The Weekend

I love our weekends . . . with nothing pressing to do - ever. Well, except go to church, which we love. Today I am surprised we made it to church. A couple of the kids were really struggling. During worship the girls knew two of the songs (Your Great Name and Forever Reign) so that was awesome for them. And very tearful for me! After one of the songs was finished, Isaiah started singing, “Our God is greater, our God is stronger…” He wanted to keep singing songs he knew! It was so sweet.

Your Great Name has, of course, been one of my favorites ever since I heard it for the first time last year. It nearly wrecked me every time I sang the lines that say:

The fatherless,

they find their rest

at the sound

of Your great name

Now that I’ve heard it a number of times since the kids have been home, I have been thinking more about these words. The use of the word “rest” is so incredibly dead-on, now having had three former orphans in our home for six weeks. I looked up the definition of UNREST to learn more about what finding REST in God would mean.

UNREST:

1. lack of rest; a restless, troubled, or uneasy state;

2. disturbance or turmoil; agitation

Troubled, uneasy, disturbed, turmoil, agitated . . . Yes, this very clearly describes what I just saw in Isaiah’s face when I laid him down to sleep. It describes his demeanor often. And it is what describes the girls when they face new or uncertain circumstances or are faced with a boundary that they don’t like. And it certainly described all of them the first few weeks.

Some days – like today because Isaiah had a pretty hard day – I long for the day when my children are AT REST. Fully at rest in our family and fully at rest in the God who created each of them. Jesus, please continue to heal them and help them find rest in You. You are our only hope!

The girls played outside for a really long time yesterday with Jason and all four kids – in their snowpants – played outside twice today. I love my husband for taking them out in the cold to play! On Saturday mornings (late mornings!), I usually take the girls to run errands, which is always a fun time. As I drove into the Target parking lot with them yesterday, though, I told them we were not buying any doll clothes. Thankfully, giving them that head's up seemed to keep their requesting at bay while we were in the store.

And speaking of giving the girls a head's up . . . I have needed to do Zoe's hair for over two weeks. It needs washed and re-done BADLY. But, when I have brought it up she nearly runs away to the other side of the house. So, I finally realized I needed a better plan. So, today we told her that next Friday I am taking her hair out and washing it and doing it on Saturday. While I was telling her this, I wrote it on the calendar (which is really how I explained it - they don't understand "week" yet). So, I am hoping this will do the trick - or at least help.

Today after lunch, we ALL SIX took naps. Hallelujah!! During snack time we finally brought back the look-in-mom/dad’s-eyes-and-we-will-feed-you-m&ms game. I have wanted to do this again for several weeks, but keep putting it off – because it is awkward with the girls. I think I fear they will know what I am up to! And I just realized I think I fear their rejection. But, it is one of the most effective things you can do for bonding with older kids. Eye contact is very hard for kids who are not yet attached – especially older kids. This is very true for our girls. My CA friend helped give me some more tips on this a few weeks ago which helped. To make it a “game” (so it is less awkward), she encouraged me to have the little boys do it first. The goal is for each child to look me (or Jason) in the eyes for five seconds. If they do then we feed them one or two M&Ms. There is scientifically something that happens in the brain when they taste the sweetness of the M&Ms . . . it signals something that tells the brain that whatever they are doing is good. In this case, looking in mom or dad’s eyes is good. It went well tonight. Every kid had to start over a few times because they looked away before we got to five seconds, but it wasn’t awkward and was actually pretty fun. Now, to keep it going daily.