MLK Day

Take the first step in faith, you don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step...MLK

“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.”   MLK

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”   MLK

Photo Catch Up

Here are just a few of the adventures that Miriam (and our family) have been up to:

Miriam sees something in a book or a picture and then she wants to try it.  Since I am not a very adventurous person, I love this quality in her. She saw a picture of someone climbing a tree, so that is what she wanted to do.  She really wants to climb a tree and pick some fruit.  I told her we had to wait a while for that.

Miriam continues to try and eat new foods, but this mama knows that sometimes you just want the food you are used to eating.  We have several children's books about the DRC and all of them include a recipe for Moambe...so we cooked some up for our sweet girl.  My proud moment was when it was place on the table, she looked at it and declared, "Moambe!"  I loved that at least it looked the way it should.  Miriam ate it all up...even the onions which she usually picks out.  I have been telling her over and over that our family loves onions and we eat them up.  This night, she said, "Look Mama, Miriam eat her onions." Yay Miriam!

Miriam has had a love affair with her bathing suits from the very beginning, but has only worn them in the bathtub.  Again, she has seen pictures of people swimming and has really wanted to try it, so we did.  Joey and I took her to our local indoor pool and she LOVED it.  What an adventurous spirit she has!  Miriam blew bubbles, jumped in, floated on her back, and put her head under the water.  In fact, she feels so comfortable around the water that she made me a little nervous.  It is time to get this girl some swimming lessons.

Helen and Caleb say that Joey and I are now "grandparent parents" meaning that we allow Miriam to do things that we NEVER would have let them do.  I say that we have mellowed...maybe we are just tired.  Anyway, here is an example of our relaxed parenting...Yes, you can have a bowl of ice cream at 8:40 in the MORNING!

                                              Just another example of Miriam's fashion sense!

                                                              Brother/Sister Love!

A sweet friend gave us a felt board and lots of fun pieces to go with it.  Miriam has had a great time with it and we have had lots of good vocabulary building discussions about it.  This is what my house looks like most of the time now...stuff everywhere...babies...puzzles...toys.  Mostly, I love it and am ok with it, but then I have a :"moment" and everything has to be put away.  Miriam is GREAT at cleaning up and putting everything back in its place.

               Sparkly, dangling earrings are a fantastic benefit of having a teenage sister who shares with you!

Miriam loves to eat outside.  I don't know if this comes from her days in the DRC or just part of her DNA but if it is nice enough that is where she wants to eat.  This day she had a lunch date with Papa on the front porch.  Mama served them lunch and then had some quiet moments inside by herself...AAAAHHHH!

Miriam had her hair done!  Our kind friend, Sophia, came over one evening and offered to do Miriam's hair. I can do day to day care and a little bit of hair styling, but Sophia is an EXPERT!  Miriam went to Sophia's house and after 3 hours of styling and braiding, she came out with long and lovely locks.  She loves it!

I love this photo because they both have the same fake smile and "we have to endure having our photo taken  and we want to get on with the day" look.

Sunshine

                                             Here is a little sunshine to brighten up this rainy week!

Strength to the Weary

During my quiet time this morning, I was reading Isaiah 40.  The whole chapter is full of reminders of who God is…His great and mighty powers…He is creator of everything…The care He has for His people. At the end of the chapter, Isaiah reminds the people:

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

What a promise!  And God is faithful!  He does give strength to the weary…I know because these days, I am weary.  Did you read my first sentence…during my quiet time…that means that Miriam was asleep and I was awake…that, my friends, is an answer to prayer.  Miriam’s sleep has been a struggle for us.  She has had a hard time sleeping through the night and then needs me to sleep with her once she wakes up.  My sweet Bible Study friends have been praying for sleep and God is answering that prayer.  Praise God!

