Monday, February 22, 2010

Still Sleeping

L:

We've now had three nights in a row of sleeping all night with no screaming! Nick is especially grateful. A full night's sleep makes it so much easier to face the challenges of the day. Thank you for praying and for your kind words.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Slept All Night

L:

Both girls went to bed last night without giving us grief. And Kalysta slept all night without waking up screaming (Tryana always sleeps all night). We know it's only one night, but we are so thankful and wanted to report the good news.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Moving in the Right Direction

L:

Life is not easy right now, but I feel so encouraged and thankful overall. We are seeing progress with Tryana and Kalysta in so many areas daily - using words and signs to communicate, playing nicely with each other and with their big sisters, sitting still longer to be read to, etc. We'd like to ask for prayer for one big area, though - sleeping. Bedtime is quite the production. While we have seen some progress even here, they do not like to go to bed or stay in bed. There's quite a bit of screaming and crying.

My husband is so super with the sleep issues. He takes most of the middle of the night duties because he says he can handle the loss of sleep better than I can (he's right). Please pray for his energy level.

Alyssa and Myranda are being amazing big sisters. Alyssa is such a patient teacher. I truly am impressed. Myranda is so willing to help with even the not-so-fun jobs. They're both so good at helping to keep consistency in our lives (like gently reminding their little sisters where the toys need to be and not be). I don't know how I would make it through the day without them.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

First Experience with Snow

L:

We decided to drive up to Tehachapi (about an hour away) to play in the snow this afternoon. It was actually a good day to experience snow for the first time for these girls who have always lived near the equator until now. It was about 50 degrees up there today. Sledding was filled with fear and fun - but mostly fun.

Kalysta and Tryana sang songs in Kinyarwanda while we drove back home. It was beautiful! If only we could have understood what they were singing. Our ten phrases or so don't help much in a situation like that.

 

 

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Learning About Hair

L:

We took Tryana and Kalysta to a salon on Tuesday to have their hair rebraided. The ladies there were very helpful and gave us many tips for taking care of their hair. We expected the braids to stay in for a little while so that we wouldn't need to tackle their hair for the first couple weeks home. Wrong. Yesterday, they used a doll's brush to pull out part of their braids. That meant that I got to make my first attempt on their hair sooner than planned. The nice ladies at the salon showed me a couple hairstyles that they thought I'd be able to handle without too much trouble. I decided to try what they said is the easiest to do. It really wasn't too hard. Here are some pictures of this first shot at styling their hair. I think it turned out pretty good. You can judge for yourselves.


Friday, February 12, 2010

School & Other Funny Things

L:

I've been asked how we're managing school at this point. Basically, Alyssa and Myranda are taking turns playing with their little sisters when I need to be doing school with one of them. It's taking much longer to get through our schoolwork, but I think it will get easier as Tryana and Kalysta learn the rules of our family and how to speak English better. Alyssa and Myranda are having a great attitude with it all.

Yesterday, Tryana was dancing like a cow with our peace basket on her head just like the dancers we saw our last night in Rwanda. It was adorable!

T & K are fascinated with the vacuum cleaner. They have a look of fear on their faces, but they follow right behind me and keep touching the machine. It's quite funny.

Yesterday was the first day we didn't go anywhere in the car. T & K kept asking to go in the car. It seems to be one of their favorite things so far. They don't even mind being buckled into their car seats.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

First Day Without Dad

L:

I'm shocked to be writing this. The girls and I had a great day! Kalysta did not freak out when Nick left for work and when she needed a hug or wanted to be held today, she happily came to me. Those who spent time with us in Africa will understand what a big deal that is. Thank you, Lord!

I'm off to get ready for bed now. Good Night :)

Last Day in Kenya

L:

We already posted about receiving the girls' visas on Friday. Boy were we all rejoicing!

After spending the morning at the embassy or in the hotel room, we were all ready to get out and walk around the city for a little while. When we were just about ready to go back to the hotel room to get ready for checkout time, torrents of rain fell and the thunder almost knocked us off our feet a couple times. It was actually very fun, but we had to get out of our hotel room so that we wouldn't get charged for another night. We finally had to run out in the rain when it let up a little. We were pretty soaked by the time we made it back to the hotel and we were pretty much out of clean laundry. Everyone had a pretty good attitude about it all, though. We used the hair dryer to dry off a little and found some clean, dry socks to change into. It really didn't take that long for us to be completely dry again.

