These two are amazing together. Love these sisters.
Caleb and Rhett
Caleb kept saying, "We're same!"
A boy and his cars.
Now that's scary!
This boy loves his daddy!
October was tough. Really tough. It's our favorite month of the year in the Root house and we made fabulous memories with Caleb and Bekeh. They loved Halloween, fall, pumpkins, and the cooler weather. We struggled this month with bonding, attachment, fits, rages, and being a big family. It was hard, but God was bigger, and looking back, there were a ton more fabulous moments amongst the struggles. Bekeh and Caleb are delightful joys, their smiles are contagious and we love them to pieces.
We had an amazing road trip over the Labor Day weekend to Nashville, TN. We traveled to be a part of the 2010 Ethiopia Program Reunion for all families in our Agency. It was wonderful to meet many of the families we've come to "know" so well through our online support group.
We started our road trip at 3am on Friday morning. Everyone, except our fearless leader, slept until we reached Arkadelphia, Arkansas. We stopped to refuel, get in a couple of caches, and eat breakfast. Our first cache was at this historic cemetary. The kids loved looking at all the old headstones and trying to find the oldest ones.
This whole feeding a family of seven thing on our budget is still fairly new to all of us. It was our first trip of this length to 1. Drive instead of fly, and 2. to pack food and stop at rest stops rather than fast food establishments. The kids weren't sure at first, but getting to run around outside in the beautiful weather, and play around while they ate quickly made it their favorite new way to dine. We hit the road for the second leg of the trip and were anxious to make it to Memphis. The kids were excited about visiting an Apple Orchard.
Turned out, unlike they had promised me on the phone when I called that week, Apples were not ripe for the picking. Nonetheless, the kids enjoyed running through the orchard and riding on the side of the car through the rows of fruit trees. Mom enjoyed snapping a gazillion photos.
Caleb enjoyed goofing off in the apple trees more than anything. It was a miracle he stood still long enough to capture a focused shot.
After the fun in the orchard, and a quick lunch, it was time for mom to drive the last leg of the trip from Memphis to Nashville! We arrived, settled into our room and headed off to the Welcome BBQ. It was wonderful to hug all those beautiful necks!
Back in the room for the night Corban was having fun with mom's camera and everyone was hamming it up. Bekeh especially got caught in a doozy!!! Mom and Dad look great for surviving the 14 hour drive in the car!
There were five in the bed, and the little one said, Roll Over! Roll Over! So they all rolled over. . . . . . .and that's no joke.
Seven people in a single two queen hotel room. The W hotels are nice, thankfully, but we were still like caged rats!
The next two days were filled with great times with our friends. The kids met up with several friends they had shared their stay in the Transistion Home in Ethiopia with. When they met up with John and Ryan, who were there the entirety of their stay, they didn't need to be reintroduced or encouraged to play, they just jumped right in to giggling and playing with each other like old times.
Bekeh especially loved meeting back up with her BFF Winnie. Winnie lives in Ohio now, but we've been blessed to see her three times since we've been home. Bekeh was invited to a sleepover in Winnie's room, and she was so excited. They also went to the mall and bought matching earrings. Bekeh treasures them like precious gold.
We went to the waterpark in Nashville. It was a beautiful day, but the water was freezing. The kids love the water no matter what, so they didn't seem to mind!
We finished the trip off with a fabulous breakfast at the Loveless Cafe. This carbaholic was in heaven!
We hadn't found any souvenirs worth buying, and then we found Music City Roots gear at the Loveless Shop. We were thrilled. We bought a beer stein, 3 tshirts, a sticker, some earrings, and a hat. They're perfect!
It was great just to laugh and hang out as a family. We have been so busy lately, especially daddy with his work, and we didn't even realize how much we needed just complete decompression time! Talking with the families, encouraging one another, gathering wisdom from many who had been home longer than us . . . it was an amazing trip!
