Inspiration

One thing a person will most likely notice upon coming to Lagos is how simply everyday people out on the streets live.  I used to notice it all the time, but now, I am sad to say , that many times, I am able to see past alot of the people walking and selling things along the busy streets of Ikoyi and V.I.  But, while I was taking Elizabeth to school this morning, I saw this man.  I remembered a post I had done the first year I was here and how it struck me so much the fact that some people had to go back and forth to haul water here all day. Now, I probably see this 10 times a day when we are out and I haven't really paid too much attention.  For some reason this morning, it struck me about how I felt seeing these men when I first moved here...

 Then, I saw this woman selling soya milk..weaving in and out of cars and okadas so she can earn her money...

 and this "mango cart"...why not use a wheel barrow??

 And this poor man, didn't have a car or an okada....so he was trying to ride his bike across the Falomo Bridge to V.I., but he fell off the bike...

 Lots of baggage to bring on your trip...no problem...we'll bungee cord the bus shut!

 There are 4 adults on 5 small benches inside the bus....they all need to be somewhere...so they "make do" with what they have..

I was thinking about how so many Nigerian people make do with the things they have.  That philosophy is so far from the way I thought about things when I first came here.  If I needed something in the U.S., I went to the store and bought it...the LAST thing I would do would be to try to use some creativity and use something I already had.  I was a teacher of early elementary for a while, but even that didn't stop me from going to Target for every little thing I may need. It was just too easy and comfortable to run off to get what I needed.  Then, I started thinking...maybe that part of "making do" in Nigeria has rubbed off on me...just a little bit. 

I remember when someone asked me to teach Sunday School here.  The first thing I thought was
 " How am I going to do this without Target and Michael's to get supplies?"  Well,
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to tell you that I have been teaching Sunday School(volunteering) for almost two straight years here in Lagos with nothing but glue sticks, construction paper and markers ( which I brought over with me)....and an occasional print out from the computer.  And the crafts we have done haven't been too bad.  I know I would never have used that "creative" part of my brain in the U.S.  Things are just a lot easier there. But, it turns out that trying out that "creative" side may be a little uncomfortable...but it can be very exhilarating, too.:)

So, when Elizabeth wanted to have a Dora the Explorer birthday party, I wasn't as panicked as I would have been a few years ago.  Of course, over the summer, I had brought a few Dora things in our shipment, but hadn't really thought about the actual party.We needed the "back pack" for each guest...which I did not bring in the shipment.  I am sure I could go trudging off to Balogun to try and find something...but I just don't have it in me.....thank God I found this site, voila....you really can make a back pack out of construction paper!!!!

 In the U.S. I would have gone to the local party shop to buy a pinata for her party, but there isn't enough energy in the world these days for me to try to go off on a hunt for a pinata in Lagos....so I actually made her pinata...

one balloon ( check)
newspaper check)
flour and water ( check and check)
a few crap pieces of tissue paper to look like flowers ( check)
and voila....a pinata!

So, I guess what I am trying to say in this post is that the people in Lagos have inspired me to make use of what I already have and try to turn it into something beautiful...just like the many people I see out on the streets of Lagos every. single. day.:)  ( Just FYI, the people peeing and pooping on the sides of the roads haven't inspired me at all!!!!:))

Didn't See It Coming...

Just when I thought I was a good judge of character and I thought I could figure people out...I realized that maybe ...just maybe...I could possibly be wrong...

Having staff in Lagos is almost a necessity....really....I am not joking.  When I first came here, people thought "Wow!!!" That must be nice you'll have a housekeeper/ nanny and a driver!!!"  Even I thought to myself,"How will I ever deal with someone driving me everywhere and having someone in MY house cooking MY food (well, I can deal with that) and someone in my house taking care of MY kids?"  But having staff  is crucial  to living in Lagos.  Everything I took for granted in the U.S. (grocery shopping, running errands, driving etc.) is a major pain in the @#* here.  The key to my sanity (other than my kids and my husband) has been having staff.  You all know from a recent post how I feel about my nanny, but the same has not always gone for our driver.  Fatai has been with us since we moved to Lagos, and he loves the kids and has driven us safely around the  crazy streets of Lagos. ( Something I know I could NEVER do! I would end up dead getting into a fight with someone who cut me off!) But, we have experienced many "peaks" and "valleys" with him.  I have to admit many of the "valleys" we have had with him were because I couldn't see the line between being a boss and a charity no matter how many times my husband warned me!:)

