5 hours

Well, it took 5 hours (and a lot of that time I had my mom's help - thanks Mom!) but I finally finished her yarn twists.

A few things I did differently this time:

• I determined the length I needed, then flipped a chair upside-down and wrapped the yarn over and over around the two chair legs which would gave me the right length. Then I simply cut each side and I was done. I'm not a crafty person so this is probably obvious to a lot of people, but wow it saved a lot of time this time around!
• I used brown and black yarn - one of each in each side of the twist. Mebira's hair is a really dark brown and when I used just black last time you could totally see where her hair ended. I have been on an unending search for a perfect brown and thought it was close, but her hair changes colour a bit, too. At the tips it's much lighter and at the roots it's darker. I was a bit skeptical at first about mixing the yarn colours but I LOVE it. It gives the twists a more natural look and totally blends her hair colour in as her hair colour is right between the brown and black.
• I made the twists a bit longer this time. It takes me forever to do this, and I don't know how people do them super long, but this length has got to be my limit!
• I used a different way to anchor them this time. Last time I started with a braid and then switched to a twist, but I found they still slid a bit. This time I used a similar method to the one found on this blog here. So far things are staying in pretty well.
• I used smaller boxes. This sounded like a good idea at first, but man it ended up taking forever. Plus, there really are a lot of twists now. I think it looks OK on her, but I wonder if I should maybe go with a bit less twists next time.
• I still haven't figured out how to get the lengths right. Every time she tilted her hair a bit they ended up in different lengths. If anyone has a good trick on the lengths I'd love some tips!
  

OK, here are the pics...

Struggling

I've been struggling a bit this week. I have no particular reason, but have felt a mixture of grumpiness, restlessness, mild depression...and I have no idea why. Hormonal issues shouldn't be coming into play, and nothing bad has been happening. Maybe it's SADD or just the January blues...I don't know. It's been absolutely FREEZING here (one day it was a high of -29C) but I barely went outside so it didn't affect me too much.

I've tried a few of my favorites to cheer myself up - a little chocolate, some shopping, a vanilla bean latte, a few bubble baths, thinking of an exciting upcoming trip we have and although those all help a little bit they haven't done the trick.

Today I heard this song on the radio and it reminded me of a slide show that my nieces did to this song and I got all weepy. They put it together shortly after Arvid's dad died and filled it with pictures of him and the family. It is a song with such powerful meaning and is a great reminder that we don't always get what we pray for but that there is a better purpose and plan behind it. I've been wrestling a lot in the last week or two with prayer and this again gave me such a new perspective on what we pray for and what may be going on when our prayers aren't answered the way we want them to be.

It was also a great reminder to me that this world is not our home. These temporary things we focus on are just temporary and although they help a bit they are not going to bring us eternal satisfaction. Anyway, regardless of your religious beliefs I hope you watch this video ...I think it's pretty powerful.

Conversations with Mebira

The majority of Mebira's conversations consist of the future. "When I'm a Mom..." or "When I marry...". We have spent hours and hours on these topics. I have enjoyed my mornings when the kids are in school (although there is never a shortage of things to do - field trips, volunteering in school, laundry, grocery shopping, helping out at church, etc.) but a special part of my day is in the afternoon when G&E are back at school and Mebira and I are alone together. This is the time when she loves to talk about who she is going to marry, what it will be like when she has babies, etc. Some highlights:

• It changes daily as to WHO she is going to marry. Now she's not proposing to anyone yet, but she is really obsessed with the colour of her future husband's skin. "Will I marry a peach man or a brown man? I don't know." One day it's a "peach man", the next it's a "brown man". I am trying to highlight what is most important - that she marries a man who loves God and who loves her, and she will often repeat that after she has made her daily colour pronouncement.
• This morning at breakfast she said, "When I am married, I'm going to marry a man with an ipad". I'm glad all those talks about priorities have been paying off...or not. :-)
• She is trying to determine where to live when she is older. The latest plan was to live in a house right next to us, but this morning she decided she wanted to live in a house right next to the church so she could walk there instead of drive.
• I am trying to encourage her to also plan for some sort of a career. I'm all for being a stay-at-home mom (or in my case, a mostly stay-at-home mom as I will be back at 12 hours a week shortly) but I also would like her to study something in case her plan of husband and babies doesn't work out. Currently, she's planning on being a doctor. And today she told me that I can stay with her babies, she will give me a bottle (since my "tootles" don't have anymore milk, she said) and she will go to work. I'm not trying to wish my life away, but MAN I'm excited to have some cute little Ethiopian baby grandkids. I'm sure Mebi was an adorable baby and I'm sad I missed out on that and can't wait to enjoy it as a grandmother. :-)
  
• We've had an AMAZING winter so far. SO warm...I don't remember ever having one like it. We had a huge streak of days above zero and also broke numerous records. (The only downside is that there is no snow, although whether that's a negative or not is debatable). Anyway, Mebira still thinks it's too cold out. The other day she told me, "When I'm a Mom, I'm going to live in the summer!" Ahhh...if only it was that easy!
  

