Because he's just that kind of boy... ;)

Fun in the Lake

We had a blast at the Botanical Gardens today! The weather was perfect and the kids ended up swimming in the Lake. A fun time was had by all, including the dogs!

Kayo is the tiny yellow dot in the middle of the Lake as he swims out for his stick

Here he comes!

Success!

My water dog and my water baby :)

Frankie more prefers to cheer from the side lines!

I like this picture of Bridger because if you look closely, it looks like Frankie is standing in his mouth!

Tug 'O War!

I throw a stick and Bridger, Kayo and Ella go after it!

Frankie running to fetch bottle - he prefers to fetch on dry land!

"Get yer hands off me, sis!"

Lesson learned

Note to anyone as stupid as me: When your tooth starts hurting you and you think you may need a filling, DON'T wait for a year and a half to go the dentist!

I went back the dentist yesterday to have some fillings put in to the other side of my mouth. In his digging around the dentist found that I needed yet another root canal! When he took out the nerve it was so dead and lifeless that there wasn't even any blood!

So instead of simply paying about $25 a year and a half ago, I'm instead paying $170. I'm glad that I learn my lessons the hard way where inexpensive dentist work is available! But yep, lesson learned. Don't wait to get your teeth worked on!

Week Four

Well, Frankie's good progress came screaching to a halt last Friday, after a trip to Kampala to sign his Legal Guardianship affidavit and a hour or so visit to Sanyu's (where he's not even from!).

Probably not in his best interest to visit the babies home but some of the old mama's are retiring next month and I wanted them to be able to see Ella before they left. He did not like it and was a total crank with all the other children. They had the gall to look at and even touch him! And his old lady and sister were a bit preoccupied visiting with old friends so he wasn't getting quite what he needed from us. And he was hungry! Poor guy!

He perked up remarkably after we all stuffed ourselves at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. Ella ate until her tummy was sticking out and she felt sick!

So, ever since he's been moody, sullen and screams if we're outside and I get farther than five feet from him. Shoot. He was doing so well! Two steps forward, one step back...

He bunked with me last night, in a feeble attempt to give him a little "extra" in hopes of compensating for his set back. I co-slept with L a bit initially and then six months after she'd come home consistently for eight months because of her nightmares. She is such an extremely well attached, adjusted child now I'm not sure if that had anything to with it or not. Sleeping with Frankie was like sleeping with a little ninja and about the only way you can keep him still is by squishing him flat! Good grief, and I thought Ella squirmed and kicked around a lot. She's nothing to Frankie! Needless to say, I doubt we'll be repeating that again. We'll have to find some other way to strengthen and encourage attachment!

Today he actually started to progress again and was back to his jolly little self. I was a bit more careful of him when we were outside and let him sit on my lap on the porch rather than making him go play with L.

We also went to the zoo this morning and had a wonderful time! We went last Thursday and I was amazed at how Frankie was capable of scampering around the zoo on his own two sturdy little legs, while just three weeks earlier me and Sarah had had to carry him most of the way. It was the same today, only this time he did a lot of jumping around the zoo (??). No idea why.

The biggest thrill was when a red tail monkey that had escaped from it’s cage came up to us and gave Frankie TWO hugs on his leg!! It also licked Frankie’s leg and started to take off his shoe, at which point I picked him (Frankie) up. Did Frankie care? Not in the least!! When you’re raised and constantly competing with a dog like Kayo, what’s the big deal about a mere monkey clinging to your leg? It was awesome!! Franks is such a brave boy!

This little monkey was so cute – it just came and sat in the middle of us like, “I’m with you! Lets go home!” So yep, instead of an abandoned puppy, we almost came home with a red tailed monkey! I think it was the same red tailed that Ella and I had previously befriended and would touch us through the fence. In general, I am VERY nervous of monkeys and had a Vervet (the grey ones) grabbed his leg I would have been beating it with a stick and getting Frankie a rabies shot.

Week Three

We are on week three now with Frankie home and thankfully we are having more good days than bad. Can't say that was true for our second week!

