Happy Easter!!

What a special Easter this has been...our first as a family of 8.  We had a pretty wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus together.  I can't help but think of the picture the adoption of Daniel and Lydia is of our adoption into the family of God.  I especially look at Daniel when he first arrived.  He so wanted to accept our love but tested us at every turn to see if it was real.  He still tests us but we are pretty confident he is secure with his place in our family.  We are not going anywhere!!  Don't we do the same thing to God.  It is so hard for us to understand how much He loves us and that our inheritance is secure as His child.  We test Him and question His love.  What freedom it is when we finally let go of our insecurity and trust Him as our father!

Now that we can tell attachment is going well, we have started to implement some sleep training.  We set up beds for both of them instead of mattresses on the floor and we are not laying with Daniel anymore.  He doesn't like it very much but we let him know how much we love him and he falls asleep within 20 minutes.  Lydia is out within minutes of hitting the bed.  She is always exhausted and ready to be put down.  It will be freeing to get this routine figured out so we can actually have someone else put them to bed and we can actually go out on a date!!

I know I've talked about my struggle with Daniel before.  We are connecting so much better now.  He still pushes my buttons but God has given me the ability to find joy in him.  Instead of focusing on what bugs me, I am looking for what makes me smile.  He likes things in order and will leave no door left open.  He tries to repeat just about everything we say now.  It's so cool to see the world open up before him.  Lydia still loves to sing.  Her song choice now is "This Old Man".  We are learning phrases now too.  I will say "How are you?" and they will say "How are you? Good, thank you!"  I will say, "What's your name?" and both will answer "name, Daniel"  I have to teach Lydia to say her name.  They associate their colors with Barney characters.  For instance, purple is Barney purple and yellow is BJ yellow and green is Baby Bop green.  We just need a character for red and blue! 

What a blessing this Easter has been!

YEAH!

Well, I have a few minutes to myself because my wonderful mother-in-law watches the kids every Thurs. morning.  They are so excited when we pull in the drive way.  They both shout "Kiki, Papa...Yeah!!"  What a huge blessing!!  We are getting into a pretty good routine now.  They are both hillarious with their English speaking.  It is really amazing how much they know.  They are trying to learn their colors and point to everything randomly saying a color.  I'm hoping it clicks soon!!  They are both like parrots, trying to repeat everything we say and every time we climb the stair, which is a lot, they count to 10 and say "yeah!"  Pretty much everything they are excited about is followed by a 'YEAH"  They are doing room time by themselves now for an hour, which is a slice of Heaven.  Not that they don't complain and get into some kind of mischief every time, but they know they are safe and are getting better every day.  One time I came up the stairs to find they had emptied the two shelves of their closet  and thrown all the clothes over the gate into the hallway.  I wondered why they were so quiet.  Oh well!! I honestly didn't care at all!  Another time they found the babywipes and had taken out every one and were cleaning their room and each other with them.  Again....Oh Well!  What price can you put on an hour of alone time?!  After room time, we fold the laundry. They hand every piece to me and tell me whose it is and carry the shirts to the appropriate room, then it's time to go shovel and walk outside.  I got to thinking they probably think it is always cold and white (including the people) and stark in their new environment, since it was pretty much always hot and lush green in the Congo!  We are out for a half hour no matter how cold it is and they are fine with it.  The cold doesn't seem to bother them at all!!  We then come in and go downstairs to watch Barney, where they stand in front of the TV pointing at Barney and all the kids and trying to sing and dance.  I enjoy a cup of coffee and check my e-mail...I never thought I would say this but, God bless you, Barney!! Soon after Barney is over, the kids come home!!  The big kids are amazing!  Jay had to travel and be gone over night for the first time and I was dreading it!  The kids stepped up and helped play with the littles and helped me with bathtime and were wonderful companions!  What a blessing!

