Swimming, date night, adoption agony, books and bats. A little bit of everything....

Our pool has been broken off and on, but mostly off, for the better part of three months. People come and fix it, it works for a week, and then in true Burkina fashion it breaks again. So in the meantime there is a very large pool at the American Embassy available to us as an alternative. It is truly the biggest blessing to have that as an option to swim for free. There are actually a lot of pools here in the capital that you can swim at for a small fee. Many hotels have pools, the children's school has a pool, as well as the Rec Center down our street. The Rec Center is the equivalent of a YMCA, a community center of sorts with a restaurant, pool, gym, ect. With the constant heat here in Burkina, having pools available to swim at to help beat the heat is a major blessing.

We are thankful.

So we've been going to the Embassy a few days a week for the past two weeks since school got out. We really like to swim. It has become our favorite activity since moving here, because we are so limited on activities. The girls swimming skills are quite impressive for never having taken lessons. Especially Marvelly's. She is completely self taught and I applaud all her efforts in the pool to push herself and learn and I love watching her grow in confidence. 

Even little Stevie. Since the day we brought him home, he has taken to the water. He learned to hold his breath and paddle his arms with in just the first couple weeks of living here. He jumps in without fear and moves his body back and forth like an accordion to get around the pool. 

They're cute. 

From the constant onslaught of sun exposure, the girls are turning brown. Well, not as brown as a brown person, but compared to your average white person, they are quite dark. The effects of living in a country such as this one I suppose. 

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 A little snapshot of Isaak's favorite Shopette. Best place in town for lightbulbs.

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Onto adoption news....we received a very valuable piece of adoption paperwork yesterday that we have been waiting for to be able to move forward with the legal proceedings here in country. Very good news. And then it was immediately followed by bad news...of course. 

The story of our lives, it seems.

So, to make a long complicated story short, we were told yesterday that the US government is not going to grant citizenship to Steve upon returning to the United States. 

Awesome.

Why would they? That's just what they do for every other adoption case, but ours....nope, apparently not. Isaak contacted our adoption agency and of course they had never heard of this, had no experience or advice, and told us good luck. Awesome. Glad we're paying you the big bucks. So Isaak had to spend some time on the phone yesterday getting information from an adoption lawyer and immigration lawyer about what options are available to us. 

What a mess. God help us....

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The hubs hard at work fixing the drain. And of course his little apprentice close at hand. This man of mine, there's not a lot he can't fix. He's very handy and we are very grateful for all the skills he has. It sure does save us a lot of money not having to hire a plumber and mechanic! Bless him.

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People are dropping like flies here left and right. It's what we military folk like to call PCS season, except foreign service officers don't PCS...they just "move" to another embassy somewhere else in the world.  Foreign service offices move to embassies. Military people move to bases or forts. It's all kinda the same if you ask me. Life in an embassy is really very similar to the military in many ways. So, I feel ever so grateful and well suited to handle all this moving thanks to the 14 years we have under our belts in the Air Force. Moving has become so normal. Friends come and go, and it's hard to say goodbye but after so many years you grow increasingly accustomed to it. 

So, we are in the process of losing many people this summer who arrived here about the same time we did in 2012. There are farewell parties happening each weekend. Me and Isaak went to one last weekend. Our very first outing since my mom left a couple weeks ago. The girls were staying the night at a friend's house so just Steven was home with the babysitter. I was excited. It's not often I have a reason to get dressed up and do my hair in something other than a messy Marge Simpson bun. This is the first time I curled my hair in over eight months. Living in Burkina doesn't exactly lend to a desire to look top notch on a daily basis so I welcome an opportunity to actually shed my red stained skirts and t-shirts with pit stains and dress a little nicer on occasion...even if it's only twice a year!

Katina and Becky on my left and right are leaving this summer, and Marie on the far left side is leaving in the Fall. Such great ladies and fun friends. I've truly enjoyed our time together here.

Also, based on this night and our attempt at leaving Steven with a sitter in the hopes that we would come home and he'd be sleeping, well, we quickly realized upon returning home, that Steven will not go to sleep for a sitter! Oh well. Now we know. He actually did really great with the babysitter, which was no surprise because he loves people.

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I still need to chronicle a post about my mom's visit. I was talking to the Ambassador and his wife this last weekend, and they both asked how she was doing, and spoke so highly of her. It made me smile and proud. My mom, she makes an impact everywhere she goes. She makes friends so easily and just puts herself out there. I love that. She is sorely missed around here, but prayerfully she will be returning in December for two weeks to continue her research, and see us too of course.

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Rainy season has been slow going. Its been kinda more like a night rainy season...with all the rains happening during nightfall. How the heck am I suppose to appreciate rainy season at night while I'm asleep and otherwise completely unaware that it is even raining?! Geez man! I wait eight months for this! Rainy season better start cooperating.

Sydaleigh. The cutest 8 year old in the world in my oh so biased opinion. We're working hard on math together this summer, much to her dismay! Dang she's cute.
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That would be a bat that got stuck in our swing chain and died. And that would be Isaak, smogging the junk out of that bat just to make good and sure it is in fact dead before he dislodges it from the chain with a long metal rake. Ick.

