Our Little Boy Wants to Walk!!

So today Tegegn is bound and determined to walk. He just loves holding on to your hand and walk. Today he walked about 3 steps from the bed to me with Ella's help, I wasn't even watching and then he was standing next to me with his sister.  Then he is so proud of himself he laughs and dances.

Teg is a big dancer as many of you know, he dances to everything all the time. When I change his diaper he dances, any music, cell phone ring, Skype ring, anything he dances, you say the word "dance" and he dances. It is one of the cutest things about him. He also LOVES his sister and thinks she is the greatest. He copies EVERYTHING she does, good or bad. He loves trying to walk to her, he laughs at everything she does or when she laughs.  It is pretty special. She also thinks he is the cutest baby ever. It is amazing how much Ella has grown up here. It is like she was ready to be a big sister and move into this stage. She is great with him and is so helpful.  I am really proud of her.

I really think Teg is going to be walking in the next month. I can't believe it. I really hope Brett is here when he does take his first steps alone. We are still waiting for word saying our MOWA letter and adoption is finalized, PLEASE PRAY for us or just send good vibes, so we will be home soon. We did find out that even when court closes on Friday, they will still do our adoption decree and finalize it so we are not held up by it.

Miss you all xoxox

PS Once our adoption decree is issued our adoption is finalized, Teg is legally ours and I will post photos of him trying to walk

What a Wonderful Country!

Wow what a wonderful people Ethiopians are.  I may be a little bias since our son is Ethiopian, but it is just so amazing how kind people are here. Today illustrates my point so well. I am pretty use to doing things myself (don't get me wrong when Brett is around I am more then happy to let him do things for us) but being here almost 5 weeks, most of the time by ourselves, I have to do everything with a baby strapped to me and a 4 year old on my hand.

Today we needed groceries and water. To get bottled water is not too far, just around the corner, maybe a 5 minute walk then up 55 stairs to our room on the 4th floor. I wanted to get 12 2L bottles of water, yes I knew it would be heavy but I figured lets just get it over with. I paid for the water and then the guys who helped me put it into my bags couldn't believe I was going to carry it. I said it was okay, that I wasn't far. He would not let me carry them not even one 6 pack. He carried both all the way home for us. I couldn't believe it. Then it was the cutest thing Ella said, "mom you should just let him, this doesn't happen everyday you know." He carried it all the way to our hotel and expected nothing for the help.

 Then I went to get the key for our room and put one of the bags down, when I turned around Ababa, the man who works our gate, had brought it up to our room and everyone who I passed that was Ethiopian tried to help with the other bag. It is just so amazing how thoughtful people are here. Everyone always says hello and  how are you? The staff love Ella and Tegegn and constantly play with them.  I am pretty lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

It is a great day to be in Ethiopia!

Weygoss Guest House

This is the place we are staying.

Well today we are gong to Entoto with my friend Jen and her little girl. Tegegn is down for a nap now and Ella and I are just working on her sowing. She is doing so good. I have never seen her focus on something for so long. She is making an elephant and is almost done.

We are pretty excited because Brett will be here in 2 days! It will be so nice to have someone to tag off on the poopie diapers. I am also excited because he is bring warmer cloths and deodorant. Not that I am not wearing any, it is just that I decided to use the all natural stuff before we came here, not the best  idea when you have to wearing the same clothes over and over again, not good.

Tegegn learned a new trick again the other day, yes  his sister taught him this one too. He now puckers up to give kisses and it is soooo cute. I cant wait to post a photo of it. He is also saying Moma, Dada, Ella, Anta, and hot. Ella thinks he has said a lot more but we will have to get that verified.


Hoping to hear about our MOWA letter today or tomorrow, send good thoughts our way!!!

Rainy Days in Addis

Well yesterday was "one of those days". Tegegn did not want to go down for a nap although he was up early and up during the night and Ella was just having a day when nothing was going right, thus I had two whiny children.  But I am very thankful because we have only had one day like that since we have got here so I am not complaining.

