Photos of the Crazy Girl!

I (Helen) am doing a post for Mom while she is taking care of my sassy, crazy cute sister! While Miriam might smile perfectly and look super photogenic in her pictures on facebook and the blog, she has a wild side too! She has some pretty funny facial expressions, and we have captured some of them! Here are my top 7 crazy photos of Miriam-the wild child:

Hair

Since this afternoon was kind of gray...and Helen was home...and Miriam kept looking at me like I didn't know what I was doing when I would pick her afro...I decided to make my first attempt at styling African hair.  Her hair has been one of the things I have fretted over the most...taking care of it...what products to use...making sure it looked appropriate when we went out.  I have done lots of research.  There is a fantastic website called Chocolate Hair/Vanilla Care that has been really helpful...but also can be a bit overwhelming.  A friend came over and gave me a quick tutorial before we left for DRC.  Also, I had friends asking their friends and received some great products and good advice before I left.  Since we have been home, I have been feeling a bit more confident as I put product in and detangled and fluffed Miriam's cute little afro.  The other day, I was reading a blog from a family who adopted another little girl from Miriam's same orphanage.  This mom did some flat row twists(I think that is what it is called) on her daughter's hair.  She referenced a youtube video...which Helen and I promptly watched.  I thought...maybe just maybe I could pull this off.  So, armed with lots of hair product, assorted combs, clips, and nimble fingers, I set to work.  It took me almost one and a half hours to complete this look.  It is not perfect and as I type this I can see it is already coming out, but Miriam likes it.  Here are a few photos of the finished product.

Home A Week

Well, we have been home a week...and what a week it has been!  It has been...a good week...an intense week...a hard week...an exhausting week...BUT not a bad week.  God is good.  I am seeing answered prayers minute by minute.  All those prayers for the sweet heart of Miriam to be able to attach to her family laid a foundation before we even met her in the DRC and they continue to be answered as we spend time with her at home.  God is knitting our family together.  All of us are trying to be intentional in helping Miriam adapt and attach and become a member of our family.  Caleb and Helen are doing a great job in playing and teasing with Miriam, but then stepping back and allowing Mama and Papa to meet her needs.  Both of them have been so helpful in running errands, helping with household tasks, and being flexible.  Miriam (and Joey and Kerry) are going to enjoy having them home this week.  Miriam loves her Papa.  She thinks he is really funny and loves for him to play horse (cheval) with her.  He gets her bath water just right.  Miriam  likes to ride in the motorcar with Papa to take Helen to class.  Miriam is also attaching well to me...actually we seem to be physically attached.  She wants me to carry her everywhere...which I am happy to do.  So far my back has held up to carrying a 40 pound sweetie around the house.  At mealtimes, she wants to sit very close to me (our chairs touch).  When I am not in her sight, she needs to know where I am...when Joey has given me a break to go take a nap, I can hear them sneak in the room to look at me.  Miriam has also become comfortable enough to assert herself with us.  She can throw a good fit complete with rolling around and crying when she doesn't want to do something.  This precious little one wants to be in control of things...she has been a mama to the smaller ones at her orphanage...we are working on lovingly teaching her that now mama and papa are in control and she can just be a little girl. 

Here are some photos from this week:

We are trying to have a schedule around our house.  It seems to help Miriam know what to expect.  After we get Helen and Caleb off to school.  Joey and I take her on a walk.  It is cold to her so we wrap her up in her blanket.  She doesn't especially love the walk, but Mazie does and it does Mama and Papa some good.

Sometimes, it is hard for adopted children to get used to the pets in the house, but Mazie and Miriam have become good friends.  Mazie likes having Miriam here because she gets to go on a walk everyday and Miriam drops lots of food when she eats.  Miriam loves playing with Mazie and tells her Mazie Ma(here) most of the day.

Mama is working hard on learning all about Miriam's beautiful hair.  Miriam loves to have beautiful things in her hair.  When you haven't had anything to put in your hair, why not put in three different things?

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, we decided to take Miriam to a playground.  We knew of one that wouldn't have anybody there, so we loaded up the family and headed out for some play time.  Miriam loved it...especially the slide.  She ran and played and laughed and when she was done and ready to go home, she let us know.

Miriam likes to help around the house.  Here she is setting the table.  We had the vacuum out yesterday and she was very curious about how it worked and what it did.  I showed her and we vacuumed her room.

As we adjust, I hope to be able to update more.  Maybe Helen will get on and add a video or two.  Thanks for your prayers and support.  We are grateful!

