I LOVE SOUTH AFRICA

I love it here, totally love it.  Could move my whole family here and love it.  The weather is top notch, I know they have a "winter" season but I would dig that too.  Blue skies, cool in the morning and at night but hot during the day.  So much to see and do.  We are having so much fun with two little ladies in this beautiful country!

Yesterday we didn't think we had anything on the agenda but spending time together.  So after breakfast we headed back down to the park.  The kids played on the playground equipment and we all walked around the lake. By the time we had gotten back to the house it had been a few hours and the girls were pooped out.  We were eating a snack before putting Little Sister down for a nap when our social worker showed up.  She had moved the doctors appointment up a day.  So off we headed to the appointment, napless.  

The appointment didn't last long and Little Sister fell sleep on the way.  After the appointment we ran into one store to buy some shoes for the girls.  I had guessed on shoe sizes before we left...  I was 4 sizes too big for Bigger Sister and 2 sizes too big for Little Sister, but that didn't stop them from wearing the shoes.  Since we have been doing so much walking they need shoes that actually fit.  We stopped at a store called Woolworths.  The best way to describe this store would be to say it's like a mix between a Super Target and Yonkers, they have everything from food to higher end clothing. We didn't spend much time there,  just got what we needed and we were off.  

We decided to just stay in and do a low key dinner since the girls were tired and had a busy day.  This ended up being really low key because we had lost power.  After eating we tried giving the girls a bath. We learned that Little Sister is afraid of water and her trying to get away from it boarders on dangerous. She is wet, slippery, and totally unfamiliar with water and how it works.  It was the loudest we have heard Little Sister since we met, she was clearly afraid.  Her bath didn't last long for obvious reasons.  Bigger Sister was thrilled and loving the water.  I put a few glow sticks into the water because there was no power and it was getting dark. You would have thought I just told her she won the lottery, she was as loud as Little Sister but it was a joyful loud.  Little Sister just watched her with wide-eyes from afar, soaking it all in.  

Today after breakfast we headed out to run some errands, we got a lot done.  We came back for Little Sister to nap.  After she woke up we thought we would try to get Little Sister more comfortable with water.  We put a wash basin outside with some toys in it for the girls to play with, Bigger Sister took it upon her self to start washing Little Sister.  Little Sister didn't seem to mind since her feet were planted firmly on the ground and the water was just being poured over her.  They played in the water and hot sun for a while before Little Sister pooped in her bathing suit which resulted in cleaning-up.

When we lost power the night before the food we had in our fridge went bad.  The milk, that I swear had been a liquid, turned into a gel like substance.  Initially when we lost power we thought we had blown a fuse.  We tried every switch in the place and in this process our fridge was turned off.  So once the power went back on a few hours later the fridge never did.  The milk was nothing like I had ever seen and I've experimented with letting milk go bad back in my college days. Anyways, as a result all we really had to eat was snacks and that just wasn't going to cut it.  

We walked back up towards the grocery store.  The pizza place park was calling our name so we went there for an early dinner.  We were the only people there which meant we had free reign on the playground, there was a lot of happy screaming.  The girls got to make their own wood fired pizzas. They were covered in flour as was I when all was said and done.  Little Sister sampled every single thing before putting it onto the pizza.  The employees there were great, they spoke Zulu so the girls had exactly what they wanted on their pizzas.  Afterwards we headed home for a little playtime before bedtime.

We have found the girls to be happiest during this transition time when they are busy.   Little Sister gets sad when there is down time and Bigger Sister gets quiet.  We know they have a lot to process and grieve and we want to help them cope and deal with everything when those times come. We feel we will be best prepared to do this if we know them well.  Their personalities are shining through a little more every day as we all spend time together.

Bigger Sister is now repeating after me and trying out new words.  She also seems or maybe pretends to understand some of what I'm saying, her response is still always a smile and a shake of the head no.  Little Sister also seems to be picking up a little English.  Their favorite new sayings are "Oh man" and "ouch" which they both use pretty much anytime they are doing something.  Bigger Sister is good at letting us know what Little Sister wants/needs as best as she can, mostly by pointing.  

I can't imagine what life would have been like for these two if they didn't have each other, they are beyond amazing together.  Bigger Sister is always watching out for Littler Sister, holding her hand when we are out, putting her shoes on, helping me feeding, bath, pick out her clothing, change her, etc.   Little Sister always has one eye on Bigger Sister, she has to know where she is at all times, and mimics her every move and emotion. It's obvious they have an incredibly strong bond.  I love watching them in action and can not wait to see how their relationship grows when they meet the other three siblings they will be dancing through life with.

Life Back Home

It appears to be business as usual back home.  The kids seem to be adjusting and doing well with our villagers taking care of them.  I get updates in the form of texts (through whatsapp), Google Hangouts, and e-mails.  We did not have power for a lot of the afternoon into the evening, and now that the power is back up (came on sometime in the middle of the night) the internet is CrAzY slow.

