Love and Affection

If this is love and affection, is there any wonder why her highness Berji likes to spend most of her time outside?

All Aboard!

Eirena's trains are getting more extravagant. Now, not only are the four train cars "the train", but so are the two new train cars she got, the piece of paper on which we drew a train for her, a ball, her skirt, a bowl, a car, her towel, her beads and a wad of used paper towel. The stool is a tunnel. I'm sure the pillows and drawing board have significance too, I just haven't figured it out yet.

oh, don't forget the lion and the plastic bag, either

Dear John...

Well it wasn't exactly "Dear John", after all it was addressed to Dr. Daddy and myself. And it wasn't about breaking up- that would imply a relationship to begin with. But it was a rejection letter. Another one. For an adoption grant.
In my bitter and jaded moments I question WHO DOES get a grant??? What does it take? In the application they wanted tax info from 2006 &2007 (we applied before 2008 taxes were filed). I'll let you in on a little secret: Dr. Daddy didn't get paid for about 3 months last year, when he did it was as a grad student (and we all know how much they make!) and we paid moving expenses ourselves. According to the IRS that qualifies us for not paying taxes and instead getting a decent refund. But apparently for adoption grants that just isn't good enough. We still can't figure out who is getting the grants, but we're pretty sure it isn't us.

When we decided to go ahead with adoption, it wasn't because we had the money. Actually, it was terrifying to think of undertaking this with literally no money. But we felt God was calling us to this, and to do it now. We figured, well, there are lots of grants out there. We'll research them and apply for them all. And we did. (Most actually weren't accepting applications by the time we could apply because of lack of donations. ) But all that we could apply for, we did. And God has been closing those doors.
In shutting those doors however, God really has opened up other ones. I was telling Dr. Daddy today that our child will have an even better story than if the adoption was funded by grants. Because this child is being brought home with the love and sacrificial giving of people that we know. We can put faces to people that have already invested in our child's life. I feel like our child is already surrounded by love and prayers of friends and family who are just as anxious to meet our little one as we are. The fact that the people who have given us money are not monetarily rich just makes our child's story more beautiful. Thank you, to all of you who have given and prayed- both things are necessary. Our dossier is now en route (or maybe already there) to Ethiopia!!!

Meeting cousins

Eirena met two of her cousins last week. Rebekah was born in India 2 1/2 months before Eirena was born. Two years later her brother, Daniel was born. Eirena hadn't met either of them as this is their first real trip back to the States since 2005.

Being strong willed two year olds it was pretty interesting to watch the girls meet and play together. I think they had fun, especially when Eirena wasn't forced to share her Precious (trains) and they both had solid sleep!

at the park with Uncle Nathan

Eirena's favorite spot in the park
(apparently at first Rebekah, the meticulous one, was a little unsure how to play in the sand if one didn't organize it- Eirena showed her how and things went great)

walking back home
they liked to hold hands, but often one wanted to hold hands and the other didn't, and then vice versa

the next day we went to a State Park that had waterfalls and pools for picnic lunch
Eirena showed Rebekah the best way to great drenched in the shortest amount of time~ she fell in

Eirena was only mildly interested in Daniel (6 months), that left me lots of time to win some smiles from my newest nephew

the water was a hit

splashing away

It was lots of fun to see my brother and his family. Thanks for visiting y'all :) Come see us again! Eirena is now talking about sharing with Fuzzy Bear and how Fuzzy Bear can look at the trains but not touch them. I think the lessons in sharing were very good, if a little painful at the time, for her.

Wait... what was that?

Driving to Oklahoma I saw a sign. It read "Prairie Station" on the top of this building that looked sort of like an old country general store. But the sign in front of the building read :Prairie Station
Cowboy Church (complete with a picture of cowboy boots and a lasso).

On the way back, Dr. Daddy burst into laughter with this sign for a funeral home: New options for these difficult times.

Do you have any favorite signs?

Eirena's Friends

After many conversations with my daughter, I have come to the conclusion that Eirena has two imaginary friends. One is named Granddad, one, Grandma. How did I come to this conclusion? Well, G&G take naps with Eirena, they eat with her, they went hiking with us, go to the potty with us, ate all the cookies up and ride the train.
Eirena does have three grandparents, but one she calls Tayta and her Granddad and Grandma live in India and did not go hiking with us, take naps with her (or to the potty with us) etc. She does get to skype with her grandparents though and I think that fuels her imagination, or at least that is where she got the names from. But her G&G are very much a part of her life. And if Fuzzy Bear is real, why not G&G too?

