Update

This has been a fun and busy week. Ciara's cousins, Caitlin and Collin came back with us Sunday afternoon and spent all week with us. The week culminated with all five cousins, Ciara, Caitlin, Collin, Andrew, and William playing together yesterday afternoon before Melanie traveled with Caitlin, Collin, Andrew, and William to Concord to visit family for the weekend. We had a blast bowling, playing in the pool, watching movies, going to the park, and just playing around. Going from one child to three was fun and a challenge (coordinating medicines, baths, meals, etc.), but it has increased my excitement to fill our home with with more children and for Ciara to be able to enjoy (and I know there will also be lots of arguments) a sibling.

William is about 14 months old and last fall, Ciara screamed every time I would try to hold him. It had been a while since we had seen them, and I was anxious to see how she would react. To my surprise, she was very attentive to his needs and didn't cry at all when I held him (although he did--he's quite attached to his mama). The funniest thing (and the grossest) was that Ciara saw his baby food and formula. She asked me if her baby sister would drink and eat that stuff (she continues to state that it will be a baby sister and we continue to remind her that she needs to talk to Jesus and that the most important thing is that we receive the child (boy or girl) that He has planned for us) . I told her that her baby brother or sister would probably drink/eat that stuff, and she wanted to try some of the milk after William had his bottle. Melanie was generous with the "liquid gold" (aka-formula) and let Ciara try some. She drank a number of swallows before she decided that she didn't want anymore. It made Melanie quite nauseous. It was also quite amazing that when William cried, Ciara ran to get her stuffed "Brandi" (a dog) to bring to him to try to cheer him up. When they left, she told me, "He's a good baby boy." Yesterday evening she couldn't stop talking about William. I asked her if she still wanted a baby brother or sister. She said, "a sister" and then asked "Does Jesus have me one?" I reminded her again that she just needed to spend some time talking to Jesus, and so she said (while sitting on her tricycle), "Dear Jesus, Ciara want a baby sister."

We did make a little progress on the adoption journey this week. Our social worker is scheduled to come out on Monday, June 25th to finish things up for our home study. Sean was able to obtain his employer's letter, and we received approval of it. We're still waiting on fingerprinting appointments from USCIS and hoping that they aren't scheduled for our beach/mountain vacations, but it will be worth it if we have to travel a day to Charlotte and back to get them done.

And, one last huge surprise, I'm actually ready to go back to the Ethiopian restaurant and craving the food/experience a little. We couldn't convince the twins to try it with us.