knowing where to buy safety pins

We were in Asia 3 1/2 years before we went back to the states for a bit.  And when we came back after spending 7 months in the states, we had a LOT of things that we packed up and brought back.  Things that we thought we couldn't find in Asia.  Kitchen things, crafty things, kid things.  You get the picture.

One of the things I brought back was a box of safety pins.  Because I'd never seen safety pins in our city before.  I love to shop and find fun new things, but I'd never ever seen safety pins.  However, not even a year after we came back, guess what I found?  In a junk shop full of teeny tiny things--a little like a Where's Waldo shop.  But I found safety pins.

There's something so sweet about knowing where to buy safety pins.  We use safety pins.  And when we don't have them, there's a million times that they could be useful.  It's so simple, but when we first came to Asia, we couldn't find safety pins.  We didn't know how to say much more than hello or 1,2,3. We kind of just survived.

It took 5 years to be able to find safety pins.  But there's something about knowing where to find them that makes me feel thankful that we know where to buy things and live life here now.  I walk down the same streets that I felt like I would always just tolerate, and I realize that I really love living here.  I love that there's a market across the street and that I know what flour to buy there and that I can get evaporated milk in the vegetable market.  I know it's so simple and maybe even silly, but my heart really overflows. 

therapy and torture

Our family went away for a week and a half to Hong Kong, and had such a wonderful time!  When we got away and stopped having to think about life in our city all the time, though, I found myself thinking a lot more about our kids in Africa.  We are ready to see their faces.  When we're busy at home, it's easier to not think about it, but on vacation, it's all I can think about!

I read some blogs one night, just wanting to see kids from Ethiopia.  It was both torture and therapy.

The latest we have heard from our agency is that we are still at the top of the list for a referral (it's been 10 months since we got our referral last year) and that no adoptions have happened since then.  BUT that they are doing paperwork to work with 2 or 3 more orphanages in Ethiopia.  So, we're hopeful again!

Our friend Little Rainbow stayed with us the two weeks before we went to Hong Kong, and that kept my mind busy.  It was a sweet time.  She really is a precious friend to our boys and a sweet little girl that we've come to love!  She is studying down south again, but it was a sweet two weeks before she/we left.

Here's a picture of her with the boys after they made swords, etc from cardboard: