Ok, so I had a very busy day today. First we picked up Happy's family (was just supposed to be father), visited Cradle of Love, drove to Moshi to see the social worker, drove back, went to a prenatal doctor's appointment, and returned home. Not too exciting, right? Wrong. Here are some interesting facts I learned throughout my day.
- You CAN cram four adults, two toddlers, and a car seat into a two-door Suzuki Escudo (Samurai for the American audience).
- Breathing three hours of Tanzanian dust, black car exhaust, and smoke from burning trash will make your lungs hurt all through the night.
- Dotto speaks!
- Lots of beautiful day volunteers at Cradle. One asked about "the new girl". Had to chuckle because "the new girl" was Happy. Old girl. But new life!
- No one can agree how many children were naturally born to Happy's grandparents. Was it 11? Was it 12? Are only 4 dead? Was that one who died as a child a cousin or sibling? Who knows.
- Happy's father is only 37 years old.
- Happy's mother's age is unknown.
- I announced that my new baby will be named Julius Kingston.
- Found out that Happy's two older brothers are named Kelvin, and wait for it... JULIUS!
- Now looking for a new first name for my unborn son! Eli and Nash are still on the table. (can Happy have 2 bros named Julius? No? ok. Just checking).
- Happy's real name is Neema.
- Not anymore! I got her birth certificate issued as Happy. Oops. Didn't know.
- Happy is learning to play with other children her age and had a blast with her 3 year old cousin yesterday. I took pictures before my camera battery died.
- Baba Happy and Shengazi (daddy and auntie) were interviewed by the social worker for 2 hours.
- 40 mintues of those two hours were spent by the social worker trying to convince the family to take Happy home and NOT allow the adoption. I KNEW SHE'D DO THAT!
- So proud of Happy's family. They held their ground and insisted that I was the only one who should have Happy. And when the social worker told them that they would have to be at every court and answer everyone of her phone calls, they said "Hamna Shida" (no problem).
- Got pulled over by the police again -- this makes #24. Looking for lucky #25.
- Went to the doctor, and I have definitely lost half of my weight gain from America.
- Low, low iron. Which explains the daily headaches. I'm so stupid. It wasn't dehydration. But seriously, I can't eat anymore beans. I"ll have to buy meat.
- Although told 2 times, my child's father just realized we're having a boy. *sigh.
- You CAN leave the cooking gas on for 7.5 hours and your house will not explode. REALLY!
- Grateful for not having glass on all my windows. It was sandwiches for supper last night while all doors and remaining windows opened for ventilation. Housegirl pow wow this morning.
- Crickets love my bed. Gross.
4 comments:
Wow, so many things to comment on!
-Awesome about Dotto and amusing how that volunteer thought Happy was a new Cradle baby. :)
-Good luck with baby name picking! Sorry your first choice was already used.
-Crazy how you JUST NOW found out Happy's birth name! Are you going to change her birth certificate or leave it as is?
-Cute that Happy is playing so well with other kids her age. The picture of her with her cousin is adorable!
-Ugh, that social worker bothers me and I've only read a few blog posts about her. You must be going crazy! Any way you can get a less hostile one to take on the case? (But totally great that Happy's family was up to the task of standing up to her.)
-Ack, scary about the gas stove. But good to know the results. I make extra sure that ours is off once we're done using it. Somehow it seems scarier to have gas stoves in an apartment building than in a single dwelling.
So much to say about this post but don't have one right now. All I will say is Nash is one of my fav names...do it! Let's Skype again sometime! Miss you guys.
So I was listening to Maroon 5 "Moves Like Jagger" on the radio and totally misread your headline....but still, some awesome bullet points (and a few miracles, I'd say). Happy times (no pun intended)!
And I think I'm with Rachel, I like Nash too. I also like Eli (good singer, interesting Bible character), but Nash seems a bit more unique to go with the Kingston. Or, you know, you could just through both to the wind and go with Bubba! :-P
Wow what an exciting day! So how come happy is called happy and no one at Cradle ever knew her real name? Maybe because there have been sooo many Neemas in the past? (I love that name!!). Love the story with Dotto!So sweet!
I think you should re-think your option with 'Julius'-didnt you say there were also two 'Kelvins'? If not, I think Eli is a beautiful name! It sounds like a good mix of USA/Tanzania
Take care of you and your babies!xx
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