Fall Dayz

After Malachi's haircut at Precision Kutz and Sytlz, I decided to always spell with a "z" instead of an "s". It just seems right.

Welcome to Colorado, Kira!  Cold, lots of blood work (I won't make you endure the picture again for those of you who saw it on Facebook, but basically imagine 15 viles of blood - yes, that was it), scary costumes and strange decorations, snow ..... oh wait .... a break in the snow! Quick! This is what we call "fall".

We weren't sure how to explain trick-or-treating to Kira, but hey, what kid doesn't enjoy playing dress up and walking around getting free candy. It was quite the delightful evening after all!

The Barber kept singing Lionel Richie songs. Nice.

Dinner at Chili's before trick-or-treating. (The treat was for the parents - kids ate free!)

All dressed up, so pretty in pink. Is she a fairy? A ballerina? A butterfly? (She has wings on the back)

Oh no! Here comes the Storm Trooper! ("Corn trooper" if you ask Malachi)

Kira would stand at the door before anyone answered saying trick-or-treat. It was really a bit funny...

"Many candies!", she would exclaim after every house. The final loot was more than enough.

Quick ... time to play in the leaves before it snows again!

Snowing leaves are as much fun as snowing snow.

Sweet joy - jumping in leaves for the first time ever.

Doesn't get much cuter....

Kira really liked the raking part when we were all done playing. Malachi decided to "help".

A Ugandan Snow Princess

Here we are, 2 days back home, and the snow has begun. Welcome to Colorado, Kirabo! The day passed with us all warm and cozy, just staring out the window at the snow .... until the other kids came home from school and asked to play in said snow. Sigh. I'll admit, along with my friend Angie, that I sorta loathe getting the kids ready to play in the snow. So.Much.Work. And now that we have 5 kids to bundle up .... oh my. It is quite the production that quickly sends my mood in a downward spiral. But we'll forget about that and focus on how much fun the kids had....including Kira.

For a Ugandan Sweetie who has never seen snow, you'd think she was born on the ski slopes or something. She LOVED it! It didn't take her long to understand the joy of throwing snowballs (and the pain of being hit by one). It didn't take her long to realize you can fall completely backwards into the snow and not get hurt. It didn't take her long to realize that you can fall face forward into the snow and your face gets really cold ... but that didn't stop her. She couldn't get enough of face planting into the snow. I thought for sure that once she felt the sting of hats coming off and gloves coming loose, she would be DONE. But nope. She would just walk over and ask for help re-adjusting and then return to face planting.

The other kids had a blast introducing their new sister to the joy that is snow. (And the yumminess that is hot chocolate afterwards!)

Finally I realized that frost bite must be setting in, and seeing how Kirabo wouldn't recognize the feeling, I called them in. Aaaaand then I made them all help each other get out of the snow gear, because I was still recovering from getting them in it. And sorry Angie - I gave up having them pile it by the back door inside, because like you - that drives me nuts. Nope, all the wet stuff is out in the garage growing icicles until tomorrow when it will be 60 degrees.

Watch out, Malachi!

Daddy getting some snow balls in.

Snow Angels

Eating more snow.

Friday Market

Every Friday in Kampala, the "Friday Market" is in business! This is a group of vendors who come together to sell their local treasures at unbeatable prices. True African finds, and bargaining to boot! (I don't even know what "to boot" means, but I wanted to say it there.)

The atmosphere is fast and furious. Every booth you walk by, you are greeted with the traditional greeting of, "You're Welcome. Come see." And just about every booth, I couldn't say no.

I went two Friday's in a row, and left both times with my arms weighed down with items. Top finds? Maybe the drum for 30,000 shillings. (Um, $10 US Dollars!) The scarfs, as beautiful as they come. And my favorite??? The beaded jewelry, purse and wallets that are handmade by the women there. To think that many women make their living on wrapping and stringing paper beads blows my mind. And after learning more about Kirabo's mother, these beads hold an extra special place in my heart. She was one of the women who did this for a living....and she didn't just keep the talent to herself, she would teach other women how to provide for their families through this amazing gift.

Friday Market was one of the highlights of my trip!

The bead-makers!

