Tuesday, January 15, 2008

GAP worthy sand flies

Okay, so now that I'm really starting to blog on a weekly (maybe one day, daily) basis, you are going to start seeing how nerdy I really am. Also, what hit me just now is that for the past year I have been blogging about waiting & waiting for our kids to come home and battling in our adoption. The last couple months before the kids finally came home there was nothing fun, exciting or funny to blog about! Boy, I miss being able to just BE and be a goof!! I know you are all dying to know what the heck Gap worthy sand flies are right? I have been laying awake at night brainstorming catchy odd titles for our blog!! Can you see my nerdy self coming out now? I just left the "and" out of the title so I could suck you all in to read my blog! Just kidding!!

Gap worthy~
So, remember my last post where I proudly displayed my first attempt at flat twists?? Well, I took them out the other night and I was even more pleased with the style Fatu's hair took on after the flat twists came out!! Here's what it looked like right after I took it out...Oh, I should also probably share that the nannies at AOH told me that Fatu's hair was "THE WORST" kind of hair to have. In her report it said that her hair was like wire!! I am telling you, it really is!! I
worked on other kids hair while I was in Liberia and actually got the hang of cornrowing a bit, but once I touched Fatu's hair, Oh MY!! It is like a wiry sponge! So... this is why I am so stinking proud of myself for being able to do something with her hair that actually looks good!It was SO easy to take out the twists. Once you start to unravel them at the end you just un-twist as you go and you end up with these super cute wavy/curly tiny dreads that almost look like short extensions! I was loving it!! I grabbed the camera snapped a couple shots and thought to myself, "This is so super cute, I should send in some photos to GAP and see if she can get in a couple ads or something".... THEN came my biggest mistake, ladies take note of my mistake,... I decided to put some product in it so it would stay for a few days. I proceeded to spray the Carol's Daughter Leave-In-Conditioner in her hair and within seconds her hair had turned into puffs!! If any of you out there ever eat Cheetos (I know they are horrible for you but every once and awhile I have to break down) well, there are the crunchy Cheetos and then the Cheetos Puffs. Well, Fatu's hair went from Cheetos crunchy ( super cute) to Cheetos Puffs, not nearly as cute. I was so mad!! So, if you do the flat twists in your daughters hair and take them out, do not spray moisturizer in it, use some kind of gel or loc butter to hold the cute wavy strands. It took me 2 1/2 hours to do the flat twists to begin with but in reality I got 1 week and almost 4 days out it! Not so bad!

Sand Flies~
Jeff landed in Entebbe, Uganda safely, but without his bags. He has called and said he's doing just fine other than the fact that he is smelling to high heaven! Can you imagine flying for 2 days to Africa in one outfit and
tromping around hot humid Uganda for days without a change of clothes. I know he's got to be a sight for the Ugandans. The last time I talked with Jeff he informed me that he had been attacked by sand flies. On one of our mission trips to Uganda, this very same thing happened to two of the girls on our team. The sand fly is also referred to as NO-SEE-UMS because you can rarely see them. The sand fly is basically invisible, doesn't make a noise, is about a quarter of the size of a mosquito and much faster. By the time you feel them biting you, they are gone. They swarm into your room at night by the hundreds, maybe thousands?? The girls on our team a few years ago woke up and screamed because they were covered in what looked like sawdust. Piles and piles of sand flies in everything!! The mosquito net can help, but they are small enough to get through the holes in the net. So, this time, Jeff had an invasion of sand flies!! He didn't sound too put out, but then again Jeff is my disease-rodent guy. He is working in Uganda doing Plague research, trapping rats and playing with their fleas !!! What's a few sand flies in your toothbrush and ears!!

Some cutey pics of the kids!





8 comments:

Brandi said...

Wow, first (gulp) I am so proud of you for blogging more often! Super cute pics. . .That Fatu is a stinkin' cute little bug! Speaking of little bugs, we have those here too. I HATE them! Not as much for the biting, but for the pure annoyance. . but, I guess Jeff's not annoyed or freaked out by bugs like a typical girl! Weird! Ok, maybe I could read back and discover this, I'm not sure. can you do a post about Uganda and what you guys do there?

Brandi

Mindy said...

It sounds like you are doing well with Jeff away. Those kids get cuter everytime I see them. We hope to see you soon!

Amber G. said...

GAP worthy indeed! She is just too darn cute!! I love her smile.

Amber

Julie Redman said...

such cute pics!

The sand flies are interesting.....I think if I was attacked by them I would go take a shower! Yuck.

Where did you get the drums from in your pic? I did not see any like that in liberia.

Julie

Jeremy and Kamina Johnson said...

Those pictures are too cute!!!

International Mommy said...

Remember my massively bug bitten legs in Liberia? Do they have sand flies there? YUCK- that was the only bad part of Liberia. Oh and Red light.

Fatu's hair looks great!!!!

A Family said...

Most impressive with the blogging schedule. I struggle too so you are not the only one. Brandi is superhuman when it comes to the blogging...yep Brandi you are!

I love the pictures and the new hairdo - all are super cute!

Chris

Tama said...

Brandi how many latte's do you have a day to beat everyone to the comments section? She is amazing. She reminds me of that character in "Over the Hedge" that got hold of a Mountain Dew and made everyone else look like they were going in slow motion!
Anyway, the hair is great. I don't get much practice since Mercy does it all around here but I like those twists! I might try it on Joy. Though Mercy laughs at my attempts. We need to come up for a visit! Mercy and Joy would love it!