two years.

about two years ago the mister and i were on the other side of the earth meeting our youngest boy. so much of him was a mystery, and the canyons of everything i didn't know stood wide between us as he first walked into that room. but we bounced a beach ball to his high-octane delight, and we (he) dug through my bag and unearthed all sorts of treasures, and we got to know each other just the smallest bit of a little.




[please forgive the photo quality. it turns out that when i'm sleep deprived and emotionally saturated, i can't be bothered with things like shutter speed.]








he's grown up a ton in the past two years. in the early days i just wasn't sure how we'd swing this. he was into everything, and when i'd remove him from pounding on the computer keyboard, he wriggle out of my hands and run right back to resume his typing. he'd laugh and point his finger at me and scold me in his super cute almost-five-year-old voice, and although the whole thing was in amharic, i'm pretty sure i could work out a translation: silly mom-lady. you seem to think i'm going to listen to you.

(they did tell us he ran the care center and had all the nannies wrapped around his finger. we just didn't know to believe them.)








our boy is tenacious and funny. exceptionally bright. resilient and unsinkable and engaging and charming. he could very well make history, this child, and we're grappling with how to give him things like honesty and humbleness in a world that values rock stars.

we know each other now. and he trusts us and stays close and we're praying big, miracle-sized things for his life.

things i need to tell you.

1. i am eating pudding right now for late-breakfast. (early breakfast was tea.) it's the snack-pack kind in the plastic cups that i almost never buy, but meijer had that 10 for 10 sale (the 11th item free!) and so of course i rationalized it as the free extra item. also, it feels like friday, and that is somehow related in ways i can't articulate.


(this, sadly, is neither of my breakfasts. this is a macchiato from ethiopia two years ago, and it was amazing.)

2. my good camera is broken (hence the recycled macchiato picture). the shutter doesn't close and i get an error 99, and yep i've tried cleaning the contacts, but no cigar. this gives me that sad, my-third-eyeball-is-broken sort of feeling.

3. as you may recall, my weight-management strategy is to never buy clothes in a larger size. right about now, when our nine months of winter turn into time-to-wear-shorts-it's-may, i have roughly two options: a) get off my hindquarters and exercise; and b) take up residence on a nude beach.

i don't think my two remaining eyeballs can handle b (plus nobody's eyeballs would survive me), so we are going with a.

which means that

4. with great sighing and internal vocalized reluctance, i started running again. that was two weeks back, and i took the 10 year old, who is just my speed. or actually he is not, but he waits for me and doesn't complain (whereas with the two oldest boys, after half a block it's just like running by myself).

with the homeschooling, my schedule is weird and i haven't gotten to run on weekdays, so i'm mostly walking instead. the problem with walking is that it's slow and i could be running and so i'm annoyed with it the entire time. sometimes i get the small guy to walk with me, which is way more fun (i am all about the walking with somebody, it's like conversation with a side-helping of exercise that i don't even notice), but mostly i let him play for recess in the back while i walk circles around our oversized yard. (let me explain. i have tried jogging around the yard, but it's uneven in a way that tricks you under all that grass, and i turned my ankle twice in the first lap.) (i kind of wish it had been three times, because i wanted to type 'thrice' right there.)

personally, i'd like to be a swimmer. you don't get hot, it's easy on the knees, and you end up with killer shoulders. this is totally the sport for me, as soon as i learn how to swim properly.



5. my padre, who is my best dad, has been having some concerning abdominal-organ issues. after another stay at the hospital, he is now home again, minus a gallbladder. he is still full of jokes and encouragement for everyone else, but he's not feeling well and eating continues to be a struggle. please pray.

6. i have a boatload of seriously amazing people in my life. some of you guys i see every week, and some of y'all are too far off for my liking, but you all are my people, and you show up for me in ways i don't even the smallest bit deserve. thank you. for the calls, words of affirmation, embarrassing college videos, care for my parents, unflagging prayer, notes in the actual mail, all of it. you all are so much light.