It was an eye opening day, yesterday. I was exhausted by late afternoon but we had to walk down to the Shoa supermarket to get some food. It is only about a 10 minute walk but with a 4 year old and a 22lbs baby strapped on it seemed longer.  On our way home I was at the point of just wanting the day to be done. My back was killing me because I was now carrying about 20 lbs of groceries as well. I almost started that line of complaining in my head but then it was like something spoke to me. We were walking down the sidewalk and we had to literally step over a person passed out in the middle of the sidewalk with a blanket over him, legs swollen and chapped, two street children were by my side trying to sell us gum, and begging for food, my back and shoulders aching  and then I looked around. What could I complain about? That I had a bag full of  food when everywhere around me people were begging for food, little children having to beg for whatever they may get to eat that day, if anything? That I had a heavy healthy baby in a country where children are currently dying of starvation? That I had to walk 10 minutes for food with 2 kids, when thousands have to walk on for days with their children.  I felt very humbled at that moment, and it will forever make me think twice before I utter a word of sorrow for myself, instead I gave thanks, (and a couple bananas and birrs to the children).

As famine looms in Ethiopia, only the neediest get food aid

As famine looms in Ethiopia, only the neediest get food aid

This article is about 3 years old but it is near the village where Tegegn was born.

Addis Ababa

Today broke my heart. Addis is a beautiful place but one thing that is so different about it, is the number of homeless people and children on the streets, and I don't just mean a few and I don't just mean just the poor. I mean many and beyond the poor I mean the destitute. People in wheel chairs with mangled legs, children with faces so badly burnt that they can not close their mouths. Mothers with wrapped up in rags with their little children curled up next to them just sitting in the middle of the side walk with literally no place to go and with nothing.  I know I am not the most travelled person, but I have been to Haiti, Angola, South Africa, Tejewana (sp?) but no place on earth have I seen so much sadness. Their are so many children. They sell gum or kleenex or just begging for food. They will follow you for blocks and wait outside the stores for you. Some so sad, not even the coldest heart could turn away.  Today though was heartbreaking. Ella, T and I were walking to a restaurant to get dinner and there in the middle of the sidewalk was a little boy, probably 10 or so. He was laying on his side, it looked as though he may have passed out because his box of kleenexes he was selling was beside him but in his other hand was a few Birr (dollars)  laying  out  for anyone to steal. I stopped and so did a couple of other Ethiopian ladies, we tried to wake him but couldn't, finally after a couple minutes he slowly sat up, his eyes were swollen and he began to cry a bit. The ladies asked him what was wrong, I felt his forehead and he was not hot but he slowly pointed at his mouth and opened it for me, his teeth were all full of cavities and infected. I could not imagine the pain he must of been in to just collapse on the side walk and not even being strong enough to protect the few precious dollars (cents)  he had earned. He said he had no family and did not want to go "home".  A lot of the street kids work for someone and I am sure he would not be welcomed home before the his work was done. The ladies helped him up and we talked, they said they would help him. I don't know what they were going to do, they spoke amharic to him. He looked so sad I will never forget his eyes, scared, hopeless, full of pain and sorrow.  

Tonight I think of him again and pray for him, what else can I do? It makes me again so grateful for everything in my life, grateful that at least one of my children was born in a country of prosperity and grateful that my son will never be alone on the streets, but I can not help but be heartbroken for all those children that are. That did not have the luck that we have. It seems so unfair. I don't know why I felt compelled to share this with you all.  It is something that you have to see with your own eyes, the impact it has on your soul is profound and humbling. I don't know how to make this better, how to help. I just know that the need for help is great, so great it is beyond words. 

Time Flies...

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted anything and so much has been going on. As many of you know my wonderful mother came out to visit us  last month and it was just so great to have her here. We all really miss her now and the house feels a lot emptier. But in less then 3 weeks we will be heading home (with a small detour in Cuba first) but home none the less.

 We also went to South Africa which was amazing. The food was hands down the best part about the trip.

