December 5, 2011

I felt like I had a little bit of school going on in my kitchen this morning because while Zoe was doing Rosetta Stone, Claire was writing out all the words to the song, Your Great Name (copying what I wrote). It was fun to see. We left at 10:00a togo to Des Moines again today to get all three kids’ blood drawn. Claire didn’t have a hard time at all with it, but the other two sure did. We survived! Abram stayed at Kate’s.

Speaking of Abram, this morning I heard him trying to speak more Lingala. Isaiah calls his little matchbox cars (that are permanently affixed to him) ‘motocars.’ I heard Abram try to say it like that but it came out something like ‘supercar. Cracked me up!

When we got home around 2:00p and both boys were sleeping, the girls wanted to go outside so I let them go by themselves. They bundled themselves up and went out for a little bit, but not too long. J I love that they still want to go outside and I equally love that they are old enough and comfortable enough to go outside (and stick near the house) by themselves. Once they came in, they played dolls/house (where they make furniture out of blocks and rooms with train tracks/baseball bases!) from about 2:30-5:00p. Seriously, they often will play like that for three hours at a time. I love that they love to play and play and play!

The boys both took monster naps. Isaiah always wakes up half way through his nap and goes back to sleep – without fail. Most of the time he goes back to sleep on the bed, but sometimes, like today, I hold him for the second half of his nap. It is good for both of us (for attachment) to do that every now and then. I was sitting with him in the back room, just watching the girls play on the other side of the room. I loved it. It was one of those simple moments that filled me with such joy. I started thinking, too . . . Seeing my girls lay on the floor playing so comfortably, like they’ve always lived here, I started thinking about the them living in the orphanage. I wondered what how they “played” there. I wondered when they first met each other and just how long they’ve been friends. And did they immediately became friends or was it a friendship that grew over time? I just sat there with Isaiah – loving that I could hold him today for those moments - and took it all in. There will never be words to describe seeing your child thrive (at least for that moment) in your home, knowing they lived in a filthy, horrible orphanage for a significant amount of time (not all orphanages are bad, but we have been told this one was). I clearly don’t think about this all the time, but I am grateful for the time I had today to ponder these things . . . and thank God for giving them a family – OUR family!