synopsis

WARNING: jumbled thoughts and bad grammar is abundant in the following post. read at your own risk! (author writing under-the-influence of 6.5 hrs of sleep interrupted multiple times by fireworks and crying baby, and still in her pjs.)

hm. what to tell...

yosi has learned to give people "five" (kudos to kari and derek for their tutellage)! she has also brought back waving "bye-bye", which i feared had disappeared. she "gives lovin's" to her stuffed animals and sometimes people. she pats me on the back/shoulder when she's giving hugs sometimes. she recognizes K&D, Gpa and Gma, and her brave babysitters.

"walking" is more and more her all time fave activity. she stands on her own pretty well, if she's holding on to something. she can stand holding on with one hand for a minute or so. she's still not too impressed with any position like crawling, tho yesterday she let me "wheelbarrow" her around a bit.

her experiences over the last few weeks:

**a day of 8 hrs in the car- she did marvelously, tho we didn't, since we had the wrong directions and got to our destination an hr and a half late.

**meeting izzy, yosi's bio-sis, and her family at the BBAS picnic. swimming in the lake and attempting to "taste" it...

**getting blood drawn and not making a peep (God bless the binky and great phlebotomists and cheerios too). Mommy was in shock- I had been avoiding this procedure, since last time it was terror-ific. I warned the phlebs of this possibility as we sat down. But she watched intently the whole time, even as they pricked her skin with the needle. she didn't flinch once (tho I did -inwardly).

**sitting in the sand at the playground down the road. i was so impressed- she played for 3-4 minutes in it and had me thinking she wasn't even tempted to put it into her mouth... HA! that's when it happened, and she wailed, and i tried to get it out but she'd swallowed a bit before i succeeded... she slept with out waking that night tho, so i guess she's alright.

**meeting her new cousin (3rd once removed?) lexi, home from vietnam.

**staying up "late" (8p) in vain attempts to get her to sleep a little later in the morning. nice try padres! at least she slept thru the night a few times.

**she says "dada" sometimes when she sees david. naturally, this is ADORABLE. now, if only she could say "mama", but none of her babbles come even close to that sound. i think i might be identified by the title "deedi", as this is often the first babble i hear when she sees me... maybe it's b/c i'm always asking her "where's daddy?".

you can check out pic of a few of these things by linking to winkflash, on the right. you'll have to email me to get the password... this lets you see more pics and saves me doubling up on uploading pics, as i will probably be ordering prints from this site eventually.

i suppose some of you might be bored hearing about nothing but yosi, but since 95% of everything we do involves her in some way...

we do still have "a life": david is faithfully writing, and spends an hour or so every evening, after yosi's in bed, working on a book draft. meanwhile, i try to get a bit of housework in, or reading, but sooner than later i'm wiped out and ready for bed, particularly on days i've worked. on days off there's the perpetual housework to be done, a Bible study to go to, or friends to meet with. weekends too are spent "catching up"- on family time and household chores, going to church, meeting with friends. crash into bed and do it again.

some days are harder than others, but, God has been working on my heart using the Bible study i've been doing ("calm my anxious heart" by linda dillow) and i've been more concientious of practicing thankfulness and focusing on one day at a time, since that's all i can manage anyway.

i've really been getting a good bit of reading done (surprisingly). i recently finished "cry, the beloved country" by alan paton, an iconic book dealing with the time of apartheid in South Africa. i'm currently reading "the no. 1 ladies' detective agency" by alexander mccall smith: the setting is in Botswana. Africa seems to be a theme lately, not entirely by accident, as a little seed of hope lies within us that perhaps our next daughter or son may be born in that great continent (mali ethiopia, and rwanda are the only countries open for adoption at this time). but this is many times away, and only God knows the secret of our future.

thanks for reading, friend. you are certainly patient and forebearing.