Huge news when we got back from SA we had 7 cucumbers in the garden! I couldn't believe it, the beets are also getting bigger and we have one tiny little watermelon growing.  To be honest it is quite a mess and I am glad we don't get a lot of visitors because one of my friends has an amazing garden with lettuce, green onions, peppers, ect.... ridiculous I have some major garden envy but hey this is my first year I am still learning and I have a great plan (sort of ) for when I get back.... an no it does not involve Brett Green Thumb planting everything.  I would post some pics from the garden but Brett went on a fishing trip yesterday and we can no longer find our camera he took with him ... and he is not really in top form today so pictures will have to wait until he can remember.

Well what else is new...... I know big highlight this week is that we got the Wilderness Family Trilogy in and have been working our way through them...pretty intense. Does anyone remember the Wilderness Family movies??? You know the family that leaves the city and build there cabin out in the middle of the mountains and live off the land, and oddly enough get attacked by bears, cougars and wolves  every time the kids go outside.   Ahhh good times.

My favourite place in Cape Town

Well Ella and Brett just got back from going "exploring outside" and she just came in with some beautiful rocks she found...."from other peoples driveways.." Not too many places to explore in the compound.

A day at the beach!

So we discovered a new beach today with some friends, we are not sure what the name of it is everyone just calls it Dog Beach because everyone brings their dogs there...make sense. So we went with some of our teacher friends and their  children. There are just some small huts on the beach and then a massive beach. The waves were HUGE, too big for the kids to go in by themselves but we still had lots of fun and some of the adults went out.  The next day we all had to worse burns, (the adults, the kids were fine) we all applied sun screen but I forgot to apply to the tops of my legs after I took off my shorts, Brett forgot to do the back of his legs, and our other friends forgot her stomach.  Anyways here are some pictures from our trip!

Sister Amelia's

Sister Amelia

Well I had the pleasure of going to see an amazing place started by a nun named sister Amelia. It is a little piece of hope in the middle of Vienna, a very poor area in Luanda.  Sister Amelia is 79 years old and has been in Angola since 1996, she runs around the place like a 20 year old. She is the cutest little lady who loves to talk about all her adventures. Her place has both a Creche - which is a daycare of sorts. The day care cares for children from babies up to school age so that their mothers can go to work. Her place is also a nunnery where ladies in the community can become sisters if they choose. The place was impeccably clean and simple.  Enjoy the pics

The 2 year olds!

The grounds

The 3 year olds

and 4 yrs..

Garden ..take 2

Well as you may have read in an earlier post my original garden flopped, there is nothing left of it and I have decided flowers will look better in that area anyways. So this weekend my lovely husband helped me put in a new garden! It is about 4 times the size of the first one and we planted: Potatoes, green beans, carrots, cucumbers, peas, sunflowers, cauliflower, a mango tree, an avocado tree, and an aloe vera plant. Heres hoping something grows.

Since moving here I have discovered a lot about myself.  Two things have became very obvious to me: one I am not the best cook,and 2) I do not have a green thumb AT ALL. However, as I tell Ella everytime she becomes completely frustrated at not being able to do something good right away (like her latest frustration not being able to shoot hoops) ... you have to practice, practice, practice.  Like they say it takes 10,000 hours of practicing something to become an expert. I will settle for competent which I am hoping take far less hours. I figure I have 3 years to become good at these 2 things, one I enjoy and the other I feel obligated to do or else we will starve (however sadly, sometimes starving is a better alternative).
 You lucky readers get to watch my progress (hopefully), let me begin by showing you my current plant situation:

So this is an Aloe Vera plant that I transplanted. As Brett put it " No one can kill an Aloe plant ..." Well apparently I watered it too much and now it has turned brown. However one of our neighbours commented on how nice it looked and then I told him that it should actually be a nice shade of green, not brown. Apparently I am not the only one who know little on plants. 

So this is the new and improved flower bed. My vision is to have this area vibrant with lots of different flowers.  Currently it has some dead ones and some okay ones and some that are still deciding if they want to die. 

This is one of my many rescue plants, yes I rescue plants from around our neighbourhood. Yes this is a true need, because many people have moved out and there is no one to water their plants so I gather them up and bring them back to my place so they will at least have a 50-50 chance of survival.  The empty pot is a mango seed Ella and I planted about a week ago - no action on that one yet. 

