A little Q & A

Since I've been asked the same questions so many times, I figured I might as well throw some of the answers on my blog. It's not that I am sick of talking about Malachi, the adoption, or Ethiopia, (am I ever sick of talking about anything?), I just thought this might be good for those of your who haven't gotten the chance to ask or are just being kind to us and letting us lay low for a while(thanks btw). So, here they are:



Q: How is Malachi doing?

A: He's doing really well...now. The first week was really hard. I think it was a combination of shock, new environment, jet lag/time change, and he cut a molar(ouch!). It was likewise hard on Ian and me because we were also suffering from the jet lag and time change...plus we have 3 other kids to parent. It was a week of a lot of screaming, a lot of sleeping, and a lot of adjusting. The second week(last week) was much better. Malachi is a generally happy kid. He is walking and coming very close to running. He sleeps fantastically - which has been a lifesaver at the end of our stressful days.



Q: What do the other kids think of him?

They love him! Emma acts the same way with him as she did with her other 3 siblings: She is excited about them, she tries to be helpful(sometimes ends up hindering more than helping), but is generally not affected by them very much. Mckenna absolutely ADORES him(which is how she was with David), and the feeling is mutual. If Malachi is sad, you can be sure Mckenna will try to comfort and entertain him within minutes. He will even let her "hold" him for comfort - which is basically just her giving him a hug. David seems rather non-affected by him - except when it comes to toy sharing. The two of them fight just like any other set of brothers. They both know how to push each other's buttons, but thankfully things haven't gotten too rough when they get mad. To summarize: I can count on Emma to watch him, and Mckenna to entertain him, and David to make him scream.



Q: Does he say any words?

A: Nope. :) He hasn't picked up on any English yet and as far as Amharic, we're pretty sure he doesn't say any of those either. We asked Ian's Ethiopian brother and sister to pay close attention for the week they were here and they didn't hear him say anything. He babbles a ton, though so I'm hopeful he'll pick up some words soon.



Q: What does he think of the food?

In general, he loves it. When we first came home - and even while in Ethiopia, he ate very little. We even tried giving him what they gave him at the orphanage(firfir), but he was apparently just too stressed to eat. Now that he is home and a little better adjusted, he eats like a horse! He definitely out-eats my other kids. I'm sure this will slow down once we rid his tummy of the parasites(more on that below), and many times he is rather scream-y at meal time - but overall he is a great eater and likes just about everything we give him. His parasite tests came back positive for Giardia - very common in Ethiopians. We'll be picking up his prescription for that tomorrow. I'm really excited for the meds to start working(if they do...they only work 85-90% of the time), because then we'll have less diapers/blowouts/laundry!



Q: What did you think of Ethiopia?

A: We loved it!! Ethiopia is a beautiful country with wonderful people. We traveled to many different places and saw many different terrains. Ethiopia is a country rich with culture and history. We loved asking our drivers all sorts of questions and they never hesitated to educate us.

The food is divine(unless you're eating at the Roha hotel in Lalibela where the eggs taste like fish and the chicken is tougher than nails). We had all sorts of foods from traditional Ethiopian to burgers and pizza. Italian food is huge over there(due to a short Italian occupation) and they definitely know how to cook it.

In the capital city, Addis Ababa, it rained every day - but never all day. The weather there was actually very nice and refreshing after being in 115 degree Arizona. However, Dire Dawa felt just like home. It is very close to the Somalian desert(hence the camels walking the streets), so it was very hot and dusty. The architecture in Dire Dawa was beautiful, and everything we ate there was delicious. Lalibela was similar in climate to Addis - wet and 60's-70's. We loved Lalibela and can't recommend it enough if you ever have the chance to go.



Q: Why are there are so many orphans in Ethiopia?

A: We've had this question a lot lately and there really is no one simple answer. Overall: poverty. But there are so many factors that contribute to the poverty, and likewise so many problems that come from the poverty that then lead to orphaned children. I would love to direct anyone wanting a better answer to this question to the wonderful book, "There is No Me Without You," by Melissa Fay Greene. That book talks all about the Ethiopia orphan crisis and why it has become what it is. Excellent resource!



Q: How old is he?

A: ...good question - I'd like to know the answer to that one too! When Malachi arrived at Wanna house, their doctors estimated his age to be 7 months. That was at the end of January. So, by their calculations, he is 14 months right now. When we took him to his new pediatrician here in the states she said, "There is no way he's 14 months. I'd say more like 18-24 months." She said this because developmentally he was acting much older but also, if he was 14 months then he is in the 90th percentile for height. He has many signs of malnutrition and so for a malnourished child to be in the 90th percentile for height...that's a little weird. We did a bone scan which can be off by +/- 4 months. The results came back: 24 months!! That's 10 months older than we thought, which is almost twice the 14 months we were told. Right now, we're thinking we'll choose 20 months(what a weird concept...choose how old your child is), because that's on the younger side and we'd rather err on that side than the older side. Essentially the few months we could be off by isn't enough to make that big of a difference in his schooling. Even if we do go all the way up to 24 months, he'll still be in the same class as if we choose 20 months. The weirdest part about all of this is that when we began this process, we thought we'd be bringing a baby home. Turns out he's less than a year younger than our 2 1/2 year old, so we really have two toddlers. Hopefully they can be buds!

