ET - Day 5 - Just Hanging..

 
(Tuesday, August 24)

Today was just hard.  I miss my girls!  I miss having some space.  The tiny room is closing in on me, and G needs some space to move. 

  

Since we had a long list of items we want to purchase, and we didn't have a chance on our 2 days before we got G, we decided that S will go with the group shopping.  Some of the folks were going shopping, and some were going to HH.  Given G's age, we thought that it would be best not to go to HH.  We didn't want to confuse the situation further.

I tried to spend most of the day entertaining G outside.  (I am so grateful that it wasn't raining.  In fact, the weather was beautiful.)  There's not much space within our hotel compound, but there is a little parking lot between the main building and our building.

(Our room was the 2nd floor.  The laundry was right below.  The door is by the potted plant by the car.)

When we left HH, Almaz handed us a soccer ball to use.  Even though it did come in handy, it was kinda hard to use it.  The ground was slanted just enough that each kick usually resulted in me crawling under a car to retrieve the ball. 

 

 

We tried the blow-up beach ball I bought, but it was a little too windy for that.  Both of these would have been perfect to use in the open ballroom, but the ballroom was in use.  It was in use for basically the entire time we were there.

Luckily, one other moms decided to stay behind with her 22 month old, Markos.  G and Markos were great friends at HH.  We ended up blowing LOTS of bubbles.  It was so fun to see his excitement when he blew the bubbles, and then caught one back on his wand.

 

 

He is just too cute!!

 

 

  

I was so thankful that Kristen was there.  It was so nice to have someone to talk with, and she has 3 girls at home. 

 

G and Markos were so cute together.  We will definitely keep in touch.

After Kristen took Markos for a nap, and the bubbles were all gone, it was time for lunch.  On the way to the restaurant, I asked one of the staff to ask G what he would like to eat.  (The staff were awesome.  They all were eager to help.  They all knew G's name and would talk with him.)   Pasta it was.  It was fairly quick as the meeting downstairs was breaking for lunch, and G was starting to get a little antsy.  He ate every meal in either my or S's lap and with us feeding him about 80% of the time.  That was very important for bonding.

After pasta, it was back out to the parking lot.  We played alittle more.  One thing about this boy is that he doesn't want to walk.  Good for bonding, and I am thankful for that, but hard on the ol' back.  He is heavy, and he is complete dead weight.  As soon as I would put him down, he would say "up".  And, of course, like any good momma I would pick him "up". 

After the parking lot, I tired the room.  The room wasn't going to work.  How about a movie?  He was so not interested in a movie.  I thought that would for sure be a hit.  We ended up sitting on the front steps of the hotel.  The hotel security staff got me a chair, and we sat there watching makinas.  When a big bus would go by, he would yell makina.  He was content, and it was so neat seeing the excitement in his eyes with every passing big bus.

 

Seesay, our taxi driver, is out front and chats with us for a while.  I tell him how beautiful I think everything is as we look across at the green field with mountains in the background.  He proceeds to tell me that it is only beautiful if your life is beautiful.  He has been trying to get to the U.S. for years.  His brother is a professor in D.C.  He says that getting to the U.S. means that his family can have a better life.

These two pictures are from the front of the hotel. There are 2 busy roads in front of the hotel. The first one is about 20 yards from the front steps, so I have to hold on to G and be "on". He has no concept of the car danger and is known to play "chase me".

Also, we could people watch out in front.  People are constantly just walking by.  If they lingered too long, then the security staff would shoo them along.  For two days, I watched a man plowing the field walking behind an ox.

 

After about an hour or so, we headed back to the room.  As soon as we got to the room, S shows up with all of his finds.  He is excited to show me all of his finds, but it will have to wait - no room and G is ready to go back outside.  After being by myself with G for 5+ hours, I happily hand S the soccer ball; stretch my back; and sit in silence for a moment.  After about 10 minutes, they return.  Then, S and G head down to the restaurant for dinner.  I join them after about 10 more minutes of much needed quite time.  There are several families eating, so we have a good time catching up on everyone's progress.

Bedtime comes, and it is still HARD.  We're making progress though.  There's still crying, but it isn't ALL tears.  He will also pat the pillow for me to lay down with him on the same pillow.  Then, he will cover us up with the same blanket and put his arm around my neck.  It is really sweet and progress!  Of course, after a few minutes, he is back jumping around and crying.  The JOY of the LORD is my strength.  And I keep telling myself, that just because it is normal, that doesn't mean that it is easy.  I pray for G's peace and his trust.  He is doing so well, but we have a long ways to go.

We make it through another day!  Thanks be to God!