Here is my soon to be Herb garden! I have basil, mint and lavender in there (not sure if lavender is a herb but I had the seeds so I planted it). 

Okay so this is the Frustrating thing. I have worked hours on planting and replanting everything and nothing grows, then Brett decided to put a tomato seed in this pot and it has sprouted up. I think it is about 3 or 4 weeks now and it grows about an inch or more a week. I have a love-hate relationship with this plant.  Seriously it is  his only contribution and look at it.  Needless to say he excessively brags about his "magic touch" or as I like to call it his 2 year diploma in Land Rec.   The other two are Ella's peach tree and Plum Tree she is growing...I don't have a lot of hope for those but you never know. 

My First SUCCESS !! While kind of. I bought this basil stem at the store - you know the bag of herbs you can get. But I put it in water and it grew roots so I transplanted it and hope that I get more.  (yes, it came in a bunch, sadly this is the only one that survived my testing methods). 

 We worked all day Sunday making the new garden and Brett lectured me nicely on how I have to water it everyday in the morning and maybe even at night, and use the sprinkler and then the hose in the middle,  but not too much sprinkler because it will erode, but it is really important that they get the sprinkler because the seeds are on top now and if I only water the rows in between they wont get enough water....... Anyways I went out to water it this morning and notice that he had already watered it, .... I am thinking he doubts my ability a little.

Brett starting our new Garden!!

Here it is almost finished...not too bad hey?

my second aloe plant doing much better then his brother...  I think this one thinks it escaped. 

Just though I would throw this one in for all you lady followers . Haha and because Brett loves it when I put pictures of him on the internet. 

All finished !!!!

The happy gardeners!

Anyways I think the garden looks great, but it is also kind of creepy because it looks a little like a grave yard, I am really hoping this is not symbolic of my gardens future.

Exercising in Villa Leticia (VL)

Well this morning I was decided that I should take advantage of the weather and get some exercise outside. It had just rained around 8:30 and was still a little overcast -  probably around 30 degrees still, but this is cool for Luanda. So I put on my shorts and runners and got my ipod ready to go.  You have to understand that exercising here in VL has its ...ummmm challenges and perks.  I planned on just going for a fast walk and doing lunges around the compound (which is only 15 house so it is pretty small. I think 4 laps = 1 mile.   I am trying to work on my legs....yes the dreaded thighs have always been my problem area.

 First mistake were the short shorts I put on (I thought they would be nice and keep me cooler). Well apparently I have gained a bit because these were tight and tight. No problem though I told myself I have a longer shirt on so that will cover any overflow.  Side note: Last summer I decided to wear some shorter black dress shorts. I was a little unsure at first but when I came out of the room my sister gave me a look that said it all... and then walked away.  I think we were going golfing that day. I noticed the  look and thought "well if they were really bad she would tell me so maybe they are just kinda bad" but I was hoping to get a tan on my legs so I thought who cares. Well later that day when we were out on the golf course my sister brought up my shorts again. I asked her if they were really that bad. Her responds "....err ...ummmm well I just don't wear short shorts because they don't look good on me, and your legs are really white hey?" Translation--- Ummm yeah those are bad, what the hell were you thinking?"  oh and "your legs are REALLY white."  So now I have learned the objective truth and I am stuck out on a frigging golf course.  All I can think of is getting home and changing.  I don't consider myself to be a person who cares that much about appearances, I am not vain nor do I think I self criticize too much, but a spade is a spade and there was no getting around this one. 

Anywho how does that story relate to my walk....well once again I made the mistake of wearing short shorts but this time they were even too small. AND despite living in Africa for the past 2.5 months my legs are still painfully WHITE. 

