Catching up on Pictures From the Week

Playing at the park.Love this picture of my girls.I especially love that they have clearly had a bond of being sisters long before they arrived in our home. I am just now remembering this was something I prayed for as we waited for them to come home. God is so faithful.

These pictures are from the day the kids played on this slide for about an hour!
Of course Zoe got creative (love it!).
And then the girls arranged for the boys to go down together! Don't worry, I was at the bottom. :)
So much fun!
This was the day Abram decided he would try to eat sardines like the rest of the kids. At one point he said, "it will be funny." So, I know he was doing it just to be funny. He did eat some bites but didn't really eat that much. And he dropped some of his fish on his blanket that was on the floor below him, which totally grossed me out!

Love this picture of our full bathroom before bedtime.
The boys checking out the tree.
And playing under the table in their p-pops.
After eating dinner at McDonalds Thursday night, the girls brought home their extra fries "for Abram" they said, which was so sweet. During snack time yesterday they wanted to eat their fries, which was fine with me. One of the girls had put her fries in the frig the night before and as it turns out the other one had kept hers hidden in her closet for the night.
While we have definitely had some food-related issues, they have not been too bad. I recently found an apple in the girls' closet but I don't even think they remembered it was in there. They sometimes do try to hide food in their room (like the fries) but usually it is because it is a "special" food item. In the same way, they all three very much like to hide possessions that are special to them (right now Zoe has her notebook and pen under the couch cushion, for example!). It is just what you do when you have lived in an orphanage and have had to protect your scarce belongings from the wolves.

I have tried not to get too bent out of shape about these food issues. I have made a very firm boundary that all food - being eaten or stored - stays in the kitchen. At first some of them had a hard time with this boundary, but they all get it now. When they do have special food items (which is rare) and want to take them to their room, I help them find a "special" place in the kitchen for them to put it where they know they can find it the next day (or where another kid won't get it). I have done this with other possessions, too. Like Isaiah's cars. That kid would eat, sleep and go to the bathroom with a car in his hand if I let him. At bedtime, he has to put his car(s) on the dresser and at dinner time he has to put it on the dish shelf (he always puts it/them as high as possible, out of reach from Abram). This took a little training, but now he easily puts them in their "spot" without a fit.

Sometime during week two when meal times were total chaos and the girls were eating more food than they should be, I remembered a blog post from a family that adopted three kids and made a new system . . . all of the food gets set on the counter, NOT on the table. And only mom or dad serves the food to everybody. And, we limited the girls to seconds only (each serving is a pretty big portion). In the beginning it was hard to try to explain this boundary and they certainly didn't like it, but it has become the norm now, which is very helpful. It is tempting in the beginning to want to keep giving them food because it feels like you are meeting a need and loving them. But God was faithful to remind me that we have to cut them off otherwise they would never stop eating (due to having never had enough to eat). FIRM BOUNDARIES are very loving and have helped a lot! The fact that our kids were in a good foster home for a year definitely contributes to us not having too many food-related issues. If they don't like something or don't want to eat it, I say, "that is okay . . . I will be make food again at ___ (lunch or dinner, etc) and that is when you can eat again." I don't say "no," which allows it to be their choice if they eat or not. (I learned most of this from my friend in California.)

I have been wanting to share about food-related issues because it is a very common issue with adoption. So, there we go. Moving on . . .

Abram getting ready to leave for his big slumber party . . .

His monkey backpack was loaded up.
Isaiah drinking hot chocolate - with marshmallows (thanks Lisa L!) for the first time. He loved it!