Confession Friday!

I confess

• I don’t understand road rage. I mean really… is it necessary to yell, scream and flip the bird to people because they accidental cut you off or took your parking spot unknowingly. Who hasn’t done that before and let’s face it, you really aren’t affecting the person in the car you are yelling at, your are just making a jack a$s of yourself and giving them something to laugh at because the sight of you is quite funny.

• The recent news, articles, updates ect… that have come from the Ethiopian Adoption community in the last week have made me mad, upset, thankful and non edge. I know a lot of people still in this process, some of which I consider my friends and the thought of the pain and unknowingness once again that they are going through are the reason for these feelings.

• That the last month has been a little hard. Darryl and I own some rental properties, and in the last month we have had issues with 3 of our units. We knew these months would happen when we decided to become landlords a few years ago, but I have to admit, there has been a day or two this past month when we question if it is worth it……IT IS!

• I am very relieved that after 2 months our shipment for Chance For Change finally left Ethiopia. We haven’t been able to raise much money these past few months, because we don’t have very much product in Canada at the moment. This was our first shipment we sent with our license and we now know all the red tape associated with a shipment. Let me tell you…. There is a lot.
  

• I have my finger, toes and legs crossed for all of my adoptive friends who are currently fighting for their children, leaving for Ethiopia to attend court and hoping that the next few months brings “the phone call”.

• I kiss my children good night every night when I go to bed. Most nights I stop for a minute and stare at them sleeping. It is usually in those moments that I realize that the greatest accomplishment I have in my life was becoming a mother.

• I can’t wait until summer. Every day the sun is shining I want to leave work and go and open our cottage. COME ON WARM WEATHER!

Every day is an Adventure!

Tegegn has been in our family for almost 9 months now. He adjusted so well, that most days I honestly forget that. It feels like he has always been here, and that he is just a regular 4 year old Canadian child that didn't spend the first few years of his life in sever poverty not having a toy to play with or a change of clothes.

There have been so many things I have watched him learn about over the past 9 months that I can't name them all. At the airport surprisingly the airplane wasn't the highlight. Honestly I don't really think he knew what it was, and we just kept telling him that it was like a beep beep car. That seemed to work. The things he was amazed by were chairs that were stuck together, of course the escalator and most shocking was the ceiling fan. Just another thing on a mile long list that we in Canada take for granted.

Last night something happened that made me remember that he is a boy who grew up in a developing country and he is still figuring things out (something that I can honestly say that I sometimes forget). Tegegn does not like his hands and feet being cold. The first time we realized this was in Ethiopia when he had ice in his drink for the first time. We don't think about it but ice is a luxury, and one that most of the world doesn't ever get to experience. We were out for dinner and his drink came. We had forgotten to ask for no ice, but we realized that Tegegn was use to the water of Ethiopia so thought we would just let him drink it. Well that was not happening. Even though we didn't understand a word he was saying, it was very obvious that he had no idea what that was and was having no part of it. After taking the ice out of his drink he picked it up. The reaction was hilarious. It was something he never felt before, and I could tell he didn't like it. He has grown accustom to ice now and has no problem with it, but he doesn't like to hold it. In the summer I had to wrap his freezes up in paper towel for him to eat it because it is "too cold mommy".

Well last night Celine asked if she could have a piece of ice. I'm not sure why all kids like ice, but they do so I let her have one. Now Tegegn is in the stage that he wants to do everything his big sister does so he wanted one as well. Totally forgetting about his cold hand issues I handed him a piece. Well you can guess what happened "no good mommy. Ice is cold. Tegegn needs a napkin". So I put his ice on a paper towel. About a minute later he was saying it was still to cold. I asked him what he wanted me to do, and he pointed to the microwave and told me that he wanted me to warm it up. I tried to explain that that would melt the ice, but 4 year old's know better so the paper towel and ice went into the microwave. After 30 seconds it was half melted and I took it out and gave it to him. He couldn't understand where half of it went but it was ok for a minute. Then it was cold again, so into the microwave it went. 30 seconds later I opened the door again, and WOW surprisingly it was gone. Tegegn's response "where did it go mommy?". After explaining with disbelief he asked for another piece. So again I gave it to him on a paper towel. Once again he told me that it was to cold and it needed to go into the microwave. I tried and tried to explain that it would melt again, but once again 4 year old's know best. This time he wanted to press the button. I think he thought I did something wrong. So I picked him up, showed him the 30 second button to press and away he went. 30 seconds later I fully expected him to question why the ice was half melted and the process to start again, but NO. The microwave stopped, he pulled it open to find a half melted piece of ice and a soggy paper towel. He took it out and said "Tegegn's done". I put him down. He proceeded to start to walk away with his ice in his hand, but first he turned around and said......" See mommy Tegegn knows".

Everyday is an Adventure