Nothing Happens Quickly

There is a significant theme about life in India that I hope you have picked up on in my writings over the past 1.5 years.  Nothing Happens Quickly Here! That’s just the way it is…there’s no way of getting around it…there’s no way to change it…you just have to accept it…or it will drive you insane.  In the same way we have been slowly chipping away at the mountain of paperwork and processes necessary to legally open our business, we have also been diligently working with several local contractors to renovate our office/showroom for our grand opening…that will happen…one day…I’m sure…

We rented our office space in May.  Our whole family took part in cleaning it up to prepare it for renovation.  Then, from June until October, we had all kinds of professionals and laborers working to turn Tony’s vision for our showroom into reality.  There are still a few things that he would like add to the space but in my opinion it looks pretty great and is ready to open today…if we could.

For those of you who are like me and not familiar with construction, here’s a list of the things we have had done in our shop: the floor was raised, tile flooring was installed, false ceilings were installed with fans and a few different options for lighting - recess lighting and rope lighting, the entire space was painted including an accent wall with tiles along the bottom, a modular kitchen including self-closing cabinets, a sink, and granite counter tops was built, wallpaper was installed on the lower wall of the counter, and a glass storefront was installed. 

Here are several pictures to help you see the progress from start to finish…

 

Cable and Coke

Tony's birthday was in December.  The kids decided for his birthday that Tony should get a television.  We have gone without a television for 1.5 years.  Actually, I rather enjoyed not having a television, but I never thought we would go without one for so long.  I am the kind of person who enjoys silence while Tony enjoys noise.  When we lived in the States, if Tony was awake and at home, he liked to have the television on...even if he wasn't watching it, just for the background noise. 

 

We have talked about getting a television many times but just never did it.  Actually, a television will benefit our language learning.  Part of our language class includes watching Hindi cartoons.  First, we watch an entire episode on our computer.  Then, one of us re-tells the story using our best Hindi.  After that, we start at the beginning of the episode and take it a few sentences at a time.  We do this to get the exact Hindi wording and the literal English translation of the Hindi.  

Our television is about a month old now and as of yet it is just a glorified computer screen.  We have not gotten a cable hook up for it yet so we are just watching movies on it from our external hard drive and DVDs.  Today, Tony and Dylan stopped into a cable store to check prices and you are not going to believe what they discovered.  We can get the best satellite package available that includes many US channels (like Disney, Discovery, History, TLC, etc) for 480 Rupees per month...that's about $7.10 US.

It's not just cable that is ridiculously inexpensive here...Coke is as well.  I'm not sure how much a 20 oz Coke is in the States now but before we left it was about $1.60 US.  During our travels through Europe we have encountered 20 oz Cokes for as high as $3.00 US.  Here, we can buy the same delicious 20 oz Coke for 35 Rupees...that's only $0.52 US.  Now, granted that 35 Rupees is more than the cost of a haircut so it is obviously a luxury that many forgo here except maybe on special occasions.

I haven't any pictures related to this post, but nonetheless here are a few pictures of us enjoying some Coke and momos at a roadside restaurant with our friends before they returned to the States...

  

Princess Desirae is Five!

Today, we celebrate Desirae's fifth birthday.  She is an amazing little girl who is bubbling over with joy and love...singing and dancing through most days.  Her smile and her laughter light up our lives.  She loves to play Lalaloopies and Barbies, to color and draw, to ride bikes and scooters, and to pose for pictures...as you can see...

This year has brought many joys and even a few painful discoveries for her.  She started Kindergarten this year and is doing great...learning to read and write and doing fun crafts and projects with Daddy.  She lost her first two teeth over the last several days...that was very exciting for her.

This year, as a result of some questioning by her friend about her "real mom"...she discovered the painful side of adoption...that she has two families...one in Ethiopia and us.  Many people do not consider that adoption includes both the joy of having a new family to love and be loved by, but it also includes the devastation of losing your biological family.

It was very painful to process this truth with our baby girl...we were all in tears.  We tried to help her understand that we too are her "real parents" and her "real family"...that she has the gift of having two families...her first family in Ethiopia and her second family...us!  We want her to love and cherish her biological family as well as her adoptive family.  As she grows older we will share more of her story with her...so more painful conversations are ahead.

Her story is a painful story...yet it is a beautiful story...it is a story written by God...and we are delighted to be a part of it.  Her story is also her story...this means it is hers to share when she wants to, how she wants to, with whom she wants to...if she wants to.  We have not shared her story with others for this reason.  We want her to hear her story from us when she is ready and to be able to share it as she desires.

We absolutely adore our little Ethiopian Princess...and we thank God daily for the joy, privilege and honor of being a part of her life and being her family!

She's Back!

I love surprises!  I love receiving surprises but I really, really love to give surprises...especially to my children!  Well, the kids got a huge surprise on New Year's Day...Our nanny for six month while we were in Delhi, Sam, came back for a visit with her new husband, David!  The kids had no idea she was coming...and that is really hard to do especially with Dylan.

We told the kids when we left the house that we had a few things we needed to pick up...some new pillows and a few other things.  When we arrived at the airport they were confused but we didn't say much.  We got passes to get inside the airport and went to the airport restaurant, where you can watch people disembark from airplanes onto the tarmac.  Tony nonchalantly messed with his phone while we sat there and when he saw Sam and David walk down the stairs of the plane...he asked the kids..."who's that?"  Dylan was the first to see and he immediately started crying...by the time Delaney and Desirae spotted them...Tony was headed out of the restaurant and down the stairs to the luggage claiming area to meet our guests.  It was a tear-filled reunion across the metal divider until they retrieved their bags!  So much fun!

Sam was such a gift to our family our first six months in this country.  Her presence, joy and fun-spirit really made our difficult life in Delhi much more bearable.  She has become so dear to our entire family.  She got married in August.  And, her and her husband still have one more year in college...but they have come for two weeks to once again bless our family with her presence.

And...while she and David are here we have put them to work decorating the girls' dollhouse.  Of course, they knew about this project in advance so they brought loads of ideas and supplies from the States to give the plywood dollhouse a real makeover.  Even now, they are hard at work painting walls and floors, installing carpet and wallpaper, building furniture, and even repainting areas...after Delaney had a change of heart on color choice.  I cannot wait to show you the finish product..but for now...here are a few pictures of their progress.

We are so delighted to have "our Sam" back...even for just a few weeks.