Five Years Ago…

The Vs have come to celebrate five years of blogging excellence.

Five years ago…

• I didn’t have any children in elementary school.
• I’d never heard of a place called Cowan, Indiana.
• The idea of adopting internationally was still a pipe dream.
• I was convinced that I was going to be involved in planting a church in Evansville.
• I was wrapping up my first semester of seminary and probably questioning my sanity as I studied for OTI and Elementary Greek.
• We were still adjusting back to life in Tennessee’s fair eastern mountains.
• We were active members of Sonlife Community Church.
• Mike Davis was the coach of the Hoosiers.
• I had never seen a computer catch fire.

My, how things have changed over the past five years. And I think it’s safe to say the nature of Life in the Fishbowl has changed considerably since I dipped my toes in the blogging pond and tested the waters with these two posts five years ago.

I’m thinking about compiling a list of my favorite posts from the past five years. Any suggestions? If you do share one, please include a link (if possible).

Taking Custody

Moments after taking custody of our Little Girl

Monday (9/21)

The drive back to Addis from Durame lasted entirely too long.

We toured a medical facility that is supported by our agency. We also had the opportunity to stop and take pictures of Mihret’s actual birth-village.

But the drive back to Addis from Durame still lasted entirely too long.

Because we knew that when we returned to Addis, we’d take custody of our children. The long-awaited moment was finally at hand. We just had to wait through the drive back to the city.

When we finally got back to our hotel, we went over to the Care Center. The children were having their baths and the nannies had redone Mihret’s hair. We watched as they bathed and dried her one last time. She had been at the Center for a long time and it was obvious that the nannies loved her. We brought some pajamas for her to wear to the hotel. The nannies gladly dressed her in her new outfit.

It was tough watching them say goodbye to our Little Girl. They’d loved her for so long. I’m sure they were happy that she has a forever family, but it was also difficult for them to let her go. One of the nannies held her one last time and she was fighting back tears.

“Chaio,” she finally managed to say.

And she handed Mihret back to us for the final time. We did our best to express our heartfelt gratitude to the nannies who cared so much for our daughter. I hope they understood – even with the language barrier. And we walked out the room and closed the door.

She was finally ours!

SpangDeutschLish Rears its Ugly Head Again

The Ethiopian Flag

Longtime faithful visitors to Life in the Fishbowl don’t need to be reminded that I’m far from an expert at foreign languages. My linguistic understanding is really more like a stew. SpangDeutschLish stew.

Apparently, my “default” foreign language has reverted back to German. There was obviously a language barrier between us and the nannies at the Care Center in Addis. They spoke very little English. We spoke very little Amharic. So we resorted to pointing and signing quite a bit.

The German flag. It's not THAT different from the Ethiopian flag - right? At least it has yellow. And horizontal lines.

But whenever I’d hear them say something to me in Amharic, my mind would register that they were speaking in a foreign language. So I wanted to respond to them in German.

That’s right. German.

I even caught myself actually responding in German once. A nanny was explaining something to us (I don’t remember what – probably about feeding Mihret) and I understood what she meant. I heard myself say, “Ah, sehr gut,” out loud.

It could be argued that because there’s still a lingering Italian presence (i.e. Chaio = “goodbye”) from the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the early 20th century, I could have simply been trying to recognize Ethiopia’s cultural heritage. Because, after all, Germany and Italy aren’t that far from each other.

Or maybe I’m just a doofus.

Fortunately, I figured out how to say “Thank you” before I started telling everyone “Danke” or “Gracias.” That would have been embarrassing.

Diego

He was such a good dog...

About a year ago, I mentioned how Diego’s health was deteriorating and we didn’t expect him to live much longer.

Today became the dreaded day. The medicines had lost their effectiveness and it was obvious that Diego was constantly in pain or uncomfortable. He was easily irritable and tried to avoid being around the kids for fear they would hurt him.

It’s a sad day in the Todd household. We’re all going to miss Don Diego Velazquez Todd. When we got him (before Aiden was born), his tiny tail looked like a paintbrush with white paint on the tip. That led us to thumb through our Humanities books to find a fitting artist to be his namesake. Since we went on our honeymoon in San Diego, it only seemed fitting to name him after Diego Velazquez.