I'm just curious as to what will happen when they visit and she finds out that they really are real! Will that just totally confuse her ability to distinguish from imaginary and real? Or is it so blurred anyway that it she will be completely unphased?

Hiking

We went hiking! It was an 8 hour drive to get to the Ouachita National Forest. Eirena was excellent in the car and even took a nap.

Uc was pretty good too, except that after 7 hrs and 45 minutes of driving we had to go around some tight corners. Uc doesn't "do" curves on the road. She puked all over the car. Thankfully we were almost there and she didn't have anything left in her stomach when we were driving over the dirt road.
Eirena and Uc were very excited to be out of the car and able to explore. We camped at one trailhead the first night and things went quite well. We decided to not actually hike that trail, but a longer one, called Blue Bouncer Loop. We headed up the forest service road and saw a couple of people getting ready to go 4-wheeling. We asked them how far up the trailhead was, but the man told us there was nothing up ahead but an ATV road. (This should have been a warning to us.) Well we drove on and found the trailhead-unmarked.
In the beginning the trail was marked with a swatch of paint on trees at random intervals. After 0.9 miles there was a sign pointing us to the Blue Bouncer Loop trail. We were set. But the trail obviously hadn't been used in a while. It was getting a little overgrown, with thorns. Then it started to get really overgrown with thorny vines that looped over and under you. And there wasn't actually a trail. No path-like structure to be seen after the first 1.5 miles in. We were just going from painted tree to painted tree bushwacking through the thorns. After lunch the painted tree markers thinned out and then disappeared altogether. And there was no trail. Dr. Daddy suggested that we could either pretend to follow the trail or go with the topo map and go down to the river. The next day we would meet up with the old ATV road. We decided to follow the topo map. We found a decent camping spot that night and Eirena had tons of fun throwing rocks and sticks into the water. Uc, who had been very excited to be outdoors was exhausted, but happy.
The next day Dr. Daddy led us to the ATV road which was actually identifiable. Eirena walked a good portion of that back to the car. We then had lunch and did another trail in the afternoon.

Dr. Daddy fighting the thorny vines- its hard to see but all the foliage is pretty much wrapped up in the thorny vines.
The ATV road- that was very pretty

One major issue that we discovered with the place, other than the fact that the trail disappear and was replaced by thorns, was that ticks infested the place. Yuck, gross, eww! At every break we performed regular tick checks, but if we come down with a random illness soon, you'll know why. :) Now we're just trying to be careful about not bringing them back into the house.

Eirena says she had fun, and seemed to really enjoy herself, both hiking and camping. (Notice the gaping holes in Dr. Daddy's pants? Thank you very much thorns!- You should see his arms!)
Pretty scenary wasn't it?

Update: The Ouachitas, we decided, were not friendly to us. Dr. Daddy has broken out in the worst poison ivy rash he has ever gotten. The rash is pretty much all over him, but concentrated on his forearms, which is oozing and just downright gross. I considered pictures, but thought I would spare you. (And we're still pulling ticks off the dog.) At least at this point in time, we're thinking it isn't worth making another 16 hr drive again. :)

Eirena on Easter

And for some exciting news...
Today we mailed in our dossier to our adoption agency!!!

Heading for the hills

Dr. Daddy has a bad case of mountain fever. I.e., he really wants to see some mountains, touch them, conquer them. So we are heading to the Oklahoma/Arkansas border to see what theirs are like.
When I told Eirena we were going to go hiking she did a little happy dance. She doesn't quite understand the concept of time yet, so was sorely disappointed that we wouldn't be going today. She was also disappointed that she couldn't wear her fancy dress shoes hiking. But after I explained that we're going to be hiking for a long time so we have a lot to do to get ready, she understood that we wouldn't be going today. But tomorrow, rain or shine, we will be getting in the car and heading north, lest I have a mutiny on my hands (Dr. Daddy and Eirena).
It will be a multi-day backpacking hike (taking camp with us), the first time with a walking kid and a dog. We'll see how it works out. :)

Life according to Eirena

Today we were driving home from the playground. Eirena was in her seat in the back, talking away. At one point she said, "I have a booger here." I told her I couldn't see her or it. A little bit later she said, " I don't have a booger anymore." I asked her what happened to it. She replied, "you put it in your mouth...it tasted good". yeah, I'm so glad you think so.