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I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha. Wow. That book was absolutely exquisite. And sad. And I loved it so much that I had to go and re-watch the movie that I had only seen once before many years ago and slept through so I couldn't remember it hardly at all. And, while the movie was a masterpiece in and of itself, it just didn't live up to the book in any way. Sad. =(  They changed so much. I hate it when movies take that liberty. If the author wanted it told that way, they would have wrote it like that in the book! But still, a magnificent piece of story telling. Now Isaak can finally get off my back, because I read it and he also liked it so much. Now I just need to nag him into the ground to read Gone With the Wind!!

Currently I'm reading a book called The Sandcastle Girls which is a story about the Armenian genocide in 1915. I'm 100 pages in and it's also pretty good, so far. It's always hard to tell with books because they could take a nose dive right at the end. But we're off to a good start. Oh how I do love to read!

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I shall conclude this post with a picture of Marvelly. I was going to include this in my "everyday in pictures" photo challenge. But I chose one of Isaak packing it instead. Marvelly is so awesome. This girl cracks me up.....

Father's Day

On Saturday we headed out to Koubri with some friends to do a little Father's Day celebrating in honor of the great men in our lives. Man, do we ever love Koubri. It is becoming out favorite little getaway, sitting about an hour outside of Ouaga and boasting a spacious pool, playground, restaurant, little bungalows to sleep in, and the option to rent four-wheelers....this place is a great option for us to get out of town without having to drive very far and spend some time together.

So, for a very fitting and ever so manly Father's Day gift the men rented four wheelers and spent some time driving through rough terrain and getting muddy and having an absolute blast.

While the men were off playing, me, Nathanja, and Samantha stayed back with the kiddos and swam and then when the men returned we had lunch and jumped back in the pool. It was delightful. Absolutely delightful. Everyone had a great time.

Today, the actual Father's Day, we spent around here. It down poured this afternoon so Isaak took the kids out to run and play in the rain, and then after frisbee we ate ice cream, Isaak's favorite dessert. Man, do these kiddos ever adore their daddy, or papa as Steven likes to say. They absolutely adore him.
To a great time honoring and celebrating the daddy in their lives!

Day 5- my final everyday in pictures

Day 4- my everyday in pictures

Day 3- my everyday

Day 2- My everyday in pictures

Day 1- My everyday in 5 pictures

Last weekend with my mom

My mom's time in Burkina is coming to a close. She has been here just shy of three months, and I can hardly believe it is her last weekend already.

We have done a lot. She has done a lot.

We are not scrambling to do more things or go more places at this last minute. We have done everything and more that we set out to do.

In about 60 hours she will be flying away back to the States. Her time here has been full and meaningful. And for her last 60 hours we are just enjoying our remaining time together doing regular things.

It has been a good trip.....

Radio Flyer

Every kid needs a little red wagon, even in Burkina...

Isaak turns 32 with a taxi brousse and a 4-wheeler

Isaak ushered in his 32nd year of living last Friday, May 16th. To celebrate we had a family dinner with some friends at Gandwana's, a favorite restaurant of Isaaks.

He ordered this gargantuan burger called the taxi brousse (means bush taxi in French...very fitting). It's so big he likes to challenge other guys to see if they can eat it all. It must be a man thing. All the guys there took the challenge, Isaak, Ben and Seth...but only Isaak succeeded! Proud birthday moment right there!

Isaak had a good time. I'm so glad he did! This was only the second time we've gone out to dinner since bringing Steven home....and all I've gotta say is that it's in our best interest, as well as everyone in a ten foot radius of us, to not go to restaurants with sand all over the floor, maybe ever again. Because it will get thrown. On people. Down their clothes. Onto tables. By a little boy who doesn't know any better. Not sure what we were thinking on that one.....*side note-if you cover a really really dark person with sand, they turn gray. Now we know. Important parenting discoveries about your kids right there! =)

We went back to the house following the sandy dinner and Isaak enjoyed a homemade cheese cake with strawberry topping made by moi. First time ever makin' one....and it turned out great! So glad he liked it! I do so love to bake for my family.

And then the following morning me, Isaak, Seth and Rebecca all drove to Koubri, a little town about an hour from our home to ride some four wheelers.

I wanted to do something fun for his birthday, and new that driving fast over bumpy roads and getting muddy would be right up his alley. And he had SUCH a good time!!

Here we are, taking a quick pit stop at the local gas station to fill up before we head out. Yup, this is a gas station. Our guide in the red vest behind Isaak is purchasing liters of gas stored in those glass bottles.

And we're off! I must say, I am very impressed in my talents to ride a four wheeler one handed while taking pictures with the other. That's multi tasking at its finest right there.

These are actually the only four pictures I took. I was too scared I was going to crash and die while I took pictures so I thought it best not to press my luck.

My first time riding a four wheeler all on my own. Proud moment at 32 years old! I even managed to keep up with the boys. If you can call what I did keeping up...I was far enough behind them to at least see their dust trail. We drove for over an hour, our guide taking us through little back roads of tiny villages way off the beaten path. It was a blast. Except for the not being able to see because the dust was so thick I could hardly open my eyes. That was pas bon. I'll just need to remember for next time to wear goggles. And there will be a next time. That was so fun!

Birthday success! To another great year of being alive!