I may be stepping on a few toes by writing this post, but there is some truth to what people in other parts of the world hear about Nigeria.  There are scams going on here all the time...right under my nose....probably in my building even as I write this post.  People will lie to your face with a smile and ask for everything you can possibly give them and then come back and ask for more. I am afraid one of the "side effects" of living in Lagos is becoming a bit more cynical about people.  I wish I could look out the window of my car and see a person begging for money and not wonder if that person really needs money or if he is just asking for more and more and more.  I was pretty sure I could "figure" some people out.  I was sure I had Fatai figured out.  He had become like a family member...we knew his faults, and we had accepted him anyway.   That is until this morning...

The door bell rang at 7 :10 a.m. and Fatai was standing there.  I am not going to lie, I was thinking "Oh no! What does he need this time?"  I looked down in his hand and he was holding a dilapidated looking black plastic bag.  He had a big smile on his face and he said," I'm here to see Lizzy." He  pulled out a wrapped gift and a card from the bag and walked over to her and gave her the gift. She opened it up, and it was a beautiful Nigerian outfit complete with a little head tie!  I think in those few moments that Fatai was in our flat, a little bit of  the cynicism I had been feeling so strongly lately started to go away.  I really needed to see this!  I didn't see this coming at all!:)

Fatai and the" Nigerian Princess"

Our Little Socialite

The day began at 5:45 a.m....do I need to say anything more??????

Brand new Princess Bike!!

 Let's just say screeches of delight and yells of glee filled the flat at that early morning hour!!!:)

 There were many gifts to open...thanks to grandparents across the ocean ...and our yearly shipment!:) Thank goodness she still liked what I ordered for her over six months ago!!!:)

 Then, she was off to school for more celebration...

She shared a poster of pictures of all of her family.:)

Happiness even got to come!!:)

Later in the afternoon, we went out to the lawn...I mean tennis court for bike riding!:)

 Later on, before dinner, there were a few more gifts to open....who would have known a Rapunzel wig would be included in the mix??!:)

Thank you Snider family for my great outfit!!!:)

She HAD to try out her new ballet outfit along with the ballet slippers!:)

and of course....any birthday wouldn't be complete without the cake!!!:)

and a call to Aunt MAry and Great Grandpa!!:)

and Grammy!:)

Thank you to Grammy and Aunt Mary and Great Grandpa for emailing us to tell us a good time to call.:) Thank you to so many of you for your birthday wishes over email to our newly crowned four year old!!:)  Our little socialite has had quite a day!!!:)

Almost 1460 Days!

Four years ago tonight, I had been in labor for over 24 hours and was just 9 centimeters dilated.  I was texting my great friends  Emmy, Mindy, and Jen like a crazy fool.  I warned Guy that the texting that month was going to be astronomical!:)  I think I knew that this was my one and only chance I would get in my life to give birth to a child, and I didn't want to forget any part of it even if it meant texting every last detail to my lovely friends!:)  (Aren't you all so lucky!!) Although, giving birth turned into a c-section....so I really did get to experience every single part of having a baby!!!:)

Some of you may be thinking how strange that I am writing about giving birth to my daughter when I adopted my son a few years before.  Let me just tell you about the road of life....just when you think you have it all figured out (and that is how I want to live my life), everything as you know it can be turned upside down and wonderful surprises are in store!  All those years while we were trying to have a baby before we brought Jeremy home, I prayed and prayed and prayed...I don't think I have ever prayed for anything harder in my life (other than for my Grandma) than to have a child.  I thought when we brought Jeremy home that was the answer to all my prayers.....and it was, but there was another part I didn't see coming.  Before we brought Jeremy home, I had a dream that I was pregnant, and I had a baby girl and her name was Hannah.  I know that sounds crazy...like something I am making up, but it really did happen.  I remember the dream very clearly, but the only thing was I couldn't ever see the baby's face  clearly.   A few months after I had the dream, I found out the name Hannah means "grace" or "favor".  Hannah (in the bible) was the mother of the prophet Samuel. She had been unable to become pregnant and prayed to God that she would have a child, and she was blessed with Samuel.

