DRC Day 4

Nothing exciting to report today.  It was nice to have a relaxing day.  We slept in until 6!  Wahoo!   And then spent the morning playing and lounging and skyping with family (and napping! glory hallelujah!).  We even got to talk to Isaac!  This afternoon we went swimming, and chatting with the neighbors.  There are a couple adopting families from another agency here now.  It's been fun to have more people to hang out with.  I'll just leave you with a few pictures from today:

Best buds

Pretty Baby

Little Fishy

This boy LOVES swimming.  His joyous shrieking could be heard from miles around, I'm certain.

DRC Day 3

Today was another eventful day. Unfortunately John and I were up since 330am, just due to jet lag. Well, Raya woke up for a bottle, and then neither of us got back to sleep. We mostly just hung out (and daydreamed about napping) this morning. Went for a few walks with Eli. Snuggled Raya- happiest baby ever!

Just after noon we were picked up for our 1pm medical evals for the embassy. We sat there in the waiting room for an hour and a half or so before they finally called us back. 

(He loves his little sister!)

While we were waiting, Eli was sitting on my lap. For while he was ok, but then the air kicked on, and it wasn't so stifling hot (or maybe the cool air woke him up a bit) and he started playing crazy. Biting my shoulder. Scratching my face. Pinching my neck. Hitting my chest.  Giggling all the while. I handed him to John but then Eli whined and begged to come back to me and then immediately he resumed the scratching. So then back to John he went, this time til they called us back. I prefer my skin intact, thank you. There is a challenge to teaching boundaries to a kid who has never really had any, particularly when you don't speak the same language.  I think he thought it was a game.  "I scratch you, and you say 'No, no no.'"  It's a fun game.  Try it some time.   If you watch him interact with Raya for a couple minutes, he'll show you he knows how to be gentle.  But he's definitely got a naughty streak too! 

At the appointment, all he did was listen to their hearts and lungs and poke their bellies, and declared them fine. He did note that Eli is underweight, which surprised no one.  He recommended vitamins, and some food.  (I think maybe we'll try that, starting tomorrow.)  :)   He also said something in French about some babies not gaining much weight between 3 and 6 months of age, which leads me to believe she might be on the small side as well, but the only measurement I have is from her referral at 3 weeks of age.  And yes, it was small then too.  I didn't get her measurements from the appointment, so I don't really know.  

After the medical appt, we went to the market to get some of the very few food items Eli will actually eat. So far, the ones we've identified include peanut butter, bananas, roasted chicken, and milk powder. The milk powder can either be reconstituted with water and taken by bottle or sippy, or sprinkled directly into the mouth by the handful. This is a rather messy project, because after every scoop, the hand must be cleaned off (by wiping it on the shirt) and then re-inserted into the bag of powder.

Mmm.. spoonfuls of powder.

So now we are done with appointments.  Our last paper (one more thing the embassy requested) is completed should be arriving at the embassy tomorrow morning.  Hopefully the medical papers will do the same.  So now we just wait.  It'll be nice to have a couple relaxing days here to swim and play.  And hopefully nap.  :)  But I have a feeling before long the "relaxing" will become "boring" will become "excruciatingly dull."  So we're praying for fast papers so we can head home soon and all play with Isaac!  :) 

DRC Day 2

Today was a fairly busy day. We thought David was going to come pick us up at noon for our visa interview appointment, but we got a knock at the door warning us he was on his way at 1030, because we needed to get passport pictures first. So we got the passport pictures done quickly, and they dropped us off at the guesthouse across the street (St. Anne's) where there are a couple families from our agency staying. So we hung out there for a while, and then heard that our embassy appt was pushed back til 2 instead of 1. We hung out for a while, and got lunch at the market across the street. We went over to the embassy where it was pretty quiet, well, in respects to people. There was actually this terrible screech of feedback coming through the intercom system that made Eli scream and beg (Ok, he just points and screams or grunts really. In this case it was the screaming option.) to leave from any door that seemed like it might be an exit. Finally he fell asleep. We sat there in total at least an hour before anything happened, with the exception of the permanent hearing damage we were incurring. The interview was held in a tiny room with a window and a slot to slide papers through, and consisted of one question: "What do you know about the children's past?", John signed twice, and we left. Good thing, because that little room was super hot. But we still had to wait for the cashier to come back, since she had taken (a very long and/or very late) lunch, and apparently no one else felt terribly compelled to take our money. Anyway. She came back, and we paid, then we waited on David for a while, (I think he was in the tiny room talking about various visas he was waiting on.) by which time mercifully the screeching had stopped. Then we went to the market across the street to do some grocery shopping.

