'round here

a few sentences on what's been going on around the dean house lately.

we've been on the waitlist 3 months. the waiting isn't driving us crazy yet. we are currently trying to get our case manager to tell us how many families ahead of us on the waitlist are open to 2 boys, 0-42 months.

jamie skillfully built a garden box out of cedar wood completely from scratch. he even wielded a power saw by himself (um, this is a big deal when your husband can't see). then he dug a trench in the backyard to put the box in when he realized the ground wasn't level. we are attempting to grow cucumbers, green peppers, and zucchini (we're also growing tomatoes, but they are hanging upside down in buckets off our playset).

we've been learning to play the djembe. our next door neighbor is a senior in high school and has been playing djembe since he was 9. the djembe is a drum from west africa that looks like this:



i guess a lot of people think of drums as simply accompanying other instruments. but the djembe has 3 unique sounds that make it more versatile, so you don't just play djembe for the beat. what's cool is that our neighbor knows all the history behind the rhythms he is teaching us. we've been working on a rhythm that is played when the women of the villages come back from fishing. i'm not really good at playing yet, but we've only had 3 lessons, and i'm trying to learn that it's OK to make mistakes.

i have felt really purposed lately in the volunteer work i'm doing as a guardian ad litem. the case i've been working on goes to court on friday, and i'm hoping good decisions are made that benefit this little girl's best interest. seriously, children need advocates. i can't say that enough.

and lastly, we are thankful for all the friends and family in our lives. we are thankful for our church community and how there are now 4 families just in our 5pm service that are somewhere in the process to adopt from ethiopia (one family already has their son home). we are thankful for our neighbors and how they are generous with their time and friendship. we are thankful for the littleton family and how much we learn from them. we are thankful for the ladd family and how they're walking with us step by step to our kids as they walk to theirs. we are thankful for old friends scattered in many places and how they still care about our lives. and we are thankful for our families and how well they love us all the time. life is good.