I know...I know...

Bad blogger. I did better while in ET, that's just crazy...but...we're without internet here so that makes things kinda hard, right?

But we're okay. The flood is affecting us over here in Eastern Iowa. I have pictures on my camera that I'll upload once we have internet, it really is pretty amazing. The trek that used to take us 10 minutes to downtown now takes at least 20 and it's a winding, winding path. Cedar Rapids (now made famous by the likes of the Today show and various others) is about an hour away from us and is home to my uncle and his family and a few cousins. All of them have been unable to make it to work for a couple weeks with the threat of not making it back out. It really is pretty crazy. The river would have to crest MUCH higher to actually make it to our front door but we have not come out of it unscathed. Our basement (including the boys' room) now smells like BO, poo, urine, old feet and various other smells that I never wanted to smell in my house. It makes me long for the days when it was just a newly adopted Ethiopian's urine that I was smelling...anywho, we're okay and safe and that's a lot better than other people in our town. Anyway, the ole' Mississippi is living up to its various nicknames by it's current.

What else has been going on? The boob on the ankle is gone and all that's left is a slight limp only noticed by people who knew of the reason for it in the first place. This is all good news as it's helped me get back to my A game on the parenting front (don't ask the kids, as they might disagree).

We had a good father's day. Zach had to work so it was pretty laid back. One day when I get back my internet I'll write an ode to his amazing fatherhoodness as well as the man I get to call "daddy" every day. Both amazing men, both men who are definitely a dime a ten thousand anymore.

What else...my eldest started day camp today. He'll be gone every day for the rest of summer pretty much. He woke up at 5:45 am this morning asking if it was time to go to camp. One would think he wouldn't be that excited as he LIVES HERE but that one would be mistaken as he was beyond excited.

Tariku continues to learn more English but draws a blank when I ask him "what's wrong" or "why did you do that?" for some reason he chooses those critical times to "fake" his Ethiopianess and just looks at me with those big eyes (I jest...of course he's Ethiopian and he plays at not knowing oh so well). But overall we continue to fall more in love with each other every day and I'm sure he starts hating me less and less for taking him away from better women at the care center. We're starting to become very happy he's here on both fronts. :)

Single mommin' it is way tougher with 3 kids than with two. For various reasons (one being Zach doesn't have someone employed who can be the contact person at night) I don't get to see Zach too many nights before I go to sleep either so that doesn't help the situation. It's starting to wear on us both but at least I get a quick Kaluha on ice before I head to bed where he's not able to escape to the wonderful lands of "buzzness" with the ever present threat of someone losing a finger and needing a rush to the ER. Hopefully soon he can find someone who can at least take a few of these nights from him so that I'll remember what it's like to hug a husband and the kids won't start shrugging their shoulders when someone asks them who their daddy is.

All that said life is going quite well on the homestead. Save for the threat of natural disasters, husbands over worked and under loved, mom's hitting their breaking point with one child talking and two repeating after them...we're hanging in there. Alas, don't cry for me Argentina, I have a home over our heads, food on the table, fresh water to drink and access to affordable healthcare. That means I'm better off than somewhere around 95% of the rest of the world.