Here's a little taste.

In making these, I quickly realized that craft store felt is nasty. The all-wool felt is so lovely. Craft-store felt looks so poly and shiny next to its rich wooly niceness. And I get such a kick out of these simple little notions---from the 1950's, mostly. I am a great lover of ephemera in general. I think maybe that's one reason I was an art teacher. I like little bits of stuff. And when you're an art teacher, you're SUPPOSED to have all kinds of stuff. It is fully legitimate to have junk everywhere.

Anyway--here are a couple. They are quite simple; I think they look like little jewels in Ruthie's hair. These are both about an inch and a quarter across. (Not including clip.)

The above photo is a little dark....The bottom clip has pink and a dark mossy green felt--it looks black here. Roxana is trying to teach me how to get good "product" photos. I am getting better, kind of.

Hi everyone.

You guys out there?

The other day my mama and I went on our first trip to the Arboretum with some friends.

I wore my owl hat my Uncle Scott gave me. Thanks, man. As you can see, my mom tried to get some good portraits of me while we were there.

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My mama STILL can't stop making hairclips. They are made with 100% wool felt from Australia, and vintage beads and notions. They look awfully fetching in a cloud of curly African hair. They will hopefully be on Etsy in a week or so. Mama needs to make her supply money back. See you guys later!

memory one

We are at the Addis airport, about to start our long journey home. Michael and I both swallow lumps in our throats as our driver, Ashenafi, walks away after shaking my hand and embracing Michael. Michael holds a newly-burned Ted*y Afr* CD that Ashenafi has made him. They've been talking about him all week. I feel sad to leave Ethiopia, sad to leave Ashenafi, who's become our friend, and sad, frankly, to take Ruthie Tagesech from the land of her birth. (Thrilling excitement about arriving home would come later.) With Ruthie strapped to me in the brown Ergo, we make it through security. Candice Bergen is going through security next to us. Huh?

Once checked in, I let Ruthie crawl/totter around the tile floor, to get her wiggles out. A young Ethiopian man says hello and like all the Ethiopians we have met, starts cooing and snapping at Ruthie, trying to make her smile. He looks up at me and says, smiling and slowly, "Madam, your daughter.... because of her skin..... looks like habesha." And I am bursting with pride to say, "Oh, she IS habesha!" "Oh, really? She is going home to America with you? That is good, madam. That is a blessing." I agree with him.

Stuff.

I adore this portrait of Ruthie that Roxana made when she was in town. Thanks, Rox.

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Also, my extremely busy husband is trying to blog again. I always love reading his thoughts. He's a beautiful man. Does the dishes a lot. I love him.

....

Today I got to see the incomparable Lori Rooney and the Abey Baby. I love Lori. It was a good, though brief, visit; and I need to steal some of pictures she took of us. I think all my adoption friends need to start an Ethiopian Adoption Commune, rather than this silly living-on-the-opposite-sides-of-the-country thing. Plus, I have some favorite bloggers right now, and SO cannot get to know them in person! Like blogger Julie! I love Julie's blog. And I am a little bit jealous that Lori gets to be real-life friends with her. Julie, do you want to move onto the commune?

And now, onto hair--Ruthie's. Her hair is both fun AND stressful--I love that it's SO different from mine--I am fascinated by her tiny corkscrew curls and love her fluffy halo of hair. And it's been fun to have an excuse to buy product. (Don't you think it's dumb when stylists use the word "product" with no article? It makes me giggle.) Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've not found quite the right thing. I'm using Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla Spray and the Hair Milk. Shampoo and conditioner brands have been kind of random--right now I'm using Pantene's Shampoo for Women of Color, but it's way too perfumed to me, and I'm not crazy about all the mineral oil in it. I think I need a heavier conditioning product? Her hair is fairly wiry, and like I said, springs out from her cute little head in corkscrews about the width of pencil. It's definitely not as fine as some of my friends' little Ethio babies. If YOU have an African child with hair like this, I would LOVE to hear from you. I need help. I would love to know your regime. And I don't want to randomly buy product. Let me be honest: I feel stressed out around black people, like they are thinking, "Wow, that white girl REALLY needs to learn how to do her girl's hair. Sheesh." In actuality, my black friends have been super gracious and helpful. It's really my personal insecure hangup. :)

All righty. Can you tell I'm getting more sleep these days? Ruthie SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT. (I forgot to tell you that, Lori.) I see brighter days ahead!

beauty and the book.

A few things.

I have a very gifted friend designing my adoption announcements. Christina works at a design firm during the day---so this is on-the-side freelance work for her. Anyway, I know she would love to do your adoption announcement, too. Because she told me. :) She's been such a supportive and excited friend regarding our adoption of R. Check out an example of a birth announcement she designed here. Lovely, right? Talented, I tell you. Just contact her on her blog if you're interested.

Did you know that Josh and Amy wrote a book about their marriage journey and Ethiopian adoption? I'm excited! You should be, too! :) You can order it here. We heart Josh, Amy, Silas, and Baby Girl Who is to Come.

More later.

If I had two words to describe our lives since returning home from Ethiopia, the first one would be JOY. So much joy, so much thankfulness. Laughter at our funny girl. I can't even tell you.

The second word would be FATIGUE. What with stepping off the plane with a nasty sickness (Ruthie and me,) and the totally separate colds we all three got a few days after that sickness was over, and with Ruthie now on another cold, and with her now wobbly-walking all over the place and being her adorable energetic one-year-old self, and yet still not napping much, and still up at least once a night, I am tired and seem to be struggling to regain energy. (Please, no snark from the moms of five who haven't slept in 10 years, or whatever. :) )

I have some stuff I need/want to blog about, and hopefully, I will soon.