Bella seems to be quite concerned and confused. She knows we left with him this afternoon. But now she’s wandering the house like she’s looking for something and whining to go outside (even when she doesn’t have to).

He was such a good dog, even in his times of obvious pain. We’re gonna miss him.

Darth Diego. Or maybe Diego Vader. We could never decide.

Don’t mess with Mike Tyson

When I heard the headline last night that Mike Tyson had punched someone in an airport, all I could think of was this song. When I woke up this morning, this song was still running through my head.

If Mr. Tyson really felt his daughter was threatened, I’m not surprised that he did this at all. In fact I don’t think I blame him – especially after the tragic death of his four year old daughter earlier this year. After that, I’d be extra-vigilant about protecting my children.

I think the paparazzo’s experience should be a lesson to all of us: Just listen to Will Smith and don’t mess with Iron Mike (unless you’re playing Punch Out…then you’re safe…I think).

There are so many lines that I love in this song. I think my favorite is “My body’s like a punching bag and Mike’s gonna” (hit it). What’s your favorite?

Veterans Day

I was moved by the words of a former professor of mine, Dr. Jim Street:

I pray for the Day when we will beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks, when we will study war no more and veterans will be those in our past whom we esteem for their valor and sacrifice. Until that time, my deep regard and respect for all veterans past AND present.

Amen. And amen.

Name Change Revisited

I’m still thinking of what to rename this blog. Actually, I am going to rename it. Just not sure to what name yet.

So, to continue the conversation that began here, I’m gonna throw out a few more name ideas. What do you think?

A Troop (or Skulk) of Todds in Candy Stripe Pants

The Silver Fox in Candy Stripe Pants

For the uninformed, the Indiana basketball Hoosiers wear candy stripe pants when warming up before a game. Since IU tends to dominate the posts come basketball season, I think it might be fitting to use something like this in the name.

Or there’s something like Crimson Fox and Other Toddities.

Or The Fox of Life (thanks, Heather)

I was also thinking of something with the word Ferenji, which is Ethiopian for “foreigner.” But I hesitate to use that because it could easily get confused with Ferengi. And I really don’t want this blog to get confused with a Star Trek blog. I guess I could make a passing reference to Star Wars. What about The Big Walking Carpet in Candy Stripe Pants and Other Toddities? That just rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it?

Any thoughts? Any other suggestions? I really do value your input. Of course, I may choose something regardless of your thoughts. It’s not like this blog is a democracy or anything. More like a benevolent dictatorship, I guess.

<a href=”http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o32/mattdantodd/Other/FamilyCrest.jpg” target=”_blank”><img class=”alignright” style=”border: 1px solid black; margin: 1px;” title=”Todd Family Crest” src=”http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o32/mattdantodd/Other/FamilyCrest.jpg” alt=”" width=”156″ height=”166″ /></a>

Durame

I have struggled with this post for a while. The journey to Durame on Sunday (9/20) was an emotional one because of the opportunity we had to meet with Mihret’s birth mother. Most of what we learned from the meeting is Mihret’s story to tell when she chooses to tell it. Christy and I both intend on protecting that treasure for our her.

As all of the members of our Travel Group who chose to travel to Durame, we experienced the entire spectrum of emotion in anticipation of meeting our children’s birth parents. It was a meeting I wouldn’t miss for anything. Ever. It was one of those life-changing moments that will forever be burned into my heart. It was also one of the most difficult meetings I’ve ever had. If any adopting parents are reading this and have the opportunity to meet with the birth parents, do it!! While “fun” isn’t the first (or second…or third…or any, for that matter) word I’d think of, it’s a special time that I’m thankful we’ll be able to share with our daughter.

I’ve also struggled with this post because we took so many pictures of our drive down to Durame. We have no idea if/when we’ll ever be there again and we wanted to preserve as much as possible for Mihret. I think I took something like 100 pictures from the drive to and from Durame, including our stay in the village. That’s a lot to go through. I think I’ve captured enough of the highlights to share without everyone looking at the picture and saying, “Hey – didn’t I just see that a few pictures back?” WordPress.com won’t let me embed the slideshow here, so I guess you’re going to have to click here to watch.

