of hairbows and pretty things. They just came in and she just got her hair cut and looks really cute!We went to the 11th floor where the kids could look out on all the city! Of course Yonas took a million pictures and LOVED all the construction trucks (there is a ton of construction around us). Well, I better go while I can... but so far so good! I can not wait until I can share some pictures. They are smaller than I thought, so their clothes are going to be huge, and they are featherweights... but all of them are so handsome/pretty! Oh, and on a side note... we got an AMAZING gift! A little teeny wallet type thing with teeny id size photos of family members... with names... and (Christie, you will love this) GENEOLOGY!!! WOW WOW WOW! Oh... and even better... the cell phone numbers for their family! I have found a phone card and I can call them. Apparently Yonas already knows that the number is there... he pulled it out and brought me over to the phone. So, life is good... if you guys know of anyone who would want to read this, please forward it on or cut and paste it into whatever forums or blogs or what not. Maybe I will try to send pics next time... right now they have the headphones and are dancing... hehehe... they are hilarious!

Love you all!Audra & Levi