'Round here

(My pictures don't match the post, but here is a description! 1. I went to Prague to visit a wonderful friend and had an amazing time! 2. Y has spent lots of time with extended family lately and loves it! 3. Hark! We have a 2nd family photo! Y wants to make sure you understand that she is almost 4 years old...I think that is why she is holding up her fingers! :)


Remember all of those changes I talked about? Wow! They are feeling pretty big right now! After 7 pretty amazing years of working with refugee children and families, I left my job last Friday (check this out). It was sad and heartbreaking, but also time for a new challenge. For me, change is tough and leaving my job also felt like leaving my community and leaving work that has not only been fulfilling, but a true joy to participate in. And for better or for worse, so much of my identity over the last few years has been built on the work that I do. It is easy to idealize everything now and say that all of my years at WR were blissful; they weren't and I know that. But it sure is hard to let go of something as unique and truly meaningful as refugee resettlement and my colleagues are truly wonderful and amazing people.

Leaving one job means finding another! I am so thankful "in this economy" (to use the overly annoying phrase) to have had some options! Thankfully social workers are in demand (too bad the pay doesn't follow!) and I was able to choose something that works well with family life. Here it is....drum roll please....I am totally changing fields from international human rights work to providing counseling services to mothers who are making an adoption plan for their child. Yup, I know. It's totally different. Call it counter transference, but I was truly curious when I saw the opportunity and am really looking forward to diving into this field (for awhile......). Given my experience with adoption, I think I just have a real passion for making sure that birth mothers have options that are ethical and plans that are presented in a compassionate manner and thorough way. I really enjoy counseling and am excited to continue to do this with a new population. The agency I am working with does domestic adoptions (and international home studies) with women mostly from the Chicago area. I'm only on week one, but I am finding the training to be intense and stretching.


A change for me means a change for Y since she was going to preschool at WR. We are really lucky to have a wonderful (Ethiopian!) babysitter who will be watching her for the next few weeks as well as some of July until Nathan finishes school. She will hang out with N most of the summer and then start a preschool/daycare in late August. She seems to be happy, so that of course makes us happy!

What else can I say? The sun is shining and summer weather just makes life better! Here's hoping I get back into an exercise routine with this lovely weather. Here's hoping this is my last stream of conscious blog post. Here's hoping you report back to me on how YOUR life is going! :)

Change is in the air!

It feels like Spring in Chicago today! Sunny, and the breeze is blowing! A nice day to think about all that is going on! So many changes on the horizon: I have a new job (more info to come soon) Y is getting taller (finally) and has a new school (yikes!!!!), N is about to finish another school year and be home for the summer, and things are just generally good! I know that I haven't blogged in forever, and what's a blog without pictures? I promise to post very soon telling more about what is going on, including my new job (did I mention already that I have one??) and some fun summer plans!

I think I MIGHT be getting back into the blogging world? The jury is still out! :)

Our day(s)

I'm eating Mac n'Cheese while I listen to the sounds of my little one laugh with her bestie and frenemy (half friend/half enemy) from Eritrea. They are screaming and laughing and Y is trying to teach him how to sing a K'naan song. They are running around like mad and kinda making me a little bit crazy, but they are happy so I don't really mind!

This is my new life. It is hard and good.

The lack of blogging speaks to the lack of free time. Which is also hard, but good.

My new love interest

Seriously, I can't get enough of this man.

His smoky salsas.

His rich moles.

Mouth watering guacamole.

This man was made for him; and I for him.

Here's to you Rick Bayless

I checked out this amazing cookbook (and I am providing you a direct link to Amazon so that you can get your own) from the library last week and I can't stop making his food. Yes, you may know him from Top Chef Masters, but he was actually famous in Chicago long before that. His restaurants have seriously long lines, but are seriously delicioso. Even the Obamas love him. (And if he is good enough for Michelle and Barack, he is good enough for me)This man keeps it real on Public TV every week with a lovely cooking show. He is a bit quirky (and don't get me started about how strange his daughter is....weird), but his food stands alone.

Hurry up and make some of his food. Do it. You won't be sorry! First this, then head over to my friend's blog for another good recipe and then spend hours googling all of the other recipes you can find from Rick Bayless. Love him.

