Tears and Laughter

Little Luke...Lukey Duke....or Dukey Dukey as Moses calls him...he's such a funny little guy.  He just makes me smile and laugh.   He's totally the dog from "UP"...the one that says "Squirrel!" mid-sentence.   He's a little dare devil. He loves to climb high up in the trees to use the bathroom....it's way more fun that way.  He loves to scale the outside of tube slides rather than go down through the inside.

His mind is always working.  He's got the best imagination.  Today this is what he told me:

"Mama!  I'm going to save up all my money until I have 200 DOLLARS!   Cuz I wanna be a millionaire!  You have to be a millionaire to have spies...right?"


He's also a lot more gullible than I realized.  The other day he started asking me about the tooth fairy...where does she live?  how does she get all the teeth? etc.   I couldn't tell if he was kidding at first and then realized he was serious.  We've never acted like any of those characters were real...or so we thought!    So...I told him that I am the one who takes their teeth and gives them money.   He laughed.   I reassured him it was true.  He said, "Mamaaaaa" like I was trying to pull one over on him.   So I reassured him again and he just said, "really?".   I could tell he still wasn't sure.   About an hour later he asked him again and then said, "Well...where are all the teeth?".    I told him where but he needed to see them.  So I showed him and you could see the disappointment for a minute but then he laughed and  was really suprised.     Tonight he asked Chad if I was really the tooth fairy for the whole world!   Ha...I really need to clarify for him.

It's been one...or two...of those weeks.  I told Chad I was calling to enroll the kids in school.  I sobbed almost every day he came home.  I felt like I just could not do this anymore.   I'm thankful that he reminded me WHY we homeschool.   I think it's really important to know exactly why I'm doing this.   I need to be able to cling to that some days. Other days are wonderful and things are full of great stuff.   Some things are harder than I expected.  Some things are way easier.   One thing is constant.  The ONE who has called us to this.   I'm thankful for little blessings that bring laughter and a smile in the midst of chaos and tears!

So sad...

It's so sad when your kids start reading and realize they've been saying things wrong...but, they are the little things that melt your heart and make you smile every time they say them.  

Awhile back Luke read the words on a bag of marshmallows and turned around in shock and said, "I thought it was MARSHLELLOWS!  It's supposed to be marshMellows!".    So, now he says it the right way....so sad!   Today we were doing reading with Christy.   Ethan was doing her flash cards and came to the letter U.   It had a picture of an umbrella and he was saying it very clearly for her.  "UN-BREL-LA".   I said, "Buddy...it's UMbrella".  Luke yells, "WHen I was little you guys told me it was RAINbrella!".   Ugh...so no more "rainbrellas" or "marshlellows".

Lost in Translation

After almost a year, we still have everyday language barriers.   A question will be asked and you'll get a far off answer, or someone is told to do something and they do the opposite, etc.  Most of the time it's good for a much needed laugh.

Once someone told Christy she was adorable and she got mad and said, "I am not!".   

Well, at least every other day she asks how long until her birthday and tells us what she wants for her birthday.   Today she said it again and I did not feel like counting so I said, "Christy....your birthday is not for a long, long time, ok?".  She immediately starts jumping up and down and yelling that her birthday is "not for a long time"!   Poor thing.  WHen I cleared it up that I actually meant it will be a long time before her birthday, she was really disappointed.  

Last week was kind of a blur!  In the midst of Christy's first ever birthday week, we had numerous unplanned appointments.  Despite that, we had some really great times.   She and I got a lot of girl time, which was greatly needed.   We seem to have a lot of frustration between us lately.   She's very impulsive and also likes to help me "parent" a lot.   I'll go to grab something...like a utensil...and she'll reach and grab it before me.   Not out of disrespect....it's just what she does right now.  We are both learning and growing through this time.   Just getting out away from everything else was good.   We went out to eat and got her ears pierced.  Then we just walked around the mall and chatted.  She's so cute and funny.    I felt really bad because I thought she was prepared for getting her ears pierced.  There is not telling how they pierced her ears in Ghana.   One was WAY lower than the other and one of them....the hole was not pierced straight through so it was an ordeal to get an earring through the hole.   So, I thought that Claire's would be no big deal!   Well, apparently, when someone starts putting on gloves, sterilizing everything, gets out a little gun and sits you up in a tall stool....it's quite intimidating.   They did both ears at once and she sobbed when they were done.  I think she was more scared than anything and just didn't understand what was going on.   She's happy with them now though.   Luke already managed to rip one out, but, thankfully I was able to put it back in.

I also took her for a speech evaluation. I'm so glad I did.  She is still very hard for a lot of people to understand and it's not because of her accent.  She has some serious speech issues and will be starting speech therapy soon.  I think it will really help her confidence.   She gets frustrated sometimes when people can't understand her and I think she'll be happy to be able to communicate more clearly.   

The speech evaluation was hilarious!  At first they were asking her to tell them all about a certain picture.   One was a shoe.   You could tell Christy didn't understand why she was doing this stuff.  "Tell me about the shoe.  Where do you where it?  On your head?".  Christy..."no!  outside!".      Next....a  jacket.   "Tell me about the jacket".   Christy..."it flies.   it will bite you!".    The sweet lady looks at me very confused.  I told her she was talking about a yellow jacket and that Christy's never worn a jacket in her life!   Wow....we are still adjusting to so much!   

