October 29, 2014

He'd love to grab those toys, but he's just not quite sure how yet.

P.S. Apologies for the artistic angle of this video....

October 27, 2014

When you can vacuum the paint off your walls, you know you have a Situation. However, we tend to roll so fast, (even when the wheels don't go) that remedying this Situation by painting our house is not likely to happen any time soon...or ever.

I've decided to call this particular formation the Loch Ness Monster...unless someone comes up with a better name.

And speaking of spots, I fail to understand why baby spit up washes out of every garment fairly easily, with the prominent and visible exception of the chador namoz. I guess you haven't really lived until you've gone head banging and chest bashing down the street on Muharram with a spit-up covered chador namoz.

If I'd gotten my way and Zadok was Hussain then I'd be yelling the same thing everyone else is, but for slightly different reasons.

Oct 25, 2014

Zadok enjoys the last of our summer weather with a bath and "sun session" in the yard.

What can I say? He's cuteness personified.

October 23, 2014

Zadok isn't quite sure about his new friend--the BLiSS program training doll, complete with placenta and detachable umbilical cord--or maybe he's just a little tired and overwhelmed after a solid week of new faces, new voices, and new places.

He was as good as he could possibly be the entire week during the class time and we both learned a lot.

October 21, 2014

Bright and early at the airport...

 The guy standing behind Amos is the airport cook who cooks everyone breakfasts and lunches every day.

October 18, 2014

 "Sweetie" in her Eid finery. She wasn't sure about posing for her very first photograph...

...Having her brothers with her helped her gain confidence.

October 14, 2014

I am sure Messers Naseer and Ali are fine, upstanding gentlemen, despite the fact that their creative use of the English language would lead one to suspect otherwise...

October 11, 2014

Here's a video especially for Grandmother (Zadok's, that is.) I don't know if it will actually work or not, but it's worth a try.

October 10, 2014

This past Thursday we threw a huge "Welcome Zadok" party for many of our Afghan friends and neighbors...at least it felt like a huge party for us. It was actually rather a small affair by Afghan standards. Following are a couple photos of the preparations. There are no photos of the actual party because once things got going neither of us had the time.

 

Fun was had by all except unfortunately, Zadok. After a few minutes he had all that he could take of large, loud ladies in bright clothes and alarming makeup, and started a meltdown that lasted the rest of the evening, further complicating an already frantic event...

But here he is the day after, with a little Nawruz outfit to grow into, courtesy of one of Amos's coworkers at the airport, who has been praying for a son for Amos since before we married.

October 6, 2014

This weekend (Thursday) we're having a "Welcome Zadok" party and inviting a bunch of friends. I think it will be fun, but the delicate problem of coming up with the hinder end of a sheep in the nick of time is still plaguing us. We'll see how it goes.

October 3, 2014

This is us, for now...what's left of us. And a deep, gravelly male voice intones "The few, the proud..." but is interrupted mid-sentence by Nashville Westian laughter.

October 2, 2014

Her name is "Golden Girl," apparently, and if she were worth her weight in gold, we would never be poor...nor our childrens' children to the third and fourth generation. However, her stay in our house will most likely not be long--even after several hours of cleaning. oiling, poking prodding and coaxing, she still ate thread ravenously and at maniacal speed...and there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it.