Hi! Isabel here... again. Are family is GREAT but there is a lot going on. Godebo is undergoing LOTS of blood tests but he is very brave and claims "It no hurt." Bereket is finding new friends at school and spending lots of time trying new hair styles. Noel is skateboarding as usual and trying a new tactic as to getting into more trouble.... include his brother! Me....... well I'm the usual 5th grader (or so I think) and I love blogging. My mom is great and is experimenting on this new MacBook (which I am typing on). My daddy is also great and he is now the coach of Noel's baseball team. Bye for now!         

The Chapman Kids are

All Fun and Games!

(Me and Bereket on the playground.) (Noel and Godebo.)

Hi! This is Isabel and I am blogging since my mom is really busy. For any that want to know I love being the oldest of 4 and I am really enjoying having a younger sister. Me and Bereket play games, paint nails, go on walks, talk, talk, talk, and talk more. I really enjoy playing with Godebo also. Me and Godebo really enjoy playing outside together. As far as Noel he is fine although earlier tonight he ate a banana split and now he has a stomach ache. Well, I hope to hear from you soon. Chow! ( Goodbye in Ethiopia.)

Hard to believe it was only a week ago that we packed our bags, grabbed the hands of two little African children and headed home to Sacramento. In many ways, it seems like decades ago. Each day has been so packed with activity and emotion, trying to guide Godebo and Bereket -- and ourselves -- into some sort of new routine that sort of fits with the rest of the family. As our adoption agency representatives told me this week, "It's not 'back to normal;' It's a whole new definition of normal." That's really true and I'm (Esther) trying to rest in those words as I struggle to fit all the pieces together.

The children are doing wonderfully well. Bereket and Godebo are quickly revealing new parts of their personalities as they become comfortable with us and acclimated to our home. Bereket continues to be strong willed and opinionated, but she is also a charmer and easy to laugh. We have figured out how to deal with her pouts over food she doesn't like, toys she has to share and other such 4-year-old traumas. Godebo is packing away his angel wings to become more of a teaser with his sister, sometimes figuring out inventive ways to trick her out of the toy she wants. Imagine that, they are just like other brothers and sisters!

My parents left yesterday, so we are adjusting to two fewer pairs of hands. We now fit tightly but comfortably around our kitchen table -- a nice picture of what our "new normal" will be.

Home at last! Enduring 30+ hours of travel with two young children who don't speak your language and don't even totally trust you is not a task for the faint of heart -- Jeff likened it to running a marathon when you're out of shape -- but we made it, exhausted and overwhelmed but in one piece. The children were troopers throughout the ordeal. They slept quite a bit and played with every last toy in their backpack, not to mention playing with the buttons on the armrest. The only bump was when Bereket started getting tired, then ornery, and finally let us have it with a 55-minute stint of wailing (not crying, mind you, but wailing) right in the middle of turbulance that had us stuck in our seats. I (Esther) think the Ethiopian passengers' eyes were rolling back into their heads from the noise. One even kindly tried to woo Bereket with some Amharic words of comfort, but no luck. Finally the turbulance ended, a flight attendant brought me a dinner (I think I was the first to eat -- she was desperate) and as I started eating with Bereket in my arms she abruptly stopped and proceeded to share my dinner. In fact, I think she ate most of it. We had seen her behave once like this before, so we weren't completely surprised, but it was still painful to endure.

Anyway, overall I'm very proud of Godebo and Bereket. And I'm equally proud of Isabel and Noel, who welcomed their new siblings with open arms and have been doting on them ever since. G and B slept through the night and took naps right on schedule (remarkable, because I'm still totally OFF schedule). We spent our first day just playing together. Some highlights: watching Godebo ride the tricycle around and around and around our backyard deck, happy as a clam; listening to Bereket sing her African songs as well as many rounds of "If You're 'Appy' and You Know It"; teaching the children to play "Duck, Duck Goose" at the park; and watching Isabel and Noel taking care of their brother and sister, reading to them, doing puzzles, helping bathe and dress them.

We know so many of you are praying for us and I must tell you this is carrying us -- truly -- through a beautiful but very stressful time. We knew this would be difficult, that it would be a major change and take lots of energy and patience. But there is nothing that can prepare one for this experience. It is taking absolutely every cell in our bodies to be present for all four children and make sure their needs our met, regardless of how we are feeling. I feel like we're running on pure will and adrenaline, which is not a healthy place to be.

I would like to end by giving a big dose of credit to my parents, who have been holding down the fort and now are holding us up with their help and love. I don't think we'd be able to cope without their support. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

We did it! We completed our first full day of caring for Godebo and Bereket, and it went fine. I think we're ready to take these kiddos home. Today was a day for playing here at the guest house and getting accustomed to the children's routine. I have to say, we have some of the easiest kids in the group, I think. They are happy and compliant children. They climbed into bed with us in the morning, dressed themselves eagerly, ate well and napped at exactly the schedule time. The only gliche was when we tried to wake Bereket at the time designated by the orphanage and she refused to wake up and then wailed for probably 25 minutes when Jeff tried to rouse her by holding her. Our Ethiopian friend, Gigi, picked us up for some siteseeing right in the middle of this, and Bereket quieted down in the car but kept her eyes resolutely shut until Jeff offered both of the children some gum. Then she climbed into my lap and chewed contentedly the rest of the day. Hmmm. We are quickly getting the picture that this little girl has some tricks up her sleeve.
One interesting thing about being in public with our children is that not all Ethiopians are very comfortable with seeing white people adopting Ethiopian children. In fact, we were told not to take the children out of the guest house at all, because the Ethiopian government has asked the agency to keep a low profile. We only broke the rules because Gigi really wanted to show us a few things. But when we asked her about this issue, she confessed that she, too, gets very sad when she sees the children leaving the country. She understands that this is necessary, in some sense, because the country cannot provide for the orphans and the poor. But it still makes her uncomfortable. I guess that makes us feel a bit guilty -- or if not guilty, certainly somber.
Anyway, the children are asleep, and so is Jeff since he is not feeling too hot (the beginnings of a cold, I think). Tomorrow allows more time for play, as well as packing. Then we all meet one more time with an official from the orphanage, who will give us all our paperwork. As of 10 p.m., we'll be on the plane and heading home -- 31 hours of travel, I think. Ugh. But there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and we're very ready to get home, settled and back in the company of those we love.