our dozen beautiful feet

In the last couple of weeks, we've made a lot of progress in our paperwork to get Meryn home. (I say "we", even though we are doing really nothing, it's the staff of our agency in Ethiopia!) : ) On February 9th we heard that Meryn's birth certificate had been printed and was in hand.  Then on February 20th, we heard that Meryn's passport has now been received.  These are the first two of three steps to getting submitted to the Embassy.  Now we are waiting on the doctor exam and his report, one more MOWA letter, and them Embassy Submission!  I'm thinking 3-4 weeks, but hoping for 2-3. : ) Once our file is totally ready and taken to the Embassy, they'll either accept or reject it due to some missing piece.  We're praying everything they want to see is there and they accept it. After it's accepted, what's likely to happen is the Embassy staff will review it, which will probably take 4-6 weeks.  Because of the type of case ours is, it ha...

This week begins a three week unit on Classical Greece.  We learned about the independent city-states of Athens, and Sparta.  They were very different places, focused on different things.  Culturally their values were very different, which was interesting to study about.  We read how these two small city-states were able to stop the spread of the Perisan Empire.... about the Persian wars and how the Greeks eventually overtook the Persians as the dominant world power.  We read Aesop's fables every day this week, drawing pictures to go along with the fables, and making up our own fables! The kids had fun with trying to re-create Greek clothing! : )

I have high ambitions.  Big ideas in my head of how a house smoothly runs, how children help and have ownership in the chores around the house, how happily they will help and pitch in.  I dream of being a disciplined, organized mom.  Because I'm so not that. But, this year, I at least went to the effort of creating a "system" to help the kids learn to do little jobs around the house.  Actually, I didn't create it. I just made our own version based on the book "The Everyday Family Chore System" by Vicky Bentley. Here are some pictures of what we've got up around the house and got the kids doing.  It comes and goes, but the five finger jobs every morning are consistently sticking around, which is a step in the right direction. : ) The kids each have five jobs they do every morning.  They get to wear these little clip on hands if they want to, until their jobs are done.  Their five morning jobs are:  1. Make my bed 2. Get Dressed 3....

We heard the good news over the weekend that Yusuf's surgery was scheduled for this Wednesday, the 22nd.  We went into a flurry of making plans for this week... one of us needed to go up there, and take the four girls who've been home without their parents and baby brother for two months to see their family!  No trains were available, so we decided I'd just have to drive me and the girls up there on Tuesday and stay for two nights, be at the hospital all day Wednesday, and return to Jaipur on Thursday.  However, this afternoon, the doctors called and said they can't do the surgery as planned.  Yusuf has had an infection coming and going, and the surgeon says it basically won't clear up until he gets a new liver.  But now, his mother and father both have an infection as well.  Coughs, fevers, etc.  Since his father is having surgery to remove a portion of his liver to donate, the docs say they can't risk the father and mother both being sick while t...

This week, we delved into Persian culture and learned more about the Israelites exile from their homeland.  We learned about the Jewish holiday Purim.  We read the book of Esther, how God chose her and placed in a position to save the Israelites from destruction at the hands of Naman.  We learned how God released Israel from it's exile and they were sent back to Israel from Babylon with blessings to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.  The kids are both continuing to learn and grow!  Kiryn's handwriting is just awesome. And she is really growing in her reading.  Luke is finding most of his work pretty easy at this point! : )  Here's a couple of pictures of the kids making a Cyrus scroll! I don't know why I'm so proud of this handwriting! : ) We wrote "important" messages on the inside of the scroll, then rolled it up and sealed it! Even scrolls can be girly...

I'm such a slacker.  But this adoption has OVERTAKEN my brain the past couple of months, getting ready for court, going to Ethiopia, and now waiting to be submitted to the Embassy.  Don't worry, we've still been learning and educating around here just like we're supposed to... I just haven't had any room left in my brain to write about it.  I'm really working hard at continuing to live my life right now, instead of simply WAITING for the next phase with Meryn to start.  So.  We're catching up. I opted for one big catch-up post, rather than an individual post for each week, because honestly, I can't remember week by week at this point... So, weeks 16-18 (end of Unit 2), we learned all about the establishment of Israel and Jerusalem. We read stories of the Judges of Israel, Samuel being called by God, and about the neighboring cultures, like the Philistines.  (Did you know the Philistines were famous for their blown glass?  We learned all about how to...

We had a GREAT day today!  A friend we've had for ten years currently lives in Addis Ababa. She offered to go to the care center to visit Meryn, and the day before she planned to go, asked if we'd like her to take her computer so we could Skype while she was there.  WhAt?  Of course! So today we were on pins and needles, waiting for the call that she was there and ready to go.  Even though the picture between India and Ethiopia was pretty grainy, it did all our hearts good to see our little girl!!  One of the first things my friend K showed me was Meryn ROLLING OVER!  Oh, so happy to see this! : ) I think Aynalem, Meryn's nanny, looks just amazed that she's seeing us on the computer! So cute! : )  K got to ask Aynalem a lot of questions since she can speak Amharic.  I learned that Aynalem is not married and has no children and lives with her family in Addis.  She's been working at the care center for six months, and she reall...

God has done amazing things for this little baby Yusuf!  After doing lots of research a couple of months ago, we were able to find a hospital in Delhi willing to discount their services in liver transplant for Yusuf and his family.  And not just any hospital.  According to their surgeon, they are the number one, #1, hospital in the world for infant liver transplants.  Seriously. So the doctors all agreed to work for free, and gave them a bed in the government ward, also free.  Their only costs will be medicines and consumables through their stay.  But this will still amount to a whopping $15,000.  Not to mention Yusuf will need about $150 of medications for 24 months post-surgery.  Shew. So we began to pray that God would provide this amount.  And that Yusuf's father could be a donor.  Turns out he's compatible, he can give Yusuf a small lobe of his liver.  What a praise! And, within just a few weeks, our family members, who ...

I have a confession.  For all these months, as I have watched God do some pretty amazing things in our adoption, and seen how at every turn, things happened just as soon as they could, my faith has been strengthened. So has my expectation.  As we finished the court process and began the Embassy process with our adoption, I entered this phase with full expectation that God would be consistent.  That we would face no delays (even though nearly everyone else was), and that our daughter would be home in 8 weeks or so.   Folks, it's not going to happen.  A couple of weeks ago, I returned from the land of optimism (foolish optimism, let's be real), to reality.  There were a few instances in the last couple of weeks that crashed in conflict with my expectations and caused a crisis of faith.  Or at least a crisis of expectation.   Just because I expect God to do something doesn't mean He's going to do it.  And just because I think it'...