Sunday, June 19, 2011

17 Months Together!

Summer is in full swing at the Root House.  We've been keeping ourselves uber busy with Tae Kwon Do lessons 8 hours a week, Gymnastics 7 hours a week, piano lessons, guitar lessons, clarinet lessons, swimming non stop, visiting friends, church camps, and reading books and frequenting the library like mad men.  It's exhausting just typing it out but it really is a ton of fun and we're often commenting on how lazy we feel we're being.  Our new normal.
Bekeh's favorite time of the week is her gymnastic classes.  She can do an amazing cartwheel, roundoff, handstand-kickover-bridge, one handed cart wheel and is working on her back walkover so she can get to her back handspring.  She and Brooklyn practice non stop around the house.  She shares her second favorite thing with Caleb's all time favorite, and that's swimming.  They live for the pool.  They jump and swim and splash and kick in it for hours.
Caleb has been growing up in leaps and bounds the last few months.  He has S-L-O-W-L-Y began to use his words for communicating more than he uses his tears and whining.  We're working it out.  Zero tolerance worked much faster with the other four, he's a stubborn one though and seems fearful of asking for help or for what he wants.  We're sure it's some ex-orphan untrusting where's the bond issue, but we're just going to keep praying and working through it like everything else.  He's so darn adorable every other minute of the day we'll make it.  He talks non-stop, and now that he's transistioning into talking for himself and not just mimicking EVERY SINGLE THING others say around him, his personality is coming out more and we're finding out how his little mind processess and thinks through our crazy life.  It's a ton of fun.  His favorite thing to say is, "I changed my mind."  And he sure does, all the time.  I think we're going through the toddler indecisive stage he missed a few years back!  We got a lot of complaints helpful advice from his fellow chocolate brothers and sisters in the world at large about his hair not being appropriate and what not, so I caved to the pressure and shaved it off.  CPS letting you know someone felt strongly enough about it to take your license plate and call with concern about his hair being matted will do that to you.  Seriously.  We went through the pain daily of brushing out his hair, matted my foot, mind your own business people.  I do not need your advice.  He didn't want to cut it either, but now that it's so much easier to comb, and cooler for summer, we've all come around to being ok with it.  The joys of being a multiracical family and getting judged and stared at non-stop in public.  Bring it!!  And I dare say I enjoy the large target on my back.  Being ridiculously persecuted by the enemy of our souls means we're scaring the heck out of him with our faith walk.  Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

It occured to me yesterday as we were driving down the road that Bekelech is past "learning English."  She can understand and communicate anything she thinks, experiences, remembers, imagines, and questions.  She's still struggling with pronouns, but that will all work itself out.  She's really looking forward to starting Kindergarten again in the fall and we're looking forward to her being up to speed and master school this time!  She keeps asking if she's going to be in Mrs. Neel's class again, and I honestly don't know.  Pray with us that the US Governement would release our tax return funds so that we could move on to the next season of life that God has in store for us.  We've been waiting very patiently Mr IRS Case Examiner, much more patiently than you would be if we owed you money.  Please, Lord, just have them release our money soon.
Hopefully I'll find some time soon to document the amazing trip back to Ethiopia that Nathan and I took with the Rowell family in May.  It was incredible.  God was so present and miraculous. 


1 comment:

  1. I just discovered your update!! It is so good to hear from you and all that has been happening in your home.

    We are also waiting for our tax credit back this year from our adoption two years ago and I was glad to read that we are not the only ones waiting!!! Funny how they want our money asap every year but reluctantly cough up when the time comes!!! LOL!

    Anyway, we just moved to NC almost a month ago and plan to start our adoption as soon as the money comes in!

    Blessings to you,

    Naomi

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