Happy First Birthday, Laina Belle!

Today our sweet baby girl turns one. She is a beautiful, delightful, funny, animated, wacky, opinionated little thing. In the past eight weeks since we have been home with Laina, she has learned to sit, scoot, crawl, pull up, sign "more" and "all done" and today, she said her first two words! Two words! On her birthday! She's brilliant! :) She says "off" (we were playing with the light switch) and "uh-oh," which is the cutest thing ever. (I've called her Laina Belle since we named her--not sure why, but apparently I do it too much because Iain told the UPS guy that Belle was her middle name.)

We had Laina's birthday party on Saturday (pictures to come!), so today we had a low-key, sweet day with the birthday girl. The kiddos wrestled on pillows and played silly games all morning.

Isaiah came over after lunch and all four played with Laina's new water table (a gift from Nona). Look at that little girl stand! (She's rockin' her "1" onesie and floweredy jeans, too!)

(tut-tut! Looks like rain!)

This evening, we went to Chick-fil-a for dinner and the boys and Laina played in the play place. Then it was home and to bed for all people in this house ages four, three, and one. It was a nice birthday: family-full and fun.

We lit a candle in honor of Laina's birth family, too. I couldn't get them off my mind today, especially her birth mother. I wonder if she spent the day thinking of her baby girl?

Laina, you are so loved. We loved you not only before we met you, but even before you were born. We started getting ready to adopt you over a year before you took your first breath of Rwandan air. This time last year, when you were born, we were planning one of our many garage sales to bring you home--fighting for you from across the sea.

You are a blessing to us, Laina. We are proud of you, and so glad you are ours. Happy birthday, sweet girl.

Rwanda Rewind: The Second (whole) Week

May 9-13

By the time the second Monday rolled around, we were ready to hit it. We applied for Laina's passport early, and spent the rest of the day trying to get the To Whom letter, the one that would let us keep Laina with us all the time, and travel out of the country with her. It was a long day of waiting. Laina didn't seem to mind.

Tuesday we waited some more, and then we got the To Whom and rejoiced!

We took one last visit to the orphanage to say goodbye. That was good and sad too. Adoption is a beautiful but painful answer to a broken world. Laina was loved and cared for by the people at her orphanage, and they had to say goodbye to her and she to them. She was gaining a family who loves her dearly, but she was losing something too. And the dear, faithful people who care for her and the other orphans under their watch, they say goodbye to these little ones so often. They are happy to see them being united with their families, but it's got to be hard to say goodbye.

(Laina in the arms of one of the sisters who cared for her)

But we were joyous too. We were taking Laina out of those blue gates for the last time. We were closer to being home and back with our boys. We had made a huge step in the paperwork process.

(Laina and I, and our dear friends Alison and Avivah)

(one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip!)

Wednesday through Friday we spent waiting for Laina's passport, getting her visa, etc. We took a trip to the place she was born. That part of the story is hers; I won't be posting details of it. We got to know our little girl better, and we spent time with the other families on our trip.

(Laina on the bus the day we heard the kids' stories)

(Jeb and Laina playing on the bed)

On Friday, we went to the Embassy to try to get Laina's visa. God moved mountains, and miraculously every single child in our group, plus a few others (other families who were adopting) got their visa. Our flight out to Ethiopia left that night (well, really the next morning at 1am), so we had to leave Chez Lando at 10-ish. We packed furiously (actually, we had started packing by faith before we actually had the visas in hand!), and tried to get our paperwork in order.

(Jeremy and Laina went to go get one last round of water bottles at the Joint Supermarket--yes, that's its real name--while I finished up the packing)

We walked to Sole Luna one last time for pizza for dinner (along with Dillon and Jeff). While the men waited for the pizza, I carried Laina to the big open part of the restaurant that overlooks the city of Kigali. We watched night fall on Rwanda, and I whispered to her to say goodbye to her homeland. More heaviness in the midst of joy. It was a sweet moment to share with my daughter in the twilight of our last night in Rwanda. I treasure it.