 Fast forward four years, and on my 31st birthday, after finding out I was pregnant ( after taking 11 pregnancy tests...all digital ...I was done looking at lines!!...because I couldn't actually believe this could be true...and  I had to go to the emergency room because the doctors thought I was having a miscarriage...or a blighted ovum as they called it. Not to mention having been told we had a less than one percent chance of ever getting pregnant) my doctor did an ultrasound and sure enough there was the tiniest flicker which my doctor told me was the heartbeat of a baby.  Guy and I were dumbfounded.  I cried.....I just couldn't believe that I was so lucky to be blessed not once with Jeremy but twice with another baby!!!!!!  Guy had tears in his eyes, too, about seeing the heartbeat.  But, I think some of them were for fear of having a girl!!!:)

Words can't express how happy and lucky we felt when Elizabeth was born (all 8 pounds 6 oz. of her..and she was two days early!!)) after being induced on Tuesday and ending up with a c-section early on a Thursday morning.  She has definitely been our feisty one...she loves to take the hard way and she is stubborn ( Guy says she gets that from me!) We didn't name her Hannah, but she is a miracle from God.  ( We named her Elizabeth after my grandmother) But, she is our baby girl and we couldn't be happier than to have spent another year with her and watch her grow.  Tonight I gave her her last three year old kisses and told her when she wakes up she'll be four.  I feel a little sad that I won't ever have another three year old, but I am so happy and excited to see what adventures my four year old little girl will have in this next year!!!  We love you Elizabeth Anne!!!! We've enjoyed every day of our 1459 days with you!!:) We can't imagine our family without you!!!!:)

cupcakes all ready to celebrate at school tomorrow!:)

Last picture as a three year old!

Random

So, apparently I am being plagued by a very rare case of insomnia tonight.  I'm not sure why....maybe it is the constant weird noises which I "think" I am hearing and in my head it's a huge Nigerian rat clawing through the wall looking for more Goldfish crackers.  Or maybe it's because I have thoughts of Dora the Explorer on the brain for my soon to be FOUR year old's birthday party next weekend.  Anyway, I thought it may be a good time to write a post on the blog and show you some pics that didn't quite make it in this week.:)

James Bond and Honey Ryder heading to a Mardi Gras party last Saturday

James Bond in "action" ( with a Nerf gun:)

Who knew James could mix up a hurricane???

celebrating with friends:)

 Thanks so much Suzieta!!! We had a great time!!:)

meeting a dear friend's baby for the first time!:)

too cute.....my friend's first girl!!!:) yay!!!

 as if my life isn't a bit crazy enough, I have decided to make a pinata for Elizabeth's birthday party next weekend....and while I was armpit deep in paste I noticed this...

 Just in case anyone is interested....click here if you want to audition.  I swear it's true...I couldn't make this stuff up!!! ( I've been meaning to blog about this one for some time...but never got around to it.:))

Yes, apparently there is an actual Nigerian Idol

Then, there is my cute, energetic little girl who has nothing but tenderness and love for her mom... that is when she can manage to keep her tongue in her mouth!!!:)

 Oh, and by the way since this post is very random....you can get pretty good Thai food here on Victoria Island......with FREE delivery!!!!!!!  Bangkok  has been excellent with delivery ...and most importantly...we haven't gotten sick...ever...in the almost three years we have been here from eating there.:)  Lagos DOES have some very good restaurants!  A few of them are Indigo ( Indian food), Medici's ( Italian food) Manuela's ( pizza),Fusion ( Lebanese and Sushi), Bungalow's ( Lebanese and sushi/ Teppanyaki).  Notice I never at any time in this post said that the service was always great at these restaurants...but the food has always been good.:)  Now, I am starving all of the sudden!!!

