Thank God for Internet: Dad reunites with his granddaughter

Spoke to my father tonight via Skype video. Dad got to see his granddaughter right there in front of him - how amazing is technology these days to allow families to converse face-to-face despite being on completely different continents? I recall that during my first year abroad - when I was 15 years old - my family and I had to rely on the postal system and landlines to communicate. At the time, we were grateful for the communication we had, but how awful would it be now to go back in time and have to rely on such slow and basic correspondence? Back in those days, I used to be a master letter writer, sending postcards to my friends and family every chance I got. Indeed, my mother has a shoebox full of letters from that first year abroad. These days we send multiple e-mails to each other every week. Not as nice as getting a letter that you can touch and hold perhaps, but definitely a hundred times better than having to wait weeks for a letter to arrive with news that became old hat the day after it was sent. 

Raising children in the developing world - nannies

One of the best parts of raising children in the developing world is the easy access to affordable nannies! Though our first nanny was a flop, our new nanny is absolutely wonderful. Her name is Emily and our baby girl seems to have really taken to her. We pay her 8000 Kenyan Shillings a month (about $92) and she does everything from cleaning the apartment and washing our clothes to caring for our little one. She's from the countryside near the Ugandan border and is of the Luya community. She tells me that her father's second wife didn't care for her and her siblings very much and refused to educate them. She therefore only received a third grade education, but has managed to teach herself English, childcare, housekeeping and  cooking. She's quite an impressive woman if you ask me! She cooked Kenyan food for us last night and, as Bryan can attest, I was practically licking my plate clean! Boy, was it good! I've also noted that she is very eager to learn and oh-so-humble, which in turn makes me eager to help her out in whatever little way I can (our former nanny was the complete opposite - a know-it-all...so obnoxious from my standpoint). This Saturday Gertrude's Children's' Hospital is offering a day course in Swahili/English on Pediatric First Aid.  The course is 3,500 and goes from morning till mid afternoon. In addition to learning about Pediatric First Aid, participants are given tea, snacks and lunch, as well as a certificate of completion which I'm thinking will benefit Emily greatly should she ever seek employment as a nanny after working for us. At the same time that Emily's capabilities will grow, our little baby will benefit from a safer upbringing. Score!   

Beautiful Blessing

It's been ages since I wrote on this blog, but indeed, I have the world's best excuse! Nine months and nine days after that wonderful night in Krabi, Thailand <grin>, our baby girl finally made her debut at 51 cm and 3.3 kilograms. We have named her Isabella Hawi, "Bella" for short ("Bella" = "Beautiful" in Italian; Hawi = "blessing" in Bryan's mother tongue, Luo) and she is absolutely breath-taking. Since her birth, there have been countless times when I would have loved to chronicle this or that experience, but alas, being a new mother is EXHAUSTING!!! Every time you set your mind to do this task or the other, your baby cries out for her diaper to be changed or because she's lonely or hungry or wants her position changed, etc etc And then, before you know it, you and your baby are both fast asleep, snorring in unioson on the sofa with mouths ajar. Lack of productivity and sleep deprivation aside, however,  my small family and I are happy and healthy. One of my biggest worries leading up to Bella's delivery was that a small baby might somehow drive B and I apart, but thankfully our little sweetheart has made us even closer. We work together as a team, appreciate each other, communicate better, and when we say the words, "I love you," the words feel like they are set deep in our souls - so meaningful, so strong. We've been through so much together after all.