So many to choose from!

Bargaining away!

I'm supposed to pack this how???

First days home

**Warning, this post may be a bit scattered. My eyes won't stop crossing and the world is spinning.**

Thank you everyone for the kind messages and checking in on us. Kira and Malachi finally stopped moving long enough to watch an episode (or two) of DORA, so I'm going to get out as many posts as possible now. (Hopefully you caught the pictures in the previous post!)

So here's a little update:

I couldn't have imagined our first moments home to be any better than they were. After the long, annoying flight delays .... we finally arrived at DIA around 10pm on Monday. We were greeted by the 5 most beautiful people I know. What a sight. Lots of hugs, lots of giggles, and everyone trying to talk Kira's ears off. She would just laugh - probably because this foreign language sounds a little ridiculous coming from 4 little mouths all at once. In fact, just about every time Malachi talks to her in his sweet little voice - she laughs. So cute.

We got home and the feeling that came over me was that it was RIGHT. All of us in one place, under one roof, about to sleep in our own beds. Aaron had done an amazing job getting the house cleaned up, and some friends hired a cleaner for the deep cleaning. Clean sheets and everything! Oh, my husband and friends love me! It was so peaceful to walk into MY HOME all clean and lovely! After introducing Kira to our house, her new room (which she LOVES the Zebra bedding) and the dog... it was off to bed for everyone.

The dog. Oh the dog. She wasn't super excited at first about him. We'd talked a lot about him, and I had been warning her that he would try to lick her. He did. I'm not sure she could fathom the size of his head or tongue in all our talks, so it was a bit much. She would run away from Gunther, in which he of course thought she was playing a game and would chase her. A short 24 hours later though, and she goes in search of him. She loves to pet him and play the game of chase now. This morning she ran into our room at 7 am asking where Gunther was. So thankful that went as smooth as it did. We have heard horror stories of families bringing kids home from Africa who just can't ever get used to the inside dog thing. I think Gunther even likes his new pack member.

Yesterday we heard the forecast of snow. WHAT?!?!? I only saw those red leaves for one day, and really? Snow. So off we went to stock up on hats, gloves and boots for our new little African Sweetie. Eden stayed home from school to spend some much needed time with mom, and her new sister. The giggles and the wonder went on all day. I could barely keep up. Correction, I couldn't keep up.

The cold weather has been interesting, to say the least. Yesterday afternoon as the storm was thinking about moving in, the kids were outside playing. Kirabo had on 3 coats .... but refused to put on her new warm shoes and kept the flip flops on. She wears her hat inside. Poor thing can't stop being cold!

Between 8 loads of laundry (nothing says welcome home like that much laundry), unpacking, chasing after Kira and the others as we introduced her to her new Village (aka - the park up the street), and jet lag - I began to shut down fast. By 7 pm, it was all I could do to stand up. I took a hot bath, fell asleep in the bath (shh, don't tell Aaron - it's his biggest fear) and headed to bed by 9 pm fighting a fever and some kind of cold/flu thing that I'm sure I picked up on one of our 45 plane trips. Or maybe just exhaustion. (Does that cause a fever though?) (No Mom - I don't have malaria.)

On to day 2. We will stare out the window and stay warm inside. There is more laundry to do. And I'm feeling a little better - but not much. So I'm thinking that laying around and watching the wonder of my two little African babies sounds like it will make for a fantastic day!

A picture is worth a thousand words

So excited to be on the plane! (Until the second flight, when she began to say, "no more plane.")

New sisters are the best!

Everyone trying to talk to her at once, and she just would laugh.

LOVE !

The Britton Bus is filling up!

SNOW?!?!?! She decided to eat it. We told her to stay away from the yellow stuff.

"COLD!!!", she exclaims, but can't stop sticking her hand out the door. Yes, yes we were in the jungle 3 days ago.

Taking in all the white stuff for the first time ever!

I finally had to tell her to shut the door. :)

Delta, meet Satan.

I need to re-read my words that I wrote prior to leaving Uganda, because right now I'm feeling pretty defeated. 48 hours on 4 hours of sleep probably isn't helping. But seriously, when I mentioned that the Enemy doesn't like adoption (I mentioned that, right?) .... apparently Delta Airlines is now the anti-Christ. This is unreal.

