Hmmm there's a lot to catch up on. I'll try to keep it quick.
Thanksgiving day was great, Thomas was in charge of the turkey and I did all the sides. We had one lady from his office come over, she's in town temporarily but will be moving here over the summer with her husband and toddler girl, who is close to Ben's age. She's nice and we had a good time eating and chatting for a couple hours. She's staying in a hotel that has a little kitchen area, so I got to send her home with leftovers. Our fridge looked ridiculous after everything went in.
I did the usual green bean casserole, some frozen rolls that you let rise for 4 hours before putting in the oven (delicious!) and roasted carrots. I made the Pioneer Woman's recipe for mashed potatoes, and did them the day before. They turned out great, and I'll be using that trick from now on. I wanted to make a sweet potato casserole, but that would have been major overkill. I made two pumpkin pies, and took the second one over to friends' house for dinner a couple days later.
After eating and lounging on turkey day, Thomas put up the tree my parents generously gave us. They didn't want to deal with such a tall tree anymore, and it fits perfectly in our apartment. We slowly decorated it over a couple days, so I'll have to take another picture of the finished tree.
Friday we skipped church because Benjamin slept late and I felt bad. (Thanks a lot, menstruation.) I had been foolishly hoping that I was pregnant, but no, it's just my cycles being weird. I was a little depressed, but I'm trying to hope while also being thankful for what I have now. Maybe it's normal, but I'm always looking for the next thing instead of just being content. And a lot of people on Facebook are pregnant, which makes the lows even lower. Not that I begrudge them at all the happiness of babies, but it's more, "why not me too?". Juvenile and petty. I think because I'm a lot younger than my siblings that I want what's "fair". And that's not how God works.
And obviously we have Benjamin, which is amazing. I don't want to come across as ungrateful, because even when times are rough I'm so glad we have him. But... I just want another child. And I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard to know that we're here two years before we can adopt. Probably I could start looking into all that before we move back home. But we also need to figure out whether to sell our old place and buy something bigger. Or go back to our teeny house and save money to adopt. But then we'd need a bigger house anyway. Or at least to renovate ours to make it habitable for two kids. And this is my psycho planning running away from me. Moving on...
Saturday Thomas and I got to see "Argo" in the theater, which was great. It's so fun to get out of the house for a bit and have a date. Even if it's eating lunch at McDonalds in the mall food court. The movie was great, I'm an unabashed Ben Affleck fan. And it's just so interesting, I can't imagine the stress of being in an embassy that's being invaded. The first few minutes were a little frightening to me, honestly. But inshallah we won't ever experience that.
Saturday night we ate dinner with friends, a nice break from Thanksgiving leftovers. Sunday Thomas went back to work and Benjamin and I met up with Rebecca and Matthew for a play date at the embassy. That was great fun, and then we ate lunch with Thomas afterward. Win win.
Monday I had class and lunch again with Thomas. We got our stocking hook-things in the mail, so they are now hung. We didn't have a fireplace in Arlington and always stayed in Aiken for Christmas where my mom had the stockings, so this is the first time we have hung them in our own place. Pretty weird. And I realized today that we'll be here for Christmas next year too. Freaking. me. out.
After Thomas put in the request last week, a guy finally came to the apartment and turned on the heat. Sadly, there's no way to regulate the temperature, it's on full blast or it's off. So last night was miserable and sweaty. I turned the switch off this morning to let the house cool down a bit, but then the water wasn't getting hot. So strange. But, now we know, and Thomas will just have to remember to flip the switch before taking his shower in the morning.
Today, Tuesday, we just hung out at home while Thomas was at work. Benjamin's been a little fussy today, I'm not sure if he's getting a cold or what. He's sneezing a lot, and a bit snotty. And has some attitude as well. Fingers crossed it's just a phase or teething, I don't want him being sick.
Over the weekend we took some Christmas pictures of Benjamin in front of the tree, and ordered Christmas cards. They'll probably get to people at the end of January, but oh well.
And now it's time for Arabic homework. I'm hoping we can start on the alphabet soon, but I think my teacher is waiting for us to really grasp some more verbs and vocabulary. We're working on "to eat breakfast" and "to eat lunch". Yes, they are very specific.
Not super quick, but at least there were pictures, right?