I sat down with Brooklyn and asked her how she thought the last month had gone with the transition and the family, and she said it perfectly, "It's been good Mom. Everyone's been in a good mood, and it's seemed, well, just normal around here." That's exactly what the 7th Month felt like, just normal. No drama, no trauma, no sorrow, no overwhelming stress. Just life, pretty well balanced, all getting done, lots of laughter, lots of fun, normal family of seven kind of stuff.
Bekeh and Caleb, you've settled in and found your niche in the family. You aren't visitors, you aren't strangers, you're a sister, a brother, a daughter, a son, a Crazy Root - you're just fun filled life living little Texans.
The most exciting and eventful moment of this month was when a judge here in our County declared that you are now Citizens, Officially Texans, and full fledged card carrying members of the United States of America. Your adoption is now recorded in the hallowed halls of the State of Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics, your birthdays are now officially 04-22-07 and 05-05-05 and your names are now legally and forevermore Bekelech Eva Root and Caleb Wesley Dereje Root. YeeHaw!
We spent several days with your cousins this month and it was so precious to watch the four of you together. Two from China, two from Ethiopia, but four cousins for the rest of your lives. You guys played non stop and giggled even longer. I could have never dreamed this beautiful picture in a million years just a short bit ago. God is amazing and His plans for our lives are unbelievable!
David and Shanna came into town with Kyle and we had a fun evening at Medieval Times. You guys loved the horses and all the loud cheering. Most of all you guys love Mr. David and Ms. Shanna, and they love you too. We can not wait for them to be matched with their son in Ethiopia so you guys can have another Ethiopian cousin in the family!
Daddy's highlight of this month was getting to take the two of you to your first live performance. We take your brothers and sisters to the theater all the time, and it starts young. You guys were thrilled to go to The Wiggles! Daddy said you two never stopped bouncing for a single moment! You were laughing and dancing and a delight for all those around you to watch. When you got home you couldn't talk fast enough to tell us all about it. I am so thrilled you had an exciting date with daddy. There will be many more to come.
School starts Monday. I'm a bit nervous about you starting Kindergarten Bekeh. But we've prayed about it alot and we know it's the best decision for you. It's still scary. I worry for you going so long without a nap, I worry about your teacher keeping up with your huge personality in a class of kids, I'm worried about you being behind, and being smaller than the other kids. It's just normal ol momma worries. I know you'll do great. It's going to be a great time for Caleb and I too. We're going to get to play together and really bond as mom and son while everyone else is in class. I can't wait. It's still over 100 degrees everyday here, so just because school is starting doesn't mean we won't still live in the pool the rest of the day. You'll love that too. It's you're favorite thing about living here! :)
Seven months as a family of seven. Wow. The light at the end of this tunnel is blinding and beautiful! We'll leave you this month with a sampling of what we get to listen to non-stop around the Root house. NON-STOP. Beautiful chaos!
It's hard to believe that we've been together 6 months, a full half year!!!
Caleb
You are such an adorable ham. The light in your eyes turned on a couple of months ago, and you are such a delight. You are learning English so fast. "I want one." "I need to go potty." "Where's Bekeh?" "Time to go night night?" "No, not this one. I want that one." "Caleb no whining! No spankings. Spanking yucky." "Bekeh eat a cheese-a-bugger?" "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" "No Lem-no-ade. No water. I want Spite!" "That's green." "Daddy at work?" "Mommy got an owie?" . . . . . just a sampling of what I've heard in the last few minutes while editing your pics for this post. You talk, or make noise at least, constantly. Your older brothers and sister are constantly asking you to be quiet for a second!
Our favorite things you do. . . you love to make funny faces and pretend to be a monster walking around with your hands in the air, your body bent over, moaning and shaking. Once you begin laughing you'll laugh for minutes on end, and by the end, we're all giggling uncontrollably.
You are the easiest little boy to put to sleep. All I have to say is "Close your eyes." and where ever you are you close your eyes, scrunch up your face, and within a minute or two, you're snoring.