The sweet woman who did the test was very understanding.   She would ask Christy a question like, "You have 5 pennies (holding up her five fingers for Christy to see)....I take away one penny (now holding up 4 fingers)...how many pennies do you have (holding 4 fingers right in front of Christy's face)."   Christy replies enthusiastically, "One!".   Huge smile.   The sweet woman just says, "Ok".  :)  There were 3 more questions like this.  Then the very sweet woman says, "Mom...where does she go to school?".   My face turns red and I mumble, "I homeschool her".  Ha!   Nice.   Great!   Thankfully she asked how long she'd been in the states and understood when I said it'd been less than 6 months.   

Tonight at dinner, Luke was talking to Chad and Christy started to say something and then said, "Oh....I almost erupted!".   I'm trying to soak up all of the cute, funny stuff that's happening.  It would be easy to let the frustrations and hard times overwhelm me.  There really are some great memories in the making.    Moses is putting his mark all over our house in the form of paint, sharpies, holes in the wallls, etc.   We're working on reigning that all in...but, it's definitely going to be a process.   

Aunt Melissa got her this cabbage patch doll and Aunt Jessie made her this wrap to carry her in!  So cute!

We made her this little play kitchen...Moses used it to give the baby a bath :)

Here are some pics of Christy's party.   It was so cool.  There were 3 girls from Ghana at her party, two of whom she lived with for years in Ghana!  How amazing is that!  I just watched them and couldn't believe God orchestrated that!    You could see Christy soaking everything in.  She had a great time and I think she really felt celebrated.   On her 7th birthday, she had her first every birthday celebration!   

Sitting at the breakfast table, Christy says, "Jesus is white because I want the white bowl!".  Luke, very confused says "Jesus is white because you want a white bowl????  Jesus isn't white because you want a white bowl!".    We all laugh and explain that she wants a white bowl because Jesus is white.

Christy loves to wear fancy clothes. She calls them wedding clothes.   This morning she had on her fanciest dress and I told her we were not going to a wedding.   She says "how many days until the wedding? "    Luke said very seriously, "You're a kid, we don't do that in America."

Weekend Memory

We had a great weekend with lots of time outdoors.  We spent a few hours at a park on Saturday.   Everyone was busy, riding bikes, throwing balls, I was pushing moses in a swing....then we hear Christy. She starts jumping up and down yelling, "I got a bee! I got a bee! I got a bee!".   We starting yelling at her to let it go but we were too late.  She then starts yelling, "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!".   Poor thing...we've told her about bees...but, hopefully she's learned this lesson and won't try that again.

Surgery

Today Christy had to have oral surgery.   I HATE having anything done to my teeth.  I actually have one wisdom tooth left and my dentist has referred me to an oral surgeon because I've let it go for so long...and that was a couple of years ago!  So...when I found out what Christy would have to have done my heart just sank.     She had 4 teeth that were broken off.  3 of those had rotted and broken away and there were only tiny little pieces of tooth that you could still see through the gums.   The roots of those teeth had been infected for a very long time.   Then, she had several very large cavities and he had to fill those and do some work on some of the nerves.   We got to Children's Hospital early this morning and left there around 1 this afternoon.  She was so funny when they gave her the "happy juice".   She was holding onto Chad's head kissing his face.  She would not let go and just kept saying one more, one more.   Then the nurse came to talk to her and she was holding her hand up in the air trying to touch something.  She told the nurse that the fish (stickers on a door across the room) were swimming.    When she woke up after surgery, her whole mouth was numb and she was still out of it.   She slowly put her finger on her bottom lip and then looked at me and said "What is this!!" and then started tryign to pull it off!   She had me dying laughing.   She did really well.   She is already up and I'm having to make her take it easy.  Amazing!

It amazes me that she lived with so much pain in her mouth for so long.   She only complained a couple of times until I started asking her if it hurt...even then her complaining was a "my tooth" every once in a while.   I think of all the kids still in that home and others.  They're living with pain...physical and emotional.  They don't know any different.  They've never had the luxuries we have.  Thinking about it makes me sick of my excuses and apathy.  "I'm sorry your teeth are rotting out of your head and you're in constant pain...I'm sorry you'll never have a mom or dad....It's so sad that you don't have enough food to eat or water to drink...poor thing....doesn't have clothes that fit.....but, it's just too expensive to be your mom...my house isn't big enough....we wouldn't be able to afford everything we want....or everything our kids deserve....you might have a lot of issues...I'm sorry your life is too hard...but, adopting you would just be too hard...to inconvenient...to uncomfortable."    Uncomfortable.  I don't think I really know what that is.  I can't help but look at each of my kids and think about those without a home...a mom and a dad...basic necessities.  I know it's said all the time...we're not all called to adopt...but, as a christian...we are called to do something.   I'm blown away when I think about how much people helped us with bringing our kids home.  People are so generous.   God was so good and faithful.  And...if we step out to obey Him, he will bless us and provide.   After all...he loves these kids more than we do!