(the courtyard of Chez Lando, right before we left)

We said goodbye to our home in Rwanda, where we had stayed for 17 incredible days. We woke Laina up from her brief sleep, packed onto the bus one last time, and drove to the airport. Tearful goodbyes to our two POAs (whom we love and miss, and who did such an amazing job getting us through, whom we are so thankful for). Waiting endlessly to get through ticket counters, customs, security. Climbing the steps to the plane, with Laina in the ergo, in the balmy night. Breathing deeply of Rwanda's air one last time.

We were tired and sad and happy and excited. Laina cried and fussed until the plane engines got loud and then she stopped to listen to them, and fell immediately asleep and slept, albeit fitfully, through the whole flight. We landed in Ethiopia early the next morning. A chapter of the trip closed. Another opened.

Seventeen days in Rwanda.

Note: Thanks to Stephan Sharp and Alison McLennan for some of the pictures on this post.

Fourth of July--Laina's First!

We celebrated the Fourth of July this year by going to the Marietta Parade. As parades go, it was kind of lame. Mostly it was businesses who rode in cars and waved out their windows. Not many floats or marching bands. Our favorite part was the Cobb County librarians who pushed decorated library carts in front of them and spun them in unison. They were funny. And yes, we are nerds.

Iain LOVED the parade. Jeremy said that that boy belongs in parades, and he's right. Iain waved his flag, yelled, "Happy Fourth of July!" and jumped around to his heart's content.

Cory watched and wilted in the heat.

Laina was very interested in the goings-on. She didn't mind the loud music or sirens, but she hated it when the motorcycles revved their engines. She dove into me and hid every time.

My cousin Cassie was staying with us for a few days and came too--she and I hit up the QT for the 59 cent sodas before hand, so we were good. :)

We tried to get some good family pictures. We got some family pictures:

Then we headed home to cool off and make some pinwheels, and build with blocks.

sweetest smile ever!

Iain drew a soldier fighting for our country. Then he made his pirate face for the photo.

He drew Superman too, which I loved. Look at his cape and his S! :)

Cory was very proud of his tower.

The Burtons came over for dinner and Jeremy cooked out. We didn't do fireworks (they didn't start until 9pm), but we were treated to quite a storm and lightning show. All in all, it was a fun day, and made sweeter by the fact that our youngest is a new American citizen and that this was our first holiday to celebrate with her.

July 4th is also Rwanda's Liberation Day, the day the Rwandan Patriotic Front entered Kigali and brought the 1994 genocide to an end. So it's a doubly important day around our house.

Happy Independence Day, America! Happy Liberation Day, Rwanda!

Book Review - Uncle Sam's Plantation by Star Parker

From the title alone, you could surmise that this book has some incendiary ideas and opinions, and you would be right. Uncle Sam's Plantation is a no-nonsense, very conservative look at poverty in America and how the government has responded and is currently responding. The author, Star Parker, pulls no punches in dissecting the welfare system, the reasons for poverty, and how much of the government's actions designed to help the poor are actually hurting them. She tackles issues such as minimum wage, abortion, welfare, and education. Phew! While Parker comes down hard on politicians who don't use common sense, and on those people who work the welfare system because they don't want to get jobs (especially men who mooch off women), her tone changes when she speaks of the poor who need help. She is compassionate and concerned. And she has a great deal of common sense and economic smarts that make her ideas seem doable. Parker talks a lot about personal responsibility, which is a refreshing topic in an age where victim mentality reigns. She has faith that, given the proper tools (including education, religious training and the knowledge of right, wrong and consequences) most people will become decent, productive people.

Star Parker is a black woman who worked her way off welfare after being challenged to do so by her pastor. As a young girl, she was told that she couldn't do certain things (have a good job, make money, etc) because the whites would always keep her down. She proved the naysayers (including her former self) wrong. She is an American success story, and now she is a spokesperson for issues of race and poverty. Her story is inspiring.

I enjoyed the first half of the book most. The chapters where she delves into the history of America (in regards to race and poverty) are fascinating. I would use those parts of the book to round out a course in American History for high schoolers. Eventually, though, when I had read past Parker's personal story, the historical accounts, and the parts where she talks about the different kinds of "poor," reading the book felt like listening to a LOT of conservative talk radio: you know they're right on a lot of stuff, but there's only so long you can listen. I was relived to find myself at the end of the book.

