A date!

Hurray! Praise God!

We have an Embassy appointment date! Please mark November 12th on your calendar (and the 11th because Addis is ~8 hours ahead of the U.S.- depending on where you live) and PRAY like crazy that all things pass just fine. [The appointment is for the US Embassy to scrutinize us (especially our income) to make sure that we can afford to bring an immigrant into the country.]

We are now in the process of seeking out the cheapest tickets, and getting more forms filled out, etc.

Focus

Cleaning Up

Tonight during Bible Reading Eirena wanted to know why Jesus was highly exalted (Phil 2:9-11). Dr. Daddy explained that Jesus was obedient to do what God asked of him. Eirena wanted to know what Jesus did, so he told her that humans had made a mess of the world thinking they could do things better than God. So God told Jesus to rescue us from the mess and to clean up the mess we made.
Eirena's next question was, "Did God have to sweep it up?"

Adoption update

Well, we still don't have a travel date. That's the "bad" news. [I have to believe that it is only "bad" from our perspective here and now, but trust that God has a better timing for us.]
The good news, is that Adisu now has his birth certificate, passport and a cleared TB test. So now all we're waiting on is an appointment from the US Embassy. We thought we would have that confirmed last Wednesday. That got moved to Friday, and now to Tuesday (tomorrow). Maybe.
It is kind of like thinking that you're going into labor any day now and you're feeling the strong contractions and all, but then when you get almost to the point of heading over to the birthing place, they peter out. Except that this has been happening for close to 1 1/2 months now.
And we're starting to wonder if Eirena has an imaginary brother named Adisu that she has created after hearing about this little brother in Ethiopia for so long.

A Style All Her Own

That is dirt in Eirena's hair. First she stood on her head in the dirt, then she just poured it over her head. There's just something about having dirt or sand on her head that she really likes.

After she was done playing in the dirt I sent her inside to wash her hands.
Apparently she was thirsty.

She felt much better after drinking from the faucet, washing her hands and soaking her feet.

A little imagination goes a long way. Dr. Daddy was away this past weekend at a conference. He left his keys here so that he wouldn't lose them while away. Yesterday he was searching the house for them. He asked me if I knew where they were. I told him, "look in the speaker". He gave me a puzzled look, but sure enough, there they were- rattling around inside the speaker.

Eirena had been pretending that she was putting "cash in the machine" (depositing money in the ATM). I did not realize the hole she was depositing her "cash" into actually went into the speaker. Personally, I found the situation quite amusing. Dr. Daddy was not quite as amused as he tried to remove the cover of the speaker to no avail. It was only later when we used a coat hanger to hook them out, that he was able to see the humor in the situation.

As we had been discussing earlier, Eirena generally isn't trying to be naughty, she is just exploring her world- in unfortunate ways sometimes. But at least it wasn't a PBJ in the DVD player, right? (A very good reason not to eat PBJs in my book. )

Pumpkin Butter

I decided to keep the "autumnal baking" theme and make pumpkin butter. I used this recipe and mostly followed the directions.
Instead of canned pumpkin I bought a couple and baked them into puree. I did a little more apple juice, used only about 1 c. of sugar, half brown, half turbinado and added the tiniest pinch of salt.

The result? Well, other than a huge mess in the kitchen as is boiled... I'm not sure if I just had mealy pumpkins or all the ground spices threw the texture off. I suspect it was the pumpkins, but texture seemed a little grainy- not quite what I was hoping for. As far as taste- it was passable. I think apple butter has more complexity in flavor than this pumpkin butter. Seeing as I have quite a lot of it, I think I might use a good portion of it in baking.

UPDATE:
We had the pumpkin butter on homemade bread with crunchy almond butter (also homemade, so very crunchy) and I didn't notice the texture of the pumpkin butter. Also, the flavor was a nice compliment to the almond butter. So- don't eat it straight out of the jar, have it with something that has more texture!

Too smart for her own good

or maybe for my own good. Friday evening Dr. Daddy laid out a plan with me as we walked to the park with Eirena. He would go get i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m while I put Eirena to bed and made chocolate sauce. Sounded like a fair deal to me.
With Eirena in bed we enjoyed our treat.
The next day Eirena went to the fridge and reached up to open the freezer door. (She is getting entirely too tall.) She insisted that she wanted to look in there to see what she could have. I had forgotten about t-r-e-a-t in there, so didn't think was anything of particular interest to her. I told her there wasn't anything interesting in there. She insisted there was. Finely I asked her what it was that she wanted. "Some of that ice cream over there", she told me.
So either she got really lucky in us having ice cream in the freezer when she was looking (although the cartons were turned around so not even a picture was showing).
Or... she understood the implications of Dr. Daddy's spelling words out (even though she can't spell) to mean that there is something special. She frequently looks in the fridge for something to eat, but never before has she opened the freezer and adamantly insisted there was something in there that might interest her.
I actually think it was the latter and I'm a little worried about how easily she has caught on to such things. Dr. Daddy and I might have to take to talking in Turkish around her just to slow her down a little!