While in Ethiopia, I did a little journal writing. Not nearly as much as some people did, but I did record some of my thoughts – especially from the trip to Durame. Here’s a bit of what I had to say while in the middle of it all. Journal entries are in italics with a few of my thoughts interjected in parenthesis…

Today was the day most of us have been the most nervous about – the day we met the birth families.

…

Today is also (day of celebration of) the last day of Ramadan (called Eid)…All of us were amazed at the constant streams of people either heading into the celebration service or back home from it. We saw thousands upon thousands of people walking along the highway today. Later on in the day, most were heading to Market, but there was a vast number dedicated enough to walk for miles to and from a worship service. (It was quite humbling.)

…

The views were breathtaking! We have tried to come up with words that described what we saw and couldn’t. It’s just Ethiopia! Everyone took tons of pictures. I’m sure we’ll wonder why we took so many later on, but I’d rather wonder that rather than wonder why we didn’t take more of our daughter’s home region.

When we woke up the following morning, we looked outside our window and the mountain was hidden behind a cloud. This was not an uncommon experience while we were at Milligan. Whenever Buffalo Mountain was hidden behind a cloud, we’d look at it and say, “Look! God moved a mountain!” reminding each other that God can and does move mountains. That reminder became even more powerful as we were in the midst of our newly adopted daughter’s home region. God certainly moved a mountain.

We experienced so much during those two days and I’m still processing everything. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to wrap my mind around everything we encountered.

With all of the pictures that are shared in the slideshow, I feel like I should make sure to invite you to share any questions you may have about the pictures. Feel free to do so in the comments section below and the conversation can continue that way.

Traditional Dinner

Saturday (9/19) was a busy day. We spent the morning at the National Museum (as mentioned here earlier…I’ll have more from inside at a later date). Then we got to spend some time in the afternoon with our children at the Center.

That evening, we were met by some representatives from our adoption agency for a traditional Ethiopian dinner at he Abyssinian. The atmosphere was amazing! There was also a wedding reception there and we might have been a tad bit underdressed. But we got to experience (from a distance) some of the wedding celebration. Priceless!

The food was amazing. I was glad we’d experienced Ethiopian cuisine before, or I would have been completely lost. The food was served in a buffet so you could get as little or as much as you wanted. And there was a server behind the buffet who was very helpful in explaining what some of the different dishes were. And he did so with such passion. I felt kind of bad bypassing the dish that I was pretty sure he said had cow stomach in it.

But not that bad.

There was also a band with dancers. We were told they generally dance until midnight or one in the morning, but since it was such a full house, it was much warmer in there and they probably wouldn’t go that long into the night. We didn’t stay long enough to find out. We had a very long and emotional day ahead of us. And we needed to be in the vans early in the morning. Although we wanted to stay longer, we needed to get back to the hotel to get as much rest as possible.

Videos of the dancers. Can you imagine dancing like this for 5+ hours?

By the way – I love the girls’ big, bouncy hair! I think I secretly hope that Mihret’s will be like that, too. Although we’ll still have no idea how to care for it.

The Elephant

We got to return to the Care Center after nap time on Friday afternoon/evening. Mihret was still quite groggy when we arrived, but she didn’t have any problems with us picking her up and playing with her some more. On our first meeting earlier in the afternoon, we brought a tiny purple plush elephant to share with her. There was much debate amongst ourselves about whether we should take the elephant with us when we left or leave it there with her. She didn’t let go of the elephant the entire time we were with her during the first meeting. We knew she liked it. But we knew there was a very good chance she could lose the elephant and it could get claimed by someone else…which would be a very bad thing. We decided to take it with us and bring it with us every time we came to the Center.

That’s the elephant in the lower section of the picture above. It used to be Aiden’s. But he never really played with it as a baby. Every time we returned to the Care Center, we brought the elephant so there’d be one more thing for her to associate with us. It turned out to be a good thing. On Saturday, she gave us a little smile when she saw the elephant and reached out to it. She loved handing it to us then taking it back from us. Apparently, sharing is a game to her. That might not be a bad thing.

Not sure if we’ll ever get her hair looking like this, but we’ll certainly try. Well…Christy will try. I’ll give moral support. Because I’m lucky to get Alyson’s hair into pigtails.