Also, it seemed like Parker spent all her time laying out the problems facing America, and no time offering solutions. Maybe the solution lies in getting her message out to many people? But it seems to me that giving specific actions that everyday people can do to help the poor, to fight Big Government, to make our voices heard on issues of abortion, education, etc, would have strengthened the book a good deal.

There was also the weird part where she repeated, word for word, two and a half pages of text a few chapters later. Was that intentional? :)

Overall, this was a good but exhausting read. I think I would have liked it better if it were shorter. But maybe that's because, as a mother of three small children, I hear a good deal of fussing as it is. Even when the fussing is completely legitimate, it does where on you after a while. Parker's personal story, and the history sections make it worthwhile though. For those sections, I will keep this book around.

Note: Booksneeze has provided me with a complementary copy of this book in exchange for a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Rwanda Rewind: The First (whole) Week

May 2-8.

Finally, we were able to start on some adoption paperwork! (Never thought I'd be happy about more paperwork.) Monday morning we hit the ground running, heading to MIGEPROF, and then to the orphanage for a very short visit. Then we headed to sector to work on our Act of Adoption paperwork. We were so excited to get it done!

The first thing checked off the list! (I know this is probably absolutely boring to those of you not in the adoption process, but it's good for us to be able to remember. So bear with me!)

After that, we went back to the orphanage for like two seconds. Then we headed to a new restaurant for lunch. Called Afrika Bite, it was Rwandan food and delicious. Especially the traditional bread. Chipote? I have no idea how to spell it, but I could eat it every day. And the peanut sauce. Yum.

Then we all headed to the airport to pick up the five families who were coming today. It was hard to believe that we were supposed to just now be arriving, when it felt like we had already been there so long. Meeting some new friends (only known to us online) and seeing old ones was so good. And the size of our group more than doubled. Yikes!

More running around all afternoon, dinner at the pizza place, and home to the hotel. We switched rooms this day, unfortunately in that we went from a nice room overlooking the courtyard to a very loud one overlooking a construction site and an insanely loud road. But fortunate in the fact that we got to have a room adjoining the Bowers' room. Fun!

The rest of the week was filled with running around to different offices and buildings, requesting a court date, visiting Laina, going to court, waiting for our ruling, eating at various places (meals take hours in Rwanda), waiting for things to happen.

I learned to do laundry in our room, and we never had to use the laundry service. It was actually kind of relaxing and normal in the midst of stressful and different. Not that I typically do our laundry in the sink, but you know what I mean. Mindless repetition and all that.

We attended court, which was nerve-wracking before and surprisingly quick and painless. We went to the Genocide Memorial (I wrote about it here). It was beautiful and heartbreaking.

Then the big day arrived: Gotcha Day, the day we'd pass court and Laina would be ours forever. May 6, 2011.

It was a bit surreal for me because I missed it. I was pretty sick that day and had to stay at the hotel the whole day. Yuck! So I found out via text that we had a new daughter, and I had to wait until the next day to see her.

But the next day (Saturday) was another good one because we got to take her out of the orphanage for the day! The families who passed court got up bright and early to be at the orphanage by 6:30 and take our babies with us. It was amazing to walk out the doors with her. We had a lot of firsts that day.

First nap on our bed (on top of the ergo, in her orphanage clothes still).

First bath with us (in the sink!).

First outfit chosen by us (a shirt the boys picked out for her with Aunt Kelsey, grey leggings, and a headband and bow from Aunt Lindy).

It was a bit intimidating--okay, a lot intimidating--to be given this almost-ten-month old baby and being supposed to know what to do next. How often did she nap? How much formula did she need, and how often? Was she on solids yet? And on the questions went. I felt like a first-time mother again, except more relaxed. As in, "I have no idea what I'm doing, but it'll work out."

We hung out around the hotel for a lot of the morning, and then we took a trip outside the city to a nearby village. The country of Rwanda is amazingly beautiful, as are her people.

We had to bring Laina back to the orphanage that night, which was heart-wrenching. This trip was so full of highs and lows it was astounding. But Sunday morning, we picked her up again and got to go to church with her. And it was Mother's Day! Church with my daughter on Mother's Day. Now that's a good day.

And so ended the first full week in Rwanda. We made great strides in our paperwork, we spent time with Laina, we missed our boys like crazy, we learned and loved Rwanda some more.