As I mentioned earlier, last weekend my parents came to town to care for the kids.  They spent some time at the cabin on Saturday, then on Sunday stayed in town because Geremu had a wrestling tournament.  There is nothing better then getting pictures of Geremu in his wrestling singlet with a huge smile plastered across his face.  My parents live across the state from us and they are both teachers.  My father is actually retired from teaching but he was called back because of a vacancy they were unable to fill, he is like the Brett Favre of his department.  Anyways, they are unable to watch the kids during the week because it wouldn't work out.

We had a lot of local ah-mazing people offer to help us with the kids when they found out we had received a referral.  We wanted to keep things as simple as possible for the kids without disturbing their schedule too much...  Which leads me to my really good friend Beth.

I met Beth about 4 years ago in a classroom and I was instantly drawn to her.  She is one of those people that make me feel like a better person when I'm around her.  Which makes me want to be around her a lot.  She was one of the first people to know about the girls.  And when we were figuring out plans for the kids at home she said to me, "I'll just take them the whole time.  It will be fine, we will figure it out.  Don't worry about it."  She made it sound so simple...   That is the short version of how Beth won the Booby Prize.

Beth has parental rights while we are away.  She took full advantage of her newly acquired rights the night we flew out.  When I was sitting in Atlanta waiting to board the fight to South Africa I received this text:

It appears her first order of business was taking the kids to her alma mater after picking them up from school on Friday.  This is one of the rival high schools to where my husband works.  This made me laugh because I was pretty sure she hadn't yet seen the gift I left for her at our house.  

I was crazy busy last week, as in slept less then 5 hours every night.  I needed to pack, get the kids at home situated, get groceries & clean the house, make work plans for my time away, get the kids to their after school activities, all while working full time during the week.  

I spent a good portion of the weekend before braiding Nasuuna's hair.  It needed to get done or I was afraid I'd be coming home to a giant knot.  We LOVE her "free hair" but it takes maintenance and would be really difficult for anyone not familiar with her hair type.  To make it easy for Nasuuna, and anyone watching her, I put extensions in so it can be styled easily everyday.  The hair sort of gets all over the place when it's hair weekend.  I swear to you I cleaned almost my whole house but I ran out of time Friday morning before heading to work.  So one thing did not get done, this is the gift I left for Beth at the house...

I'm certain there was still a lot of hair matted to the carpet in the room the braiding took place.  I hope you were able to get the weave out of the rug Beth!

Getting to Know the Girls

It's getting late here but I wanted to write before heading to bed.  We had another gorgeous day of weather.  The days start off cool, in the 60's and by mid morning things are getting hot.  Today was in the 80's.  Once the sun goes down (around 7:00pm) it cools off quickly.

We got up and ate a nice breakfast.  Afterwards we walked to the park, which is a HUGE park.  We spent the entire morning at the park, playing and exploring.  The girls were worn out when we got back.  Both of them crashed and took a nap, even though I believe we only have one true napper. After last nights sleep I think Bigger Sister needed the nap.  We didn't actually lay her down for a nap, she came in to check on Little Sister and ended up falling asleep.  While they slept we had a meeting at the guest house to go through some information regarding the girls and plans for the upcoming week.  I feel good having a plan. 

After naps we spent time playing before heading out for dinner.  We had been told about a great place to eat and it didn't disappoint.  We went for a walk after dinner before heading back to the house. The girls are troopers and love being busy.  It's really interesting to see their personalities slowly emerge. Bigger Sister has a lot of the same behaviors and personality that Nasuuna had when we met.  I'm not sure if it's because of the age or if they are just a lot alike.   Very protective of others, guarded with themselves, etc. Little Sister is like Geremu with her behavior and personality.  VERY social and has little fear, etc. It will be fun getting to know them better and see how the dynamics between all the kids at home plays out.

Good Night from South Africa

The Girls are Real!

It has not all been a dream.  The girl's are real...  I know this because I met them yesterday.  Around noonish.  At the place they had been living.  And get this, they are sleeping right now.  In the same room I'm sitting in!  Together.  Facing each other. Breathing on each other.  Drawing strength from each other.

We were all pretty sure it would take a few meetings for one of the girls to feel comfortable enough to come with us.  We had been told this by a few people that are familiar with the girls.  We wanted to make sure the transition went well, to be patient and do what was best for the girls.  I didn't realize how well prepped they were for the meeting.  They knew us.  The oldest called me Mom! MOM! Not Auntie or Uncle....  But Mom.  She came running to me with her arms open wide yelling MOM.  She had been waiting for us when we arrived.  The younger one chased after her older sister trying to figure out what all the excitement was about.  As soon as she saw us she lifted her arms up to be picked up by Nick.  She was a bit more quiet and wide-eyed, but not afraid.

