http://www.tolhouseblog.com Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:03:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Several weeks ago our caseworker was over for a visit. She had recently visited Ethiopia and we were comparing our travel experiences. Though she stayed at a different guesthouse, she had visited the place where we stayed. At one point she said “I give you credit for staying at the ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/06/17/edge-to-ethiopia/ Wow. It's been five months home with Annie already. Hard to believe in some ways. In other ways, it feels like she's been here for longer. I think we've all settled into the "new normal" here at the Tol house. It's a busy, tiring, hold-on-and-try-to keep-up-with-the-kids kind of normal--but I ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/06/11/questions/ I was scolded today for my lack of blog posts lately. (A gentle, much-needed scolding.)  So here I am, sufficiently repentant for my absence. And for today, I thought I'd share a little bit about something I've been doing on Facebook lately: Begging. Yes, I've been using the infamous social-networking site ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/04/16/hunger/ I just got back from my first run of the season. Yes, that means I am a fair-weather runner. I can't quite bring myself to run in the cold, especially when I might risk breaking my neck on the snow-covered sidewalks. (And with my natural bent toward clumsiness, you all ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/03/09/thankful/ Okay, I haven't updated the blog much lately. It's been a little chaotic around here adjusting to life with a one-year-old and three-year-old in the house! All in all, things are going pretty well. We don't have a nighttime routine yet, which means lots of night wakings and not-so-much ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/01/29/play-time/ So it suddenly occurred to me today that I've committed a cardinal sin of family blogness: I haven't posted any pics of Annie here yet! I uploaded a bunch to Facebook this week, and kind of forgot about putting any out here, so my apologies to those of you ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/01/14/some-snapshots/ Well, we made it! It was a long journey back to the States, but after about 33 hours of travel, we finally greeted our family at the GR Airport on Saturday afternoon. Annie was a good little traveler. She didn't sleep the whole way by any means, but we ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/01/13/settling-in/ We're all packed up and ready to head to the airport in a few hours. In the meantime, I thought I'd try to pass the time by checking on my e-mails one last time. I noticed quite a few comments from friends and family who are getting anxious to ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/01/08/all-about-annie/ Merry Christmas from Ethiopia! We're enjoying a nice, laid-back day after several days of busy scheduling. Due to the Christmas holiday today, the Bethany staff here ended up front-loading all our activities into the first three days of the week. We've taken in a lot of sights and experiences ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/01/07/ethiopian-christmas/ We made it! I'm drinking a cup of bunna (coffee) as I write this, at the table here in the Morning Coffee Guesthouse. I haven't had much sleep over the past few nights and everything's kind of a jumble. But the most important thing to mention is that we ... http://www.tolhouseblog.com/2010/01/03/in-ethiopia-at-last/