After checkout, we had one final meal in Nairobi and headed to the airport. Checking in at the airport was not Tryana and Kalysta's favorite time. We were concerned that it was going to be a VERY LONG trip home with the start we had there. However, our flights went much better than anticipated. Again, we were very thankful.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Wednesday & Thursday in Kenya

L:

I am happy to report that we had a good sleep last night. We are still far from well-rested, but we are thankful for the sleep we are getting. Nick goes back to work tomorrow because he doesn't have any more days he can take. Nobody is ready for him to go back. We're praying for a good sleep tonight and a smooth day without Papa (what T & K call him) tomorrow.

Now back to Kenya. We returned to the medical clinic on Wednesday. All 5 kids who were tested for TB (those over age 2) had negative results! Unfortunately, though, they had to have lots of shots in order to travel to the United States. We were very thankful to leave the clinic with the paperwork we needed to take to the embassy the next day.

As I already posted, when we went to the U.S. embassy on Thursday, we found out that the final clearance needed had not yet arrived in Nairobi. We were given an appointment for Monday and told that they would call us if our clearances came on Friday. Without these, we could not go home. We are not sure exactly where the problem occurred. I have some advice for the AWAA families waiting to adopt. Trust AWAA, trust your POA, and most importantly, trust God. Worrying and getting upset will not help you or all the orphans still waiting to be adopted. Expect glitches in international adoption. It is not always easy, but it is so worth it.

One more thing. Tryana and Kalysta were well over their fear of elevators by this point. In fact, they were asking to ride in the glass elevator at the Nakumatt behind our hotel.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Tuesday Safari

L:

We had such a good sleep our first night home. It's amazing what a difference that makes (especially after 2 weeks lacking sleep)! Our second night was a different story. Tryana and Kalysta woke up around 2 a.m. and thought it was time to start a new day. It took about an hour and a half to get them back to sleep. We were so thankful it didn't take any longer because the rest of us wanted to sleep more. Unfortunately, Nick and I weren't able to sleep much after that. After feeling some refreshment yesterday, we felt pretty crummy today. After I finish this post, we're off to bed and hoping for more than 4 hours tonight.

Continuing with our attempt to summarize our trip...Tuesday was safari day for the families who adopted 2 children (the Woodman, Snead, and Dokolas families). This was definitely a highlight of our trip. We headed out early in the morning for a driving safari through Nairobi National Park. Alyssa wrote down each of the big animals we recognized or our driver identified for us. There were about 20! Some of the animals we saw were gazelles, warthogs, giraffes, zebras, and ostriches. Of course, we had to stay in the van, but sometimes it seemed like you could just get out and walk right up to the animals and pet them.

After lunch, we walked through the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, which is like a zoo for animals that have been injured or abandoned. It was fun to see lions, leopards, and cheetahs since all the cats were hiding from us on our safari. The kids were intrigued by each animal and it was difficult to get them to move on to each new animal.

Then we did the Nairobi Safari Walk. This was also a type of zoo, but the animals had more room to roam around. We saw even more new animals. We were impressed by how well the kids held up during this long day. And we took tons of pictures!



 

  

  

  

  

 

Sunday, February 7, 2010

We're Home!

L:

We made it home last night. The flights were pretty uneventful. Everyone took a nap on the 5-hour flight from Nairobi to Dubai. We had a short layover and then about a 16-hour flight to LAX. The individual screens were a big hit for Tryana and Kalysta and they took a couple long naps again. Alyssa and Myranda were terrific travelers on the way home also. The Watson's and the Fisher's flew with us. Nick's parents picked us up at the airport. We stopped for dinner about halfway through our 2-hour drive home. It still seemed like a long drive since we were so tired, but it felt great to arrive home.

We've spent the day unpacking and introducing T & K to our home. We'll try to fill you in on the rest of our time in Kenya very soon. Thanks again for all of the kind comments and e-mails and for your prayers.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Quick Update

L:

We get to go home as planned!!!

One parent from each family went to the embassy a little while ago. They just called and told us that the approvals came for all of the families - yeah!

We fly out around 11:30 tonight and arrive at LAX around 1:00 p.m. Saturday. We are very excited to get home! Please pray for the six of us on these long flights. I'm sure this will be quite the experience.

We will try to post more if we have internet access in the airports. Otherwise, it'll have to wait until we get home.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Unknown Departure from Kenya

L:

We’ve had the last couple posts written for a couple days but didn’t have time to access the internet until now. The Woodman’s have been generous to allow us to access the internet from their room so that we can share the expense because it is very expensive here!

