Beginning Week Three

It's hard to believe that we became a family of seven just two short weeks ago. Madison left for church camp this morning. The kids asked where she was when they woke up. I got out the calendar and showed them today was Monday and that Madison would be back on Friday. They asked me several times, "Madison go and then come? Yes? Madison go and them come home?" Then we counted the days and they were happy to know Madison would be home in four days. It's Mad's first time away for a week and I think I will miss her terribly! She was so excited to go and I pray it will be a fun and rich time for her. I am amazed at how big she is getting. She is such a wonderful helper with the kids. It's a little hard for her to not hold Hailab, but she understands how important it is for our new kids to look to Dustin and me to meet their needs physically and emotionally.

Dustin's parents invited us for dinner tonight. They cooked fish that Dustin's dad caught in a nearby lake. Dustin's parents also have a really pretty fish pond in their yard. The kids loved looking at and feeding the goldfish in the pond. When we were telling the kids we were having fish for dinner, Yeabsira pointed to the pond, made a slicing motion across her neck and pointed to her mouth. She was asking me if we were eating the fish in the pond. I assured her no, we were not eating the goldfish. It was pretty humorous!

Our biggest struggle today was again, battle of the wills. Simple requests like, "It's time to brush our teeth!" or "It's time to take a bath!" are often met with a pout and someone sitting down and refusing to move. Sometimes I am able to love the child through the pout/tantrum/meltdown and other times my own frustration gets the best of me. The times that I am able to quietly say, "O.K. Stay here if you like but we are going to do _______" often end up with the best results. A few things that were always met with resistance, like asking the kids to go to the potty before we get in the car or potty before we go to bed, are slowly easing up. It's a good feeling.

Our biggest joy today was unprompted kindness, a surprise kiss and a fun time on the bed (all of us except Madison) before reading a book.

Sage was such a ham when he was younger. It's fun to have another little ham in the house again: