Shadow Warriors

One of the joys of soccer is seeing your children learn and be excited about playing.  The delight these girls have as they take the field is palpable. They run out onto the field with huge smiles and energetic hops... like lambs leaping just for the fun of it.

Once the game starts, though, they are all business.  Focused.  Tough.  Last year, Yordanos (Yo-Yo to her teammates) took a ball to the face in the last few minutes of a game.  It looked like her mouth was hurt, but she didn't stop playing.  The game ended and she comes over and I see that both her upper and lower lips were cut and bleeding from the ball hitting her.

"Honey!" I say, all concerned, "Why didn't you tell Coach you were bleeding?"

She rolled her eyes and said, "Mom!  I didn't want to get pulled from the game in the last 2 minutes."

I've seen her crumple to the ground after being tripped, pushed, hit in the stomach with a ball.  She usually bounces right back up and keeps playing.  A couple of times she has lain there a little bit crying, but still she gets up with renewed vigor and KEEPS PLAYING.

People, this is so NOT ME as a child.

Last weekend the kids played in a tournament in Elgin.  Here are the U-12 (Under 12 year old) girls going to warm up for their 1st game.  They played 3 games... losing one and winning two, which was enough to get them into the finals.  Getting to the finals is something you hope for and dread.  Hope for, because, well, COOL, you'll get a trophy no matter what.  But dread, because, AW MAN, we have to wait around for 3 hours for the final.

The girls played their hearts out, and were briefly in the lead, but they couldn't hold onto it and lost 2-1.  Here is Yo-Yo and her coach.  That is the 2nd place trophy.  Can you believe that?  That thing is huge.  This is her 2nd trophy. 

Habtamu handled the "my sister got a trophy and I didn't" much better this time than last time.  His team, a co-ed U-14, won one, lost one and tied one in the tournament... not quite enough to go on.  They kept the ball mostly on the "right" side, meaning they had dozens of attempts to score, but just couldn't do it.  Their coach told them (loudly) after the game, "I don't care if the score is 1,000 to 1... you keep playing like it's 0-0....you keep running and trying!"  I love him.

Good Thing...

Good thing he doesn't have to worry about being President of the U.S.  It's the only job unavailable to him.

If someone could explain adolescent boys to me, I'd appreciate it.

Also, to all you kids out there... if you're going to take pictures of yourself with the camera, assume that they will be posted on your parents' blog.

Cheers!

But enough about us

A couple weeks ago a co-worker of mine mentioned that she had seen an article in our local paper about another couple adopting from Ethiopia. Although this person has never steered me wrong at the office, my 'baloney alarm' went off immediately. First of all, "local Ethiopian news" is a complete oxymoron out here. Secondly, although it doesn't happen as often as it used to, good-natured folks would catch wind of some Africa story (usually adoption related but not always) and tell us about the one detail they kinda remembered.

Stuff like this:
"Hey Gardner, where are your kids from again? Africa, right?"
"Yes. Ethiopia."
"I think the Jones's went on a mission trip to Africa back in the mid-eighties. It might have been to Ethiopia. You should ask them about it."
"..." "Um... ok, I'll do that."

And thus my friend is now freed from all that bottled up "I-know-something-about-Africa tension" and I am left trying to figure out if I even know who the Jones are (or were?).

I know this comes with the territory. You tell people you work with computers, you get computer woes. Expecting moms get TMI on other peoples pregnancies. Doctors hear medical stories, etc, etc... I'm not knocking the intention, just the execution. And honestly, most of the people I come in contact with these day are now pretty informed and/or invested in my family, making it a non-issue. Oh, and on a related note, I've been pleasantly surprised at how many folks have been pronouncing my children's names correctly lately. I don't want you folks to think I didn't notice. Kudos!