When someone asks if your new child is "adjusting" just what do they mean? I've wondered this myself. I mean, yes, Frankie has adjusted well to his new bed, the new food (which he eats a LOT of!!), the dogs, the routine, etc, but to our family particularly? What makes our family our family?

Well, I think I figured it out. Frankie is understanding our sense of humor (odd as it is) and his little sense of humor is starting to show!! This has been a huge break through for me!! Because to be honest, I was having a hard time attaching with a, well, humorless blob.

Monday it seems that the funny Frankie decided to emerge and he is not only enjoying and laughing at me and Ella when we are being funny, but he's contributing his goofy humor too! And he's quite the funny little guy too, even though we can't understand half he says :). He's a bit of a dork, just like us! And that makes me happy because you could not fit into this family if you did not have a sense of humor and were not a dork.

The little dude is shy too, so it's even more encouraging that he's feeling comfortable enough with us to start to joke around. They really don't have much time for this when they're in the babies home. They're just trying to get by. So to see this new, funny side of Frankie is truly awesome!

A rather fine looking couple of kids

Cowboy Frank in his jeans, cowboy belt and belt buckle

The Princess and her faithful servant

The faithful servant, all gussied up for church

Happy kids in pj's

Riding double

Franks learning and mastery of the English language is astounding. That little dude is actively learning new words every day! He is understanding commands but is now wanting to know what certain things are called and speaking them. He wanted to know what his toes and feet were called tonight and also pointed at the dolls butt and wanted to know what that was called, too. His little voice enthusiastically enunciating "butt!" is pretty funny :)

He's using verbs too, like 'sleeping', 'run/ning' 'jump/ing' etc, and just beginning to say two word sentences. He'll say "Kayo sleeping," "Bridger barking", "Kitty sleeping", "Kayo, OUT!" "See ya later" and things like that. I always know what the animals are doing :)

Ella continues to, well, just be Ella! We wondered if there would be some jealously and how she would adjust from being only child Princess to one of two. In her mind, rather than Frankie being any kind of competition, he is simply 'hers'. She still refers to thier room and all the toys as "hers" but Frankie is "hers" as well, so she just keeps her toys and her brother all together in her room. She also refers to my Mom as "My Granny", not as simply "Granny." Granny is hers! Little L is quite the character and comes up with the darndest things!

Goodbye sweet pup!!!

Thursday I ended up doing something that was harder than I'd thought it'd be!! We had to go to Kampala to pick up Frankie's files from the babies home and take them to the lawyer, so that we can get a hearing for his Legal Guardianship. We also had to take the puppy into the Uganda Society for Prevention to Cruelty to Animals since we absolutely can NOT afford to keep another dog and no one seems to want a puppy.

The little puppy rode into Kampala on Ella's lap getting books read to him, then snoozed between the kid's car seats. So precious! Against my better judgment I had fed him that morning so he also puked, but in true puppy fashion ate most of it all :). We were about 30 minutes or more at the babies home, then drove across Kampala to the lawyers where we spent about 45 minutes.

The Lord blessed us with a cool day and the little puppy slept the whole time between the kids two car seats. Such a calm, gently, sweet and WONDERFUL little puppy. You can tell I'm getting myself all worked up here... ;)

We arrived at the USPCA and drove into a crowded little compound with some mangy dogs (one skittish one with only three legs and another scabby looking bitch with pups and ragged ears) and dog poop. Now, I LOVE dogs but it is a bit hard to feel too sorry for them after my experiences with human children at babies homes. I mean, just put some of the more skittish ones to sleep. But people should take more responsibility for their animals and not torture them and if they can't feed them, humanely kill them!

Anyhow, we walked in and Ella handed over her sweet, fluffy, beautiful puppy and it reminded me of someone handing over a living sacrifice. Perfect, innocent and beautiful. Now, I am an old farm girl who raised bum lambs, then killed and ate them, had old pet dogs put to sleep and generally had my heart broken MANY times by the cold hard facts of life with livestock and pets. So turning in a puppy that we'd only had a week and knew we weren't keeping, to the USPCA shouldn't have been a problem.

But it was.

I started to get teary.

Ella started to bawl.

And by the time we got to the car I was bawling too!