Big Girl!

We wandered around the market for a while, but it was crazy and expensive and confusing (for instance, you have to pay separately at the meat counter, and the produce counter, and at other various counters.)  And in general, we didn't know where anything was, products are labeled in French, and prices in either Congolese Francs, or with a label that you have to look at the list at the end of the aisle and see what that code represents, and it was basically overwhelming.  So we didn't buy much.  We packed a lot of food anyway, so there wasn't anything we needed imminently anyway.  Then we went back to Sunny Day, where we visited a bit with the other ALBB family here, ate some supper, and fed or snuggled two screaming children to sleep.

Gonna Feed the Baby!

And for tonight's entertainment:  I'm going to try my hand at hand-washing laundry.  Good times.  (Yes, Sunny Day does have a laundry service, after Shirt: $3, I stopped reading)

DRC Day 1

(This is the email update I sent out to my family yesterday)

Some Pictures from today. Pretty good day. :)




Eli had a hard day, as anyone might expect. He was pretty upset to still be here when his nannies were gone. We spent much of the mid-day walking around and around and around the grounds, looking for those beloved nannies. Poor buddy. He made a lot of progress for one day, tho. After a few hours, he smiled. He even laughed a couple times. By evening he seems to hold John in less contempt. (Must be a Ladies' Man!) We went swimming with the other in-country families this afternoon/evening. He LOVED that! And if droppin' your pants wherever you are and peeing on the ground is considered "potty trained' then we are golden! He weighs next to nothing (maybe I'm just used to carrying Isaac!), has huge eyes, and is gorgeous- especially when he smiles.



Raya has been happy as a lark the whole time... As long as you feed her generously and often. :) She's a cuddly little snuggler. So precious! She weighs even less than nothing, is tiny, and is also gorgeous. The nannies described her as easy going, and an "angel-baby." She loves everybody, especially Eli, as evidenced by her scratching at, and trying to eat his head. (Which he totally didn't mind. He seems to like her quite a bit, and is very gentle with her.)




We were able to talk with the nannies before they left, but they were pretty vague about their habits. We asked how often Raya eats, and how much. The reply we got was "She cries when she's hungry." Um... ok. Thanks for that tidbit. ha. I feel like we had translation issues. Basically at the end, the help we got was that they do, in fact eat and sleep. Which so far seems to be true.

That's it for day one. Couldn't have asked for better.

Best Memorial Day EVER.

Missing You, Isaac!

Wheels Up!

Isaac is safely stowed Grandma and Grandpa's house, and we are sitting in Chicago for a (long) while before we leave for Brussels and then Kinshasa.

We dropped Isaac off last night.  Thankfully, he was excited to go.  He'd been asking me all day if it was time to go yet, and I thought maybe he was nervous about it (I sure was!), but after supper when we finally said "Yes, it's time to go," he threw his hands up in the air and shouted "Yesss!" and ran off to get his shoes.  That blessed my mama-heart, because I was so sad to see him go.  (I made John bring him!)  It made it easier that there was no fuss.  He was all about it!  Hopefully that enthusiasm lasts!  So I'll be praying hard that he has a good, fun week at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

He is super-excited for Eli and Raya to come home, and he knows what is going on, and can recite it all for you:  Mommy and Ababa are going to Africa, and they're gonna get Eli and Raya and do their papers, and then Ababa's gonna come home, and then later Mommy's gonna come home and she's gonna bring Eli and Raya*, and I'm gonna have a little brother and sister!"  He can recite the whole thing.  Of course he's heard this story a zillion times, because every night he asks for a "once upon a time story" at bedtime, specifically, an "Eli story, and a Raya story, and an Isaac story."  It's all variations on the same story (and we work in the details so he knows what to expect) where we go to Africa to get them, because they don't have a mommy and a daddy, and then we come home and are a family, and we are all "so happy!"  And of course, how Isaac is gonna be the best big brother ever in the history of big brothers.  (Obviously!)  :)

As a total tangent, he also asks every night for a "Dandelion Story" which translated from Isaac-ese, should be "Daniel in the Lions Den."  Except when I say "Once upon a time, there as a guy named..."  and I pause, so he can say "Daniel"  but he never does.  Instead, he says "Jonah."  So then I have to verify if he wants to hear about Daniel or Jonah.  It's very confusing.  So apparently the "Dandelion Story" is actually Jonah, and I have no idea where the dandelions come in.

