Isaiah wanted in on the action. And look at Zoe . . . I found her other earring this morning and she let me put it in - finally! I also fixed her hair and put a headband in it. After all of that she said, "thanks, mom." It was so sweet to hear her say that because I knew she meant it. A definite highlight of my day!
“Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.” (Psalm 16:1)
In the midst of feeling spent and wiped out driving home from
The morning was fairly calm and very slow going – everyone was finally ready for the day at 10:00a! The girls stepped outside the patio door to show me the grass and I realized they were trying to ask me why it looked the way it did - dead! Winter, dear girls. It is winter. Hard to explain that one in hand gestures. J Shortly before lunch all the kids but Abram were in the kitchen. I went to check on Abram and found him on the couch in a dead stare straight ahead. And then he barely ate anything for lunch. I checked for a fever and didn’t find one so I figured he was just tired. (Looking back, DUH, of course he was sick . . . more on that later.) After lunch I thought Zoe was being uncooperative in helping clean the kitchen, but then realized she was looking out the window, fascinated at the snow. It was fun to make a big deal about her seeing snow fall from the sky for the first time.
I dropped Abram off at Jill’s at 12:30p so I could take the kids (and our three "specimens!") to the doctor. I left early so I could take the kids to Jason’s office since we were going to
When I drove away from Jason’s office, Isaiah started crying. I asked him if he was sad about dad and he nodded yes (more evidence of understanding a lot of English). In his little mind I could have been having him see his dad for the last time before I drive him off somewhere. Poor guy. Fear is never far from a child that has recently been placed in a new family. And sometimes I forget that because we spend so much time at home in a simple routine of life which makes him (and the girls) feel pretty secure.
Our doctor appointment was at 2:15p. We were able to get in right away but we didn’t leave until after 5:00p. The appt went well. But there were definitely some interesting behaviors by all the kids since we were in a very new, scary (to them) environment. At one point I was standing up holding Isaiah on one hip and Zoe on the other side of my body. J I found out in the middle of the appt that the kids would need blood drawn so I called Jason to come for backup. I have not been feeling well today and I knew there was no way I could deal with all three kids getting blood drawn (and therefore traumatized) on my own. On our way to get blood drawn I got a text from Jill saying that Abram had just had a seizure. Anxiety and panic soared through me. I hate those darn seizures. I hated being away from him, too, but was so thankful he was in good hands. (Jill knew enough about his seizures to know what was going on was “normal” – what a blessing!) And I had to fight to cling to the truths of God’s word.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4)
My circumstances were no where near the valley of the shadow of death, but Abram’s seizures elicit emotions of that sort in me every time. After fighting through my emotions with God’s truth, He gave me much peace. After all, God made Abram and gave him as a gift to me. God is far more able to protect and care for Abram than I am . . . it just takes me awhile to get to that place!
As it turns out the kids didn’t get blood drawn, which perhaps was a blessing given my emotional state of being by that time. We have to go back Monday for that. We let the kids eat McDonalds for dinner for the first time (!) and then came home.
Reason #7 I’m thankful we adopted older kids: While I may have missed their first steps and their first words and their first teeth coming in, I love the little firsts I get to experience with them (that they can show or tell me) – like discovering dead grass in the winter, seeing snow falling from the sky for the first time and thinking rumble strips are a fun ride!
2 comments:
My kids love those rumble strips heading up to Huxley...even Callum (17 months) laughed yesterday without the other kids in the van when he heard them. He's learned that it's pretty funny.
Glad to hear about the little moments you have that make the day go better.
First, I have to say thank you for writing about Abram's seizures! God used you to help me when Liya had one a few months ago. The only reason I was not going totally crazy with fear was because I remembered when Abram had his first one and you wrote about it. I knew that was probably what was going on when Liya had hers. It was still scarier than anything I've ever had to deal with in my life so I know just what kind of emotions you must go through each time. I know I am constantly checking Liya for fevers. As you said, God is far more able to protect her than I am and I need to put my trust in that truth.
On another note, I follow a blog that you may be interested in. She adopted two siblings from Ethiopia two years ago and then this summer brought two older girls home from Uganda.
http://everybitterthingissweet.com/
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