Ellie playing with Jannamaria on Sunday night
yesterday at the orphanage
This morning with my two kiddos
Checking out a peacefully sleeping David Reni (air conditioning is going to be a shock!)I'm blogging poolside. Ellie and Nathan are enjoying some special time together in the water. Bless Nathan for tolerating the frigid temps! They drain and refill this pool so often, it never has time to warm up!
We had a good visit with David Reni this morning. I think he is finally feeling better and his spots are diminishing in quantity and intensity. Nathan took Els for a little walk to an Italian pharmacy to find some contact lens solution for me (I left mine in Tirana). They didn't have any but we learned about an optical shop near the center of town. Our taxi only had to ask directions once. They had one box of solution for soft lenses (I wear rigid gas permeable), but I didn't want to keep looking. This city only has a population of 50,000 so finding a specialty product can be tricky! This should hold me over for the next few days.
Thanks for your comments on the blog! Katie Bathje, you crack us up and humor is just what we need here from time to time! Corrina -- loved your quote about Albania. Nathan hadn't heard that before and it just may make the masthead of the blog next time I design it. Then we got this special comment on Sunday. I hope she doesn't mind me republishing it here:
My name is Doreen and I am Kerri (the South African Missionary)'s mother. We had the pleasure of visiting Albania last year at the beginning of September and met David when he was just about 5 weeks old. I remember holding him and feeding him and praying for a family to adopt him and care for him - when we returned to the USA I had my church friends pray for parents for him so when Kerri told me that you were there to adopt him I could only thank God and stand in awe of what an awesome God we serve. We continue to pray for the adoption process to be finalised and trust God that His timing is always perfect. Be Blessed - In His Love - Doreen Nixon Maine USA
How grateful we are for individuals who have been praying for our son before we even knew his name. I don't know about you, but that's going to be a fun part of heaven -- connecting with individuals who carried my same prayer burdens or who were an unknown answer to my prayers.
LATER THIS AFTERNOON...
[pardon the pun] Switching gears... our taxi driver, Seni, works as either a firetruck driver or ambulance driver when he's not driving his cab. He has tried unsuccessfully to explain his dayjob to us and will pull out the same tattered photograph of himself behind the wheel of a large vehicle taken through the windshield , but the type of vehicle has been cropped out of the image, so it's not super helpful. Occasionally he can't drive us because he has to report to his 'other job.' His substitute drivers have been other cabbies, however today we had two of his coworkers in the public service sector. This morning I think a firefighter colleague showed up in Seni's car in a black t-shirt with white block lettering across the shoulders. Then this afternoon another friend came to pick us up with his neon-yellow, reflective striped vest draped over the driver's seat. They have all been very pleasant, nice gentlemen. In regards to Seni's mystery occupation, come to think of it, Seni has a basket with two stuffed kitties sitting in his rear window. Surely then, he must be a firefighter?
David Reni several times today crawled over to me (Cydil) and held up his arms to be held. This is a first for me. While he's been doing this for Nathan, he has been slower to warm up to me. I'm probably an anomaly in his world: a female NOT wearing white. What would that make me? Those ladies in white provide food, care, bottles, and everything else he's ever needed!
Nathan claimed that on three different occasions he was able to get DR to say "mama". Of course, I didn't catch it. The place was a bit rowdy this afternoon. So much so that we retreated to the warmer baby room just to get a bit of quiet. Ellie doesn't mind this because the babyroom is full of all of the fun toys which the older kids do not have -- maybe to prevent squabbles?
On Friday night she had another new experience I forgot to share here: we were awakened to a 4.6 magnitude earthquake! Our bed was literally bouncing on the floor. By the time my mind was clear enough to be aware of what was happening, I had shaken Nathan awake, and decided I needed to grab Ellie and roll her under her bed, it was all over. Apparently it originated in Elbasan and they are rather commonplace. Nevertheless, the fact that I woke up after having only been asleep for one hour was unusual enough for me. I'm not a light sleeper.
We have two more nights and two more days in Elbasan before we return to Tirana. Ellie is counting the sleeps until she has 'two grannies' in Albania. What, oh what, will she do with them both here? Her little brain and concept of the world's size continues to grow and expand between understanding the distance between Elbasan and Tirana, and Tirana and Kentucky. We are excited to introduce Nathan's parents to Albania and have them sample a taste of our experiences here.
Well, my tummy's rumbling and I have no clue what sounds good to me. I'm hitting that point in our trip where I'm starting to crave the familiar foods from home. One of our surefire 'good' restaurants within walking distance of our hotel appears to be closed for the owners to go on holiday. That cuts our options down to 2.