So, overall everything is going really well. We're all still getting used to our new life as a family of 6 with all of the craziness that entails. I have a feeling life won't be settling down any time soon so I might as well just start rolling right along with it... and stop stressing so much.
(btw - the camera has stayed in the drawer since we got home. I'll try to break it out soon, but no promises. I'm lucky if I get a shower - I'm not sure I can add picture taking to the list without blowing a gasket!)

Zzzzzzzzzz

I promise I will blog...someday.

July

July is always a fun month for us because it has Emma's birthday and our anniversary. I know lately I have just been posting a ton of pics with no captions, so I'll try to narrate these for you.

For our 8th anniversary, Ian planned a super fun surprise day for us. He just told me to be ready at 7am when he got back from seminary. We got in the car and headed south. On the way, we stopped at Dairy Queen...just because it was a special day. So, here's my double PB cup Blizzard at 9:27am:


First we went to a rock climbing place in Tucson only to find out that they were closed until noon. No worries, Ian just bumped up our massages. After a very nice relaxing massage, we went to a super yummy and cute little restaurant for lunch, Tohono Chul Park Tea Room. It was absolutely delicious, with fresh ingredients and yummy prickly pear lemonade.After that we headed down to Kartchner Caverns - a limestone cave where they have living formations made of calcite - for a little spelunking. It was SOOO awesome. They are very into preserving the living stalactites, stalagmites, "soda straws", "bacon", and other really cool things, so you take a guided tour in and they walk you through the caves. On the way down we stopped by this raptor...and any of you who remember our college years will appreciate this pic:



Here's us on our little tram ride to the cave entrance:


They don't let you take pictures inside the caverns, so here's Ian once we came out...pretending to eat a prickly pear. We had lots of prickly pear candy that day, but apparently not enough for him.


After the caverns we walked around the museum part of Kartchner Caverns.








These are very bad representations of what you can see in the caves. For a better idea, go here, here, or here. They have a 58 ft tall(5 stories high) column made from stalactites and stalagmites called Kubla Khan which is absolutely breathtaking.





After Kartchner Caverns we drove back to Tucson for dinner. Ian had researched and planned to go to a specific restaurant, but it was closed on Mondays. We drove a bit further up the road and parked, thinking we'd walk around and find a place. We just happened to park in a lot behind a Greek restaurant. We usually like Greek food, but aren't usually lusting after it, so we walked around a while to see if we could find anything else. We stopped on the way and got a little shopping done and also picked up a little desert for later. After not finding anywhere else to eat, we headed back to Athens on 4th, and OH MY WORD. I have NEVER in my life been to a restaurant with better food or better service. I am definitely going back, even if I have to drive the 2 hours by myself. When we walked in, the owner greeted us and showed us to our table, offering to put our desserts in the fridge, and also telling us we wouldn't need them because he was going to give us his best dessert on the house(which he did and it was divine).
We were brought bread and there was olive oil on the table, but no balsamic vinegar, so I requested some. He hesitated a few seconds and asked how much I like balsamic. When I told him I loved it, he said he'd just got some new balsamic that I was going to love. He wasn't kidding. I could have drank the whole bottle. Throughout the rest of the night I was dipping everything in it. We also ordered an appetizer that was basically cheese and butter on pita bread. Drool worthy. I could go on and on...basically everything in this restaurant was prepared perfectly and I have never loved a restaurant more. Plus, Giorgios told us to come back with our new baby boy and the rest of the family(extended too!) and he'd give us a meal on the house. What could be better than free food? Oh wait...AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS free food. :)


We had a fantastic anniversary! Here's a random silly pic of David. Ian's been taking him to the "Itty Bitty Sports" program at the YMCA. So cute.


Planting flowers:







(Yes I know her shirt is on backwards...she says her tags don't bother her when she wears her clothes backwards. I think she just likes looking like Willie off the Pickle Boat.)



One day in July Ian brought home 20 pounds of cherries...


Which we had a lot of fun canning! Here's D inspecting them:


And Emma stemming them...


Yum! We got 9 quarts, plus a few full bellies.


Pioneer day bike parade:








Emma's 7th Hawaiian birthday party...Painting hibiscus piggy banks:








Cupcakes...I got the idea from my friend Tina's blog and they turned out so cute!








My cute chef hubby


Digging for sea shells


blowing out candles(you've probably seen the hilarious video by now)


I thought this pic of Katelyn and Emma was cute. Looks like a pretty deep convo.


My adorable little man


My bro-in-law Jed and sister Shannon came just for Emma!


All the girls!


After presents they all went upstairs to play. I asked Ian to check on them because I was a little worried about the lack of supervision. Here is what he found:


A puppet show! Complete with audience:


At some point Tami and I got in a pillow fight. I thought this deserved some blog-time. lol!


We still love each other. :)



We have loved having the girls home for the summer, but I'm so excited for the routine of the school year! My sister's coming to watch the kids when we go to Ethiopia, so we'll miss the girls' first day of school and then as soon as we got back, life is going to be insane! Hopefully I'll get on here to blog about our trip! Ciao until then!