Just like chocolate

This morning as Eirena chowed down her granola she remarked, "it tastes just like chocolate!". Now I'm sure this was meant to be a compliment (she ate 1/2 c. of dry granola with whole milk) but I'm trying to figure out how apple spiced granola is like chocolate. Any ideas?

This afternoon she was eating a dark chocolate-walnut cookie and compared it to a banana, so maybe her taste buds are a little wacky at the moment.

You too, should love U2

Okay okay, cheesy, I know. For Dr. Daddy's birthday (in Aug.) I bought tickets (in May) for the U2 360 concert (in Oct.). I was feeling quite pleased with my forethought. First I had to be very quiet and not let him know what I was up to (May-Aug). Then it looked like we might be traveling to get Adisu (Aug-Sept). So the fact that it actually worked out was pretty amazing. And the concert did not disappoint.

We had a great view from the 'nosebleeds' section

Dr. Daddy's "happy face" after the concert.

Score one for a great concert and birthday present that worked out!

manly girl

I think many mothers of young ones find themselves in the dilemma of arranging their schedules so that they may take a shower. It isn't always possible to get a shower before the dad heads to work, which leaves you with an inquisitive toddler away from parental supervision while you bathe. Now some days this works out well. Eirena may be busy coloring the carpet or playing with her trains.

Other days... she's a little more active. Today I was enjoying the warm water when I heard the pitter patter of little feet. I peeked out and saw her, shirt lifted up, applying Dr. Daddy's deodorant to her underarms. Nothing like a masculine smell to help you feel like you can conquer the world! (I must give her credit- the first time she tried deodorant she applied it to her face, months later it was to her belly. At least now she's using it in the right place.) I persuaded her to put the deodorant down and let her play with dental floss instead while I finished up my shower.

Hurray!

First of all, Eirena is on the mend. The obvious implication of that statement is that she was sick. She woke up Friday morning feverish and lethargic. Same with Saturday and Sunday. Today she woke up with no fever, which of course, is when the doctor's office was open. I took her in anyway, just to make sure she is on the mend and it was nothing more than a flu- I didn't really think she had swine flu. The doctor only talked to Eirena, didn't ask me about her sick history and then pronounced her fine, no flu. I had to ask what was wrong, and he assumed it was just a cold. Just a cold? With a temperature that went up to 103 and no snot or cough? I remain suspicious. (We will in fact be switching doctors shortly because if you walk out of the doctor's office annoyed and suspicious about their care and diagnosis, it probably isn't a good situation.) But anyway, Eirena seems to better and for that we are very glad.
Second hurray- Adisu finally has a birth certificate! This is a big step as all of his other paperwork hinges on getting a birth certificate. There had been some software issues hindering the process, but now things seem to be moving forward again. We still don't have a travel date set, but we're a little bit closer now.
Third hurray- well it isn't hurray exactly, but just so the Wee One doesn't get left out, we can see him/her kicking and punching from the outside now. That's pretty fun. It is more amusing than uncomfortable at this stage.

Squirrel!

Last night Eirena was cleaning up her blocks before bed. She was bending over with her head on the floor when she fell over, thumping her head on the cement floor. She lay there. Dr. Daddy and I waited to see her reaction. We didn't react so she did, bursting into sobs. So we went over to see if she was alright. We believed she was fine, possibly just wanting affirmation of the thump, with a little tiredness adding to the incredible sobs we were hearing. So I sat with her in the rocking chair. I waited until I could hear myself talk, and asked her if she got an ouch.
"N-n-n-o-o-o" was the response.
"No, you didn't get an ouch?", I asked.
"N-n-o-o", she replied.
"Then why are you crying?"
"Well, the moon is out", was the 'logical' response.



* If you have seen the movie "Up" perhaps you can understand why we call these "squirrel" moments. If you haven't seen it, you really should.

Little Girls and their Dad

Isn't there something beautiful about the relationship between little girls and their dads?
Dads show them how to respect authority, dads show them how they can expect to be treated, dads shows them how complementary roles work together. Dads show them the joy of flying.

"could you fly me again please Daddy?"

another milestone reached

I'm willing myself to believe that our latest milestone is common among toddlers. Today was Bible Study. Eirena goes to the nursery to play. She has been in there for a year now. She knows the caregivers, knows how to make requests for things she wants.
Today when I went to pick her up she had on a different skirt. Turns out she peed all over herself. Of course, she has been out of a diaper for over a year and has only had an accident while we've been out twice and those were months ago, so I lightened my load and stopped carrying emergency pants with me. Of all the children in the nursery, mine was the one who had the accident. Lovely. Perhaps we can check off the pee-in-a-public-place-while-mom-is-unprepared milestone now?