Lifebook

I just finished Mebira's lifebook. I thought I'd give a photobook a try (yes, I'm a bit behind the times) and once I started I got totally addicted. I worked on it a bit during the holidays but then got distracted...until I noticed that the sale ended yesterday so I worked like crazy to get it done! In a few weeks the finished product will be sent to me and I can't wait to check it out.

The photobook is 23 pages - which is pretty amazing considering that I only had 2 sets of update pictures from her, and that we weren't allowed to take any pictures in the orphanages. Someone...mmmhhhmm...may have taken pictures inside the Sodo orphanage though and I've been able to piece together pictures of the other places from various people (thanks everyone)!

The other thing I've been working on is filming Mebira as she tells me about her past. She is already forgetting so much and she really never wants to talk about it. She is just happy in the here and now and doesn't want to bring up the past. I bring it up often, and will ask her questions every day...sometimes she won't acknowledge it and sometimes she'll actually give me a fact or two. I've noticed that some of the facts are getting muddled, and I would hate for her to not have any memories one day, so I decided that desperate times call for desperate measures. I full out bribed her and told her that if she could talk for 10 minutes on video that she could watch 10 minutes of TV. On Monday we managed to get 30 minutes worth of taping done and today another 30 minutes.

Now granted, the filming is really disjointed and you can tell she's uncomfortable and wiggly, but I hope that one day she'll be able to look back on this and recall some of the memories. There really wasn't anything earth shattering and so much of the facts were getting muddled - she told me that she had breakfast, lunch, supper and a bedtime snack when a month ago she told me she only had two meals a day and was hungry and thirsty all the time which is a lot more likely. She said she would help cook supper (corn or potatoes) and would care for the animals, gather wood and carry water. I wonder if I could get her to make me supper once here! :-)

Anyway, that's what a lot of my time has been used up with. I'm also on a hard core work-out and eat well schedule...and it's taking more time to keep up with that. January is a tough month - it's when I am motivated to make changes in my home, body, parenting, life, etc. When is the New Year officially over so that I can slack on my resolutions? :-)

Christmastime was here

So, what have we been up to in the last few weeks? Clearly having too much fun to keep up on the blog! :-) The weeks leading up to Christmas were quite full, and the week after Christmas has been sooo relaxing. It is so nice to have the whole family together...we generally sleep in (even the kids!), laze around for awhile, eat breakfast, work on a puzzle for a bit, then we head down to do a quick workout while the kids play, eat lunch and then do some sort of activity. This is the life - and I'm enjoying every second!

So - the best way to explain what we've been up to is through pictures...here goes:

(Below) We went on the Bethlehem walk. It is an amazing production put on by a local church. They replicate what Bethlehem would have been like at the time Jesus was born. Complete with singing angels from the sky, lots of animals and a market it is a great event.
(Below) The kids learned how to press olives into olive oil, and here Mebira is crushing spices. Mebira said that they used this a lot in Ethiopia. It was amazing how much the "Bethlehem market" looked like any market you would see in Ethiopia and I'm sure it brought back some memories for her.

(Below) We attended a few Christmas parties. This was the Christian Adoption Services party where the kids got to meet Santa. I was just glad that Mebira didn't pull off his beard and yell, "You're not Santa!" like she saw Buddy do in Elf. :-)
(Below) We watched quite a few Christmas specials. Next up? After Christmas specials like the Sound of Music and Mary Poppins!
(Below) We had the girls' favourite supper - "snacky supper around the tree".
(Below) A yearly tradition with Dad - gingerbread house. The gingerbread "mysteriously" disappeared a few days ago and no one noticed!
(Below) The girls had their school Christmas concert and we took a few pictures before we left.
(Below) Still more pics from before the concert. I was thoroughly amazed at how well they all did at the concert. Mebira, especially, could have been totally terrified having only been in Canada for 6 months, but she got up on stage with her class in front of 500ish people, smiled and did all of her actions and sang along. This girl is willing to take anything on!
(Below) Our Advent Pyramid. I bought this in Germany during my year there and the girls enjoy seeing it spin every year.