Our dinner tonight!!! Yummy!!:)

Ok, my eyes are feeling a bit more tired and hopefully I can get my mind to rest better now.  I hope my mind can settle down from more random thoughts and at the very least get the Goldfish eating, wall gnawing rat out of my mind!!!!!

Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Games - Part 2

If you did not read Part 1, please read Part 1 before proceeding.

We had a poor start to our first game as none of the team members wanted to stay at the top of the key when we were on offense.  Everyone wanted to drive to the rim and the other team had many fast break points as no one was hustling back on defense.  At half-time, we managed to claw back and trailed by one.  The second half was ours.  We knew what we needed to do on defense and our offensive game opened up.  Our point guard did a great job attracting defenders and passing to the open man.  Lucky for me, I was usually the open man.  I was making jump shoots, driving to the rim, and drawing fouls.  I think we won by 10 points.  I could not sleep that night… I was so jacked up!  This is our victorious team after game 1.

Our next game was on Wednesday.  Since only six companies sponsored basketball teams, a win on Wednesday meant we qualified for the medal rounds.  We started off slow again but were even at the half.  The refs were told to call more fouls as the games were becoming too physical?  To be honest, our refs did not know how to call the game.  Think of it like this… combining English Premier League mentality (soccer for my US friends) with basketball.  It took us out of our game and we could not stop fouling.  You looked at the shooter mean and they called a foul.  It was not that bad but is was bad.  The guys pulled it together in the second half and we won by 5 points.  Again, I could not sleep.  I played the games over and over in my head… and sang the “Be Like Mike” song in the Gatorade commercial.  You know the one from the early 90’s…

Thursday was the semi-final.   Winner plays for the gold on Friday and the loser plays for the bronze.  Our great point guard went on vacation to South Africa and we did not have anyone to fill the void.  On top of that, the basketball tournament coordinator pulled all players to midcourt and told us he instructed the refs to call the games even tighter as some players were complaining the game was too physical.  WTF!

I never played that type of game before.  In basketball, you can’t tackle an opponent to the ground, hit the shooter’s arm, or grab someone to stop them from moving.  But, there is contact and the coordinator did not want any contact.  If you tried to block a shot, the ref called a foul.  No contact but potential of contact?  I hated it.  It was ridiculous.  I was mad.  After a rebound, I sprinted up court with the basketball and was destined to take the ball from rim to rim.  At the start of my fast break, I was greeted with a pulled hamstring.  I called time out and took myself out of the game.  I needed some ice and wanted to get back in.  We needed to win to get to the gold medal game, and I was the point guard.  After 10 mins on the bench, I was back in.  On an offensive rebound I was greeted with a hard foul… even on my hard foul scale.  I came crashing to the ground on my elbow.  I did not want to take myself out again… We managed to cut our deficit down from 13 to 4 points and it was the fourth quarter.  When the clock showed 0:00, we lost by 6.

Friday was the bronze medal game.  I was hoping for rain so the courts would be unplayable.  My body was banged up with a pulled hamstring and bruised elbow.  In addition, I don’t like to play without contact.  The flow was terrible.  During the game, the emotions of not being able to play true basketball got the best of us.  I had to break up a Nigerian shouting match between one of my teammates and our coach.  We lost by 20+ points.

I liked playing with my team and like basketball.  But, I don’t like playing wussy basketball.  It was a new experience and I learned from it.  You can post your comment on what that learning was…

My Reading Room

Some people may be wondering (or maybe not) how I am able to get so much reading done over here. Well, let me introduce you to my very posh reading room.  It's private( sort of...I usually have a Nigerian man sitting right next to me) and has some interesting views from the windows....

Yes, while living in Lagos, my car has turned into my own personal reading room.  I don't know why I didn't figure this out sooner.  All this time stuck in traffic finally has something to show for it!:)