DB, Jeni, EB, and Lorelai

This video is only for the hardcore Wright family friends – it is 8 minutes long – but I love it and I know our family will too!  

Our new, fun, exciting, wonderful entertainment: Adveture Life Challenge for Wii.  We got on Saturday and have had guests three different times to play with us.  Even EB gets into the fun, and I am pretty sure I lost three pounds this week just from playing!

This is Jonah, EB, and Nicole

This is their Mii characters running on the falling bridge.

Thanks Daddo – we love the game and it is exercise for the whole family!

Sitting with EB, eating pancakes:

EB: mommy, after I finish eating these pampakes, I am going to play, and then I will eat lunch, and then take a nap. Then I will wake up and my friends will come over and play and then i will go to bed. When I wake up, I want Pampakes again.
Me: So what your saying is that you want Pampakes again tomorrow for breakfast?
EB: yes

This video is form a couple of months ago, but I just got it uploaded.  LOVE this girl!!

For those of you who look at the pictures of our girls and think “Wow, those are some very sweet, beautiful, photogenic girls” I have a video that will open your eyes to the reality of photo shoots with young children.  Here is a sampling of what it is like taking pictures of my girls.  DB and I have laughed and laughed over this – hope you do too!

For those of you who are under the age of thirty or grew up with a thermostat in your home, you may never have enjoyed the pleasure of lighting a wood burning or coal burning stove. During the winter months we keep our concrete home warm with two large, thick metal (cast iron) stoves.
Two months ago DB bought $500 worth of wood that should last us all winter and stacked it on the porch. Buying it early will save us several hundred dollars, but the crazy circumstances that followed the stacking of the wood may have negated this benefit (the porch collapsed and nearly beheaded DB and our guard). All year long we save every piece of paper, cereal box, cardboard coke carton, Kleenex box and any other item that would aid in starting fires. This is all stacked underneath our stairway.
Today we celebrated The Lighting of the Stove. We put it off as long as we could to prevent the neighbors from having more fodder for making fun of us, but the chill in the air became unbearable for this South Carolina girl today.

DB lit the stove and took the chill out of the air – there is the smell of wood burning in the house and warm, cozy winter feeling in the air. It is easy for me to say these pleasant things about stove heating because I don’t spend time cutting kindlin’, blowing on paper, making sure the fire is lit, making sure it stays warm, and in general working hard to make that cozy warm feeling fill the house.  Sweet DB does all of the hard work to keep the girls and me nice and toasty.  Thanks honey!

While at a sporting event the other day, DB was surprised and shocked when a local man walked up to him and asked him what his prices were.  After an interesting discussion (including some pretty dirty words in Dari) DB realized that the man thought he was a pimp.  A few days of investigation led to the discovery that the car we are driving has a license plate that indicates that the driver is a pimp.  Apparently, the number 39 in a phone number or license tag is the sign for “pimping” in the country.  Three different nationals have confirmed that, yes, in fact, DB is driving around town in a “pimp car.”

Now, here is my question.  What does that say about me riding around with him???

I realized yesterday morning that I have a somewhat unhealthy relationship with my house helper. It dawned on me as I hid food in the kitchen, clothes in the basement, and gave DB all of my extra money as he left for work that I probably need to reevaluate my interactions with her.

The truth is, she is very needy. She supports herself, her daughter, her son, and her grandson on the income she receives from my family, which is $12 a week. I gladly give her food regularly, make sure she eats a filling meal when she is at my house, and often we give her money for special things she needs, like fixing her roof. A few weeks ago I bought her grandson some winter clothes because she said he was always sick because he did not have proper clothing for cold weather.

I am not writing this to brag – I guess I am writing it to justify the ugly, selfish reality that I am SO TIRED of her asking for everything in my house. Everything. EB’s toys for her grandson, a table for her daughter to put her sewing machine on, DB’s favorite sweatshirt, the list goes on and on. She often asks me to pay her for not only the day’s work that is completed, but the following day. Whenever I pay her ahead of time, she doesn’t come the next time, which means that the next time she comes I don’t pay her for that day but for the one after that. It is a viscous cycle. She is really good at cleaning, and I would love to recommend her to other families so that she could have more work, but I am embarrassed to recommend her because i know she will do the same to them.

Last week I sat down with her and talked ot her about this very thing. I told her that she does a great job, and I would love ot tell some other people that she would be good ot give work to, but unfortunately, “foreigners” don’t like to be asked for things all of the time – it makes them sad. It is okay to let your needs be known one time and then trust that they will care and help, and that God will provide. She seemed to totally understand the whole conversation, repeated back to me what I said and thanked me for the advice. The she asked me if I could give her money to prepare for an upcoming holiday.

(I have not included a picture of my house helper because women here di not have their pictures taken).