travel

Our worst case scenario plane tickets are for 2 pm tomorrow.  We still don’t have an exit permit.  We don’t know if we’re leaving or not and it’s after 6 pm.

passport photo update

Passport photos have been taken!  David waited from 8 this morning.  Finally, when our turn was within a few hours he came to get us.  Thank you David!  It was touch and go for a while as they in no way believed the girls are only two weeks apart in age (no one believes that!).  It took some convincing on David’s part.  Scary!  Naturally, tomorrow is a holiday here (anything that can delay this process right?!) but passports should be ready Wednesday afternoon!  So exciting.  Also, David says our missing paperwork is coming along quickly!  Good news today!  No pool today.  Bad news today!

passport photos

We were to be picked up today at nine for passport photos that were to be done last Friday (remember I paid extra for the passports to be done Friday, not for the photos to be taken that day) for passports that were to take three weeks (maybe up to six weeks) making them done March 28ish.  Ahh, it’s a good thing Congolese are delayed and never late.  Anyway, it’s now eleven and still no word about the photos.  Our neighbors here at the guest house have adopted two little kiddos, both under two years.  They arrived here from Indiana on Saturday and will be leaving Thursday.  Their attorney told Bibi she was very concerned for us.  People here in DRC would rather see kids on the street than with a white family, she told us.  In Lubumbashi, though, many people told me that what I was doing was wonderful and thanked me and said it warmed their hearts that the kids were so well looked after in my care.  Maybe it’s the ones who’d rather see them on the street who are heard more here……..?  I agree kids should be with their families.  Sadly for my two and so many millions of others, that just isn’t possible.  Kids need to be with a family.  What’s wrong with mine?

Fruit and attempted murder and stuff

Fresh fruit and veggies are in very limited supply here.  The grounds (of the box) has several papaya trees and a few coconut trees.  My mom was confirming with one of the grounds keepers that they were, in fact, papayas.  We were delivered a papaya and asked forgiveness as coconuts are hard to climb up and retrieve.  Could we wait?  The girls don’t love it, but I do!  Fresh fruit, yumma!

This morning there was an attempted murder.  At least that’s what I thought when someone threw herself on my very asleep self.  It’s easy to mess up with Keta.  She was saying good morning I reacted like someone was trying to kill me.  My reaction was just for a split second, but it was long enough.  She’s trying so hard to learn to cuddle and hug and learn what kind of touching is appropriate.  It really hurts those around her.  It’s sad, but physically painful too.  She mashes her head into my nose as hard as possible and grinds her sharp little elbows into whatever.  She laughs when someone, “Goes boom!” and either hugs tight enough to cut off blood supply or refuses to hug altogether.  Little steps for her, everyday.

Last night Keta and I stretched out a slinky and shook it a bit up and down.  Francine stood between us with her leg in the air like she was about to hop in and start jumping rope.  It was hilarious because as Bibi says, “You could hardly slip a piece of paper under her feet when she jumps.”  She sure knew what to just before that jumping part though.

earrings

I brought some earrings.  I noticed that in some of the photos of Keta and Francine taken during the wait, that they both had earrings.  When we met, Francine didn’t have earrings, but still had pierced ears (she lost the earrings), but Keta had both of hers.  I wouldn’t have pierced their ears so young, but I didn’t want to change what was done by someone who cared for them.  They get to keep their names and their pierced ears, pretty much everything else from home, their first three years, is unknown to me and lost.  Yesterday one of Keta’s earrings fell out.  Thankfully she was aware and it didn’t get lost.  I pulled out the earrings that I brought and both girls were so happy!  They each picked out a different pair (no arguing!).  Once Francine’s were in, she flipped through her photo album, which is falling apart after hours of flipping pages, and showed me the photo of her with earrings.  She was so proud.  She was trying to look in a small metal handle to see her reflection.  Keta is pleased with her new bling too, silver stars with pink centers.  They’ve heard, “So pretty!” quite a lot in reference to their clothes for the day, their hair, their art, their play-doh masterpieces, and their dolls, that they were saying it to each other and admiring their new jewelry.  Happy girls.