My heart is strengthened daily as I catch glimpses of His faithfulness.  Miriam is a daily reminder to our family that God does what He says He is going to do, and His promises are true.   One way that I am blessed the most is in worship on Sunday mornings.  Our family is a sit-up-front worship family.  We like to be close to where the action is and engaged in the moment.  Since Miriam has come, we have sat in the back…to give her space…to be able to take her out to go potty…to keep her from being a distraction to others.  Last week, without any prompting, she told us she wanted to sit at the front of the church. WHAT?  Did God in His goodness and loving kindness give us a sit-up-front girl? Yes, He did!  So there we are at the front of the church.  Thank you Lord.  BUT it gets better.  We are a loud singing, worship loving family, but Miriam doesn't know the songs…she can’t read the words…and her English vocabulary is still growing.  Does that stop her? No, our sweet new member of our family presses her little brown cheek next to mine and sings and sings.  It doesn't matter to her that she doesn't know the words or the tune.  She is praising God with her family…that is all that matters!  She dances…she sings…she loves with all she has.  What a physical testimony to God’s glory!  We are blessed to be on the front lines witnessing every minute of it!  Thank you, Lord, for your sweet and tender moments of grace!

My Love

Dear Kinky-Curly Knot Today,
I LOVE YOU!  You are my new best friend.  Don't get your feelings hurt...although our love affair has just begun, I think I am going to have to back off just a little due to the white tint in Miriam's hair.  For some strange reason, she does not like her hair being white...I don't know why.  We will still share a part of every day, just in smaller doses.  Thank you for being who you are.  Again, I love you!

The Jump

One of the best things about our adoption of Miriam (besides all the kisses, hugs, and I love yous) is being on the front lines watching God at work. Daily, we see answers to prayers. Her precious heart being willing to trust and attach to us is an answer to prayer. Her flexibility and adaptability is an answer to prayer. Her sense of humor and the way she fits into our family so perfectly is an answer to prayer. The strength to get up in the middle of the night again and again is an answer to prayer. The fruits of the Spirit that fill us up when a meltdown occurs is an answer to prayer. The love she already shows for Jesus and things of the Lord are an answer to prayer.

Yesterday, Miriam and Joey went outside for some play time. In our yard, we have a platform built around a tree for a zip line. Miriam was climbing around on the platform, and Joey asked her to jump off to him. He was standing close, and so she did. BUT then he backed up and asked her to do it again. She was scared. It looked too far and too high. Joey told Miriam that she could do it, and he would catch her. Miriam said no, he should move closer. Joey told her again that she could do it. Miriam stopped, folded her hands, and said, “Dear God, thank you for jump.” Now, she doesn’t have the English yet to pray for God to be with her…to help her do what looks impossible…to make sure she doesn’t fall…So she just thanked Him and trusted. AND THEN she jumped! What a lesson this little one is teaching us!

Bravo Miriam...2 Months

December 29^th we celebrated Miriam being part of our family for 2 months.  This month has been somewhat of a blur to me what with lack of sleep, lots of adjustment on everybody’s part, Christmas excitement, and kids being home from school.  Miriam continues to amaze me with her willingness to trust us and make her way into our family. We are so grateful God called us to be her family.  It is an awesome privilege and responsibility. Here are a few things that I want to remember about our 2^nd month together;

A trip to the dentist- Miriam’s teeth were in bad shape. Coming from an orphanage with no running water, I can not imagine that the children brushed their teeth very often.  From looking at the condition of her teeth, we thought that she probably had a few cavities.  We also wanted the dentist to look at her teeth and help us determine how old she might be.  Miriam was a real trooper at the dentist.  The hygienist worked on her teeth for about an hour scraping and chipping away.  It gave me the heebie jeepbies but Miriam did not complain a bit.  The good news is that her teeth look so much better and…HOORAY…no cavities!  The dentist also estimated her age as a little over 5 ½ years old.

Doctor Visits- We have had more doctor visits…a sinus infection and then more shots.  All Miriam’s blood test came back great.  She has some immunity to diseases so that means not as many shots for her.