I can count the accidents you've had on one hand since you moved into big boy underwear. Clothes are still a favorite thing. You love having pants, and if I didn't watch you closely you would change pants a hundred times a day. Every time you go potty and we pull your pants back on, you giggle and clap your hands with delight. Sometimes when you need disciplining for a bad choice in the bath tub or after swimming, making you wear your underwear without pants on is worse to you than a spanking or time out.
Being in the water is your favorite thing ever. You live to be in the water. Not really in the water, more under the water. If a child could grow gills by desire, you'd have a set. We literally have to pull you up and make you take a breath. You love it and you go non stop. You love to be thrown in the air as high as we can, and come splashing down and then sit under water happily until we grab you and pull you up. It's crazy, and you amaze everyone who watches you enjoy it so completely.
You no longer hide under blankets, but you still love them. You love hand towels. You carry one around with you everywhere. It's your cape, your skirt, your head wrap, your rope. I'm constantly picking up random dish and hand towels from around the house you've laid aside.
You've grown a lot in the past 6 months, but you're still tiny. 18 month pants still fall off you. But you have massive hands, and little feet. It's a funny combination. You've changed so much in 6 months, I can't imagine what the next 6 months will hold for you and our family. We love you like crazy.
Bekeh
You are an adorable firecracker, spitfire, mischievous, sweet princess. Over the weekend Brooklyn was chatting away with her cousin Natalie and ignoring you. After the 5th or 6th "Brooklyn!" from you, she, being highly annoyed, yelled back, "What?" You stopped, rolled your neck around as if to say, excuse me! and instantly shot back at her, with big attitude, "I'll tell you what!"
You love to test your boundaries. If mommy says, "Here's your water." You sass back with, "Bekeh no water! I want apple juice." Which quickly gets you no drink at all for the bit. You still have to try it every time though. When I put the paint away, you get it back out. You hate the consequence, but it's still your job to try it. That's what 5 year olds do. They see the boundary and have to try and move it. Thank goodness I love you enough to stay the boss. Today you told me I was not the boss. Someday you'll learn that's just a challenge to mom's to prove you wrong. But for today, we just laughed and giggled with a tickle game of "uh-huh I'm the boss!"
Even with the amazing size of your attitude, your delightful loving side is even bigger. You love to stroke faces, and rub hair. You love everything that smells good. You make everyone, and I mean EVERYONE smell your hands if you have on lotion or perfume, or recently washed soap lingering.
You have an excellent memory! If anyone loses something in the house, all we have to do is ask you where it is, and you'll go straight to it and bring it to us. Not sure yet if that's because you have a photographic memory of everywhere we've dropped our things, or if you're the one who took them and caused us to lose them in the first place. Either way, we're glad you always know where things are!
You are super duper smart. You and Brooklyn are having a wonderful time playing school this summer. She takes you into the room y'all share, and she has the alphabet and number charts hanging on the wall. She takes you through the pages of your alphabet and numbers workbook. You pay closer attention to her than you do me, so it works great. You've learned most of your animals, many letters by sight of the alphabet, all your colors, how to count objects to 15, although you always skip 8, and you know all your shapes. You're an expert at puzzles, especially puzzles that make pictures out of shapes. You speak in complete sentences, and know how to express your needs and wants very clearly.
You still love to sing. You no longer sing in Kembaatan. Your favorite songs to sing loudly are Itsy Bitsy Spider, One Two Buckle My Shoe, and Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and Poker Face, the Glee versions. Even Caleb sings along. It's pitiful what you're being exposed to by your siblings!
The transition, attachment, and bonding are going good. My mother in law paid me the biggest compliment yesterday. She said, "I tell everyone how amazed I am how easy you guys are making this look and how well you've added two more to your family. When you say, "Let's go" everyone falls in line and obeys. I know it's not easy, but you've done a great job." Jason and I love watching So You Think You Can Dance on t.v., and one of the greatest compliments the judges give the dancers is to say they make their movements look effortless. I felt like a leaping ballerina.
