Everything is different.

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On January 8, 2014

In Other

On Sunday night, a friend invited me to watch Downton Abbey.  I zipped over to her house in 15 minutes.

And I realized, as I was driving the approximately 9 miles to her house, that in Dar es Salaam, I have a friend who also lives about 9 miles away:  My friend Kathy.  And I also realized, that in the entire 10 years we have lived together in Dar, that I have never–not even once–zipped over to her house at 8:00 at night to watch a show together.

Because to get to Kathy’s apartment takes a minimum of an hour, and usually around an hour and a half, even though it’s about 10 miles.  So….we don’t get to see each other very often.

The population density of our current city is 1,300 people per square km.  The population density of Dar es Salaam is 3,100 people per square km.  With a fraction of the amount of roads.

I thought about how in Dar, I hardly drive anywhere at night by myself.  It is stressful enough driving in the daytime.  But here, I can go to Target or the grocery store or a friend’s house after dark.  It feels so….free.  I’m still not used to it.

People ask me sometimes about what is different from my life in Tanzania and my life in the States.  I struggle so much with where to begin.

Everything is different.  Everything.  Driving, I tell them.  Shopping.  The weather.  My schedule.  Language. Color.  I am different there.

But those are such broad categories.  They don’t really describe how different it is.  So here’s something specific:

I would never be able to watch Downton Abbey at my friend Kathy’s house, who lives only 10 miles away.  (Of course, we’d have to wait for someone to send it to us on DVD first anyway.)  But maybe, just maybe, if the traffic doesn’t happen to be too horrendous, we can meet in the middle at an Indian restaurant.

And that’s fun too.  Just different.

Eight

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On January 6, 2014

In Other

She’s halfway to 16.

But how is that possible, since it can’t have been eight years since this?

She’s my good-natured, easy-going, happy, friendly, sweetheart.  She’s a peacemaker, a hard worker, and she leads by enthusiasm.

We celebrated with miniature golf and rock climbing with her friend Kylie.  Later we celebrated with family and a chocolate-peanut-butter cake that she was thrilled to make herself.

She’s God’s Grace to me.

She’s a fragrance of Grace to everyone she meets.

Here’s to the next eight years.

This Happy Morning

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On December 29, 2013

In Other

Christmas–Take Two

Seventeen of us (and four dogs) crammed into my brother and sister-in-law’s house for three days.  People slept everywhere.  But there was light and laughter and games and cousins and singing and a baby dressed as Santa and a whole lot of tamales.  Oh yes–there were a whole lot of  tamales.

A couple days later, Gil, his brother Brandon, and his sister Tabby had their first soccer league game of the season.  Brandon and Tabby have agreed to drive over an hour each way, each Saturday, for the next few months so that they can play soccer with Gil.  They must know Gil’s love language.

 Tamale making:  Getting in touch with our Hispanic side.

We all decided that we really do believe in Santa, after all.

There are so few truly perfect times in our lives, aren’t there?  When no one is sick, when everything goes as planned, when everyone is happy and enjoying each other.

God gave us that perfect time these weeks–full of memories and joy and family and rest.  It was a beautiful gift.

Yea, Lord we greet thee

Born this happy morning!

Jesus to thee be all glory given.

Word of the Father

Now in flesh appearing

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him!

A Whole Lot of Wonderful

By

On December 25, 2013

In Other

It’s been four years since I’ve been home for Christmas, and before that it was another four years.

We drove up to spend last week with my family.  It was perfect.

My parents have lived in the same house since I was two, the house where I spent so many Christmases and now get to share with my kids.  

We went ice skating; we went to Christmas in the Park; we went Christmas shopping.  I got to spend time with old friends from high school/college, and even older friends that were my neighbors growing up.  

My only brother became a Daddy for the first time, just a few weeks ago, so I got to meet Emma.  She is perfect and the cutest niece in the world and she joined our family through adoption, so I’m going to make you look at her pictures even if you don’t know my brother.  

We celebrated Christmas with my family yesterday–Christmas Eve, and right now we are in the car, headed back down south for Christmas, Take Two, with Gil’s family.  

It was a happy, happy week.  

Yes, she really is that cute.  And Gil took that picture.  

So it was really only about 50 degrees….even though they are dressed like Eskimos.  

Our biggest task this week was to make a gingerbread house for the family competition.  First time my family did this, and it will not be an annual event, due to the fact that it put the majority of the contestants in a bad mood.  It’s harder than you think, this gingerbread making stuff.

Gil and I, however, mostly had a great time working on ours.  Except for the actual construction of the house, when there was a lot of screaming and yelling and panicking until the thing was up and standing.  After that, it was fun.  

And of course, we made Narnia.  Oh yes we did.

Their Mom and their Dad played with my brother and me when we were their age.

Waiting for Edmund

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On December 17, 2013

In Other

My kids really want an Edmund.

They have a Peter, a Susan, and a Lucy, but they can’t really be the Pevensie kids until they get an Edmund.

We started working on a fourth adoption almost two years ago.  Lots of people are asking us, “How’s it going with your Ethiopia adoption?”

So here’s the answer to that question.

Ethiopia has majorly slowed down their adoptions, like many countries in the world.  This needed to happen to some extent, because some fraud had crept into the system.  There have been some nasty stories.  But that doesn’t change the fact that there still are millions of children in Ethiopia who are true orphans and need families.

Our agency is currently having significant problems getting referrals in Ethiopia.  I don’t believe this is for any fault of their own, but because of how African governments (or perhaps governments in general) have a tendency to operate.

That means that our Ethiopia adoption is basically at a complete standstill.  We may need to consider switching over to a different African country.

However.

If you recall the story of this adoption, you may remember that we originally wanted to adopt a fourth from Tanzania.  In fact, we even were thinking of a particular child.  Unfortunately, we were told that Tanzanian regulations limited the number of adopted children to Three.  I pushed as hard as I could; I cried in front of them, and the answer was still No.

When I was given that answer two years ago, it was based on new regulations that had yet to be actually published.  Shortly before we left Tanzania in July, the regulations were published and we were able to read them ourselves.

And based on that, we believe we have a case for trying again to push for a fourth child from Tanzania.  We cannot do that from the States, so we have to wait until we return.

And yes, I’m still thinking about this little guy.  It’s been over two years since I met him.  I gave up on the idea that he could be mine, but now there are feathers of hope.  He will be four years old soon, and he still does not have a family.

I really have no idea if Tanzania will let us pursue a fourth.  Will you pray with us?

We have not closed the door on Ethiopia, or another international adoption, because we just don’t know what will happen.

We really, really want an Edmund.  But we don’t know what God wants, so we trust Him.  He has already been so good to us.

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