A few funny stories...One morning Lydia was done with breakfast and climbed up on the bench at the table.  She saw the syrup bottle, which happened to be Aunt Jemima and pointed at the picture and said, "Lydia!" Too funny!  Aunt Jemima does look a lot more hip than she used to, so that's a good thing!

Something else, we got Belle's haircut for the first time since they've been home and when they saw her they literally freaked out!!  Daniel ran to his room and would not come downstairs for dinner.  He even slept restlessly.  So interesting. We have to wonder what his experience has been with dogs or animals. 

We have a bedtime routine now that includes reading a Bible story and praying.  It is so precious to watch them pray.  They hold each others' hands and ours and say "Amen" when we are done.  It really is so precious.

On a personal note,  as many of you know, this has been a challenging time for me.  Not just because of the adoption but we have some other things going on in our life as well.  It has been somewhat of the perfect storm.  I have struggled with sleep and it has been very difficult.  I have been clinging to God for strength and peace.  I have been begging Him to remove the problem...to allow me good sleep and give us clear direction, but instead He has given me the strength to make it through each day...some better than others.  I have never felt more fully dependent on Him for each moment.  Yesterday I was reading the book of Daniel from the Bible and read the story about Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego who refused to worship a golden idol even though they knew they would be killed for it.  Their reply to the King was that they would choose to trust in God and whatever happened, they knew He would deliver them.  They still ended up being thrown into the fiery furnace, but it did not consume them and when the king looked into the furnace, Jesus was walking around in there with them.  He didn't remove the circumstance, but was walking in the fire with them, preserving their lives and He ended up receiving glory.  The king demanded that everyone worship the God of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego.  May the same be said of me!!

Thank you all for your continued prayer and support!!

We are still alive!!

Hello All!!  I know it's been awhile since I've written but life has kept me a little occupied.  To be honest, I don't feel very articulate in my writing and usually by the time I sit down to write I am a little brain dead from exhaustion.  We are truly settling into a routine.  Daniel and Lydia are like sponges and it is amazing how much they have learned already.  They are learning their colors and are counting to ten when we build with blocks.  We are constantly labeling things as we go through the day and they try to repeat just about everything we say.  They absolutely adore the big kids and talk about them all day long.  They say each name, then say bye bye I wuv u, see ya.  When they get home from school they run to the door screaming and lift their arms for a hug.  They love playing with the bigs and Sally has been known to have quite the Taylor Swift dance party in her room!!   Jay's mom gave them each a shovel and they love to go outside every day and shovel.  Daniel shovels the snow onto the driveway instead of off, but they can do this for a half hour.  We'll have to come up with something else now that the snow is melting!!  They absolutely love Barney, of all things.  It is the only show they will watch, and as irritating as it is, it is a life saver for me at about 2:30 when we are waiting for everyone to get home.  Daniel has completely regressed on potty training, which is common for kids that have experienced any big change in their life.  I am trying to just be ok with this but we do talk about going potty on the potty pot quite a bit and when he goes we give a good cheer.  Tonight we were giving them a bath and Jay went potty on the potty pot and they both cheered, "yeah Daddy" when he was done.  Too funny!! 

Please continue to pray for us.  While I am writing about the good things that are happening, it is a challenging time for us.  Please pray too for the many orphans in the Congo and around the world in desperate need of a family.  Some of our dear friends are on their way home from the Congo as we speak bringing home their beautiful newly adopted son.  They have shared some of what they have experienced visiting orphanages and touring the city and we can only imagine the fate of our dear Daniel and Lydia if they weren't in our family.  While it doesn't make it easier, it does give us perspective.  When I listen to them laugh or sing or eat every drop of food from their bowl, I do pause and think of what promise they hold.  May God use their precious lives to bring Him glory.

 Lydia found Jase's hat!! 

 Snow Day!!

 The crazy aunts paid us a visit!!

 Aunt Lynne came too!!  What a blessing!!

 Sistas!

Thank you all for your continued support!!  We could not make it through this without your many visits, cards, texts, e-mails, meals, prayer and the list goes on!!