We spent the afternoon and evening yesterday getting to know them.  They came back to the place we are staying during the late afternoon with us.  The Little One fell asleep on my lap during the car ride.  She is not a quiet sleeper.  Bigger Sister sat wide eyed and quiet looking out the window during the ride.  When we got to our place we showed them around.  They both laid on the bed laughing and giggling with each other while we proceeded to show them the blankets and dolls my sister Megan had sent.

We walked to a local pizza place with a playground for dinner.  Nick and I had spotted this place earlier in the morning when we went out looking to find some essentials for him.  Nick forgot his entire shave kit...  And because nobody likes a stinky, hairy boy we had to find him the basics.  It was a hot uphill walk to the pizza place.  We played at the playground while waiting for our food.  The girls both really seemed to open up a little more to us.  The pizza was out of this world; thin crust, tomatoes, basil branches (is that what they are called when they are still on the stalk?), and parmesan chunks on top.  The Little One cheers when she sees food, it's adorable really.  Bigger Sister had to be talked into eating.  We will have to go back to the pizza place again, I believe they had a veggie pizza with butternut squash on it calling my name.

Our day alternated from happy and laughing to quiet and unsure, which I think it normal and part of the process. It's going to take awhile to get to know them.  We know this both from past experience and from the body language.  We do not speak the same language.  We are not communicating in eyebrow raises like we did with Nasuuna.  Right now we are figuring it out with smiles, confused looks, giggles, and wide eyes.  The standard answer to every question I ask is a smile and a shake of the head "no." Which is equal parts charming and totally confusing.

It is 6am here right now.  I did not sleep well.  I can not stop watching them and listening to them.  I think Bigger Sister slept about as well as me...  She seems to go between sleeping and keeping an eye on me.  From the sound of Little Sisters snoring she slept pretty soundly.

I will not be posting pictures of the girls or using their names until after the adoption is finalized.   Thanks for understanding and following along.

South Africa

I want to start by saying this adoption has been in progress for some time, 2 years to be exact. I will write more about this in the future but know that this didn't all happen overnight.  I have the gestational period of an elephant.  Bringing kids into our family has never been quick and easy.  With that said, once we learned we had been matched with the girls in early December everything has gone very quickly.

We were given two weeks notice to travel, which is a week longer then we had with Nasuuna's adoption.  We were told to expect a travel date sometime in early March, so when we were given a late January date we were pleasantly surprised.  We had a lot of odds and ends to wrap up before leaving the country.  Between plans for the kids at home, work related stuff and planning to travel we made it through the last two weeks but not without the help of a village.

Our village is the BEST.  I hate to brag but seriously people, we are surrounded by the most amazing people.  I could not have gotten through this last two weeks without their love and encouragement. Their support has been beyond anything we could have ever imagined and we are carrying it all with us so we can surround these two little girl's we are about to meet with it.  And listen, we might meet them soon...  As in today!  Have I mentioned I'm hanging on by a thread emotionally...  A thread.

We flew out to Atlanta on Friday after school, and left Atlanta around 9pm Friday night for Johannesburg.  The flights all went well, I crashed hard as I had gotten very little sleep the last two weeks. I mean all out drool induced, leaning on a man I don't know, missed a meal with a Kit Kat served, sort of sleep.  Nick has trouble sleeping on planes because he is so tall, so he did some bing movie watching.  We arrived in Johannesburg on Saturday night, settled in and had a great night sleep.  I woke-up and did a quick Google Hangout with my sister and parents to catch-up on life back at home.

We made the decision to not bring Cullen, Geremu and Nasuuna on this trip with us so we can focus on the girls and their transition.  It was not an easy decision for us but with our villagers help it is clear to us that this is what is best.  I'll introduce you to some of our villagers in the future if power remains steady and I find some time to blog.

This weekend the kids are spending time with my parents and it looks like they are having a great time.

Coming Soon!

Blogging Hiatus Over

Life got busy and the blog got away from me.  Every time I wanted to start blogging again I didn't really know where to begin...

While I have missed having a place to reference that has document our life as a family and the kids growing up, I started to feel pressure to make it meaningful and relevant beyond our life as a family.   I don't feel that pressure anymore.  It's gone.  Or my attitude has changed.  Either way, I've decided this was never really for anyone but myself and my family, so I'm going to make it what I want and start to document life again.  You are more then welcome to follow along on our journeys.

So to catch up from my last post... The kids have grown a lot and more teeth have been lost. Currently Geremu and Nasuuna are in 2nd grade, Cullen is in 4th grade, and Adisa is off at college. Everyone is involved in all sorts of stuff.  We are busy but in a really fun/great way and are looking forward to where life takes us.