I left Evansville Tuesday morning to take off for Texas. For the first half of the year, I traveled quite a bit. I got back to Haiti on Jan 11th, the day before the earthquake. I escorted some adopted kids home, and went straight back to Haiti. I flew out of Haiti on Feb. 11th. Did some traveling. My home-base was sorta Florida. That is, if staying in one place for 3 1/2 months qualifies it as being my "home-base". Then, my quick trip to Evansville turned out to be a long stay. 4 1/2 months and counting. The longest I've been in one place for over a year now. Staying in one place in the states for 4 1/2 months with a regular full-time job might not seem like much, but it's against the norm compared to my newly acquired vagabond style.
So now I'm in Texas visiting the Livesay tribe. Just for a week. Then back to Evansville for me. But I must say, even just for a week, it's kinda nice to get out and travel again. Even though it involved cold airports and cold airplanes. (I hate all things pertaining to cold.)
Tara and Troy headed to Minnesota early this morning. Paige and I tried to squeeze in all of our wild and crazy partying Wed. and Thursday night since we now have a tribe of 5 to be responsible for. Our wild and crazy nights included watching a late movie and getting tired before it was over and driving around Waco trying to think of what to do and how to get there (we threw in the towel pretty quickly and headed home with some chick-fil-a). Don't get me wrong though- it was still a party. Paige and I can turn anything into a party.
This morning we loaded up the truck (at least I'm pretty sure all 6 kids were in there, I didn't do a head count though) and dropped Isaac, Noah and Hope off at their school and Paige to hers. Phoebe and Lydia did great and no one has even cried today (yes, I know, the day is not over).
I would just like to say that Tara is not exaggerating at all when she tells Phoebe and Lydia stories. If one kids says something, the other must repeat it. It's usually Lydia repeating Phoebe, but it can go either way. And kid 2 does not repeat in a tone as if they are simply copying kid 1, they say it as if it was their own original thought that we hadn't just heard 2 seconds ago.
If one kid does or says something, the other must do or say it, too. When possible, they must do or say it "bigger and better". For example:
kid 1: I have to pee.
kid 2: I have to pee... no, i have to poop!
kid 1: I have to poop, too.
One last story and Phoebe and Lydia for the moment, but I'm sure I'll have more coming.
I hand them my iPad (or my "phone" as they call it) to play games on. They already know which games do what and how to get from one to the other. As I give it to them, the conversation goes like this:
me: No fighting, or I'll take it away.
kid 1: okay
kids 2: okay
me: What did I say? Repeat it back to me.
kid 1: I don't know.
kid 2: I don't know.
me: No fighting, or I'll take it away. What did I say?
kid 1: ummmm... Stop!
kid 2: Stop!
Meh, close enough...