Chi-town fun!

Basking in the Oprah glow

I've lived here for twelve years.
I've eaten the pizza
I've had drinks on the 95th (Hancock)
I've run the marathon
I've watched the river turn green
What was missing?
Attending an Oprah show taping, of course
It was a blast. While we were standing in line to get in we all talked about how we weren't really even that big of fans. Funny how we all acted star struck and stood up and screamed (yes, it's true. I stood up and screamed) when she came out. I screamed double when we got free $400 phones (which I plan to sell on Ebay).

It was fun. Chicago is getting warmer and thus more fun! Spring has not yet sprung, but I'm beginning to think it is possible.

A great gift

Y has been home with us for about two and a half months! As I look back over our first weeks together, I realize how each new day brings a greater sense of comfort for all of us. Although we longed to have Y join our family (since August 2008) and we all thought that we "knew" each other well, what we knew that we wanted (to be a family) was still a struggle. We have good days and bad days. We just had a really great week together. She recently said to N "I waited a long time for you to come." She remembers the waiting just like we do. When I am in my most centered moments, I am able to think and remember just how much we longed to be with Y and that brings a greater sense of calmness to what has sometimes felt overwhelming. We longed for her. We want her. It doesn't matter how hard some days are; other days are pure joy! She has a strange sense of emotional maturity that can sometimes make me think she is so much older than she really is; and other times she seems like a baby. Not a toddler, but a tiny baby. I love her age and I am thankful for the fact that God knew what he was doing when Y joined our family. From her outrageously spunky and "up-for-anything" personality (she loves ice skating, sledding, running, smoked salmon and tacquerias) to the fact that she can go to the bathroom mostly by herself, we truly enjoy having a toddler in our family.

As much as we love our little Y as a toddler, sometimes I wonder what she was like as a baby-baby. You know, like before she could walk and talk. We know bits and pieces of her life story. Some days I think she is the luckiest little one alive and other days I wonder why she has had to endure so much in her short human experience. Time will tell how she processes her experiences and what she makes of the world, but for now we are thankful that she seems to be adjusting well. Since we did miss her baby years, we were shocked and so very thankful to receive what we consider to be the most amazing gift of all times. A *wonderful* family from Italy adopted a daughter from Y's orphanage. Like us, they had volunteered in the orphanage and knew the child they were planning to adopt. They had a long journey (also like us) and visited the orphanage many times over the YEARS (ok, not like us) it took them to complete their adoption.

Guess what they gave us? They had been taking pictures of Y for the three years that they had known her...almost her whole life. We received a DVD of over 100 pictures. What a gift. It is something that we will treasure forever. Enjoy some of her cuteness.

It is what it is

Hey Guys!

Small blogging rut going on over here in Chi-town! This post is subtitled "an attempt to just get back on the [blogging] horse." So here goes. It's not pretty, it's not well thought out; it just is.

Shall I start with our dear little Y? Ok, she is seriously the cutest kid ever and doing really wonderful! She is a real joker and loves to play tricks and has a lovely imagination. We love that about her! She is presently obsessed with being a superb sports woman and her interests include tae kwon do (of which we simply make up what appear to me to be "moves") and eating lots of vegetables so that she can be as fast as Usain Bolt. Tonight I asked her if she would like some more carrots and she said "If I eat them, will I be so, so fast like Usain Bolt?" A momma never lies. "Of course!"

Life has had many dips and turns in the past month, the greatest being my "first born child", my office place. I won't go into long and boring details, but things are not going so well at the workplace. Lots of transition, lots of changes and lots of sadness. I'm contemplating my next steps and trying to balance my desire to succeed in my profession with my new life as a mother. Aagh..the balance.

I allegedly start training for a half marathon on Monday. Anyone remember by last attempt in the summer? The world's most awful minor foot problem (plantar fasciatis) overtook me and I was left with no choice but to stop running. I'm so hoping that will not be the case this time around!

In other news: N's parents visited for three weeks, N and I got away for a night, I've cooked a lot lately and we are excited to have some special guests this weekend!

That's the latest and greatest from here! It's 9:10pm. Clearly past my bed time!