In Which We Still Have No Washer And I Find My Daughter On The Internet

I still don't have a working washing machine, but at least the leak is fixed now!  Unfortunately in the process of getting the door off Jer took apart the latch mechanism and we can't figure out how to put it back together.  So we've ordered a new latch and once it comes hopefully I'll have a working washer again!  In the meantime I'll be digging quarters out of my change jar and looking for a local laundry mat.  Oh well.

While Jeremy worked on the washing machine, I got out the scrub brush and used some elbow grease to clean our deck from top to bottom in preparation for staining it tomorrow.  It probably won't end up looking like a professional job by any stretch of the imagination, but it should at least keep the deck somewhat protected from the weather and bugs.  I'm looking forward to being able to cross a project off my list!

I also picked up our farm share today and judging by the bounty of produce, it looks like summer has finally come in!  This week's share included a ton of greens-- so many that I couldn't fit them in the vegetable drawers-- and sugar snap peas, strawberries and cherries among other things.  To use up some of those greens I made Thai lettuce wraps tonight, and they were ridiculously tasty.  I'm trying to incorporate more Thai recipes into what I cook so that I'll be comfortable whipping up some of Ellen's favorite dishes when she comes home.  Whether or not this particular meal was authentic Thai cooking (I am completely incapable of following a recipe's directions and ingredients lists to the letter) I think we'll add it to our list of meals to make again!

Speaking of Ellen, I've been spending some of my free time tracking photos of her down on the Internet.  It's amazing what you can find on Google and YouTube if you know how to look; once I figured out how to get around the fact that all the websites are in Thai it was astonishingly easy.  So far I've found over twenty photos or videos of her posted in various places.  I've found a lovely dance performance she and some of the other girls put on, her singing along to a popular Thai song, and a brief news interview.  I've also seen pictures of her meeting some Liverpool soccer stars, eating lunch courtesy of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, watching Spiderman 3, and at a wilderness camp.  Oh, and also meeting Ronald McDonald, who apparently treated all the kids to free hamburgers.       

Actually I'm a little freaked out by just how many pictures and videos of her I've managed to find on the Internet.  The kid doesn't even have access to Facebook yet and already she's all over the place. 

Not that I really mind at the moment, of course.  The more pictures I can find to ease the wait for us, the better!  Also it's pretty neat to see some of the cool things she's done over the years, and we love having pictures of her growing up.  I think I'm going to find a scrapbook and start making an album of all the photos we have of her so we can give it to her when she gets here.  I can't wait to hear the stories she'll have to share about them.

And I get a little thrill every time I find her in a photo.  It's kind of like Where's Waldo, if Waldo was a small Asian child hiding in a sea of small Asian children. 

Anyway, it's obvious that we're adopting a kid with a sense of adventure.  It looks like she probably signs up for as many activities that will take her outside the orphanage walls as she possibly can.  Our house may be positively boring as a result; we don't have a whole lot of visiting royalty or soccer stars in these parts. 

Oh well.  I'm sure that coming to the USA and being part of a family will probably be adventure enough! 

~Jess