hey everyone!

Just a quick note to say hi and let you know how much we appreciate all your prayers and support over the past few weeks. I (Becky) finally had a few minutes this morning to read Katie's posts and all your comments and emails. Thanks so much for being a part of our adventures. Our time in Liberia was tough, but we learned a lot. Several people at Acres of Hope commented that the kids seemed to be bonding well with us, which is an huge blessing. The happy moments are really happy, and the unhappy ones are horrific. We have numerous temper tantrums from the older 2 kids each day, but they have definitely become shorter and slightly let intense over the past 2 weeks. These tantrums are exhausting and frustrating, but they are a typical part of adoption. The kids are confused and mourning the changes in their life as well as testing us to see what they can and can't get away with. We definitely have a lot of jealousy going on. When one child is getting too much attention, someone else usually finds an excuse (though they don't always need an excuse) to throw a tantrum. So far we haven't had any major tantrums today, but Garty did cry on and off (mostly on) for almost 2 hours this morning because he wanted to be held constantly. We had almost broken him of this habit at the end of last week, but then we traveled for over 20 hours. He evidently decided he liked being held nonstop. I'll try to write more when they all nap this afternoon. However, any time we have to go to sleep, we have at least one major tantrum... sometimes 2... so Daddy and Mommy might end up sleeping during nap time as well!

Oh, and for those of you who have spent the past 2 weeks wondering why we have a creepy felt painting of ET in the kids' room, that photo was for the benefit of my college girlfriends. ET was a white elephant gift during our Grove City days. He has since been passed around whenever we can find an excuse to decorate him and send him away to someone else. We acquired him at the beginning of April as a welcome home gift for the kids. I thought they'd be scared of him, but they didn't even comment when they saw the picture. They were just excited about the fact that their clothes were in the drawers below ET. Unfortunately, ET's other owners have all had major life events in the past few months, but I don't know if there are any coming up that will allow me to get rid of him any time soon.