Time Keeps on Slipping, Slipping, Slipping

It's Saturday night (Ethiopian time) and we're still in Ethiopia.  We were supposed to land back in California 24 hours ago.  No such luck. 

The good news is that AAI's lawyer did a little leaning on the judge and she agreed to "unstick" Elsa's paperwork.  We should have everything we need for our Embassy appointment.  We were originally told we would go to the Embassy first thing Monday morning, with a possible departure home on Wednesday, but then were told our Embassy appointment will be on Tuesday instead, with a possible departure on Thursday.  The bad news is that nothing can be confirmed.

We want to go home!  The guesthouse is starting to feel pretty confining, especially since there are very few places we are allowed to go with the kids.  Ashagre really has no interest in hanging out at his orphanage, so our daily outing usually consists of one of the three restaraunts we are allowed to take the kids to.  The kids are getting kind of bored of the puzzles/games/movies here, and Brent and I are having a hard time inventing new games that we can teach them with our limited shared language (I tried hopscotch today, but neither of the kids wanted anything to do with it).  On top of all this, I have some sort of respiratory infection that has left me relatively voiceless for the past two days (I think my system is really irritated from the air pollution in Addis).

Oops, I think I officially fell into a whine.  I promised I wouldn't do that on the blog.  I'm done, I promise.

Hmm, how about some cute kid images?  One of the other familes staying at the guesthouse taught Elsa to say "Oh my baby!" and she walks around saying it non-stop in this adorable sultry, sickenly sweet sing-song voice.  Both kids are getting pretty good at saying please when they want something and we are starting to hear Mommy and Daddy off and on, rather than just there favorite pet names for us, anche (Hey You said to Mommy) and ante (Hey You said to Daddy).  Both kids are really starting to repeat English words when we say them, and I think they are starting to understand us more and more.  Our Amharic is also expanding daily. 

Ashagre LOVES puzzles and is getting pretty good at looking at the picture on the box and figuring out what piece he has in his hand.  He still needs a lot of help, but is happy to do puzzles with Mommy or Daddy for hours. 

We tried to take the kids swimming at the Hilton, but Elsa grew hysterical after I put her in her swimsuit and I had to take it off pretty quickly.  Ashagre wouldn't even put his trunks on.  They did enjoy playing at the playground, especially swinging. 

Ashagre gets so excited when something funny happens in a cartoon that he is watching that he jumps up, squeals at the top of his lungs, and runs around doing a little happy dance.  You have to be alert if he is sitting in your lap during a funny cartoon; otherwise you are bound to get an elbow, head, or bony butt somewhere you rather not.

Elsa tried orange soda for the first time the other day (don't worry mom, we told them there is no soda in America :)).  She took one sip, made a funny face, and asked for water.  Ashagre gladly drank her share of the bottle.  The entire world is really new to Elsa and it is pretty fun to watch her start to come out of her shell a bit.  She definitely loves her goofy dad.

Well, I should get back to the living room.  Puzzle number 1,027 is underway.  We'll keep you posted and hopefully will be able to announce our homecoming soon.