Today was our first full day in country that we were totally on our own without any orientation.  I was in my pajamas all day.  Easy, relaxing day, right?  Not exactly.

I began the morning by washing a load of EB’s clothes.  I started the load at about 8:00 am.  Right now, at 9:00 pm, it is still unfinished in the washer.  One reason it never finished is because of the sporadic electricity throughout the day.  After lunch, because the water was dripping in so slowly, DB added 6 pots of water to the load.  The washing machine is in the 3rd floor hallway, and after restarting the load with the additional water, DB and I went downstairs to the second floor to work on unpacking in EB’s room (EB was napping in our room).  As we worked, we noticed the washing machine seemed rather loud.  DB stuck his head out of the door, made an unintelligible remark, and sprinted away.  Stunned, I too stuck my head out the door to see a waterfall coming down over the ledge from the third floor.  After much cleaning of the gorgeous marble floor and stairway, DB discovered that the issue that led to the torrential downpour could be traced back to the drain for the washing machine.  Apparently, it was stuck lightly into the drain in the wall with only a plastic bag to hold it in place – and the pipe within the wall slanted uphill.  DB (my own personal Magyver) fixed this problem just as the plumber arrived to install a western toilet in one of the bathrooms.  The plumber arrived on a bicycle with the toilet tied to it with string.  I would give anything to have had a camera at that moment.

I was not present for the installation of the toilet, so I will let DB give details about it in his blog, but I will say that the plumber lit a bonfire inside the toilet as a part of the installation process.

Our refrigerator doesn’t work, but it doesn’t matter because the temperature inside the kitchen is usually somewhere around 40 degrees, and we have to boil water to wash dishes because the hot water in our kitchen doesn’t work.  The plumber claimed he fixed it, and he definitely did something, because the water pressure in our shower is now non existent.  He is coming back tomorrow for the third day in a row to hopefully take care of the rest of our plumbing issues.  I suggesting finding a different plumber, but apparently, he is the best one we have had yet.  While this all seems relatively harsh, I must say that we live in a brand new house with hand painted ceilings, and in our kitchen, to the great excitement of the the man showing us the house for the first time, all of the cabinet doors and kitchen drawers work very well.

This evening when I asked the guard to go buy us some bread for dinner (we buy it fresh everyday for 25 cents) I had EB on my back in her backpack.  (We do not have a rug in the kitchen yet, and I do not want her crawling around on the cold marble floor, so I usually keep her in the backpack while working in there).  The guard interrupted my request to give me a lecture on the fact that EB was sucking her thumb, which he apparently thought was not good.  I understood that he said “not good” and using hand motions he repeatedly put this thumb in his mouth and removed it and explained about how detrimental it is for a child to suck their thumb.  I did not understand his words, but I got his meaning for sure.

Seriously, this was my day.  DB and I laughed and laughed this evening as we talked over the day and all of the crazy events – this is actually our life.

We are in our home, which is beautiful, and comfortable, and all of our stuff arrived late last night-it all came up on a truck, while we flew, but the truck was delayed because of an avalanche. It has been a wild ride so far, as we are currently competing boys against girls in a day long Amazing Race to learn the city. I’ll let you know who wins! We do not have internet at our house, so we won’t be updating much, but we’ll try to as often as possible. Email is easier because we can read and write emails at home and then upload and download quickly at the office, or I can even send my computer to the office with someone else. Please email with long, newsy info, and I will try to do the same soon. We are so busy right now, but things will hopefully calm down next week.

That’s my EB girl - she leaves a wake of adoring fans everywhere she goes. We started out this morning on a 2 and half hour cab ride to her doctor’s appointment, where our cab driver thought it was hilarious when she dived off of the seat to the floor. When we arrived at the hospital to see EB’s doctor, we sat next to a family that did not speak any English, but the mom immediately reached over to hold our precious little girl. Fussy EB immediately turned on her charm, smiling and laughing and batting those big blue eyes. The next thing I knew the mom and gone to the little hospital gift store and bought EB two toys - one of which says “Happy Easter” on it.

EB’s doctor was adamant that she continue wearing her shoes at night, so we are back to what we originally thought - wearing them every night until she is 4. No big deal - we resumed the routine tonight without a glitch.

Then on to the biggest mall in the world, The Mall of the Emirates, where there is an indoor ski slope and about a million stores.  We spent seriously two hours in this amazing toy store, where we were fascinated by Fulla doll, the Arab version of Barbie.  We also played on big toys, and searched high and low for EB’s first Birthday present, to no avail.  Hope we can find something in our destination country!

Yesterday we went with some friends to the Global Village.  It was kind of like Epcot center, with a lot of different countries represented, plus fair type rides, stores, shops, restaurant, etr…It was fun to wander around, and we bought EB her first ever international baby wipes, which were handy this morning when she woke up at 3:30am with a dirty diaper.  Speaking of 3:30, EB girl is ready to party like it’s 1999 in the middle of the night.  She has not been fussy at all in the day or night - just ready to play play play.  The first night when she woke up, we put her in our bed with us and tried to go back to sleep.  She would crawl to DB and give him kisses and laugh and then crawl to me and kiss me and laugh - it was irresistibly hilarious, so we just got up and played with her until she seemed tired and then put her back to sleep.   Right now we have a couple of more days to just relax and recover from jetlag, so please pray for the little girl to be a little bit more compliant in this area - once we get to our destination country, we will be quite busy, and we travel on Friday and again on Saturday before we arrive in our home to get settled.

We arrived at destination number #1 and we are battling jetlag.  Our flights were great - we met friends along the way at just the right times to help us with our many many carry-ons, and we had empty seats around us on our transatlantic flight.  We are staying in a wonderful guesthouse, and EB is very slaphappy right now, as she woke at 4:00 AM to have a little party.  

Okay, long pause - I started the above post this morning before EB and I took a loooong nap, then lunch, playtime, and EB and DB are napping now.  Pictures to come at some point in the near future.  Our plan for the next few days is to rest and recover form jetlag - we have good iternet, so look for many updates.  Eb has lots of friends to play with here at the guesthouse - older kids that dote on her and play with her - she is loving it!!!

Thanks for your prayers!

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Thanks!

DB and Jeni

 EB loved her first New Year’s Eve as much as her first Christmas - she loved the fireworks, and waking up at midnight to bundle up and watch a spectacular show was pretty much the most exciting thing that ever happened in her little life.  

Jessi got married on the 2nd - Jessi looked like a beautiful princess, of course! She and her new hubby Kris are currently on a cruise and then will live in New Orleans. Saying goodbye to her was very hard - knowing it could be several years before we see her is sad, but I am so glad we got to spend some great time together this last week - she is one of my favorite people, and I am so thankful that DB, EB, and I were able to be a part of such a special day.  

We also got to spend lots of time with my awesome brother DK - he left to return to Minneapolis this afternoon.  This was another hard goodbye with another favorite person.  As always, we had a blast hanging out with DK - EB loves him like crazy - I got a real kick out of watching him try to dress the octopus, and just in general communicate so effectively on EB’s wavelength.  This video cracks me up - EB, as a general rule, dances all the time - even when there is no music, she often dances to some unknown song in her head.  What cracks me up about this video is that:

a) DK started beatboxing out of the blue

b) EB jumped in immediately and started breakin’ it down with him

c) EB never slows down eating her grilled cheese sandwich.