They are twins... fraternal twins

We are often asked if the girls are really twins. They look nothing alike and Hanna is 6cm taller. They are fraternal twins. Fraternal twins do not have to look alike. I never realized some people didn't understand that scientific fact. Based off from pictures of the girls' birth father, Hanna looks a lot like him and is shaped liked him. We have concluded that Desalech must look like their birth mom did.

I must say that parenting twins is a lot different than parenting a single child. With our boys only being 34 months apart I always thought it would be like parenting twins. Um... I was wrong, very wrong. I can't even begin to explain how competitive these two little girls are. If one has something, the other HAS to have the same thing. The orphanage told us to make sure we brought two of everything we were planning on taking to Ethiopia for the girls. I am so thankful we listened to their advice. Yes, they will have to learn to share and I have noticed a difference in just a week, but not a battle you want to tackle when you first meet your children.

One example of their competitiveness...if Hanna shorts/capris come to her her knees then Desalech will hike up her shorts/capris (they are usually longer on her) so that they are at her knees. Just so she will be just like Hanna. It is insane.

This morning was no different. The girls had the same outfit on, but after breakfast Desalech spilt her milk on both her shirt and shorts. I went ahead and change her. I didn't think ahead that Hanna would be upset that she didn't get a new outfit. A few minutes after Desalech was in a new clean outfit, Hanna came up to me and pointed to a wet spot on her shirt. It finally clicked with me and I went upstairs to get her something new. I came back down and noticed that she had more wet spots on her shirt. I realized that she had been SPITTING on her shirt, so she could get a new one. Spitting is acceptable in their culture and the girls do it a lot(it is something we hope to break them of and the sooner the better). That girl will go to any lengths so her sister doesn't have one up on her.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I was telling Monte what happened. I choose to laugh. There really is no reason to cry. They were orphans, they are two, they are twins and they are girls. We have our work cut out for us, but we are so thankful for them. I know the Lord will teach us some amazing things through parenting our five children. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls at the park on Thursday.