I had the strong temptation to turn around and get the puppy, blaming it all on Ella, who was in tears also, but I held strong and drove out of there. Leaving the beautiful, fluffy puppy behind!

How did I become so darned soft?

It was a great lesson for Ella though. If you can't take care of something (and we really can't afford to keep another dog) you find someone that can. And also, we don't get everything that we want. We both really wanted to keep that darling little pup!

Welcome OSCAR!!!!

I had one of the best Sundays this week! Harriet and fam came over after church along with teacher Lydia (from Sanyu) and her new little boy, OSCAR!!!

Oscar was in the babies home with Ella and is now 3.5 years old. He is only one year younger than L and has been home with Lydia for four months. It was SO AWESOME to see him at 3.5 year old with HIS MOTHER!!! And oh how he loves her - no attachment issues there!!

Oscar is totally and completely deaf and was basically one of the "unadoptables." Lydia has seen a lot of kids in and out of that home and it's just neat to see how God chose those two for each other. I just LOVE seeing the kids that were with Ella "all grown up" now and in families! After going every week to see the little guys for two years and plucking little L from thier midst, there is something special about them to me. Also the feeling of guilt knowing that I could only take ONE and had to leave everybody else.

Oscar and his mom, Lydia!

Oscar, Ella, Jackie and Jacob

Oscar, when I knew him at Sanyu

This picture was taken before anyone knew that Oscar was deaf. We were just amazed that he could sleep in the middle of all the chaos! I always loved it how he went to sleep clutching the little toy cow...
What a handsome boy this little dude has grown into. He was a cute baby but is even better looking now! They change and grow SO MUCH when taken out of orphanages.

Thank you Lord for what you've done for Oscar!

Ns@mbya Babies Home

Upon the adoption of my second child I chose to adopt from a different babies home, Ns@mbya Babies Home, which is a catholic home in one of the suburbs of Kampala. I adopted my daughter from S@nyu Babies Home and fully intended to adopt from Sanyu again but when I was told there were no children available (although I knew different!) I decided not to pursue it and went to Ns@mbya. Sadly, the little boy I initially inquired about is still at Sanyu growing older and waiting for a home. It's sad when politics take precedence of the welfare child but it happens all the time.

The following are some pictures of Frankie while he was at NBH. We were glad to get him home and dressed in boy clothes!!


His pictures are just a little different now!

Youngsters at play

Get a load of these fine chaps!

Ella has devised a new way upon which to ride the horse swing!

Frank takes a much less daring approach to the swing...

"Top of the mornin' to yah!"

The Sibs

Little L is just so proud of her brother!

The puppy, enjoying his last day in the sandpit before we take him to Kampala tomorrow

They love to play together!!! Too cute...

Root Canal!

Well, today was the final day of getting a root canal taken care of. I had it done right here in Entebbe, thereby saving me the drive to Kampala. Not only that, but it cost me only $170 and THERE WAS NO PAIN. This dentist is truly amazing and could definitely give the dentist that we’ve used for over twenty years in the States some pointers! Imagine, a root canal with no pain, during the procedure or after? Amazing!

I’ll go back next week to get the rest of my teeth worked on. Just some fillings – no more root canals hopefully!

And today makes WEEK TWO!

So, two weeks after Frankie’s arrival he is/has:

• Learned how to kiss (which is totally an American thing – not Ugandan) and show affection (he’s always been snuggly but always on his terms – when he is grumpy and done with you he is DONE WITH YOU. Instead of whining and angrily wiping away my kiss when I put him to bed tonight, he actually threw his little arms around my neck in a big hug!! And he was still even a little cranked about having to go to bed!)

• Voluntarily pet the dogs and cat and show some affection to them (the big dogs are hard for him to get excited about because they are so BIG compared to him but he actually likes the little puppy quite a bit. He wanders around saying “Doggie! Doggie!” or “Puppy! Puppy!” and knows the different dogs by name)

• Started to try to control Ella (which can be easy when she starts trying to out mother me. Yes Ella, Frankie DOES need to take naps!)
  
