A devil and a vampire

Egyptian Unrest

In September 2006, Tommy and I went on our honeymoon to Egypt. Since then we have encouraged anyone and everyone to add Egypt to their bucket list or 100 things to do before I die list or their itinerary for their next set of international travels. No one has actually gone based on our recommendation but that hasn't stopped us from encouraging; until this weekend.

The government in Egypt has been unstable for many years. Our government's support of those unstable political leaders around the world leaves me perplexed. When a country's citizens live on less than $2 per day it is astounding to me that the political leaders think that the status quo is acceptable.

We knew that the government of Egypt didn't have their priorities straight when we visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. We were awed at the thought of visiting the artifacts found intact in King Tut's tomb. We were excited to see mummies that were preserved 1000s of years ago. We couldn't wait for a guided tour into pharonic times. And then we entered the museum.

The picture above is the exterior of the museum. Magnificent architecture, impressive presence on the outside but once you step inside (where we were not allowed to take photographs) we were utterly shocked. It was not climate controlled, there were stacks of sarcophagus along the hallways, huge (and I mean huge) statues were pushed up against one another in no order whatsoever. The display cases didn't have labels for anything.

Side note - I mentioned our guided tour above - that is why I think nothing had labels. In an effort to keep all of the local archaeology majors employed the only way to really visit the museum was to have a guide. Ours was very knowledgeable and knew the ins and outs of the museum. His English was perfect. We also saw guides who spoke French, Spanish and Russian and I am sure there were other languages. While I think it is noble to be creative in keeping your unemployment rate down it sure seems like the museum could still invest a little in proper cataloging of their artifacts.

While we have our grievances about the museum we were saddened to hear that looters entered the museum and damaged some of the ancient pieces that were on display. Through news reports we read that some of the protesters turned into security guards and tackled the looters in an effort to protect their country's history. I am proud of those people but I wonder if investment in the security of the museum could have prevented the damage that did occur.

It is this lack of investment that the Egyptians make in their own history that makes me staunchly opposed to the return of any artifacts displayed in foreign museums. If Egypt cannot care for their history then we must be sure to preserve it by other means.

My heart is sad for the people of Egypt. Tonight parts of the city in the photo below are on fire. Ironically, we took this photo from the Citadel, a medieval military fortress that sits atop a limestone hill and was chosen for its commanding view of the city below.

We hope that the unrest in Egypt calms and that the people there have a chance to fairly chose who governs them. I know elections are not perfect and political manuevering by our governments have greater agendas than I can understand but my hope is that we can someday recommend again that others travel to Egypt. Just look at how happy we were.

My new toy

It isn't exactly mine yet but I am having a weekend trial of a fancy, fancy camera that a co-worker is selling. He got an upgrade at Christmas and offered this one to us. I think it is a little out of my skill set, actually, really far out of my skill set but it sure is pretty. And if we decide to make him an offer I promise to learn all the bells and whistles!

Here are some shots from our trip to the zoo today where I tested out the camera!

Finally, wet snow!

Wet enough to make a snow man! Not by the traditional roll three balls and stack them up method but we were able to push the snow into a big pile and mold it into three sections.

Not unlike Frosty, our snowman had a carrot nose and, well, rock eyes and wood chip mouth. Okay so he is totally unlike Frosty but Steven belted out the song while holding the snowman's stick hand, anyway!

Oh what is a mother to do ...

when her husband goes to work with the kids' snow boots in his car?

Improvise with trash bags.

Too bad we didn't have four loaves of bread. I vaguely remember wearing bread bags on my feet on those really wet and snowy days in the winter.

Come visit us

in our new location ... I've change my blog address and wanted to invite you to come and visit!

Homestudy Visit #1

Who would have imagined that fire safety was going to be such an important element during our adoption homestudy home visit?

Originally we were worried that the size of our house would be the biggest issue. Even though it is still an issue to us (where will we put three kids?) it is probably right that a two bedroom, one bath house is very suitable for a family of five. As long as the other important characteristics like love, fun and smoke detectors are included.

I was so excited to get our phone call from Nikki (CHI social worker) last Wednesday afternoon. She happened to call while I was on the longest commute home ever.

Tangent ...
We got an awful snowstorm on Wednesday afternoon/evening – at least by Kansas City standards. It amounted to about 6-8 inches but it wreaked havoc on the drive home. It was my intention to leave at my normal time 4pm and head south to pick up the kids. By 4:20 I had only made it three blocks. By 4:45, I had only made it about four more blocks. Thank goodness Tom has a Subaru! I never would have made it to get the kids in time. Actually, my car never even made it home. Our neighborhood is full of hills and the Camry was unsuccessful at hill travel. At one point I had to lay on my horn to warn drivers behind me that I was slipping uncontrollable backwards. Thank goodness they were all able to scramble out of my way and avoid a rear-ender from the front?!?!

I ended up parking about four blocks away and walking the rest of the way home. I did bring my boots but I would have happily walked in my Franco Sarto shoes to avoid the feeling I got when I slid backwards down the hill.

Back to the story ...

She called to share that all of our initial paperwork is ready and we could start scheduling our visits. We leaped for the calendar but not until we were all safely home and not stuck in the snowstorm.

Our first visit was this afternoon. Nikki talked to us about process moving forward and things we needed to consider as adoptive parents. Things like answers to rude (intentional or not) questions by strangers, preparations for attachment difficulties, and ways to broaden our cultural activities. It was a great conversation and we get to do it three more times!