-Rachel
Thanksgiving day was great, Thomas was in charge of the turkey and I did all the sides. We had one lady from his office come over, she's in town temporarily but will be moving here over the summer with her husband and toddler girl, who is close to Ben's age. She's nice and we had a good time eating and chatting for a couple hours. She's staying in a hotel that has a little kitchen area, so I got to send her home with leftovers. Our fridge looked ridiculous after everything went in.
I did the usual green bean casserole, some frozen rolls that you let rise for 4 hours before putting in the oven (delicious!) and roasted carrots. I made the Pioneer Woman's recipe for mashed potatoes, and did them the day before. They turned out great, and I'll be using that trick from now on. I wanted to make a sweet potato casserole, but that would have been major overkill. I made two pumpkin pies, and took the second one over to friends' house for dinner a couple days later.
After eating and lounging on turkey day, Thomas put up the tree my parents generously gave us. They didn't want to deal with such a tall tree anymore, and it fits perfectly in our apartment. We slowly decorated it over a couple days, so I'll have to take another picture of the finished tree.
 |
| Naked trees are still festive! Also, built in lights are amazing. |
Friday we skipped church because Benjamin slept late and I felt bad. (Thanks a lot, menstruation.) I had been foolishly hoping that I was pregnant, but no, it's just my cycles being weird. I was a little depressed, but I'm trying to hope while also being thankful for what I have now. Maybe it's normal, but I'm always looking for the next thing instead of just being content. And a lot of people on Facebook are pregnant, which makes the lows even lower. Not that I begrudge them at all the happiness of babies, but it's more, "why not me too?". Juvenile and petty. I think because I'm a lot younger than my siblings that I want what's "fair". And that's not how God works.
And obviously we have Benjamin, which is amazing. I don't want to come across as ungrateful, because even when times are rough I'm so glad we have him. But... I just want another child. And I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard to know that we're here two years before we can adopt. Probably I could start looking into all that before we move back home. But we also need to figure out whether to sell our old place and buy something bigger. Or go back to our teeny house and save money to adopt. But then we'd need a bigger house anyway. Or at least to renovate ours to make it habitable for two kids. And this is my psycho planning running away from me. Moving on...
Saturday Thomas and I got to see "Argo" in the theater, which was great. It's so fun to get out of the house for a bit and have a date. Even if it's eating lunch at McDonalds in the mall food court. The movie was great, I'm an unabashed Ben Affleck fan. And it's just so interesting, I can't imagine the stress of being in an embassy that's being invaded. The first few minutes were a little frightening to me, honestly. But inshallah we won't ever experience that.
Saturday night we ate dinner with friends, a nice break from Thanksgiving leftovers. Sunday Thomas went back to work and Benjamin and I met up with Rebecca and Matthew for a play date at the embassy. That was great fun, and then we ate lunch with Thomas afterward. Win win.
Monday I had class and lunch again with Thomas. We got our stocking hook-things in the mail, so they are now hung. We didn't have a fireplace in Arlington and always stayed in Aiken for Christmas where my mom had the stockings, so this is the first time we have hung them in our own place. Pretty weird. And I realized today that we'll be here for Christmas next year too. Freaking. me. out.
After Thomas put in the request last week, a guy finally came to the apartment and turned on the heat. Sadly, there's no way to regulate the temperature, it's on full blast or it's off. So last night was miserable and sweaty. I turned the switch off this morning to let the house cool down a bit, but then the water wasn't getting hot. So strange. But, now we know, and Thomas will just have to remember to flip the switch before taking his shower in the morning.
Today, Tuesday, we just hung out at home while Thomas was at work. Benjamin's been a little fussy today, I'm not sure if he's getting a cold or what. He's sneezing a lot, and a bit snotty. And has some attitude as well. Fingers crossed it's just a phase or teething, I don't want him being sick.
Over the weekend we took some Christmas pictures of Benjamin in front of the tree, and ordered Christmas cards. They'll probably get to people at the end of January, but oh well.
 |
| Look deeply into my eyes. Give me toys. |
And now it's time for Arabic homework. I'm hoping we can start on the alphabet soon, but I think my teacher is waiting for us to really grasp some more verbs and vocabulary. We're working on "to eat breakfast" and "to eat lunch". Yes, they are very specific.
Not super quick, but at least there were pictures, right?
-Rachel
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