We had a good visit with David Reni this morning. I think he is finally feeling better and his spots are diminishing in quantity and intensity. Nathan took Els for a little walk to an Italian pharmacy to find some contact lens solution for me (I left mine in Tirana). They didn't have any but we learned about an optical shop near the center of town. Our taxi only had to ask directions once. They had one box of solution for soft lenses (I wear rigid gas permeable), but I didn't want to keep looking. This city only has a population of 50,000 so finding a specialty product can be tricky! This should hold me over for the next few days.
Thanks for your comments on the blog! Katie Bathje, you crack us up and humor is just what we need here from time to time! Corrina -- loved your quote about Albania. Nathan hadn't heard that before and it just may make the masthead of the blog next time I design it. Then we got this special comment on Sunday. I hope she doesn't mind me republishing it here:
My name is Doreen and I am Kerri (the South African Missionary)'s mother. We had the pleasure of visiting Albania last year at the beginning of September and met David when he was just about 5 weeks old. I remember holding him and feeding him and praying for a family to adopt him and care for him - when we returned to the USA I had my church friends pray for parents for him so when Kerri told me that you were there to adopt him I could only thank God and stand in awe of what an awesome God we serve. We continue to pray for the adoption process to be finalised and trust God that His timing is always perfect. Be Blessed - In His Love - Doreen Nixon Maine USA
How grateful we are for individuals who have been praying for our son before we even knew his name. I don't know about you, but that's going to be a fun part of heaven -- connecting with individuals who carried my same prayer burdens or who were an unknown answer to my prayers.
LATER THIS AFTERNOON...
[pardon the pun] Switching gears... our taxi driver, Seni, works as either a firetruck driver or ambulance driver when he's not driving his cab. He has tried unsuccessfully to explain his dayjob to us and will pull out the same tattered photograph of himself behind the wheel of a large vehicle taken through the windshield , but the type of vehicle has been cropped out of the image, so it's not super helpful. Occasionally he can't drive us because he has to report to his 'other job.' His substitute drivers have been other cabbies, however today we had two of his coworkers in the public service sector. This morning I think a firefighter colleague showed up in Seni's car in a black t-shirt with white block lettering across the shoulders. Then this afternoon another friend came to pick us up with his neon-yellow, reflective striped vest draped over the driver's seat. They have all been very pleasant, nice gentlemen. In regards to Seni's mystery occupation, come to think of it, Seni has a basket with two stuffed kitties sitting in his rear window. Surely then, he must be a firefighter?
David Reni several times today crawled over to me (Cydil) and held up his arms to be held. This is a first for me. While he's been doing this for Nathan, he has been slower to warm up to me. I'm probably an anomaly in his world: a female NOT wearing white. What would that make me? Those ladies in white provide food, care, bottles, and everything else he's ever needed!
Nathan claimed that on three different occasions he was able to get DR to say "mama". Of course, I didn't catch it. The place was a bit rowdy this afternoon. So much so that we retreated to the warmer baby room just to get a bit of quiet. Ellie doesn't mind this because the babyroom is full of all of the fun toys which the older kids do not have -- maybe to prevent squabbles?
On Friday night she had another new experience I forgot to share here: we were awakened to a 4.6 magnitude earthquake! Our bed was literally bouncing on the floor. By the time my mind was clear enough to be aware of what was happening, I had shaken Nathan awake, and decided I needed to grab Ellie and roll her under her bed, it was all over. Apparently it originated in Elbasan and they are rather commonplace. Nevertheless, the fact that I woke up after having only been asleep for one hour was unusual enough for me. I'm not a light sleeper.
We have two more nights and two more days in Elbasan before we return to Tirana. Ellie is counting the sleeps until she has 'two grannies' in Albania. What, oh what, will she do with them both here? Her little brain and concept of the world's size continues to grow and expand between understanding the distance between Elbasan and Tirana, and Tirana and Kentucky. We are excited to introduce Nathan's parents to Albania and have them sample a taste of our experiences here.
Well, my tummy's rumbling and I have no clue what sounds good to me. I'm hitting that point in our trip where I'm starting to crave the familiar foods from home. One of our surefire 'good' restaurants within walking distance of our hotel appears to be closed for the owners to go on holiday. That cuts our options down to 2.
2 comments:
As you know, I love the blog. Of course, I love each of you too. So glad DR's rash is improving. Thanks so much for sharing. We continue to pray for you.
Thanks for rejoicing with us, even in Albania. The quote of the day was Chloe talking to my dad on the phone. She said, "mommy and ababa are shouting and jumping in the house. They just so excited." imagine her saying this with the "I don't get it" tone of voice she has. We had our adoption meeting on Monday and the girls kept asking where Ellie was. We all are thinking and praying for you all.
Post a Comment