The last six months have been the most difficult months of our life. I never knew two innocent beautiful children could shred my self-confidence so completely and make me question everything I ever believed about myself in such a short period of time. I never thought after raising 3 children that the 4th and 5th ones would make me question what God was thinking when He made me a mother. I've known my husband for 20+ years, and yet I found myself wondering at times over the last 6 months why he didn't run scared. And all of it, the fact that this transition almost cracked us, and yet we made it look effortless, is not a testament to us, or the strength of our love, family or marriage. . . it's all a testament to the power of God, the empartation of skills and wisdom by the Holy Spirit, and the power of downright desperate prayer and brokenness before His throne. There were times I cried out to Heaven to show me the way to send them back to Ethiopia. It's honest, and true. I didn't mean them as soon as the words left my tongue, but for some reason my flesh needed to scream it out in that desperate moment for some relief. There were times I thought that if anyone could really see the mom I was behind closed doors they would throw me away with no pardon. And yet, God calls me spotless and beautiful. There have been times I've questioned whether I've ruined my three biological kids lives, and yet, God showed me how much they've grown and how huge their capacity to love has been expanded to. There were many times a day I asked God what He was thinking, and many times He answered, "I have great plans for you and your family Gina." Too many times I cracked, and He healed me, stronger than I was before. Too many times I messed up, and He showed me His power to redeem and restore. We're through the deepest valleys of the transition so far. There will be others. Each new season of their lives will bring with it new challenges and new expressions of their attachment and bonding needs. But, we're ready for them. We love them so deeply. Jason's 100% there, he loves them as he loves the other three. I'm not there yet. I'm closer than ever and I can see it in our future, clearer than I thought possible even two months ago, but it takes time. I've read others say it at 8 months, others at 12, some at 2 years together or more. God has planted them in my heart forever, I'm not worried about when they bloom there as brightly as Corban, Nathan, and Brooklyn. I know they will, I know they're getting close.
It's been a beautiful half year, and I can't wait for the next 6 months. Fall is my favorite season, and then there's Thanksgiving and Christmas. What an amazing time it will be, and so much richer as a family of seven.
The kids have absolutely no fear of the water so we're really enjoying spending most days in the pool. We shot video yesterday when they decided it was a good day to figure out how to kick and move their arms and actually swim. Sorry we forgot to turn the iPhone horizontal to get a better pic! Next time!
God has purchased our freedom with his Son's blood and has forgiven all our sins.Colossians 1:14 NLT
We love celebrating July 4th! One of Jason's favorite activities is watching fireworks, and so each year we celebrate at Kaboomtown in Addison. We were anxious this year to introduce one of our favorite family outings to Bekeh and Caleb. They absolutely loved it!
As you can see, itt was rainy and soggy, but worth it! The show was amazing, as always. It lasted a little over 25 minutes and was beautifully coreographed with the music. Bekeh especially loved the purple ones!
We were excited that Mimi was able to join us for the festivities, it had been many years since she'd grabbed a seat on the grass and enjoyed the show with us.
We were also excited to have all of Nana's family join us! Jason's grandmother, young at 92, was driven down from Wisconsin by Uncle Tom and his wife Charlotte, and Aunt Janice and her son Tripp flew in from Hawaii.
The kids had a blast with Uncle Tom. He's really a big kid at heart, and one of his passions in life is toys that light up. The street vendors were thrilled to have him attend last night, and so were our children! They loved the swords and light sabers and all other gadgets that Tom purchased and let them pass around all night! Thanks goodness for his collection of duct tape as well. Bekeh and Caleb still aren't good at being careful, and there were many emergency repairs in the field.
With the Hurricane in the gulf we've been experiencing very soggy weather around here, and we were anxious that the fireworks would be rained out. Janice and Tripp had requested the trip take place this time of year specifically to see them! We prayed like crazy and although it was black and downpoured through dinner at 6:30pm, by 9:45pm when they began, it was perfectly clear! Thank you Jesus!
It's really a free for all who joins us every year. Some years it's just family, other years just friends, most years a little of both! We always park it in the same spot and everyone and anyone who wants to join us is always welcome! It's a standing invitation, so perhaps next year it will be you!