Settling In

AUGH...today I (Kerry) am feeling "pongi" which means sleepy/tired.  We are trying to help Miriam sleep in her own room.  The first two nights I slept with her in her bed...her twin bed.  Did I tell you she moves aroind a lot?  She was sleeping but I was not.  Last night we moved a mattress into her room so that I could sleep next to her.  She was so mad about going to bed that she ended up sleeping on the mattress on the floor with me.  Because of the time difference between GA and the DRC, I fell asleep at 8 pm which meant I was up about 3:30. Miriam slept until about 5:30.  Here is a photo of what she likes to do when she first gets up.

This girl can wash some dishes!  She also likes to sort and organzie things so Joey taught her how to put up the clean silverware.

Besides hating to go to bed, the other issue that we are having is getting dressed in the morning.  Miriam is having a hard time adjusting to long sleeves and pants.  She is used to wearing hot weather clothes.  I try to give her two choices about what to wear, but this does not make her happy.  Yesterday, I decided not to fight the battle and told her she coudl choose anything in her closet.  Here is a photo of what she chose:

Today, I hid the bathing suits and summer clothes.  We stayed in our pjs a little longer but finally settled on something to wear.  Miriam's skills in matching clothes leaves something to be desired...I have decided not to fight that battle for now.  So, if you see her out and about in a crazy outfit just know I realize that it doesn't go together.

Once she got out of the bathing suit yesterday, Miriam chose an orange shirt to wear.  She was so excited that she and Helen were matching.  We gave her the matching necklaces that Allison N. made for her and Helen.  This made Miriam very happy to look like her sister.

Today seems to be the day that Miriam has decided to push some boundaries.  Pray for Joey and me to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit and for wisdom to know what battles to fight and where to relax and give up some control.  We are standing amazed at the goodness of God!

Home

We are finally home with our sweet girl! Last night, we pulled in from the airport about 8 pm.  That makes 33 hours of traveling.  Miriam was a trooper!  Her ears bothered her a little bit on take-offs and landings but she (we) made it through.  We all went to bed soon after we got home, and everyone had a good night's sleep. 
Today we had fun letting Miriam get to know Caleb and Helen.  She warmed up to them quickly and soon was bossing them around.  Here are some of the things we did:
-Caleb and Miriam played outside this morning.  Miriram said it was "pio"  which is cold so she had to put on a hat and gloves.
-Miriam had what we think is her first bath in a bathtub...and the water was warm.  She loved it!
-We had bacon for breakfast...also a favorite
-Miriam loved looking at her clothes.  She had to take all of them out of the closet and look at each item before we hung it back up.
-We took Mazie for a walk.  Miriam wore her tennis shoes which are taking a little getting used to after only wearing flip flops.
-We read books, played with toys, put together puzzles, and watched a little Veggie Tales.
-Miriam found her dance outfit and wore it the rest of the day.
-Honey and GrandDoug came over for dinner.  We got take-out Chinese.  Miriam liked the rice.  I see a lot of rice in my future.

As you can see, it was a very busy day spent loving on Miriam.  Tonight, she did not want to go to bed.  When Joey and I put her to sleep, she had a good cry.  While she is having fun with us, she has also lost and left a lot.  My heart hurts for her.  Nothing here is familiar.  The smells, tastes, language, weather, and people are all different, and it is going to take some adjustments.  We are going to love her through the hard times.  Joey and I are glad that she finally broke down.  This little girl is one tough cookie and doesn't like for others to see her as weak or vulnerable.  As she cried we hugged her, rubbed her back, and sang to her.  Finally, she fell asleep.  I am praying for sweet dreams and another good day tomorrow.  Here are some photos of our day today:

Final countdown

We have had a good last couple of days here in Kinshasa.  We have finally started our final countdown to coming home with Miriam. It was confirmed tonight that we will be on the flight home tomorrow because we received our DGM exit letter this evening.  Yeah! - thank you for all your prayers.

Yesterday we took an excursion to Lola ya Bonobos, which is a sanctuary for orphaned Bonobos monkeys.  It was a lot of fun and it was good to get out of the hotel.  We had been feeling a little claustrophobic.  I could have stayed for hours more but I think Miriam would have been happier playing at the hotel with us.  We had a nice lunch of an omelette and french fries at a restaurant near a little lake on the edge of the Congo river.  We saw a baby crocodile in the river. I think I was the only one excited about that.

Miriam at Lola ya Bonobos

It rained most of the day today, but we did play bubbles, Hello Kitty, put together puzzles, read books, played ball, and played with her babies.  We also went to the City Market for a celebratory ice cream.  We think she has had ice cream before because she said that she liked it.  She thought it was so cold.  We got her a cup of soft serve vanilla and I got a cup of regular scoop chocolate ice cream.  She thinks it is great that she and Helen olingi (love) ice cream.

We have been trying to prepare Miriam a little for the upcoming plane ride tomorrow.  We let her wear some earphones so she could test those out.  We also have been playing airplane, where we pretend to strap her into a seat belt and take off and fly around the room.  Please pray for an enjoyable experience for Miriam (which will mean an enjoyable experience for us and all the surrounding passengers).  We are looking forward to a hot shower, sleeping in our own bed, seeing Caleb and Helen, and settling in with Miriam.

Oh My Goodness

Today was a good day.  After a discussion with Miriam, we did venture another trip to the orphanage today for Miriam to play and say goodbye to her friends.  This trip went much better than the return visit last week.   Miriam made a bead necklace for one of her friends and just played with the other kids with no tears this time.  We were able to hold some of the babies (it is hard to come back with just one) and we were able to help serve and clean up after lunch.

Kerry says that Miriam is teaching me more Lingala than I am teaching her English.  Miriam is quite the teacher (and student) and is very emphatic when she says something in Lingala she thinks I should understand.  She repeats many of the words in English while we read books together.  Tonight, she cracked us up with her first unplanned English phrase.   We must say, “Oh my goodness” a lot because tonight while Kerry and I were talking, she kept saying “Oh my goodness Mama” and “Oh my goodness Papa”.  Kerry took a really cute video of this, but after 90 minutes of trying to upload it to the blog (the video is only 30 seconds long) we had to give up.

We found out today that we should receive Miriam’s exit letter tomorrow.  This is the last document needed to bring her home.  Keep praying that all goes as planned.

Sunday Thoughts

Hey...this is Kerry.  Joey does more posting here than me because he is infinitely more patient than I am when it comes to waiting for the pictures to upload on this slow internet connection.  Which means that you will probably have to wait until tomorrow for pictures.  But I am having thoughts today, so here goes...
From facebook and email, I learned that today is Orphan Sunday.  What a privilege to be here in the Congo with Miriam today.  The past few days, I have been feeling a little overwhelmed (but in a good way) with the sacredness of these moments with Miriam.  It is such a privilege and responsibility to be in the middle of God knitting a family together.  The compound where we are staying has other adoptive families staying here also. I feel so close to the truth of scripture and the faithfulness of God...we are witnessing in our lives and in the lives of other families God defending the orphan(James 1:27) and placing the lonley in families (Psalm 68). Unfortunately, I sometimes want to just run from it because it is so intense...I occasionally long for mind numbing TV (which I don't have) or a People magazine (also not available).  I am actually glad I don't have those things because it forces me to stay in the moment and draw near to the glory of God.
Today we went to a Lingala Mass with Miriam.  The International Protestant Church was too long a walk, so we went to the Catholic church next to our hotel.  My favorite part was the altar boys who got their groove on. They were pretty great!  The priest talked for a long time and since we had no idea what he was saying, it seemed even longer. We finally left (which was probably terrible) because Miriam was making my watch beep over and over and over again. Hopefully, by next Sunday we will be home.
Today, Joey went to the orphanage to help take some of the things we brought for the children.  He was gone for about 4 hours, so Miriam and I had some more play time together. I didn't want to take her back after our last experience.  I have made up this song that I sing over and over to Miriam that says...Mama na lingi you...I don't think it is grammatically correct but hope it says Mama loves you. Today I changed the words and sang...Mama olingi Miriam...which means Mama loves Miriam.  Without prompting, Miriam sang back to me: Miriam olingi Mama, Miriam olingi Papa, Miriam olingi Caleb, Miriam olingi Helen. I LOVED it!  I caught it on video, so if the internet connection allows Joey will upload it.  SO SWEET!
Tonight we went out for pizza with some other families and our agency coordinator. Miriam got hurt while we were there...not a big hurt but enough to bring some tears.  I picked her up and walked her away from the table and loved on her until she was ok.  When we came back to the table, Joey tried to take her and she wouldn't let go of me.  She had her arms and legs wrapped tightly around my neck and waist.  We were both excited to see that since it is a sign of bonding. She did go to Joey later so don't feel too bad for him.
Another happy thing from today is that we were able to skype Caleb and Helen.  Miriam loved it and yelled at the computer screen like they were in the room with us.  She was trying to touch them through the screen and would laugh and laugh.  It is going to be so much fun to get her home so she can see them in person.
We are so grateful for all the love, support, and prayers from all of you at home.  We feel them here.  Both Joey and I are tired.  We are not sleeping very well at night and our carb intake is much higher than our protein intake. But even though we are physically tired, all of your kind words and prayers are lifting us up.  We are grateful to be here and are in awe of our great God!

Getting to know Miriam and the DRC



Internet service (and electricity) have been very cantankerous the past couple of days so we have not been able to upload photos.  We have been very busy getting to know Miriam and a little of the country where she was born.  Miriam's vivacious personality continues to bubble out and we are having a great time watching her figure this whole thing out about having a mama and papa.  Her laugh is contagious.  She is strong willed and has an opinion on almost everything.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) she often states her opinion very rapidly in Lingala.  Despite the language barrier, God has equipped us (like Acts 2) to figure it out most of the time.

