4 Months Home

We've been home for four months. Four months of having four children. For awhile I thought it was getting easier. For awhile I thought things were slowing down and we were headed toward being normal again...

Guess what?

I think we are normal. But it is NOTHING like my old normal!
This normal is loud. This normal is active. It's different. No doubt about it.


Hi, my name is Ashley and my house is loud. I feel like I need to attend a support meeting for this. Blake and Silas literally do not know how to whisper. I'm being literal here. They do not know how to make a whisper with their voices. It's amazing. Try as I might, I'm not succeeding in teaching them either. And we practice a lot. We practice every morning as we get ready for school, we practice during rest time on the weekend. No such luck.


Silas especially has an addiction to electronics. If he asks once a day to watch a movie, play a video game, or mess with my cell phone, he asks 100 times. I'm probably not exaggerating that either. He is drawn only to toys that have batteries. Guess what? Toys with batteries make noise - usually loud noises. Again, my house is loud.
And I've packed up all the toys with batteries. All of them.


The fighting and jealousy is slowing down. alot. Boy, am I happy about that.
I have spent many hours since we arrived home four months ago fretting about these three boys bonding. I've worried about Hunter's feelings of being replaced, and I've worried about Blake and Silas' feelings of never truely being our sons...not like Hunter is anyway.
I've seen great things happen over the last month, and I'm very grateful to God for working miracles on each of their hearts and softening them toward one another.
They are brothers!


These kids run everywhere they go. They run from their bedroom to the kitchen. They run from my bedroom to the back door. They run through the living room, they run around the kitchen table. They run to the trampoline, they run to their bikes.
All four of my children run.
everywhere.
all the time.

Silas just walked in and said "peace" while holding up two fingers. I think we're getting there. ha ha


Blake and Silas are opening up about Ethiopia much more.
I'm not sure if some of it is true, but they are much more open with sharing stories from their past. I think this is good, I think it means they are trusting us...
With their story,
with their life,
with their hearts.


They are forgetting some of their Amharic, which makes me really sad. From day one I said I wanted to make it a priority to help them keep their language, and it's just not working. I can ask them what the word for things are all day long, but without using it conversationally everyday they are going to lose it. Everyone told me that, I just didn't want to believe it.
They didn't remember the color green.
And they argued about how to say "Hunter is wearing a red t-shirt"...


To celebrate being home together 4 months we are going to the zoo (the boys' first trip) and out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant. The Krueger's are joining us!
I couldn't be more excited to have a day with some of my favorite people, enjoy yet another first with the boys, and eat some fresh injera!
I'll post pictures soon!