Home 1 Week!

Wrestling With Daddy

Puzzle Time Wow! Even though all of the kiddos were home due to the MASSIVE amounts of snow that we have gotten, the week went by pretty quickly. Our new three are doing so well and are just happy. It's a little chaotic here, but when I see a group of them all snuggled together on the sofa watching a movie or working together on a puzzle, it just warms my heart.

So what is it like adding three more into a busy household? It's kind of like running a 24/7 summer camp. It's Camp Schnabel here. :-) Breakfast, morning chores, outside play at 10AM, snack, lunch, quiet time with a movie, snack, indoor play time, dinner, devotions, bed. Between to kiddos and my horrible sinus infection, I am usually asleep by 8-830PM. Thank the Lord for all of my sweet friends that have been feeding us. I've only had to cook 1 meal since we've been home. I told someone the other day that I am not sure when I will be ready for us all to drink out of real cups/glasses and eat off of real plates. :-) We are slowly moving to real plates as my paper plate supply is diminishing. I wrote the kids names on their plastic cups with Sharpies, and now that is all that they want to drink out of! SCORE! :-)
A little about our newbies....Yadel is the oldest but shorter than his younger sister. He has the sweetest spirit. He speaks English very well and most always greets his parents with a hug. Abigael is funny. She is like a kid in an adult body. She is always eager to help: "Let me help you." and has a constant smile on her face. Betel is my scrappy little girl. She is so sweet and loves to giggle but when wrestling with Daddy, she is FEARLESS. The gloves came off when they all started up, and I just could not stop laughing at her spunk and drive. She WILL NOT be a subject of bullying on the school playground I assure you, and I LOVE that about her!

The other kids are doing well also. The older two at home have resumed their busy teenage lifestyles. Samuel, my 8yo, is just my crazy, silly boy and is doing so much better this time around. Eliana has made sure that the spotlight on her has not dimmed at all. She is learning (as is Betel) to share. The newest additions have been the hardest on Grace. I am not at all surprised. All of this sounded great in a fairy tale world, but this is no fairy tale world. She is trying to figure our where she fits in, and is trying to bridge the distance between having a family with rules, and being a good ole' buddy to her friends. She'll get it figured out. She is nuts though....she is still talking about adopting again. Funny girl! :-)

The girls went to the Father Daughter Dance with Daddy on Friday night and they had such a great time. We debated about church yesterday, especially since I have been so sick, but the newbies really wanted to go. The Gladney social worker in Ethiopia told me that Yadel was concerned that his new parents wouldn't love Jesus. It was my pleasure to share with him that not only do we LOVE Jesus, it is because of our love for Jesus that he has a forever family. SWEETNESS! So off we went to church and they all did great! Of course, there were 2 potty trips, and 1 nose blowing trip during the sermon so we will work on that. :-)

That's about it for week one. I am so happy to say that it was really uneventful. The other kids start back to school on Tuesday and I am looking forward to spending some more 1 on 1 time (as best as possible) with our new three while the others are at school. We aren't in a hurry to start them into school. We have Drs appts this week, and Dental appts next week for them. We'll see after that.