Our [c]lucky day, OR Kazar Timothy

I was putting Timothy's clean diaper on after his bath around noon today when Mom came into the bathroom, laughing. She said I'd received a gift. I looked at her blankly, and she leaned over to whisper, "It's a live chicken!"

I carried my baby--with only a diaper on--out into the living room to greet our friend Maman Joshua, Auntie Esther. (See Joshua's birthday, from August 31, 2007) She'd come to meet baby Timothy, of course, or--as they call him--"bon boy," which I gather is pidgin for "baby boy." She held Timothy and smiled wide, speaking Hausa I couldn't understand and repeating, "Yayi kyau" ("It is good," or "It's beautiful").

Then I looked into the little basket at her feet, and--sure enough--a brown chicken looked back at me with beady eyes. My first thought was, Wow. This is a huge gift. My second thought, though, was, Oh my gosh. What am I going to do with it??

Maman Joshua handed the chicken to my mom's helper Sarah, who made a small space for it under my mom's kitchen counter. And there it is right now, probably pooping on the floor. David came home briefly for lunch and said he'd take care of the chicken. I have no idea how to slaughter a chicken, or remove its feathers, or anything! But I'm sure I'll chronicle it all for you to read about!

The latest on Luke

My parents are leaving in a week, and there is still no home for Luke. In their infinite graciousness, Mom and Dad decided they simply could not leave Luke with us for the full six months. I admit this was a relief of monstrous proportions.

So...Here's the current plan:

Mom and Dad will leave on December 4 as scheduled. David and I will watch Luke for the rest of December and into January. Then there are two possibilities

1. A missionary family--we'll call them the Smiths--will return from furlough and take Luke into their home. They've been approached about the possibility but haven't given a final "yes" or "no" yet. OR
2. Mom and Dad will return to Nigeria and continue working on the adoption, maybe planning on going on real furlough in the summer or next year.

Effectively, my parents still aren't sure whether they're leaving in a week for six months or for six weeks. In any case, they'll fly into Charlotte, NC, where our mission is headquartered. Then they'll spend three weeks with my sister Lisa in Virginia, and three weeks with my brother Jonathan in Wisconsin. In the meantime, David and I will stay in their house and take care of Luke.

This is a fantastic compromise, and I have no problem with it at all! Since I'm still on maternity leave, I don't have to worry about being distracted while trying to work. Luke's tutor Mr. Abe will still continue to come and teach Luke throughout most of the Christmas holidays. We've even had a few offers for respite care. Plus living in my parents' house will be a blessing--having running water, a deep freezer, a big TV, and a washing machine, all under one roof!

Oh, I know it will still be challenging parenting my brother, even for six weeks. But it's do-able. We'll make it. And hopefully we'll all learn a lot in the experience. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about in the coming weeks!

The Curious Savage

Last night, the Hillcrest senior class of 2008 performed a witty and amusing play called The Curious Savage.

What a delight! I highly recommend seeing the play if ever you get a chance.

Here's what it's about. The play takes place in a sanitorium, the Cloisters, with a handful of main characters, none of whom is actually "crazy," but all of whom are rather eccentric. The newest addition to their group is Mrs. Savage, whose step-children have brought her to the Cloisters because she has tried to set up a memorial fund with her late husband's fortune--a fund to finance foolish dreams. In fact, Mrs. Savage has turned the fortune into bonds and hidden them, adding a twist to the story.

The Cloisters characters include

• Fairy May, a flighty and winsome young lady with a big imagination;
• Jeffrey, a young war veteran who carries the scar of losing his entire crew;
• Hannibal, an overweight statistician-turned-violinist;
• Florence, an upper-class woman of dignity and taste; and
• Mrs. Paddy, who stopped conversing years ago when her husband told her to "Shut up," and who only speaks to list the things she hates.

It's a fun way to spend a couple of hours, and I highly recommend the play.

Congrats to the Class of 2008 on an excellent performance!

The mob

Today we went on our weekly shopping trip--Mom, Baby Timothy, Mr. Magit (the man who drives for my aprents), and I--and came upon a huge traffic jam. We were on our way to the mission headquarters so Mom could withdraw some grocery money, and wham! We drove right into a mob of people. They were a peaceful mob, for the most part, but a mob nonetheless. Cars were parked all over both sides of the narrow road leading to headquarters, and people milled about in the middle of the road. Most of the people were men in long kaftans and caps, though there were a few women in long skirts and veils. It took us almost ten minutes to go a single block.

Why?

We found out there were two reasons.

One: People were coming to register for their trip to Mecca for the Haj. Apparently, the government subsidizes the trip for many people. And the rest can afford to go on their own.

Two: There was an appeal beginning in the Court of Appeals (around the corner from headquarters) as to the governor's claim to governorship in light of the elections in April (or was it May?) Some people doubt he actually won the election, so it's going to court.