We made it through our first 2 big flights without a glitch. So thankful! Kira slept for the first flight (for about 6 or 7 hours of it). She too has been awake since. She and I are walking Zombies at the moment. We got to Detroit with a little over an hour to make our connection. I kinda want to go on a big rant and complain about every failure Delta has had - but why? The point of the annoying story is that we made it to our gate with 3 minutes to spare as the man at the ticket counter told us to RUN because there were no other direct flights available today to Denver. So like Forest Gump, I ran - w/ 80 lbs of carry on luggage and a Kirabo. When we arrived, they were just pulling the walkway away from the plane and would not let us board. We tried to go standby on a 3:00 flight, but it didn't happen.

All that to say - I would like to fall in a heap on the floor, but then someone would probably put something in my luggage when I'm not looking, and the man overhead keeps telling me that is bad.

Kira is a little traveling trooper. She has had her share of "moments" during our travel, but all in all - she's amazing. I took advantage of our time in Detroit and had dinner at Chili's. 4 weeks without Chili's is not right! It was so yummy! (Oh, and I'm also sitting here with a Pumpkin Spice Latte to get me through the next 7 hours. Mmmmmm......) At Chili's, it was perhaps a bit too much too soon for Kira to be knocked up side the head with the reality that her world is about to change - big time. She took a chip, stuck it in the Salsa (of which they DO NOT have in Uganda) and bit into it. Her eyes got huge, she spit it out and began to cry. Oh my. I of course thought it was funny until I realized she wasn't joking. Fail. She bit into the chicken strips though and got a big grin and yelled, "YAY"! So, good - Chili's will be somewhere she won't cry at upon remembering the salsa. This is necessary since we eat here about once a week.

She's having a hard time understanding why we have two more planes to ride on when she and I have been talking for the last 2 days that we had 3 planes. Now it is 4. She has made it clear that she is not happy about the change of plans. I guess I have too.

So, there you have it. What I do know is that at the end of today - we will STILL be home, and we will all be together. I'll take it!

****After posting this rant, I remembered something to be thankful for in the midst of this. The kindness of one woman toward me was a breath of fresh air. She offered to the people at the counter to give up her and her 2 sons seats so that Kirabo and I could get home. They wouldn't let her - but the fact that a woman who doesn't know me would offer up such kindness was unreal. You don't see that often. (She saw me miss the flight and crumble into tears.)  So....there's one to remember! I pray that God blesses that sweet woman.****

We're coming home!

Tonight is my last blog post from Uganda. Tonight has actually been bittersweet for me. I've been gone exactly 4 weeks. That is too, too long. I miss my kids more than I can express. I miss Aaron. I miss the dog. I miss my bed, my shower, my tap water, my car. I've made new friends here. I've lived in the birthplace of my new daughter, I'm taking her away from her birthplace. Bittersweet.

In the last 4 weeks, God has revealed Himself to me in ways that I think he needed to get me to Africa for me to see. (Yes, that is just how thick-headed I am.) I honestly did not think I had what it took to get through 4 weeks in a foreign country, with a new daughter, and without my husband for half of it. There were moments I thought I would crumble. But here I am, a short four weeks later (when it could have gone much longer) and I realize I did have what it took - God.

This morning we went to church again, and I'm so glad that I did. It was only the second time I've gone here....and this morning was amazing. God gave me a little gift in this morning's service. The song, Our God is Greater, has been one of "my songs" throughout this adoption. So many times during adoption, it feels like nothing is going right, and the Enemy is winning. There is a line in this song that would always remind me of truth...."and if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?" Hearing it sung (with soul) here in Africa brought me to tears. A special going away present from the God who has been with Kirabo for 6 1/2 years. The God who brought us through another adoption. The God who has been with me for the last 4 weeks. Nothing stopped us!

We said good-bye to our home from the last few weeks, I said goodbye to new friends, and we are on our way!!!!

Praying for safety, rest, and joy on the long journey home. (Oh, and connections to be made.)

Thanks for hanging in there with us on this ride!