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!!

The New Normal!

So we are settling into a new normal as a family now.  I was even able to get on the treadmill while Daniel and Lydia play at their kitchen.  They bring me things to "eat" but are good about not touching the treadmill.  We do the laundry together, then I take a shower while they play in my room.  All this before 8:30!  It feels like we've put a full day in already!  They love to follow me around while I do household chores and can usually find something harmless to do around me.  I think that's what their life was probably like before.  We had our first "group" experience on Sunday when we celebrated Sally, our cousin George, and Papa (Jay's Dad)'s birthdays at DeAnn and Joe's house.  I have to admit I didn't know how the littles would react, especially Daniel, but they did great!! They interacted with everyone and they weren't overwhelmed.  They checked in with us, but had a great time with everyone else too!

We had some urine and stool testing done on the kids and it looks like they have giardia so we will be getting the meds tomorrow to start on that and Daniel also has blood in his urine so they are doing further blood testing on him.  They think he has a parasite on his liver so we have to do some more blood work and probably see a specialist from Children's Hospital.  Poor little guy!  Hope we can get this figured out and get him healthy!  Please pray for him.  He freaks out every time we go into the clinic now because he has had either a shot or bloodwork every time.

We are starting to figure out their little personalities now.  Daniel is a little more cautious and really tries to figure out how things work.  He is also a little obsessive compulsive about things.  Every closet or cabinet door needs to be shut and he likes to know where his shoes are located at all times.  Lydia doesn't wait for life to come to her, she goes after it!  She is not cautious but jumps right into anything she does.  We will find her singing or doing patty cake spontaneously wherever she is.  She's a go-getter and a lot of fun but very stubborn!  She likes to stuff random things down her onesie.  One night we found 4 block puzzle pieces when we got her undressed and tonight she was putting the tennis balls down her shirt while we were playing.  We snapped a picture of it!  What a riot! 

 Lydia put Sally's headband on and stuffed some tennis balls down her shirt!

 Sisters!!  Happy Birthday, Sally!

 Charlie gives Daniel a ride at the party!

 Lydia in her stained onesie with crumbs in her hair and tennis balls down her shirt!

Daniel is not happy with me.  He can really get that lower lip out pretty far!

Snow!!

I don't have much to write but thought I would share some pictures of Daniel and Lydia's first snowstorm experience.  We had a bit of a rougher day today so after Jay got home we decided to take them out in the snow to get some fresh air and break things up a bit.  After helping Daniel get used to wearing boots, we made it outside.  They were a little bewildered by the snow, but once they saw us enjoying it and making snowballs, etc. they had fun.  Daniel is so funny about his stuff.  Whatever he was given to wear he claims as his and won't give it up.  We were given a jacket for him and that was all we had so he wore it but it is way too small.  I found a jacket on clearance at Kohls in his size and tried to put it on him but he refuses to give up the other one.  We visited Kiki and Papa the second week we were home and she put a pair of gloves on him that were way too big and he doesn't understand the idea of putting his fingers in the finger holes.  Again, I tried to put mittens on him that are his size but he refuses so we just go with it!  Too funny!  I know he'll look back at these pictures some day and we'll get a good laugh!! (I hope) Here are the pics!  Happy snow day!

Room Time

So I am in the middle of our room time where the kids read books and hang out.  The idea is that I don't want them to nap but I want them to have some down time and eventually they will be in their room and I will be out!  I take some time to work on my computer while they are around and it is starting to work out pretty good.  We have been in the room for about 1/2 hour now and I think they really want to nap.  This goes against everything within me to not put them down, but bedtime is so nice at 7:00.  We had probably the best day yet yesterday.  We had a play date in the morning and had a lot of fun together in the afternoon.  They didn't melt down too badly and Daniel was more happy than angry!  He is making great strides, trying to talk more and seeking attention in positive ways.  As I thought about this I realized this change in him came about the same time I committed to God that I would choose joy instead of focusing on the negative.  Hmmm...coincidence?  I think not.  I realized I was probably unintentionally projecting a feeling of insecurity or irritation with Daniel and he was picking up on that.  Now that I am relaxing and focusing on the good, laughing and truly playing with both of the kids, they are responding in kind.  Or maybe I"m just recognizing what I could not see.  Anyway, I think we have turned a corner.  I am  not waking up with a pit in my stomach or dreading the day.  I know I am where God wants me to be! It's still not easy but it's not as daunting. I found a pair of boots on clearance for Daniel so hopefully we'll have some fun playing in the snow tomorrow!  Here's a picture I just took.  They just said "night, night" and laid down with their blankies!! No worries, they did not fall asleep.  We had a good 10 minutes of videoing them doing patty cake and acting silly then watching it.   Blessings dear friends!  Choose joy!

Joy!