OINK! (Only In Nigeria, Kai!)

Luke needs a home

Okay, so my family is facing a dilemme of immense proportions.

Mom and Dad are leaving for furlough in two weeks, and they still don't have a place for Luke to stay. Luke's 8-1/2 and can't leave the country for lots of immigration reasons. It's complicated. But my parents will be gone for six months, and so far, no one has been willing to take care of Luke. There's only one family who's volunteered, but they've been delayed in returning to Nigeria and don't know when they'll be able to come back.

So what do we do?

David and I could take Luke, and that might end up happening. But there are so many issues with that, it's hard to even begin. Luke is really high-maintenance. He has a bunch of special needs--both psychological and physical--and needs extra time and attention. He hasn't been able to pass the entrance exam into Hillcrest, so he schools at home with a private tutor, who may quit the job in February to do his required government service. At the moment, I'm a full-time nursing mom, exhausted 24/7, and when my maternity leave is up, I'm returning to two intense jobs (working from home, though). David will be taking a big, important medical exam in April and has to study pretty intensively between now and then. And he'll be gone most of the month of April to take the exam down South. I'm a high-stress person in the best of times, just like my mom. I worry about everything. I'm not sure how a spoiled ADD 8-year-old with cerebral palsy would fit into my home life!

But he's my brother. And someone has to take care of him. It's not fair for my parents to have to delay their home assignment and rest in the States because no one will take care of Luke. There has to be a solution. And if we're it, then that's the way it's going to be. I'm terrified, but maybe this is a stretching experience for David and me (mostly me). Maybe God is leading us into a huge learning opportunity. Who knows?

All the same, I'm still crossing my fingers that we'll find Luke a home somewhere else in the next two weeks!! Please pray with us!

Has it been another week?

I have a good excuse for not posting! People keep telling me I need to sleep whenever the baby sleeps. Duh. That makes sense. It's not as easy as it sounds--especially since I've never been good at napping, being a light sleeper--but I'm trying!

On Thursday, David helped carve his first jack-o-lantern! I know, we were a little late in this Halloween tradition, but since it's not a holiday celebrated here at all, there was no harm in waiting for a good evening. It was a small pumpkin, and so our lantern was quite simple. Luke drew the nose, which is why it's rectangular instead of triangular. Oh well!

Saturday afternoon we attended the Hillcrest Food Fair, which the PTA organises every other year. There were booths with Nigeria, India, Korea, Lebanon, the UK, Australia (and New Zealand), Ethiopia, Egypt & Sudan, and the US & Canada. Very cool! David tried some Korean fried rice, and I had some delicious Ethiopian bread, called injera. We had a nice chat with our friends Sara and Sunny (another mixed couple), who are in town for three weeks.

Sunday was our first anniversary. We went out to lunch at the nicest restaurant in town, Elysar, which offers an assortment of both Lebanese and Chinese food. Yum! After a nap at home, we played games at my parents' (like every Sunday) with Marc. After dinner we cut into the top layer of our wedding cake, which had been in Mom and Dad's freezer for a year. It was delicious, amazingly! I'm glad I finally got to taste a piece! :) Then we had "Advent" (of sorts, even though we're 2 weeks ahead of the Church calendar) and played some more games. What a fun anniversary! We really thank God for helping us make it through the past year!!

The past week

Well, a week ago, I was labouring at home in bed, and today I have a little boy sleeping beside me as I type. How do these things happen? Is God cool or what?!

Obviously, this has been one of the most exciting, awesome, tumultous, exhausting, and intense weeks of my whole life. Getting married was definitely a milestone, but this goes way above and beyond a wedding and honeymoon. The mixture of sheer joy and utter exhaustion seems impossible, but it's oh so real! It overwhelms me how much my life has completely changed just in a few short days--a few short hours, really.

I'm a mom. Weird. And yet so cool.

It's been a rough but wonderful week. As you can imagine, I'm so tired I could probably sleep for several days straight if given the chance. But I've always been good at coping with sleep deprivation. (My freshman year of college I figured out I got an average of 4 hours of sleep a night for a whole semester.) I wake up in the middle of the night and look over into the drawer that serves as Timothy's bed, and I'm blown away. He's so perfect, so tiny and adorable with ten little toes and ten little fingers, and his daddy's nose. And when he opens his eyes and looks at me, I just melt. Other times I wake up and panic for not having heard him peep in several minutes. But he's always okay. When I kiss him, he stirs, and I know he's all right.

Anyway, I'm still going to try to keep my baby thoughts mostly in my baby blog, but it's impossible for me to separate motherhood from the rest of my life, so there'll have to be some sort of mix. Enjoy it!

Baby's here

Timothy Marc arrived Monday, 5 November 2007 at 3:40pm, weighing 3kg (6lbs 10oz). He's ADORABLE!

Photos: http://tinyurl.com/ypvxfy More to come, I promise.