We have taken a couple of walking excursions through Kinshasa.  You can tell that Kinshasa is one of the largest cities in the world (over 10 million people) because the streets are so crowded with people.  People walking, people shopping, people selling everything from watches, clothing, bananas, and phone cards, people sitting and talking, and people begging.  I am reminded of the Sesame Street song "One of these things is not like the other".  Let's just say that if someone were looking for us, they would not have a hard time picking us out of the crowd.  The sweetest little old lady (koko mwasi) was sitting on a corner and told Miriam how beautiful (kitoko) she is and praised God for us.

There are now several families from our agency here picking up their children and some of the children were good friends of Miriam at the orphanage.  It was a combination of sweet and sad watching Miriam be a mama to one of her younger little friends.  It was sweet seeing her take a bow from her own baby doll's (which she named Helen) hair and give it to her friend.  We are so thankful though that she can just be a little 4 year old girl and not have to be a mama any longer.  This little girl has had to grow up so much in 4 short years.

Mama and Miriam with matching toe nails

Miriam with her friends from ZAPE

One more step to go

I picked up Miriam’s visa paperwork today from the US Embassy and now the packet is on its way to DGM (Congolese Immigration) to get an exit letter – the final step needed to bring her home.  We are hearing a variety of different estimates of amount of time it takes to get the exit letter – from 3 days to a week.  It at least looks like we have a good shot of making our flight next Friday.

Miriam playing Hello Kitty

Random Thursday thoughts

Miriam with electronics – Miriam is already a whiz at electronics.  We brought our Ipad loaded with movies (that don’t work outside the US) and a few games for her.    She has only seen one for 4 days and she can maneuver the screens as well as I can.  She can open and close pages, scroll pictures, and can save pictures she likes and delete pictures she doesn’t like.  She has also figured out the camera.  She likes to take pictures of her and Momma and then look at the pictures on the view screen.  I love the one of their toes (with their matching painted toe nails).

 

Hello Kitty – This girl loves Hello Kitty.  When we arrived, our room already had Hello Kitty stickers on the door.  Miriam has now added to the collection.  She has put Hello Kitty stickers on paper, on herself, on us, on her sunglasses, and on the bed (until Momma stopped her).  She also has a Hello Kitty play set with Hello Kitty plastic figurines.  These she has named with people in our family and kids from the orphanage.  She loves setting them up and then taking a photo of them.  We do this at least once or twice per hour.  And when she is not doing that, she is kicking a ball.

 

Out to eat -  Miriam did not have a nap today and we ate lunch in the room so we went out to a restaurant for an early dinner.  We wish we had a picture of the restaurant but we are not allowed to take pictures in public in the DRC so we will do our best to describe it.  Let me start out by telling you the name – The Cosmopolitan Restaurant.  The Cosmo (Cosmopolitan) is located inside a shopping mall like you have never seen before.   The bottom level is as one dad here described like a bankrupt Sears…. a little bit of anything you could think of… in no particular order – some new, some used - it is a grocery store, toy store, electronics store, sports store, hardware store, jewelry store, and deli – all rolled into one.  The upstairs, which you can get to via an all glass elevator (that Miriam loves) has a pharmacy, beauty salon, money exchange, clothing store, and foosball and plastic playhouses placed randomly around the perimeter.  As you get this picture in mind, this is the view from the Cosmo.  We could watch shoppers below us peruse the aisles of bottled water.  A brilliant white baby grand piano with dead flowers on it provided extra ambiance.  The food was really good.  Kerry and I had a baguette with curry sauce and Miriam had a huge plate of chicken and rice.  Her plate had a fried egg underneath the rice and she dug through the rice with her fingers to pull out the egg.  I am sure over the next week we will find another time to experience the Cosmo.

Mama, Papa, and Miriam in her sleep hat.




Girl Time

This morning Joey had to go to the US consulate to work on Miriam's visa. The good news is that it was approved and we can pick it up tomorrow. Yay. then we work on the exit letter. Miriam and I had about 4 hours of girl time together. Remember when I said she was quiet? Well, no longer. She is a busy, talkative, independent girl. We had fun playing stickers, coloring, reading books, playing Hello Kitty, playing cars, putting together a puzzle, kicking a ball, jumping rope, eating a snack and more. She has worn me out so she and Joey have gone outside to kick the ball. Miriam knows what she wants. Today I had to hide the key and camera from her. She is catching on to things quickly and beginning to speak some English words. Hopefully, we will post again later and show some more photos.