A picture and a link

It has been such a busy week although really, not much different from any other week around here. I haven’t been on the computer all that much, so haven’t been keeping up on many blogs lately — I plan to hop around a bit right now, after I get something fresh up.

Basically, now everyone is healthy, the kids are as happy as always and I’m hanging on and waiting for spring. We had a couple of days this week that were really nice, in the 40s, but today back to the teens. Happily, only 12 days until Spring Break! Woo-Hoo!! The kids are already packing for our trip to see the grandparents. (Luckily, the grandparents are not at home in cold MN, but are in AZ! Much more appealing.) We’ve had a very, very long stretch of no travel.

Speaking of travel, I’ve been thinking so much about going back to Ethiopia for a visit with Zufan. Someday I will, then I’ll really have something to blog about. I’d love to try to find her birthfamily, see how they are doing, if they are alive and well or not, and have them see how well she is doing. Another adoptive mom sent me this link to another great organization, Common River, that works in the region near Chuko, where Zufan was born. I’m still dreaming of Haiti, too. Lot of things to think about, but lots of daily living to do in the meantime.

We’re cutting back on the bottles, but Zufan is just too cute asking for her bi-bi. She’ll talk a whole paragraph on the topic: bi-bi, blanket, no lights, rock-a-bye, and mommy, intermingled with many other words that only Zufan recognizes. If mommy has to wash dishes or something, she’ll make due with a little rock-a-bye from her brother. Big sis won’t sing the rock-a-bye song with the “correct” words to Zufan because she says that is a mean song — she changes the words so that the mommy runs to catch the cradles as it falls.

OK, off to check your blogs, then maybe, just maybe, clean the house? We’ll see.

Sick little boy again, and just too busy!

Zufan just looked at this picture and declared, “Tino! (her nickname for her brother) I like Tino. I like Tino’s jammas.” She is wearing the hand-me-down 4Ts, and he has on the 5Ts.  They both are being silly with carrots for the picture. It has been so busy around here that I don’t know which way is up anymore. The 5 year old has been sick with a fever and stomach ache, and throwing up last night, so we’ve been at home most of the time, yet I can’t seem to find a moment to use the computer in peace. Right now Zufan is making a little toy cow run across the keyboard. OK, hope you are all well and enjoying more free time than I am these last days. Oh well, as they say, they’ll be 18 after I blink a few more times. That’s all for today, as it’s time to go make some chicken soup while I tend to a very cute but very demanding two year old.

Get the new AHOPE t-shirt

www.ahopestore.org

It says:

You are five years old. Today your mother died of AIDS. You are HIV positive. You have no home, no food, no medication, no hope. Who will help you?

I think it is, like someone observed, “a nice balance between being provocative and being respectful.” And the shirt is only $10. Nice, huh?

A little Mimsy

Owning a dog is on my (very, very long) list of “someday” things to do. The kids LOVE dogs, so we swung by our popular An1mart the other day to check on the available puppies, and found this sweetie:

The kids have been talking about her ever since. She was such a sweet little mutt, half Chihuahua and half Papillon. She didn’t even flinch at Zufan’s enthusiastic screams and kisses, and let us all hold her. Someday. One more thing on the list. Everyone should have a dog.

Notice the little guy is still wearing his Ethiopian outfit? I love it that he wants to wear it. I really, really wish I’d gotten more outfits for all of them, at about $5 an outfit. Maybe it is just time to go back. Anyway, real post another day! Time seems to be short lately. At least it is already Wednesday.

Chinese food on Valentine’s Day

It was a good weekend. Here we are at our favorite (minimalist by the looks of the white wall behind us) Chinese easy-food restaurant. For now, photo-posts are all that fit into the schedule. More later.

Oh, yeah, and why the white t-shirt on Mommy, you ask? (OK, more likely you don’t ask, but I’ll share, anyway.) I was still sweating. I managed 15 miles one day, 9 the next — which is partly why it was such a good weekend. I think those Trader Joe vitamins finally kicked in.

Relaxing at the doctor’s office

Just thought these were cute. Don’t be deceived, though; she isn’t tired. She stopped taking naps a couple of months ago and has never looked back.

When we got to the exam room Zufan went immediately to the drawer with the crayons. The kid is smart, to put it mildly. She knows a few colors, too. If she doesn’t remember one she’ll hold up the crayon and ask, “blue?” So cute. Friday is upon us! Have a great Friday, and great weekend.

She’s so cute!

This time I’m talking about Julie’s little sister, Kate. Check it out:

Kate has moved to town, and I was lucky enough to meet her last night. She’s moved to my favorite neighborhood, in fact. Our meeting place sort of looks like an odd living room, but it’s a coffee shop. Julie, I’m expecting you and your kids, along with Steven and the dogs if you’d like, to be in the area for a visit very soon! It was so nice to meet Kate. Thanks, Julie and Kate.

The First Five

 Julie did a post about the first five bloggers she followed and suggested we all do the same. Well here are links to three of my oldest addictions.

I started adoption research online in about 2005. Before that I’d done it all by mail. Yep, the old-fashioned paper-based research, back in the days of the ICC (International Concerns for Children — anyone?). Once I started googling, I really hit the jackpot. I first found Adoptionblogs.com, and learned everything I ever needed to know about Ethiopian adoption from Mary, who writes at Owlhaven, and used to write the Ethiopian section of the adoption blogs. I followed her personal story through all her family’s Ethiopia adoptions, and found her early enough to read about her Korean adoptions as well. (She later took those stories down.) Mary was the queen of adoption bloggers. Her personal blog has evolved in a different direction since then but she still has a huge following, it seems. Mary never really knew me although she was nice enough to stop by and comment a couple of times when I went comment-crazy on her blog. I hear she has a book out now.