So anyway, since most of the second-hand adoption stories have petered out, I was really skeptical to hear this report about a newspaper article involving a local international adoption. And not just an African adoption, but an Ethiopian adoption. And not just an Ethiopian adoption, but an older Ethiopian adoption. And not just that but the adoption of a 6 year old girl!?

I call shenanigans. Surely you've mistaken someone else's story for, say uh, maybe, MINE.

So I jumped on the ol' internet and 30 seconds later found this article. In case the link disappears, it's about a family in our neighboring county who has been matched with their 6 year old daughter in Ethiopia. They're waiting for the call to come get her.

Click Here for the Article

I promptly went back to my coworker and apologized for ever doubting her. The next thing I did was write the reporter a hurried email that sounded more like an insecure freshman botching a date than a viable invitation. It went something like, "Dear Mr. Stanley, I'd like to meet those people you interviewed. So if, like, they want to, you know, get together or something, that'd be cool, but you know, if they, like, don't, then, that's cool too. I totally understand." I probably could have just posted, "OMG, ME TOO!!!" in the articles comment section and been more coherent, but fortunately Mr. Stanley was able to cut to the chase and relay my contact info.

Two days later I received an email from them excited to hear from us and thirsty for information. I did my best not to spew too much advice, and I only shared Chris's and my first reactions after reading the article.
-I told them to start their cardio workouts now. The 8000 ft. elevation of Addis Ababa can be a show stopper. If I could do one thing differently, that I had any control over, I'd have hit the treadmill harder.
-Chris suggested trying to get a picture of the inside of their child's mouth so a dentist could give them a better approximation of her age.

I hope things work out and we can get together sometime. I'd love to tell them that story I heard about the Jones from the mid eighties...

News Flash: English is still stupid two years later

Wreaking havoc with prepositions:

Dad: Don't touch the door handle! If you pull it twice, the car alarm will go off.
Habtamu: No Dad. (Eye roll) The alarm go on.
Dad: That's what I meant... when I said... it goes off.
H: But it goes on. Open the door and the alarm go on.
Dad: I know. When the alarm goes on, we say it goes off.
H: (blink) But it goes on.
Dad: I know. The alarm goes off. English is stupid.

Meanwhile...

Dad: I'll go rent a movie for tonight.
Yordanos: Oh Dad! Can we see the dog movie!
Dad: No, Marmaduke is out at the theaters.
Yordanos: Can we get the DVD?
Dad: No, it's not out yet.
Yordanos: WHYYY-YUH?
Dad: (Leer) because it's still out at the movie theater.
Yo: But you said it was out!
Dad: It is.
Yo: Then lets get it!
Dad: We can't. It's not out yet.
Yo: *Huff* *Pout* You said it was out!
Dad: Ok, it's still out IN the theaters, not out OF the theaters. So it's not out ON DVD yet. Get it?
Yo: (Gives me the 'I understand I ain't gonna see the movie' look)

Dramatic Entry into Adolescence

Oh, yes, dear readers, we are deep in the throws of adolescence. The boy child has been rapidly turning into the man/child.  Man in body, boy in spirit.  I believe Habtamu is now taller than me.  I'm trying not to think about it. Yordanos is now in young lady phase... sometimes "You come here right now, Young Lady!"  and sometimes, "You are becoming such a kind young lady."

I was reminded the other day how far we have actually come with overcoming childish behaviors... I should say we ALL have been working on this.  Turns out I had my own share of childish behaviors to overcome after seeing how obnoxious they were in children.  If I don't want my child to x,y, or z, then I can't x,y,or z.  Nuts.

Back to the man/child...  "Wha?"

He's desperately trying to grow up, and we're trying to give him more freedom.  He recently learned a big lesson about lying and a big lesson about messing up, fessing up, and moving on.  We're getting there.  He seems to grow up a little every day and I realize how quickly time is flying by.  He is very interested in "When I'm 16 can I ___?" and "When I'm 18 can I ____?"  "How old do you have to be to do _____?"   Part of us is trying to hold on tightly and say "NOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!  You can't be thinking about that YET."  and the other part is saying "Well, we've got to let go of some things."  Habtamu will often say things like, "So, you want to control me?"  and I'll say, "No.  I want YOU to control yourself."  And he'll say, "HOW I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?"  "Well, pay attention to what I'm telling you now so you can make good choices later."


