Tomorrow I head back to Canada – but not without having made a shopping trip today. One of the interesting things about Pittsburgh (sorry, I just didn’t think this when imaging Pennsylvania) is the number of black people who live here. At least in the downtown where I am staying, it’s been an eye candy festival of hair. (Yes, I know, Kelowna is way too white and I am way to excited about this.)

The coolest thing is that there are four different storefront schools on my walk to the conference each day, so I’ve seen countless preschool and elementary age kids – and their hairstyles. I’ve got  few new ideas… and its also nice to affirm that even if I am not a curly-whirley haired mama, I keep up with the Jones. In a totally vulnerable self-image way, it makes me feel like a good Ethio-Canadian mama when I know I’m taking good care of the girls’ hair.

I got to visit a few haircare stores within a few blocks of my hotel – but honestly most of those stores are focused on straightening and treating and chemicalizing. So I didn’t buy anything.

BUT I also went to Target – and got some cute Barbies for the girls. I probably won’t give them to them until Christmas or even next year (I don’t know – 5 is still to young for Barbies, isn’t it?) but it’s just nice to have them in the closet when they get to be a bit older. Especially since there is no way to find Barbies of colour in my home city. Now, they don’t have super curly hair, but they aren’t blond and do have darker skin – so it’s a start, anyway.

Meanwhile back at home – Jrock told me it took 3 hours to take out the girls braids and wash their hair last night. tee hee.  I thank him! first and foremost, since this is not his forte. Then I have to laugh… it takes me like 1/2 hour.

THANK YOU also to J&G for taking the girls for two nights, and for my dear friend T, who is driving to my house early tomorrow to put the girls’ hair into nice puffs for their school pictures. We couldn’t figure out how we were going to handle those school pictures (even if I did the braids before I left they would have been fuzzy 5 days later) and she totally is saving the day!

Guess noone told Gramma they're not allowed to climb the slide…

We’ve had the pleasure of having my parents here with us all week… however, it’s a testiment to my current state of busy-ness that I haven’t taken one picture. Luckily, Gramma was on it – so here are the ragamuffins at the playground today.

Sugar belly!

They’ve missed me this week… I’ve been so busy because I am leaving for most of next week. Thank GOODNESS for all our wonderful friends – the girls are doing three nights of sleepovers while I am away, and my friend T is doing their hair so they don’t look like, er, well, like Daddy did heir hair! in the school photos on Thursday.

M&H, J&G, T… WE THANKS YOU!!!! in advance.

Spice belly!

We’re all looking forward to our family getaway to the “castle”… we leave the day I get back! Where are we going? Well, you’ll just have to see…. (or guess!)

Auntie Ena holding her little nieces. Feel the love!

My mom and dad moved to Fort St. John in Northern BC when I was 6 months old. And until three weeks ago, they had never moved out of the city. Sure, they had lived in three different houses. But Mom and Dad just moved to Creston, in southern BC last week. BIG change.

For us, it’s nice to have them closer (5.5 hours drive instead of 16+ hours. One way.) But it’s just nice to see them moving on with that phase of their life – the golden years of retirement before they get too old and crotchety. (lol – my parents read the blog!) But seriously – it’s a big deal for our family.

Daisy princess: Spice and Sugar

My brother, bless his heart, came out for three weeks from Ottawa to help our mom and dad move their countleess truckloads down south, as well as fiberglassing the boat so it could be moved. Mym sister is now just 2 hours away from their new home, and she and her hubby helped them unpack everything. We decided to join the party! and went to Creston. But I was freshly recovering from my surgery and couldn’t barely walk from one end of their 9 acres to the other, much less lift anything or be useful. Jrock helped as much as he could, and we got to plant the cherry tree we gave dad for Father’s Day.

He is so sensitive. Look at that pink shirt. And the daisy. Never mind the bunny.

The girls had a blast – playing with their uncle and auntie and roaming the property. The did say they were so grateful that we don’t have mosquitos in Kelowna. I have to agree. But besides those blood-thirty little beasts, the place is lovely and I know Mom and Dad will make it their own.