Ok, so back to the matter at hand.  The general schedule looks like this:
Sunday evening (Kinshasa time):  Arrive in Kinshasa
Monday Morning:  Meet Babies!  (yahoo!)
Monday Afternoon: go over papers with David (in-country agency staff)
Tuesday: visa appt at the US Embassy, and physicals for the kids
Wednesday and on: waiting for visas and then exit permits to be complete.  They predict we will be headed home in 3 weeks, if all goes well.  Please pray that all goes quickly and smoothly, and we can be there no more than 3 weeks.  Less would be great, but that may take a miracle, given the luck of the families who are there now.

If any of you have skype, look me up!   :)  You can meet my babes, and get a tour of my hotel room.  :)  Apparently I'm about to have a lot of time on my hands.


*Don't worry, I'm not traveling for 36 hours alone with 2 kids.  My sister's coming to stay for the last leg of the trip, and is helping us all get home!  Thanks Amber!  :)

Happy Birthday Eli!

Today is my younger son's birthday.   (Younger son!  I love saying that.)

Dear Eli,
You're 2, buddy!  I really wanted to be there to spend this day with you.  But I will be there soon, and I hope wherever you are today, that you feel loved.  You have a present sitting here at our house.  Your house.  And in a few weeks, you can open it.  (I'll try and stave off your present-hungry older brother until then.) :)  And sometime this summer when this has started to feel like your house, we'll have a little party and eat cake and ice cream and celebrate how thankful we are that you were born.  And that you are home with us.  And how much we love you.

I can't wait!  And for today, I will keep packing, and thinking of you, and thanking God for you.   And feel a little bit sad that I'm not there to kiss your cheeks and sing to you.  Well, actually, you should feel happy to have gotten out of the singing part.  :)

Happy Birthday, Eli!  See you soon.
Love, Mommy.

4 Days

I was trying to wait patiently on an update of our papers, and finally broke down and emailed my agency.  We're supposed to be leaving in just a few days, and I really wanted to know if our corrections were done and we were good to leave.  Stephanie said she'd let me know as soon as she had an update, so I was beginning to get worried, and was sort of bracing myself for bad news when I called her today.

But all I got was voice mail.

Three times.

I'm not big on leaving messages and waiting, and I know she's been really busy lately, so I decided to email Kelly (the agency director) since everything has to go through her anyway, and she often gets around to responding to emails faster than Stephanie does.  She reported that she has been "assured that the papers would be delivered to Kinshasa on Thursday," along with my kids and their escort nannies!   My babies are comin' to the 'hood!  And I am too!  Yahoo!

(The kids have to come a little early so their embassy-required medical exams and whatever else can be done.  It'll save some time if that's done before we get there, apparently.)

I later got an email from Stephanie (who probably noticed my 3 missed calls) who said she'd be calling me tomorrow with all the details, but that everything was a-ok for traveling.

So thankful out papers are done, and we're good to go get our babes!

4 days to liftoff!
6 days til I can squeeze my babies in person!!!

Can. Not. Wait.
(Although, I admit every time I think of leaving my Isaac for that long, I become quite nauseous.  So there is that.)

Soccer Update

My little soccer star strikes again!

Last week the theme of the week was not so much dandelion-picking (the dandelion season is about over I think) but carwheeling, which has apparently taken its place.  I do not have pictures of these "cartwheels" but let me tell you, they are something to behold.  :)

This week Isaac seems to be catching on to the rules of the game a little bit more.  

He scored 2 goals-- both for his own team!  

And he scores!!! 

(You'll have to take my word for it, since "How May I Help You Guy" decided to stand squarely in my line of vision at this memorable moment.

Visa Update

We got a new visa date!

I was hoping for (and we were submitted for) a May 23 visa date, but we got one on May 29.

At least now we can start planning.  (Again.)
And booking tickets.  (Again.)
And counting down.  (Again.)

Sigh.  I have a feeling this is going to be the longest 4 weeks ever. At least we're already one week down!

Oh!  And I got new pictures of my Raya-baby!  Aaaahhhh!  When did she get so old?!

We hadn't gotten pictures of her since the end of January, so it was so awesome to get new ones, even tho we were supposed to be there right now, taking those pictures ourselves.  But still.  Awesome new pictures of my gorgeous babe!

So thankful for these precious pictures!  And so thankful for this precious baby.

And since I'm here, I promised impending pictures of Eli a while back too.  Ones with his care package loot from the first time we sent packages.  I did get those a few weeks ago, but then never got around to posting them.  They aren't the best pictures ever (he looks so sad!  Or maybe... confused?).
But I'm happy I was able to send him a package, and that he obviously got it.  :)
So here they are too:

Can't wait to kiss those cheeks!  (And oh buddy, did you notice those eyes?!  We are gonna be totally in for it when he comes home!)