Then, there was Anne. I consider Anne my almost-first, my biggest and my longest lasting blogger love. And it is still going strong. Anne is so out of my league that it isn’t funny. Maybe that is partly why I adore her so? Let me tell you why she’s so awesome. First off, that woman is SMART. She is Obama-like intelligent. She’s also funny, in a self-depreciating thinking-person-funny way. Her pictures are amazing, and so are her kids. I mean, how many ways can you say “Oh my GOD how insanely cute” in a comment? I’ve run out of ways, but I keep trying. She can also cook but doesn’t rub it in to those of us who think cooking means successfully microwaving rice. She does videos, and shares e-mails-from-Addis from her really, really nice husband. Oh, and did I mention, she did TWO back-to-back infant adoptions, which meant there was no room for slacking off on the obsession? Anyway, there are many other reasons, and if you want to read her blog try asking her for the password. It’s worth it.

I also followed three of Erin’s adoptions, back in the old days. She has an amazing family! Twelve kids, and I don’t know if she’s even hit age 30 yet! Check out her family pictures.

Oops, almost forgot to mention Denise Baker’s blog. She speaks Amharic and has spent lots of time in Ethiopia, along with other interesting places. Check her out. Highly recommended!

Finally, I followed ”The bus for us,” a family from Minnesota who adopted then left the blogging world once their little one was home. I wonder how they are? Then… I found the rest of you and now, I think, if you read me I read you. The blogger world has exploded. So I’m hanging on to the few I know well now (Anne, Cara, Leslie, Julie, Evelyn, Lori, Paige, Katy – did I miss anyone?) and once in a while I add someone new who happens to find me.

Have a great week! I’m excited because in just a few hours I get to meet Julie’s sister, Kate, in person! I feel like I should be preparing for the big event, but have no idea even how one would prepare. I’ll be back with a full report on that later on.

Some cute and some cuddles

Here’s the little cutie playing in the tub. She has a good time to say the least:

And a cuddly moment with big brother. Most of the time, however, they are on a mission to destroy; at least they usually are on the same team.

After my less-than-cheerful post yesterday, we went on to have a really nice evening, so I thought I better quick get something up here to balance out that downer. The 9 year old and I are reading Maragaret Trost’s On That Day Everybody Ate, about Haiti (her choice); the 5 year old gets a nightly dose of The Fire Within, about clay dragons who come to life, and Zufan’s favorites (as of last night) are Everywhere Babies and the Santa book, a hold over from Christmas. A sure cure for the blues? Reading with your kids. It works every time for me, even when absolutely nothing else does. Except for those of you still waiting for your kids, in which case my perfect solution is guaranteed to make you feel… bluer. Sorry.

I better get to work! My goal for this weekend is going to be to catch up on sleep. It’s Friday. THAT is some good news. Have a great Friday, everyone!

A long, cold January

As happy as I was to welcome 2009, I have to say, I’m even happier to say good-bye to the coldest, bleakest January I can remember. This is the first year in many, many years that we weren’t able to go to Puerto Rico to visit the esposo’s family over the semester break. We are totally and completely and then some, out of funds to do much of anything at all. It’s funny, you know, how I always see these semi-trucks coming right at me in life, yet I keep on doing what I want to do, never really believing that this time that truck is not going to swerve. Not going to put on the brakes. There is no secret trap door to drop through, and there are no superheros to swoop down and save anyone.  There is some comfort in knowing that other people have it hard right now, too; but mostly, it just feels like a long, long, cold winter with no singing birdies and all the flower buds frozen and hidden under mountains of harsh, choppy and unforgiving ice.

I’ve been battling a lot of anxiety over many things. My summer fitness has taken a huge hit because I just don’t have it in me to run 20 miles on the treadmill right now. Or even 10, for that matter. In fact, some days 5 feels like an eternity. I feel that there are so many other demands on my time, and when I’m not finding joy in the running… they why am I doing it? What’s the purpose? I’ve got to find my groove again; someone tell me where it is.

Also, my idealism seems to have taken a hit as well. The harshness of reality can suck the hope out of life. Back in 2005 when we started this adoption, I still lived in my own age of innocence. I thought I could homeschool forever, raise a crew of multilingual happy kids who would grow up to cure disease and injustice and in effect, go on to save the world someday. Now, I don’t know if I can save myself, let alone contribute anything toward saving the world. 

There are so many things I dream of doing. Way, way up on the top of the list, I want to go to Haiti. My dream would be to learn Haitian Creole well, spend some time working at a school or clinic or orphanage in Haiti — bringing the kids along, of course — then coming back to a big US city and working as a liasion and advocate for the immigrant community. But that’s a wild dream.

I also dream of teaching English in China for a summer; of traveling around Europe (and Africa, and Latin America) with someone to love and someone who enjoys the adventure as much as I would; of owning a house with a child-size potty that flushes and a kiddie sink in the bathroom! I dream of running the Boston marathon. I want to go back to Ethiopia again. That, I have to do. I wouldn’t mind a couple more kids, although that dream is taking a backseat for now — maybe forever. I dream of going back to school, to get that PhD, maybe in Latin American Studies. There is, however, no Latin American Studies PhD offered in this town. I could go back for Second Language Acquistion; but don’t think I have it in me right now to do that.

So for now, we are taking it one day at a time, like the rest of America. Getting through this long, cold winter, surviving on cuddles and coffee and praying for an early spring.