The latest on our motley crew of 8

So we just finished our county fair weekend. The 5 kids who entered exhibits did great on their entries and Fitsum & Besu were tickled about winning ribbons. Fitsum even won a grand champion on a poster he drew. Both boys fell in love with the livestock, especially the goats. I never had the heart to tell them that most of these goats were headed for market. That's even hard for me to take...
In other news we are into the soccer games full swing. Fitsum and Besu both play travel and are both pretty darn good players! David and I had made a commitment back when we decided to bring these boys home. We knew that they wanted to play sports and were going to be talented. We knew it would complicate our lives a heck of a lot more then it even already was. But we did it because we loved them and knew it was what they deserved.
So here we are now and this travel stuff is like nothing I have ever experienced before. This is S-E-R-I-O-U-S stuff. These people eat, breath & sleep soccer. Me? I am just happy to see my boys playing and playing their best, but I don't even know most of the rules of soccer. I couldn't tell you what being "off sides" means or what constitutes a red or yellow card.
I love my boys and want to watch them play but I don't need to know all that stuff... is that selfish? Hope not. It's just the best I can do quite frankly.
*Lest you think I do not care about Besu, first, he would not allow me to take pics of him at the fair or this morning when I was using my phone to snap pics of the kids at the bus stop. And, it was not me taking these awesome soccer pics. Like I say, this is some major stuff so Fitsum's team has an unofficial team videographer and team photographer. This actually works out great for a schlep of a mom like me, who always means to bring a camera but is usually running too late to find one... So thanks team for making it look like I was on the ball for once! And thank God for the ability to cut and paste... phew!


As for the other punks (typed that word with love, really) who live here, well, they have all been busy too.
Finlay is working towards graduation and trying to increase her chances of winning more scholarship money for college next year. She is going to be the 'host sister' to a German exchange student who arrives this weekend and stays for 2 weeks. She is working as part of the stage help for the schools fall production and she is babysitting each weekend. She is heavily involved in youth group and constantly cleaning her room though it never looks like it. Never.
Reece just landed a big part in his high school's fall production. He is up to his eyes in work with a heavy load that includes Trig/Pre-Calc & AP Chemistry which he loves and never stops talking about. (And yes, he knows we tune him out a lot.) He is getting into youth group in a deeper way by joining what they call The Dead Theologians Society and Reece never even attempts to clean his room.
Seamus is in 8th grade, loves his school and mostly hates being at home. We recently re-arranged the bedrooms so that he could finally have a room of his own. He spends a fair bit of time up there. Sometimes he is sent and often times he retreats. He is golfing a bit with my mom and dad and seems to enjoy being with them because A)he loves his grandparents and B)because they are not us. Seamus is a hormonal volcano that can and does erupt at the most unexpected times but we remind ourselves that this too shall pass and one day our baby will be back. Hopefully.
Next in the line-up is soccer playing Fitsum. I think I have shared before how Fitsum's brain is a steel trap. He remembers just about everything you tell him. Recently, we were talking about figures of speech and we went through a few of them. He enjoyed them though he didn't understand what all of them meant. The next day in the car I was explaining some cool things about an air show we were going to but Fitze didn't believe what I was sharing. He said "mom, you think I was yesterday born?"! 9 months home and I would say his English is pretty darn good...
Rory is 10 going on 30. He is in no way that mature, but he is a funny guy in that he has loved being in love since he realized that women existed. Right now he is truly, madly and deeply in love with a little girl of 10 who he only sees at church and socially. She feels the same way about him though and in his little mind he has their path all mapped out. They have, in fact, talked baby names. (Yes, that is a little scary.) Rory has just begun playing the trumpet this school year and we are occasionally woken up to the sound of sick, bellowing cow that we eventually realize is Rory practising.
Besu is next. He has come so far in 9 months that I cannot even remember (until I stop and think about it) how hard it was bringing him home. He still has moments that make you want to go nutty but they are fewer and further apart than ever! His seems to have overcome some of the trauma that we believe he was dealing with. He has become more affectionate then ever and he is growing far faster then his Ethiopian brother. Now Besu is not a scholar and he hates the idea of learning. Ask him to read a book and you will get a head shake with a nasty "aw man" everytime. But, that being said, he is realizing that no one likes a sullen boy with a bad attitude. Phew. I don't honestly know what stays in that head of his as he seems to have a hard time with recall and comprehension like his baby sister. Besu recently moved into a bedroom with Kieran and that seems to be going well. Double phew!
Kieran is nearly 8. He is such a funny little boy and so darn confident. He has had so many siblings and au pairs dote on him that he expects it of the world! He is a limit pusher in a charming way and he is bright and lazy. He is a good soccer player but doesn't feel like working too hard to become a great one. He is a good student but couldn't care less about neater work or studying to reach the top. He is sure that luck will always drop right into his lap and that one day someone will be thanking their lucky stars he showed up for a job interview. For his sake, I hope he's right!
Marin is another story. My girl is so darn cute and does the neatest work you will ever see. But, like Besu, comprehension is a tough one for her. You can read a story, act it out, go through all the aspects of it to be sure she gets it and then when the time comes to answer questions she has no idea what you are talking about. Ugh. It is frustrating and to be honest, a bit frightening. We laughingly say "thank God she's pretty" but we truly worry. She has been home 3 1/2 years now. Wow. She has been here nearly as long as there. I would have thought that by now things would have clicked into place. I guess that is where the scary part comes in. Maybe it is not going to be any better then it is now? Marin is a happy child with the kindest heart but she is oblivious to so much in life! She is supposed to be turning 8 in November but I believe that she is a good bit older then that. She is so tall and so healthy now - one of the larger children in first grade. She does not want to have to do anything structured like sports. Competition is not her thing. She would rather eat, play alone and color any day.
So there they are in their glory. Our crew amazes us and we love em, warts and all. Sometimes I think about re-naming my blog. I mean, the adoption journey for us is over with a capital O. We are pretty tapped out mentally & financially and to be honest the emotional mom-o-meter is pretty near depleted too. I guess our new focus is truly on raising 8 extremely different children without leaving too many scars...