Back to Life Back to Reality

Living life as two working parents with one crazy schedule is really challenging some days. But the last few weeks have been wonderful. Tommy got three weeks off from work over the holidays. His teacher schedule really is a blessing some times during the year. However, reality was going set in at some point and this week was it, except... for snow days and work trips!


I was really not looking forward to being a single nighttime mom again. Doing dinner, playtime, snack, bath and bedtime by yourself with two little ones can be quite a challenge sometimes. But by the grace of old man winter my luck was extended a week. School was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday Tommy was let out early because of other commitments later in the work week. Now tonight I am sitting in the airport at 5pm waiting to fly to Ohio. Kids are at home with the babysitter and Tommy will have to be the single parent for the next two nights.


Times like these really make me count my blessings. I love being married to Tommy. Not just because it is easier to do bath time with four adult hands rather than two but because it is better to have a partner in life. Someone to share the joy and the struggles.

...continued writing three days later...

I didn't expect this to turn into an adoption post but lately our path to our third gem has seemed to be a little more winding that I want. Nothing has changed, our hearts are still waiting but finding all our necessary papers and scheduling appointments is just daunting. We know the waiting is necessary, we know the paperwork and verification of who we are is important but like my desire to have a partner in life our child has a desire for a forever family.

But really, the thing that bothers me most is knowing that there are children in the world who don't have a mom and dad who can play at bath time or tuck them in under a homemade quilt every night. I am currently reading There is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene. There is one particular story of two orphaned girls who live on there own before being brought to the orphanage. These girls were young, not even 10 years old and they lived in their home by themselves after their parents died. Their kind neighbor would leave them a plate of food each night but the girls would go to bed and wake up in the morning to walk to school all on their own. They knew the love of their parents but they had to continue life without them.

This book has been hard for me to put down but I also want to just throw it across the room sometimes. Not because it is poorly written but because it makes me frustrated at the utter chaos in which our world seems to operate. One effort to help our world population (vaccines) causes unintended consequences (infections from unsterilized needles) for those who should benefit. In Fr. Glenn's sermon this weekend (Steven actually did a good job entertaining himself so I could listen) he talked about finger pointing. When you point your finger at someone or thing, remember that three are pointing back at you. There is no target of finger pointing for the orphan crisis in Africa. There are simply too many moving parts to say how it happened or what the solution should be.

I just know that those three fingers pointing back at me represent my three gems. Making sure that the two with me now realize how important it is that we support and love one another the world over, especially our gem waiting for us in Africa.

More things that they say

The last two nights I've tried to drive up our street after picking the kids up from school. Both nights I have been totally unsuccessful. I've had to reverse down the street and drive around the neighborhood trying to find a less steep hill that isn't snowpacked. Tonight I was frustrated and yelled, "Go away snow!"

Steven replied with "It can't go away because it doesn't have feet."

Snow Day

Dang it is cold! Everyone says I should be tougher since I grew up in Minnesota. Aren't you used to this? they ask.

No.

I haven't spent an extended length of time in Minnesota since I was 20. That was a long time ago and I doubt that I ever really spent much time outside when I was home during holiday college breaks. I remember the first time I took Tommy home to Minnesota in the winter. I thought he was going to lose a toe he got so cold. It was February, Steven was a tiny baby and it was C.O.L.D. Don't sign me up to do that again. It was so cold that Kira wouldn't even go outside to potty.

It wasn't quite that cold today but it was snowy and the kids were jumping at the chance to get outside and play in it. We all got bundled up in snow pants, boots and gloves so that we could romp around in the front yard. Tommy and I didn't have real snow boots, though. We both dug out our rubber boots from our trip to the Amazon and thick wool socks. Again, I thought Tommy might lose a toe but he didn't stay out in the cold too long. (Later in the week we did order boots online. Just in time for the snow to start melting and temperatures to rise. Better late than never, right?)

I think Steven's imagination created 100 different flavors of pretend snow ice cream that were oh, so yummy.

And we probably should just buy a sled for the kids. We may only use it once a year but it would be better than the trash can lid. It was all I could find and I did wash it off with wet snow before pulling the kids around on it.

All in all it was a fun snow day!

Gifts from the Kings

Kingly thrones for our prince and princess. These gifts arrived from the Three Kings for the Epiphany since Santa couldn't carry them all the way to Iowa in his sled. Aren't they super cute? Little faux leather armchairs for little ones! And now, all Tommy and I have to sit on is our crummy old futon couch! Someday we'll upgrade, too.

When Grandma came to visit and she saw the chairs, Steven even told her that the kings brought it for him!

Things they say

Mommy, "Steven, what do we do at church?"

Steven, "be quiet."

Mommy, "what else do we do at church?"

Steven...blank stare.

I've got to work on that.

It's coming for us

Do you sometimes wonder what is going through our children's minds?

Events for New Years 2011

We might have stayed up a little later than last year but probably not by much. We had a quiet weekend with the kids. We went to Science City at Union Station on New Years Day. We had the place to practically to ourselves. There were only two other families that I saw during the two hours we were there. Steven's favorite part of the visit was flying the helicopter. I would post a picture but the camera didn't have a memory card in it. At least I thought to pack the camera, we really did need one more thing to carry around with us during our visit!


Over the weekend we also completed our required 10 hours of adoption parent education. While Ethiopia has not signed the Hague Convention our agency is accredited with the US government and requires families to follow the convention as appropriate. That includes the training. While watching webinars over the holiday weekend might not sound preferable to a Dick Clark rock-n-roll party, it was what we wanted to accomplish to start off the new year.


Mybe next year we'll have more to celebrate!