A good choice for this picture would have been to smile naturally, so you don't look like a rabid badger.

Holy Smokes!

Is it July already?

I think this is the longest we've gone without blogging here... ever.

I'll start you out with pics from Yordanos' Track and Field Camp in early June.  I don't think she had any fun.  Nope, not one little bit...

Pants on Fire

Me:  Did you eat breakfast?

Habtamu: Yes.

Me: (Go into kitchen, see Yordanos using the last of the milk.  Think: "Huh.  I didn't think there was enough milk for TWO bowls of cereal.")

Me: Hey, Habtamu?

H: Yeah?

Me: Did you say you ate breakfast?

H: Yes.

Me: What did you have?

H: A banana.

Me: Oh, ok.  You need to eat a little more.  You've got a soccer game this morning.

H: OH...  ERG...  BUT...  MOOOOOOOOOOOOM......................... (said in whiny, whiny voice)

Me: Just do it.  (Now thinking to myself  "I wonder if there's a banana peel in the garbage.  Should I check?  Should I become THAT mom, who checks up on every little thing?")

Me: Hey, Habtamu?

H: Yeah?

Me: You had a banana?

H: Yeah.

Me: Where's the banana peel?

H: What?

Me: Where's the banana peel?  You said you had a banana for breakfast.

H: Yeah, I did.

Me: Ok.  Where's the peel?

H: Oh, I thought you were talking about what I ate last night.

Me: Oh, uh-huh.  I think you lied to me.

H: FINE!  I lie about EVERYTHING!

Me: Sigh.  Why even BOTHER to lie about something so small?

Easter 2010... the Family Photo Fiasco

Just TRY to get a good picture of the whole family... when one of the adolescents refuses to even try for a good smile.  Just you try it.  We will gladly show these pictures to any of Habtamu's future girlfriends...

Take Someone Else's Kids to Work Day = SUCCESS

Excuse me, but I believe you're wearing my sash

I meant to blog about this earlier, but last week the kids went to 'Take your child to work day' at the Sears corporate office. No. I don't work for Sears now, but I know a guy... Anyway, it's brilliant. Sears gets to do marketing and product recognition research on a youth audience for a full day. The kids get food, meet some celebrities, and come home with a bag of stuff (Erin O'Connor, Miss Illinois 2009 was not IN the goodie bag...) And mom gets a day off. Everybody's happy.

The problem with having 2000 songs on your iPod

Scene opens with Habtamu and Lee in the car listening to Lee's MP3 player on random. An unfamiliar song begins.

H: (with trigger-happy finger on the NEXT button) Do you like this song?

L: (Song's Intro continues) I like how it starts but honestly I can't remember what song it is. What is the name of it?

H: I don't know. It's your music.

L: Well you can read now, what does the screen say.

H: (Squints at the music player) Cawd Heart SomethingSomethingSomething

L: Cahd? Like... C-O-D? Cold???

H: Yes. Cold Heart.

L: (brain searches by decade for a cold heart song while the song plays... still no lyrics) I don't know any cold heart songs. Is there more to the title?

H: Yes.

L: What's the rest of the title. Read it to me.

H: I can't.

L: Sound it out.

H: (getting frustrated) I can't. The letters are moving. I can't read it.

L: (realizing that long song titles start scrolling after a couple seconds) Ok, well spell it out for me.

H: C-O-L-D-H-A-R-D-B-I-T-C...

L: Yeah, you know what, lets just skip this song.

H: Why? You don't like it?

L: Not in the mood anymore. NEXT!

Aaaaand Scene