A Few More Days Worth

One night last week we were reading a book with the number six in it. Claire pointed out that it was the same number as people in our family. Then Zoe said, "three black, three white." It is interesting to get glimpses into what they are thinking about! We have told them that Abram is Mexican, but I think it is lost on them. Compared to their skin, his looks white. :)

Claire was washing dishes at lunch one day last week and left to go to the bathroom, but left the water running full blast. I had her come back to turn it off and then tried to explain that when water comes out, we have to pay money. She nearly gasped. She could not believe it! Hopefully that will help the water-running situation a little bit. :)

Last Saturday night Jason let the girls stay up after the boys went to bed to watch Cool Runnings - one of his favorite movies. There was lots of laughing! And lots of quality time with Dad (sometime I should do an entire post on how incredible Jason is with these girls!). Life, of course, does not always (or even, usually) look like this picture below. But, little by little, these times of family bonding are growing and we are thankful.

In fact this is probably the first relaxed + happy + content look on Zoe's face that I have seen. Praise God! She is doing well, but there is still a ton of FEAR driving a lot of her behavior. Church has been pretty difficult for her the last two weeks. I think all of the stimulation and people causes a lot of fear (after all, how is she to know what all of those people will or will not do to her). In turn, I feel very stressed because I am always having to make sure she is not going to make a loud noise, etc. I'm learning to have a task for her to do so this past Sunday I had her take her notebook, a pen, a Bible and a highlighter. I highlighted part of the passage we were studying and had her copy the sentences in her notebook. She asked if she could sit on her knees so she could write with her notebook on the seat. We said yes and it worked really well - it kept her occupied during the whole message. But even during the singing and praying, I had to monitor her very closely. This is why we don't go to many new places. One very cute thing . . . Zoe heard the pastor say "Hallelujah" as part of the passage and she said to me, "Lingala." She thought he was speaking Lingala because it is the same word in her language. Love it!

Mr. Ingenuity . . . Isaiah used a long, narrow piece of cardboard from something I bought to make a belt. This poor kid has wanted a belt for weeks, but doesn't really need one (thanks to adjustable-waisted pants).   Our African kids each have a sense of resourcefulness that could not be taught . . . it just comes with having gotten by with so little. It is pretty cool to see.

And just for the record, a shot of Isaiah's herniated belly button that we hope to get taken care of in the near future.

Yesterday Zoe set up the little table in the back room for snack time. It was pretty cute! It was p-pop day for Claire because it was day two of putting extensions in her hair. We started Sunday and finished yesterday. She has a lot more hair (thicker) than Zoe but I did bigger sections and was able to knock the total time down to 7.5 hours from the 9 it took with Zoe. And we did it over two days, not three, which made it feel a lot more manageable.

After I finished her hair last night, Claire put a hat on to cover it (which it not that unusual). So, I didn't see it "done" until this morning after she took a bath and got ready for the day. And OH MY WORD . . . I LOVE her hair long like it is now (she wanted her longer than Zoe's). I tried to take a picture of how long it is but didn't really capture it.

I just have to say right now that I am trading in all of the sorrow and sadness I had over not adopting "cute, little girls" and all of the fuzzy warm feelings that come from that . . . for the JOY God has given me through these two beautiful girls.

 They are two of the most beautiful girls I have ever known.

And I get to call them mine. I know them. They have amazing personalities. I know what they like and what they don't like. I know what will make them happy and what will make them feel upset. They are no longer just two girls . . . they are my daughters. And while they are not yet attached and they still have big issues to work through and heal from . . . I can't imagine my life without them. I wouldn't trade them for younger girls for anything! I love them more than words can say.

I have recently been thinking about the girls' ages . . . how we were so thrown off by how old the girls were when they first got here. But now, their older ages are an incredible blessing . . . in countless ways. We've gotten to the stage where Zoe will help buckle Isaiah's car seat while I do Abram's. And the girls can help me bag up groceries at Aldi. And they can return the cart to the store by themselves. They can help cook dinner. They set the table and help me clean up after every meal. Zoe cleans the kitchen floor in a way that puts me to shame! But, it is not just the practical things that are a blessing. More importantly, we are able to hear about their lives before they came to us and talk to them about it (we stayed up with them late again on Thursday night and talked and talked).  We get to interact with them about the new things they are learning and doing daily. While there are still struggles, there is such joy in the deeper level of relationship we are able to have with our girls. It is such a gift from God!

God is so faithful! The thing (the girls' ages) that seemed like the biggest hurdle in the beginning has turned out to be one of the biggest blessings.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. 
Psalm 36:5


I am trusting in His love and His faithfulness to carry us through the many other hurdles we are encountering right now. He is good . . . I know He will carry us through.