(Below) We did something new this year. We are not really a singing family...but I thought it would be nice to do some caroling this year so we each picked a song, found it on one of the many Christmas cds I have, cranked it up and sang along. It was actually a nice time.

(Below) Christmas Eve turned out a bit different than we had planned. My mom (the host this year) came down with a brutal stomach flu and had to miss out and we switched locations to K&A's at the last minute. It was so sad not to have Omi (i.e. Mrs. Christmas) there, but we made the most of it. Mebi was sooooo excited for Christmas and it was fun to experience the first Christmas with her.
(Below) Such a cute pic with their wonderful cousins!
(Below) "Wait kids! Just a few more pictures before presents!"
(Below) Opening presents on Christmas Eve! So fun and I'm so glad we don't have to wait for Christmas morning!
(Below) Back at home, Christmas morning, stocking time!
(Below) Christmas Day eve - another cute picture with more wonderful cousins! Although it was sad to have the first Christmas without Arvid's dad, we had some nice talks and were still able to make it a really nice evening.
Well, that sums it up...lots of fun and lots of food! I hope your Christmas was enjoyable as well.

Food

It's interesting to see how food is a huge factor for someone who has gone without. We struggle with our bio girls at every meal but breakfast...they barely eat anything at all and there is usually some amount of negotiation on their part. If I eat this, can I leave that?, etc.

Mebira is a dream when it comes to food. She over-ate when she first came home, and we generally let her at that time. After a while we started scaling her portions back, and now we will sometimes say no to a third portion and will offer veggies or fruit instead. She has taking this completely in stride (the way she handles everything new).

It is such a delight to see her enjoy anything I make. Even if she complains a little bit at first the (and that's only the odd time) she will still devour it like it's the best thing in the world. I honestly don't know what her true favourites are because she just really seems to enjoy everything she eats. There is hardly anything she doesn't like...I think celery and peppers may be about it. :-)

As much as it feels like she has always been here, there are times when her past definitely influences things. At night when she prays, she still thanks God for food...every single time. And it's always the first part of her prayer.

Today (during our ask a question at suppertime conversation), G asked what you would pack if you were going somewhere for three days and could only bring three things along. Answers ranged from a cell phone, to a bible, to a book, to a stuffy. Finally, it was Mebira's turn and she answered that she would bring a snack, breakfast and supper. :-) Clearly food is on her mind a lot, and having gone without it once, she doesn't want to ever have that experience again!

December musings

It seems that I've been so occupied with life in December that the blog is sliding. I've barely been keeping up on reading other people's posts, and just haven't been inspired or thought of anything exciting to post on here. In case anyone is still reading in this crazy season I'll post a few highlights of the past few weeks:

• We've had two Christmas parties so far. One was with Arvid's work, and the kids got gifts (which the parents got to buy and be reimbursed for) and the girls loved it! Our second party was with our adoption agency last Sunday. A few hundred people jammed into a church basement and celebrated adoption and Christmas. It was so nice to be with lots of other families who looked just like ours. The kids got gifts from Santa...needless to say Mebira no longer thinks that Santa is Jesus. :-)
• We've watched a few Christmas shows. Last weekend we watched the What's In the Bible Why Do We Call it Christmas? movie. It was actually quite interesting and showed where traditions like stockings, Christmas trees, Santa all came from. It also explains why December 25th is the day...I think we'll watch it every year. It is a good reminder that we can still enjoy things like gifts, Santa, stockings and trees but that these traditions are meant to point us to God.
• The gifts are wrapped, the menus are planned, and we're just counting down the days until Christmas. We'll spend Christmas Eve with my family, and Christmas Day with Arvid's family. I am so excited for the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church, and for the family time, watching the kids open their gifts and the excitement of coming down and seeing the stockings, for watching the Nativity Story with them, lighting the Advent Pyramid, etc., etc., etc. I also can't wait for the two weeks off. Arvid will have the first week off and we hope to have lots of time for puzzles, walks, sledding, skating and family Wii tournaments.
• I celebrated my birthday! What a wonderful day - slept in, had a bath, read a book, cought up on email, some (albeit a bit more brief than I intended) quiet time with just me and my bible, delicious lunch out, coffee with a great friend, and a family night! Oh - and the night before, a quiet dinner with Arvid at home with Thai food take-out (YUM!), Christmas music, a warm fire, candles and twinkling lights from the Christmas tree. Really, a perfect day and it's not over yet! :-)

OK, that's all for now. I hope you are all enjoying the season!