An Update
Sorry to leave you all (yes, all five of you!) on such a sad note for so long with that last post about Elizabeth. Between the all uncertainties in our lives right now and single parenting, I just haven't had the time or energy to post. Let me catch you up on what been happening here:
Earth and Elizabeth made it to Kwaj! I know that I occasionally complain about the traditional power structures here but when Elizabeth missed the flight on Thursday, the fact that Mama Lila is an aolep, a clan chief, is what got her on the plane on Saturday without my having to purchase another ticket. (In an interesting twist, D emailed United about a reimbursement for the missed flight at the same time that Mama Lila was working her magic and we got our money back for the ticket!)
We've been told that the Job and Elizabeth want us to have custody of
the baby before court but the legal guardianship papers haven't been
signed yet so on Monday we went to Ebeye to visit with our family. Sky
and I got to hold Earth and obviously we were pretty sad about that:
We still don't know when Earth will be coming to live with us, when the adoption hearing will be, or if anything will come from D's trip. It's so unsettling to me to have so much up in the air at one time! This is the worst kind of limbo but I know that it's not permanent. At least D will be home on Saturday- it'll be nice to have all hands on deck again when it comes to family life.
Since I ended on such a sad note in my last post, I wanted to end this one on a happy one. I took this picture at our family's house on Monday:
You see the look that Susan (in the green dress) and her friend are giving Water? That's totally how Marshallese look at Ribelle when we do something they think is strange! Water loves to dig in the rocks and then throw them (kubije im karkar- I can say it in Marshallese because Fire used to do the same thing) and that's just not what a Marshallese kid would do, hence the side-eye.
Don't worry about Water- right after I took the picture, the girls picked him up, cleaned him up, and took him off to play. Even though we do funny things sometimes, we're still family.
This was a great post to read - thanks for sharing the latest news. Had to laugh at the baby all bundled up in that heat!! Things are moving forward and at least that is something! Congratulations! Lois
ReplyDeleteThanks Lois! Oh, the layers- the poor thing was practically melting.
DeleteNow that he's home, it horrifies Ms B, Water and Earth's nanny, that we only dress babies in a single layer and every afternoon when I get home from work, I find the baby in at least two layers and two blankets. At least we don't have to worry about him being too cold in the AC!