Our day (and a half) in Vancouver was a real blast!  We crammed as much as possible into that day, though!

After a hotel breakfast (we arrived late night before) we set off for the indoor playground where the Lesotho picnick was being held.

We were over an hour early, but it gave us time to relax and decompress before all the action started. At 11am, all the families started to trickle in. We knew a few of them, and some of them knew us! So a special shout out to T and M, blog watchers and fellow parents It was super to meet you.

The stars of the show were the officials from Lesotho. I actually got to talk to one of the ladies for quite a bit (the one cutting the cake,) and she was super nice. Kind of one of those people that you know if you met them under different circumstance you would probably become friends.

And of course, there was a lot of Basotho boy watching! lol  I remember when we didn’t have our girls’ referral yet, and I would stare at Ethiopian children, trying to fathom what our kids would look like.

Well, I found myself doing the same thing on Sunday. They are cute kids! and have a really distinctive look. chances are our boy will be on the shorter side, with a solid stocky build. Many of the children have quite almond shaped eyes, which is a feature than was passed down from San (tribe) ancestors, I’ve read. Sorry most of them are blanked out, but I only post pics of kids I have permission (from their parents) for.

Anyway, it was very exciting. My cake went over well… I was looking for it during buffet time, and realized they had grabbed it for a cake cutting ceremony. I was surprised and delighted, of course. But it was just mainly getting ready and excited. T and J, our very good friends from Kelowna, are also probably going to be matched at the September meeting (yes, that’s right! exciting!) so it’s just a thrill to be going through the process and maybe even traveling together.

We sat with J and T out on the lawn after the picnic for an hour and a half just talking and sharing while the kids played. So fun.

Then off we went to Lynn Canyon for hiking for two hours. The weather was actually lovely and I couldn’t believe the crowd there! Guess that’s what everybody in North Van does on a Saturday.

And then we enjoyed a cozy supper at an Ethiopian restaurant with two families that we know from digital land but hadn’t met in person. The food at the Addis Cafe was good and the company was great. The African kids seems well-versed in Ethiopian food, but the the two born-in-Canada kids were more cautious. Props to the boys, though… after seeing Sugar and Spice inhale the Ethiopian food and give injera demos, they both enjoyed it and had a blast. After some late-night gelato, off we went home…

Now, the crazy thing is we’re going back again tomorrow! For our appointment wit the Basotho officials. We’re looking forward to it! These are some of the folks who will be matching us, so the chance for them to get to know us more than on paper is pretty awesome and unique. Now – time to feed the kidlets and pack some snacks for our 10 drive tomorrow!

Jrock and I are both really excited. We have this fabulous opportunity: four of the five government officials (and agency rep) from Lesotho arrived today to visit Canada and our agency, Sunrise.

Tomorrow we get to go to a picnic with the families who have kids home form Lesotho, those who have been matched, and those who are being matched yet. It’s just an amazing opportunity to get to know more about the country, the adoption program, and to meet the Lesotho officials.

So we’re driving five hours both ways to go to a two hour picnic in North Vancouver!  - but in our eyes, it’s totally worth it. In fact, on Wednesday we’re doing the trip all over again, because we have a 20 minute meeting with the officials… just our family. These are litterally the people who match the families with kids, so it’s a unique opportunity for them to get to know us as well. I’m really pleased about this. I mean, our girls were perfect for us, and really, it was somewhat of a random pick. This is a much more puposeful placement process, but we also have two little girls that I hope they keep in mind when chosing a little boy. That’s why it’s so cool that they will get to meet our kids too!

Anyway, my cake is almost out of the oven. It’s a potluck lunch tmorrow and I’m making the Pioneer Woman’s Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever. I’m decorating it with a big Canada and a big Lesotho flag! Corny, I know. But who cares. I hope they like it!

A video of our week, complete with the girls dancing in the week-end show!