Language Learning-Miriam continues to amaze us with the speed at which she is learning English.  We can now carry on conversations with her.  She speaks mostly in English now and sometimes combines it with Lingala.  Some of our favorite phrases from Miriam:

I love you…I love you so much…This phrase is flowing more freely now from Miriam and it is music to our ears every time we hear it…She seems to get what she is saying

Bravo…when we do something that Miriam thinks is great we get a Bravo…It does a lot for the ego to hear Bravo Mama when you put a meal on the table, make a bed, or complete small tasks

See you in a little bit…Miriam loves this phrase and says it whenever she goes somewhere

House=mouse…This one we have not figured out yet but Miriam calls a house a mouse…she wants to go to other people’s mouse…or come home to her mouse…Who knows?

Shapes, colors, letters…Miriam is picking up quickly on these as well…she especially loves pointing out the letters from our names…M is the favorite because it starts Miriam and Mama and Mazie

The quirk of the month- We are not sure exactly when this started but it is full blown quirk mode right now…Mama and Papa are not allowed to kiss.  Miriam really doesn’t even want us to sit next to each other or be alone in the same room because we might kiss when she is not looking.  If we do happen to kiss, her little heart breaks and she cries and cries.  We are working through this by talking to her and assuring her of our love for her and by playing kissing games where we get to kiss each other.  Miriam is a BIG fan of both of us kissing her and keeps track of how many she gets from each one of us.

Trips out of the house…we have been branching out some this month and Miriam has handled it well.  We go to the store together now.  She calls it the market and she looks forward to going.  In our Christmas celebrations, we have been to friends’ houses, Honey and GrandDoug’s house, and made an overnight visit to South Carolina.  She has done well in all our visits, but her favorite place to be is still her house (mouse).

Food-This seems to be the area where Miriam is the most resistant to change.  She does not want to try new foods.  We continue to encourage her to eat one bite of new things and know that with time we will broaden her diet.   Her favorite foods continue to be: rice, chicken, tuna, French fries, and peanut butter granola bars.  We can get her to eat beans, oranges, bananas, greens, most kinds of meat, and sweet potatoes. She eats enough variety that we can go out at meal times now…what a relief!

Play- Miriam continues to love books, but only at certain times of the day…when she wakes up, in the car, and at bedtime.  Each night at bedtime, she begins the bargaining process for the number of books we will read to her.  She starts out really high and we usually end up at about 4.  She loves to play with her dolls and Barbies.  A friend gave Miriam a fantastic play kitchen complete with accessories, so Miriam cooks us many a meal.  Unfortunately, she has begun to charge us for the meals that she prepares.  Puzzles continue to be a favorite of Miriam.  She likes to put all of them together and then take pictures of them.  Cameras and cell phones are a big draw for her…which is why there aren’t a lot of photos to go with this blog…Miriam deleted all the photos on Helen’s camera…UGH!  For Christmas, Miriam got a Hello Kitty bicycle.  Joey is having fun teaching her the basics of bike riding.

Clothes- Hallelujah I think we have turned the corner on the clothes issues!  She is still opinionated about what she likes, but we do not have the battles we once had.  I think she understands that it is cold outside and has gotten used to wearing long sleeves and pants.  YAY!

Random Things- Miriam loves to sing and learns songs quickly.  One of my favorite Christmas memories is her singing Joy to the World at the top of her lungs.  One of my favorite times with Miriam is listening to her pray.  Her prayers always start out with…Dear God…Thank you for today…and then she proceeds to thank God for all of the important things that happened to her that day.  It is a sweet time listening to her be grateful for the day.  It also gives us a glimpse into those things that mean a lot to her.  Miriam still wakes up really early, but sleeps through the night more.  I am still tired, but got 8 hours of sleep last night so today is a good day…8 hours of sleep is a great way to start the new year!  Miriam is really funny and has a quick wit about her.  She keeps us laughing!  Unfortunately, poop jokes are still her favorite.

Today, Joey, Miriam, and I were sitting on the front porch watching the rain and talking.  I told Miriam that we were sad and missed her when she wasn’t living at our house, and we were so happy that she was here with us now.  She said, “Miriam, so happy, Mama and Papa came to me, pick me up.”  What a blessing!  We are excited to see the ways God is going to continue to knit our family together in 2013.