I don’t have time right now to post about the days since Monday, but I will tell you that we may have to stay in Nairobi until sometime next week. Our last piece of paperwork for the kids’ visas somehow did not make it to the U.S. embassy in Nairobi. It is yet one more criminal check. We just have to wait for them to receive it and then we will be able to pick up the visas and return home. Please pray for these clearances to make it to the embassy before they close at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow so that we will still be able to fly out tomorrow night. We want to go home and certainly do not wish for our return to be delayed, but we do trust that God is still in control of the timing of everything. Thank you for your prayers.

Some Pictures from Kenya





Monday

L:

We spent the first half of Monday at the medical clinic. Tryana and Kalysta had to be tested for TB. Now we’re all praying that the five children over age two get negative results when we go back to have them checked.

After lunch and naps, we headed to the pool at our hotel. T & K had a blast! They had been fascinated the day before when we had walked down to check out the pool area, but it had taken a little coaxing to get them to touch the water. They were pretty brave this time.

There are tons of places to walk to around the hotel. After dinner, we went to a Bata store (Indian shoe company) so that Nick could buy two pairs of sandals. He bought some when he was in India almost twenty years ago and has been wanting new ones for a long time.

Our room is a suite at this hotel. We’re definitely appreciating the extra room since there are six of us. T & K are sharing their own bed here.

Sunday

N:

On Sunday, we flew to Nairobi. The flight was short and sweet. Tryana was terrified of the plane but only cried at the beginning and end of the flight. We think Kalysta is too young to be afraid. They both didn’t like wearing a seatbelt (it was their first experience with a seatbelt, so we can’t wait to see what they think of their car seats).

As we drove to the hotel, Alyssa and Myranda thought it was fun to be driving on the opposite side of the road from what we’re used to.

We are staying at the Nairobi Safari Club, which is right in the middle of the city. It is nice to be able to walk around, visit the shops, and have lots of eating choices. T & K are afraid of riding in the elevator so far. They grab on to our legs until the doors open again.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

More Pictures from Rwanda







Saturday

L:

On the last Saturday of the month in Rwanda, everything is closed down in the morning for community service. Everyone, including the President, spends the morning cleaning their community. No wonder Kigali is such a clean city!

Around 11:00, we returned to the marketplace and finally found the number one thing we were looking for - some fabric for Great Aunt Liz to incorporate into the quilts she’s going to make for Tryana and Kalysta! I won’t pretend that it was easy trying to walk through those little shops with two toddlers, but overall it was a fun experience.

In the afternoon, we went back to the hotel so that T & K could take naps and I could start packing for our departure the next day. Then we got dressed up for our final Rwanda celebration dinner together with our new friend/POA and the other 8 families. We enjoyed watching traditional dancers during dinner. They were very talented and it was just beautiful.

When we returned to the hotel, it was our turn to hear the girls’ story. We hadn’t been able to drive to where they came from on Friday because it’s too far away. We won’t be sharing their story here because it’s Tryana and Kalysta’s story, but we can share a couple things. Tryana has always looked after Kalysta and they have always slept in beds close together in the orphanage.

Friday

L:

The last time we had time on the internet, Alyssa wanted to post and I was thrilled to give her a turn! However, we did not know it would be so long until we would have internet access again, so I am way behind filling you in on what’s been happening here. I’ll pick up with Friday and we’ll cover a day at a time until we catch up.

Friday was a very special day. This was the day we drove around to the various places the children came from and heard their stories. Our POA knows and loves our children and has worked to find out what she can about them. She has such an incredible passion for orphans and getting them into loving families. She seems to be the perfect match for her position. She has put tons of time and energy into handling our paperwork over here and acting as our guide while we’re traveling. We really appreciate her!!!

We were excited to go out beyond the city of Kigali. We drove out to the countryside and enjoyed more of this beautiful Land of a Thousand Hills. We stopped by a river that connects to the Nile. We also stopped at a village to interact with the people and were allowed to look inside one of the huts.

We did a little souvenir shopping in the afternoon and then went out for some delicious Indian food. The food really has been good on our trip. I am so thankful to have 4 daughters who eat so well. My pickiness hasn’t even been a problem here. We’ve had lunch (buffet-style) several times at a place called Afrika Bite. Nick likes to refer to it as his “favorite restaurant in all of Africa.”