So I am continually amazed at the people who are following this blog because it seems kind of self focused to be writing about our life to so much.  I am so grateful for all the support we are receiving from so many people.  The meals people have been providing have been such an incredible blessing.  I really can't thank people enough!!  I am also amazed at how specific prayer has been answered.  When I have asked you all to pray, you have prayed and God has shown up in a big way!!  From getting the kids down when Jay was gone to the social worker affirming their attachment and even for Lydia to sleep!  I am trying to think of some of the milestones lately.  We visited the International Adoption Clinic on Friday and got a good report from the psychologist and nurse practitioner that specializes in international adoption. We do have to have some blood work done and stool samples, but so far it looks like we have healthy kids!  We have been trying to figure out what the best schedule is for our family.  I have been able to get the littles down for a nap during the day but that made bedtime a challenge.  We found ourselves spending so much time getting them down that we were missing the whole evening with our bigs.  So we are foregoing the naps and having some time in the room in the afternoon.  They are sooooo tired in the afternoon.  Lydia fell asleep eating her snack at 3 yesterday and today she was sitting in the back of Daniel's truck while he was motoring around and I saw her nod off.  Yikes!!  Daniel pretty much melts down about everything after 4:00, but when 7:00 comes around, they are begging to go to sleep and we get a good chunk of time with our other kids.  It makes for a long day, but the evenings are worth it.  It was hard having my mom leave on Saturday.  She was such good company!  I have some things scheduled with friends to give me things to look forward to. It's been fun lately to see the excitement Daniel and Lydia have when the older kids come home.  They are so excited to give them a hug. They know their family and love to look at all the pictures around the house and say each of their names.  

I was able to get to church on Sunday and needed to hear the sermon.  I have found myself wallowing in how difficult this is, and forgetting to focus on the character of God and what He has promised me.  He is faithful and I know that He provides just what I need and will continue to do that throughout these little people's lives.  It's easy to have joy when life is not challenging, but so much more difficult to have joy when life is challenging.  God doesn't call us to comfort and that's not the life Jesus lived but He does tell us we can have joy in the midst of difficult circumstances.  I am making a conscious effort to focus on inviting the joy of Jesus into every minute of my day with the little ones and today was a good day.  Not because they were especially good, but because my perspective was different. Pray that I will be reminded to do this every day.  In Jay's words pray that I will be able to "suck it up!"  If you want to hear this inspiring sermon by Troy Loether go to Kettlebrook .org and download it!  It's challenging, but worth it!! 

Every time I sit down to write this I am exhausted so I know it is scattered. I have a few pictures my mom took that are really good so I'll share those with you.  Good night dear friends!

Good Days

 This truck has been passed down from sister to sister for all the little ones in our family. 

 Daniel and Lydia love it as you can see!!

Hello All!  Things are starting to get a little more settled around here.  We are getting into a routine and the kids are really connecting well.  We had our first visit from the social worker on Monday and she thought the kids were doing fantastic. She was very pleased with how attachment was going and allayed a lot of my fears and insecurities. Both kids are really making great strides in their English words and understanding which is huge. Attachment is such a huge deal with adoption.  It has huge ramifications for future development and relationships so we have to take it pretty seriously.  I have to admit it was consuming me and I was feeling completely insecure about my parenting instincts so the visit from the social worker put me at ease and I feel like I can relax and enjoy them a little more.  Just a note about that.  If you should happen to stop by or see us at church in the future, please don't pick them up or try to hold them.  We really need to meet their needs right now and it can be confusing and overwhelming to have strangers trying to hold them.  They have no idea how much everyone has anticipated their arrival!  We love the encouragement and support you all have been to us and believe me, in a few months we will welcome the extra attention!! My mom is here for the week and it has been such a boost for me.  We are being careful about me meeting all the needs of the kids and them coming to me or Jay with their needs, but it's been so nice to have her support and insight.  Today I was able to have a play date with a friend and her two little ones.  She also has bigs and littles so she was a huge encouragement to me.  One huge accomplishment today was that I got them both down for a nap at the same time for two hours!! I'm not holding my breath that it will happen again anytime soon, but it was such a breath of fresh air!  A few funny things around here.  One night when Jay was putting the kids down Lydia yells out Dunde and Daniel responds, "Eh".  Then we heard them doing that once in a while throughout the day.  So now we all will give a little shout out of Dunde and wherever the littles are they will yell Eh!  It's a riot!  Another funny quote of the day...Jay was holding Daniel and had just let Belle (our dog) out and was watching her poop outside when I said I needed to ask him something.  He says back to me, " I've got a lot going on right now, so if you could wait a little while that would be great."  I turned around to see him watching Belle poop and said, "Really?"  We both burst out laughing!  We're trying to figure out meal time because we usually get the little ones food together, pray, then get our food.  By the time we sit down to eat, Daniel has already finished most of his food and is about ready to get down.  I think we need to give him his food last!  He is an eating machine!! We are all getting used to having little hands around too.  Poor Jase left his glasses on the end table and Lydia got ahold of them and broke them.  Huge bummer!  Hopefully we won't have too many more casualties before we figure this out.   That's life at the Mundingers!