Three Good Weeks

I know this isn't the clearest picture, but I couldn't resist posting it. It is from a Sunday night a few weeks ago. We put all of the kids in their rooms by 7:00p (or earlier) on Sunday nights (so we can talk and plan our week) and the girls get to play in their room for two hours before going to bed. We heard the girls singing and laughing at the end of their play time and thought it was odd because they usually play Barbies. We opened the door and found them dressed up in each other's clothes with "microphones:" a water bottle and pen. HILARIOUS! (And I totally remember doing this with my sister and cousins when I was their age, so I especially loved it.)

We have just experienced three, solid, really GOOD weeks. THREE WEEKS of NO major RAD behavior issues.  NO big battles and NO raging. THREE WEEKS! And we haven't just been sitting around doing nothing either! God has put some sweet ministry opportunities right in our path that made life not "normal" for a few days in there. 

Of course I do feel like the bottom could fall out at any moment. I will be VERY surprised if we do not circle back around to the old, crazy behavior to some extent again. But, until then I am enjoying my relationship  with Zoe that is becoming more and more real and authentic. Jesus is healing her! 

Another evidence of healing is that there have been several occasions in these last three weeks where she was "on the verge" of a big meltdown. But . . . she handled every one of those situations by using her words and/or just crying but getting over it quickly instead of raging and being super disrespectful. Major progress!

For example, one of our "not normal" activities was going to our connection group (church small group) for the first time in nine months last Monday. We chose to go when it was at our friend's, the Scotts, because our kids are familiar with their house and family. We arrived after everyone else and there were quite a few people there. I got three of my kids their food and a place to eat, but Zoe was playing on one side of the room with toys and didn't want to come. When I went up to her to ask her if she wanted to eat, she whispered to me respectfully, "there are a lot of people over there." OH. MY. WORD. I could have done a cartwheel right then and there!! Previously she would have hid or flailed around or been disrespectful because she felt scared/out of control. But, last Monday night she USED. HER. WORDS. TO. COMMUNICATE. HER. FEELINGS.

Can I get a HALLELUJAH please?!?!

This type of scenario - her using her words and being able to "snap out of it" much quicker instead of raging/hiding/disrespecting me - has happened a number of times in the past three weeks. I cannot even express the joy to see this happening in front of my eyes. JESUS is truly healing her!

Another huge thing is that she is allowing me to show her WAY MORE affection than I have ever been able to. She will choose to come sit on my lap at times. She will choose to snuggle in close to me when I am reading to her. Today at lunch without any prompting she said "thank you for the cheese" (she loves cheese and I let her have some on her rice and ham). AHHHHH! I could just about cry sitting here and recounting all the ways God is working in her. 

Another highlight of the past few weeks was at connection group: the girls watched all of the younger kids (Abram, Isaiah and Owen and Gibson Scott) in the back yard. One time I went out to check on them and Claire told me I could go because they were doing just fine. :) I loved it! There were also two older kids there that one of the couples in our group is fostering right now. One of the kids was an 11 year old girl. When I went out to check on the kids, she and Claire were sitting at the table talking. I don't know much of what they talked about and I know nothing of this other girl's story. BUT, I got choked up realizing that 11 year old girl had to have known Claire could relate to her life. Claire clearly is not living with her original birth family, as this girl was not either. It makes me pray big prayers for God to use our kids' lives for His glory to love and serve other kids who have experienced so much loss and grief. 

Another fun highlight: Claire and I served in the younger toddler room at church two Sundays ago (serving at church - another first for us since the kids have come come) and she absolutely LOVED every minute of it! I am not exaggerating when I say that she has asked me at least 15 times since then about when we can go back and work in the class. She just brought it up again last night. Jason and I have sensed for many months that Claire has a special heart and gift with young children. I also sense she has a heart for God, even though she can't quite talk about all the details of what that means right now.

And here is one of my most memorable moments with my girls so far . . . 

It is a long story, but we were able to help out a few Chinese women whose apartments burned in an apartment fire in our town a week and a half ago. I was driving my van with four Chinese women, two of their kids, Abram and my two girls (yes, 10 of us in a 7 passenger van). Seeing my two girls totally squished between these new Chinese friends in my van while we were meeting their needs was a priceless treasure to me. Being able to serve with my daughters these new friends who speak a different language was an incredible blessing. And even after we were away from home for big chunks of time two days in a row helping our new friends, the girls adjusted great back at home. I, on the other hand, took all week to recover. I napped three days last week - which is about the total number of naps I took in my whole life before my three kids came home. :) (Those naps also explain the lack of blogging last week!)

The girls have been connecting really well with Jason lately, too. I think this picture below was after connection group last week - we let them stay up late and hang out with us on the deck (which we are clearly loving!).