So, I fully intend on sharing the story of our family joining together in Ethiopia, but that's just going to have to come later! I just wanted to check in and share a bit about our first several weeks together here at home.
To be honest, as great as coming home was, the reality of our new lives set in and it was/is HARD. Really hard. Like drove me insane difficult (Aaron gets the "Best Dad" and "Best Husband" award for the year--seriously.). It didn't help that we were all sick too. As much as we felt called to adoption, there's a genuine sadness in leaving the old life behind. Aaron and I often "miss" one another. During our pre-marital counseling, this statistic about marital satisfaction plummeting after kids arrive, shocked me! It stuck in my mind though and definitely was the reason why we chose to wait so long to start a family...well, that, and honestly, we were truly enjoying our lives. But, it was time to respond to something that had been on our hearts for a while.
Oh, and don't get me wrong, we still have some tough moments/days, but we have so much hope in what we know God's placed in our lives. He's grown our hearts so much through this journey. Throughout each day, I'm faced with all of my character flaws like never before--I often go to bed disappointed in myself. BUT no matter how the day goes, I fall back on His steadfast love...and no matter what happened the day before, His mercies are neverending and new EVERY SINGLE MORNING. Resting in that has helped me let go of my mistakes and move foward in loving these boys the way they deserve to experience LOVE.
So let me tell you a little about our oldest. He's truly endearing - wants so much to connect. He loves to help. The other day, I looked up to "Mommy!" and saw Derbe standing in our dining room with a ton of weeds he had pulled. Yeah, they look nice, but they really are weeds. :) He continued to tear away at our overgrown lawn and pile his bundles up on the deck. We are trying to finish up our remodel, so it's pretty dirty around here, and Derbe's all about being clean. He and the broom are best buds. If he could, he'd sweep everything out of the house. So cute...
Derbe also loves pockets and red shirts. Today, I went in to wake him from his nap and noticed that his pockets were extra full, so I opened them and didn't find the usual (coins, marbles, and one hot sauce packet), but instead one of daddy's socks in each cargo pocket. So, needless to say, this boy does NOT wear anything without pockets. My parents brought him a maroon shirt from Hawaii and he's worn it for several days in a row. Doesn't phase him a bit. Funny thing for a kid who is pretty obsessed about being clean.
I should also note that he's crazy about his daddy.
Chernet is so silly and often cracks us up. He's very much like a mogwai -- that's a gremlin before it's a gremlin. He's got the cutest giggle and is almost always smiling and joking around. Soooo huggy and cuddly. Usually, he's up for anything and isn't reserved about much. I get about 30 kisses a day from this little guy and enjoy them thoroughly!
And, for your viewing pleasure...a sample dinner at the Smith household. Always ketchup. They will eat anything with ketchup. They will dip apples in ketchup. Don't worry...they actually eat pretty healthy foods. Everyone's got a weakness! Enjoy!
Dinner Dancing from marcy smith on Vimeo.