 

ice cream

After a “30 minute” rest that was actually two hours, we left the new box.  We went to lunch at Cafe Mozart.  It’s a place for young girls who are pregnant.  It’s run by the Catholic church.  The attorney that helps them out is also helping me out (I guess, I’m kind of out of the loop).  We had an excellent lunch with one major incident that deserves its own post, so more about that later.  Immediately after we sat down the attorney sets down what must be two gallons of ice cream, a first for Keta and Francine.  Even outside in scorching temperatures, it had to be in the triple digits Celsius, they ate it quickly enough that very little melted.  They were thrilled that what little did melt was just right for drinking.  Yumma!  Mama would never start a meal with ice cream (ok, almost never), but of course I was not consulted.  Next, we went to the grocery store for supplies so we can use the kitchenette in the new box!  Exciting!

The new box also has a sink that is the perfect height for Francine.  She’s so frustrated with me because I won’t let her use it.  She tries to wash her hands there after every time she goes potty.  It’s a bidet.

I’m not an idiot.  I’m also not an English teacher.  I’ve had some time to reread some of these posts, a few words at a time.  I need an editor.  Thanks for not making fun of me for all of my long day and I’m not an English teacher mistakes.  Hope you get a little chuckle though.

The new box is comfy!

the new box

We have a new box!  It’s pretty fantastic.  Rather, it’s pretty great and the grounds are fantastic!  Here’s a few kid free photos.

bye

Oh, Lubumbashi, how we’ll miss you!  With your baby pool and your cool weather (compared to Kinshasa) and your Hyper-Psaro just down the road.  We’ll miss your chicken wings and your entertaining ways.  We’ll miss the view of the lake with gorgeous trees in the background.  We’ll miss the sound and the sight of parrots flying overhead (this only happened once and I’m the only one who saw them, but it was pretty great).  We’ll miss you, but we’re still glad to be moving on!

Tomorrow morning at 830 our flight to Kinshasa leaves.  Sadly, we have to leave for the airport (about 15 minutes away) at 5.  Not fun.  Our embassy appointment is coming up which means we are about to start the final stages of the process before returning home!  Home, where my girls have never been.  Keep your fingers crossed, pray, hope, wish, or whatever you do that the process goes smoothly and quickly and we’re on our way home soon!

Lubumbashi, it’s been such a gift to be here.  Thanks for the memories!

Good-bye to the box!

dhl

Thank you DHL!  My family back in the states sent my girls a box of fun stuff and it arrived today!  It was scheduled to arrive tomorrow, a few hours after our flight to Kinshasa left.  So thank you DHL for your early delivery.  Thanks to the fam too!  Yvonne and Francine were curious as I cut open the box.  Once they could see inside, their eyes lit up!  They knew it was fun stuff for them.  They got shoes, jewelry, play-doh, recorders (contrary to three-year old’s beliefs, these make noise even if we blow slightly less than as hard as we can), harmonicas (less painful than recorders but a bit more complicated to work), balloons, crayons, kazoos (none of us can figure these out, maybe it’s been a long day and tomorrow we’ll be experts), stickers, nail polish, hair pins, and more!  Small containers of play-doh are fun to play with for a variety of reasons.  The girls made towering stacks of the containers and cracked up when they fell over, sometimes not accidentally.  The recorders became outside toys and the jewelry was a major hit.  I boxed some of it back up so we can have some new toys for several days.  So wonderful to have a treat from home!  Love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

credits

There’s a television in the box.  Sometimes it’s on.  I sometimes really enjoy that it’s on.  Thankfully I don’t own a television, it can’t become a habit.  It’s also great that music is preferred over the movies.  One show will be something awful like a Barbie movie and next will be something inappropriate like serial killers or horror.  Sometimes Yvonne and Francine chat nonstop during a movie.  I think since it’s in English and they don’t understand much, they’re making up a story to go along with it and tell one another their own versions.  At times this chatter goes on seemingly without a breath for over an hour.  Typically though, Yvonne is engrossed, no matter the content.  Her favorite part is always the credits.  She smiles and dances or sways, depending on where she is, and tries to sing along.