  

• Has started to say “thank you” (or something like that in Frankie talk) when you give him something. This is something he has previously REFUSED to say. Mind you he’ll repeat everything else you say but NOT that. Usually you’ll tell him to say thank you and he’ll look away, smile, open his mouth really wide and breath loud (?) and refuse to say it. And yes, he CAN talk and yes, I do think he needs to say thank you as it would be a little odd to go through life doing this instead!

• He was circumcised yesterday and I think that has helped attachment already – mainly in that I feel bad for him when he starts to whine (because he has a very obvious reason now!) and want to nurture him more. Also, he LOVES to be cared for and fussed over which is something that I haven’t been doing as much as I did with Ella. Adopting the second time around I am VERY laid back compared to the first time! But the circumcision has caused me to fuss over him a bit which I think he’s needed.

After two weeks of staying at home with my kids all day, I am very tired! Ella is truly a joy to be around, however she talks ALL the time, asks a lot of questions, and is RIGHT THERE whenever you are trying to do anything. This can wear you out! Frankie is emotionally needy, can’t go to the bathroom by himself, can be a bit snarky, and because he doesn’t understand English very well you have to go to extra lengths to communicate with him. And, my bathroom stinks so I’m constantly cleaning it. And I wash dishes about four times a day! I’m never this tired when I’m working at the office 30 hours a week!

Frankie seemed to be engrossed with the puppies tail!

There's not much cuter than a kid and an adorable puppy!

Sanyu and the pup sleeping under the coffee table

Uh oh, here we go again....

Yup, look at what arrived at our compound early this morning. You got it - another puppy! I think that someone dumped this pup at our gate as there was only one and he's fat and healthy and not so scared of people like Kayo was.

Since puppies aren't in such high demand, I plan on taking him to Kampala next week to the Uganda Society for Prevention to Cruelty to Animals. Dogs are GREAT for security but I really can't afford to feed another and I'm the only one the compound that wants to care for them.


This is a typical African Yellow Dog (as we like to call them). They are really a smart, tough little dog. So much better than dogs from the west like German Shepherd or Lab crosses. And are adorable puppies too!

While pondering where this puppy had come from, Ella declared that he must be "from the West". This cracked me up as, because of thier looks and the way they're built, Ella and Frankie are both probably from Western Uganda. So she's heard this a few times, "They're from the west." It's amazing at how much she hears and picks up on!

Speaking of security, Bridger and Sanyu just attacked a guy who was helping the neighbor fix his satellite dish. I'm kicking myself for not tying Sanyu up - the thought had just gone through my mind when she ran for a guy and he made the mistake of kicking her. Oops. Not a good idea. That got Bridger involved and well, you just don't kick Bridger and get away with it. That dog holds a grudge and just won't stop. To give him credit, the guy was doing some really high, great kicks. Ella loved it and said later, "That guy was doing some really great tricks! LIke this!" and she proceeded to do an imitation. Solomon and I were able to haul the dogs off the poor guy before they ripped his trousers off and they are now all safely enclosed inside. The dogs didn't seem any worse for wear although pretty hyped up. Bridger went rolling once! See what I mean by great security?

Days at home

We really haven't done much of note this last week, other than go to church on Sunday. I have gone to the dentist and shopping but left the kids home with Sarah for those excursions. They are both doing GREAT. I mean, really great!! After last Friday's scream fest things have really smoothed out.

It has been so cool to see these two attaching and bonding with each other. Frankie LOVES his sister and it is so heartwarming to see them walking hand in hand to the trampoline to jump. Just today Frankie has started showing affection to his sister by giving her impromptu hugs and gently touching her face. Too precious! And Ella, well, she was MADE to be a sister and has loved him almost from day one. She kisses his little head ALL the time and tells everyone about her new brother. Their two and a half year difference is perfect because he can be her baby or playmate, depending on how she feels. They do vie for my attention some but there is no jealousy as I had anticipated. Just some friendly competition for the best spot on mom's lap.

Playing with puzzles

Frankie has some very interesting sleeping habits. Here he is sleeping upside down.

I love this picture of him looking at his new Spiderman pajama's that his Granny sent him!! Can you see his smile? It's so cute because he really seems to like his nice new clothes that are just for him.

Yep, that would be little Franks flipping you off... ;)

Gotta love it!! I am truly blessed :)