Later, we were at the post office and she was talking about our time at the playground. "The boy did not pee, he was just swinging" she said. I told her that was correct. Adding on to the story, she said, "he had blackberries in his pants". wait, where did that come from???

Eirena is now singing Frere Jacques. It is pretty amusing to hear her 1) sing and 2) sing in French. Her song goes something like "Frerr Zhaaka, Frerr Zhaaka/ Door may voo, door may voo/ solla lem matine nut solla lem matine nut/ ding dang dong, ding dang dong".

Modelling

This morning Eirena sat in the rocking chair with me. We talked about her train book that we had read earlier while I crocheted a fuzzy purple scarf. And then she modeled it for posterity.





Yeah, she really did walk around the house with no clothes on all morning. We do set a rule of wearing them when she goes outside, you'll be relieved to know. In case you're wondering, she chose the yarn for the scarf: fuzzy, sparkly purple.

Getting all girly

Eirena's little friends sent her some hair ribbons since she actually has hair to put them in now.
Thank you Abraham and David!

How many goats should we ask for her? :) (Totally kidding!)

Don't ask, won't tell!

We went to a festival a couple weekends ago. They had a Japanese drum performance that Eirena really liked. She talked about it all weekend. So Monday I thought I would encourage her musical interest. I gave her a pot, turned it over and showed her how to bang on it like a drum. (She actually has never really been interested in doing this, unlike many toddlers!) She thought it was fun for a while, but then turned the pot over and pretended to cook. The pot stayed out for a couple of days so she could play with it. And then one morning she did this:


She undressed herself and then decided to just sit in the pot and drink some water. She was very amused with herself, as you can tell from the gleam in her eyes.

More Lessons in Trust

So the good news is that we have all the paperwork we need to send our dossier in. The bad news is that we don't have the money. Actually, we thought we had enough for the first installment. But it turns out that we misread some information and some stuff that we thought we paid later, is actually due with the dossier. I've been reminding myself that this whole process is in God's hands. We are not in control. We are not in control. We are not in control.
To further confirm this (and perhaps push our trust a little bit more) today in the mail we got a letter from one of the grant organizations. It said they were sorry, but they couldn't help with the finances of our adoption. (Realize that this letter could have come just about any time last month and it would have been disappointing, but not really faith testing.) But coming today I feel like it is just another push to REALLY trust God. Either he will provide the money in some amazing way (because the normal channels are closed), or it is not in His timing to send the dossier out on Monday. God is in control. God is in control. God is in control.

Six Weeks Later...

We got our clearance from USCIS today!!! This is the last document we needed before we could send in our dossier to REALLY start the adoption process. From here we send in the large file on us, our lives in intimate detail, and lots of money. It goes to our adoption agency, then on to Washington D.C. , gets translated and then goes on to Ethiopia. Then we wait for a referral for a child. All in God's timing. But this weekend we'll be notarizing and putting the final touches on our dossier!

Just For Fun

Have You Ever...(highlight the ones you have done)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band ….at school
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland /world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (in the process)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (doesn't this imply you have sick days?)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (if seeing the town where your grandpa was born counts)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (I will be this year, hopefully!)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (if a goofy caricature counts)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (a wee little one)

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (outside)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (fish)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

more than half...how about you?

'Melly 'tuff

Completely unrelated, but here is a picture of Eirena during her nap yesterday- she arranged all the pillows herself!

Hopefully you have noticed the soap at the top of the blog! Dr. Daddy and I make our own soap, using the cold process method. (It is very easy and fun.) But cold process soap takes ~3 weeks to cure. That means that we have lots of soap in various stages of curing. We did have them in the laundry room, but we ran out of space. So now they are in the garage. And what a fine smelling garage we have. I would place bets that no one else has a garage that smells so fragrant (at least in a good fragrant sort of way)! We just had an order for fig-scented soap so for a couple of days the house smelled like figs. Now the garage just reeks of it. No need for air refreshers around here, we just bring out some soap. (Or open a window.)