Boredom and stuff.

I don't have much to report today. Twas a slow day. In fact, we are getting a little bored. It rained a lot. And by a lot .... I mean monsoon a lot. Our hotel room is on the second floor of our building, and the rain was blowing straight onto our little balcony. I thought we were in danger of flooding even on the top floor. (It didn't...but that is really how hard it was raining.) We ran some errands in town in between "gully-washers" (as Aaron likes to call them). The girls got a bit of swim time in along with chasing the Lizards. But with all the rain, it is down right COLD here. The chattering of the teeth told us it was time to be done once again. We spent the majority of the day curled up in our little "home" just playing. It seems to be a very secure place for Little Miss, though. We see the brightest side of her when it is just us at "home". Outside these 4 walls, a look of concern and uncertainty will quickly well up on her sweet little face. So we are happy to stay in. Besides that, it's been a long time since we've had the opportunity to just be bored.

So since there isn't much news from the day, I think I will just state some random facts for the sake of memory, and possibly some good laughs.

- Little Miss has an amazing sense of direction. Our driver is not from the town we are in, and he gets lost....often. Aaron has even remembered turns before he has. It's actually kind of funny, considering he's a "professional driver". The other day, we were on the outskirts of town, and the driver made it clear that he wasn't sure how to get back. Well....Little Miss did. She would point every now and then telling us to go in a certain direction. And wouldn't you know it? She landed us right back at the hotel! As the director of her orphanage says, "They're Village kids ... they have to know their way around the village."

-Her manners are unbelievably good. I asked Aaron what we are doing wrong at home. This Sweet Child throws away even the tiniest piece of trash. She pushes her chair in. She flushes the toilet. She wipes her hands with a napkin. She falls to her knees to greet adults (cultural thing .... but still .... I can't even get my kids to look an adult in the eyes). She eats whatever food you give her, and totally clears her plate - she'll even eat the chicken down to the bone. (This one is understandable considering the amount of food she is used to eating...but still! I'm used to complete opposite at meal times.) She dresses herself promptly after waking up, puts her dirty clothes in the right spot, makes her bed, and washes her hands at appropriate times WITHOUT being told. My favorite was possibly tonight as I observed her brushing her teeth. She squeezed the tube FROM.THE.BOTTOM, folks. I can't even get Aaron to do that! (Totally teasing. Let's be honest - I don't do that either.) I'm wondering if all of this will last. All of these things are the little challenges in parenting...and the more kids you have, the easier (I guess) it becomes to overlook some of these manners. Maybe I shouldn't have been overlooking them! (Please don't hear me bashing my kids here, or their manners. No, that's not it. Instead, I've noticed the fantastic work of the care givers in teaching so many kids these small details that I can't even manage to instruct my 4 in. Fail.)

- She will school you at UNO. We're trying to get her to tell us where she learned it. Little card shark, that one.

- She can make a play-do sculpture like no-one's business. She takes one look at the side of the box, and crafts her mini replica.

- When we drive over bumps (of which there are many), she likes to chant "bumpbumpbumpbumpbump" until it is smooth again. Very cute.

- Every time we see a random dog, I will say - "DOG! GUNTHER" in a funny voice. (Gunther is the name of our dog at home.) She cracks up every time.

- The 4 foot vulture that I mentioned the other day is in fact a stork. Our director got a good laugh at our lack of bird knowledge. Whatever the thing is ... it is unnatural looking to say the least. It looks like a creature from Avatar.

This picture really doesn't do this thing justice. I was standing really far away. Up close, the thing is seriously as big as Provi.

- We had a lizard in our bathroom. We tried to chase it away, but it darted behind the bathroom mirror, never to be seen again. I think it was magical. Maybe it jumped down the toilet, went into the sewage area and got eaten by the giant Avatar Stork. (Provi is hopeful that it jumped in her suitcase. She wants to take one home.)

- There are nasty, huge, black wasps here. If you've been around me at all - you know my feelings about these awful creatures. So needless to say, when I saw one, I wasn't happy. Apparently, they are unlike our Amercanized wasps that are mean and hunt humans. These ones really do leave you alone. But they are still freaky.

Well, enough randomness for today. For not having much to report, this has turned into a really long post. Sorry about that. It's a big week for us...so hopefully you'll be hearing more soon!