So here I am walking along trying to get my speed up and I arrive at the 2nd challenge. You see in our compound we have a lot of gardeners and maintenance people - all men.  And they are all out and about today, all 14 of them (yes I counted)  plus some drivers and security guards.  And they are all literally 4 meters away from me as I walk.....fast.....with white legs ..jiggling.  Ahhhh fun times who doesn't love a huge audience as they sweat their ass off...walking (ok the sweat is more from the heat then being out of shape ... really... okay maybe both) but I am not kidding you, I was sweating like I was in a sauna ...a  steam sauna !  So as now I am walking , saying my hellos (Bom Dias) to everyone on the first lap,  second lap now really sweeting quite a bit but just hoping everyone will keep busy working.  

The ipod helps tremendously,  so I get up the confidence to start doing my lunges, trying to  block everyone out and just listen to my music in the middle of the street (since the workers are on the sidewalk. Next thing I know there is a truck right behind me full of maintenance men as I am trying to do a lunge, stay balanced, not rip my shorts in two and not fall over as the dogs tug me in every direction. Great, I think to myself, once I finally notice because the dogs are trying to get off the street,  how long have they been behind my while I have been rocking out to my music, and then  I wonder if they know I am actually trying to do a lunge or if they think I may have injured myself. 

 I was determined to go for a least 30 minutes ...I know you are all laughing at my big work out, but hey I know my limits today.  As I am finishing my last lap my favourite little people come running onto their deck and wave to me shouting "Hola Amiga !!!" These are the children in a half built house that live on the other side of the compound. I am in love with them. They are the cutest, sweetest little children and they always wave and say hello to me every time I walk by their house.  This made my morning, my whole day and all the sweet and white jiggling thighs was worth it! 

ANGOLA SAFARI!!!

Well last weekend we went to Kissama National Park, it is one of the few in Angola. They have  a Truck Tour and River Tour that you can go on and the best thing is that it is only about a 2 hour drive from our house.  We went with 7 other families, some with children and other that just came along for the road pops.
Brett and I are the youngest family here that I am aware of but lots of other families have children our age or younger.  However we often get teased about how young we are.  Brett is turning 32 on Sunday and I was thinking that does seem older but both Brett and I look forward to getting old. And really Brett was nicknamed Old Man Layden in High School so really I think we are accepting the aging process quiet gracefully. Any one who has read my previous blogs is probably well aware of how my eagerness to get old and one day be thought of as older then 17.  (Note: this longing to get old maybe getting out of control -the other day a friend of ours who is probably around my moms age was telling me how they plan on going on wine tours for their anniversary and romantic lunches, ect... I blurted out way too fast how "I can't wait to get old to do that kind of stuff!" Yeah may have came out wrong, WHAT I MEANT was that I would love to have a romantic lunch at a beautiful vineyard but we can't do that with small children. So I meant that once Ella is grown, I would love to do that. Yeah I had to back peddle really bad and in the end I just shut up because nothing I said was helping the mannner. On another note.....completely off topic I saw my first Afro Mullet!!!!!  It was the funniest thing I have ever saw because it was a real mullet but even worse then normal, what I would have given to have a photo of it. I even would have changed the main photo on this blog to it if I could have got that  thing on camera. Also other funny things I have saw/heard:
- Very popular here are those umbrella hats so funny
-Brett saw a 90 year old really sweet looking lady with a T-shirt that said " I am not bald this is a solar panel for a sex machine"
- I asked my driver to stop for tomatoes today and he proceed to tell me about the people outside how they have given up their homes because the gov't  moved them and promised them new homes.....I never got any tomatoes.
-

Speaking of funny things...back to the Angolan Safari. So a little history first.... most/almost all the wild animals in Angola were killed during the war, and I mean almost all. This fact didn't hit me until we got close to the park and you see how vast it is and it is only a small part of Angola. I couldn't even imagine how so many animals could be not only impacted by the war but completely destroyed.  I even heard (an saw later on TV) that even the animals in Luanda's Zoo were all killed and now there are only empty cages there.

Well some of the animals are coming back and we have photos to prove it....Look out Kenya you got some competition !!!

Our Safari Vehicle, aka old civil war truck

Macaco aka Monkey

Day at the Beach

Well last weekend we went to the beach with friends of ours and there twins who decide to dress up for the occasion. 

Loving the boat ride!

Also loving the boat ride!!

Looking for shells and finding lots!