Well it happened

Today at lunch after church we had our first grieving episode. Micki started talking about Ethiopia and his family. He spoke alot about his Mom and Dad and ended by hiding his face and crying most of the meal. I couldn't tell you how much my heart went out to him. It hurt to see him in so much pain. There was nothing I could say that would make it okay. He is grieving for his life he knew and family back in Ethiopia. It's one thing to be brought into a family when you have no one but to a child who was loved by his family and brought to an orphanage to be adopted it doesn't make sense to them. He told me his Mommy loved him and he cried when she left him there. My heart wanted to jump from my chest, not because he spoke of his love and family but the hurt he was feeling I couldn't make go away.
He understands so much and we forget he is 7. I could not image the pain and suffering he has felt in his short little life.

He didn't stay upset for to long but it brought so much to light about what we are going to encounter in the future and I pray God gives me the words to ease his broken heart.

Almost 3 months!!!

Wow time has flown. I thought the summer would last longer. The kids are ready for school to start and to be honest so am I. Jim has worked so much overtime and I have tried to work while the kids were home and I have to say it's been a challenge, but worth the time I get to spend with them during the day.

I took Micki yesterday to have him evaluated for his English at the New Albany School Corp building. That was interesting. She asked him lots of questions and for the most part he understood and spoke back to her. He has a way to go and is not considered fluent in English at all but he will adjust like he has to our family life to school. He is so excited about going and asks when. try telling a child who doesn't understand the concept of time that school is two weeks away. He just looks at me and says tomorrow? I nod and say yeah something like that:)

It has been a full summer with Swimming, Video games, Playing outside(when it's not to hot) and just hanging out. Life with Three kiddos is not easy but not near as hard as I thought either. They seem to know when Mom has had enough and give me a good day so I don't loose my mind most of the time.

Micki has adjusted wonderfully and is growing finally. a whole pound. with if you saw him eat would just a pound. Him and KK weigh the same amount only he is a little taller. Come to think of it I think Lawson weighs the same too. We have our moments here and they are getting less and less. The kids seem to be getting along better and play nicer with each other. Can't wait to look back in 6 months to see all of the differences then.

6 Weeks home Already???

Seems like yesterday we stepped off that plane as a family of 5. But in some ways it feels like Micki has always been with us. He fits in so well with everyone. I keep holding my breath waiting for the other shoe to fall. This can't really be this easy of a transition can it???

We have learned so much about where he came from and what he knows. We paid for a documentary of his life and they actually went to his home and interviewed his remaining family. It was hard to see it all but also wonderful. Like looking a little deeper into what makes him, him. One day when he is old enough to understand we will let him watch it but for now it's only for Dad and Mom to know their son better.

This child shocks and amazes us everyday. We just found out he knows his ABCs by sight and his numbers, most of his colors, and most animals all in English. For those of you who don't understand he spoke a different language than Amharic when he came to Acicia Village in Nov 2010. So this poor child had to learn Amharic from Nov till May and now he is learning English. That's just impressive 2 new languages in 7 months!!!!

We are thinking he is ready for kindergarten if he can communicate with his teachers okay by late July. We did the first test run of leaving him with Lawson in his Sunday school class today and he did really well they said so that's the first 2 hours he's been without Mom or Dad in 2 months.

Now some things we are working on that aren't so peachy.

#1. the need to hit when Lawson or Caitlyn do something he doesn't like. Granted they almost deserve it most of the time but timeouts are always given with reinforcements of we do not hit, or kick come tell Mommy or Daddy if they are bothering you.

#2. This fake crying thing he has done since I picked him up. He has this cry that you can not tell if he's hurt or playing. 99.9% of the time when we come running he is just standing/laying/ sitting making a crying sound then he just turns and laughs. Not so funny anymore. Jim and I are now telling him not to do that cause we can never tell if something is really wrong or not. Can somebody say the boy who cried wolf?? So that's gotta stop no to mention it's like listening to a baby cry non stop it's one of those under the skin sort of sounds.

#3. English, that's what we speak here and now it's time to start to learn it. I have been tip toeing around this issue for a few weeks saying well I want him to feel comfortable, and I don't want him to loose all of his language. But when I look at him and tell him to say it in English and tell him the word he refuses sometimes and I know these are all words he already knows. I have even held up a drink and said say it in English and you can have it and he will just smile at me like I am speaking tongues even though he knows what I want him to do.

I just want him to be able to communicate with everyone else not just me.

#4. Asking for everything in the store. I made the mistake of taking all three kids with me by myself shopping. We went to 3 stores. 1st on went okay, second got a little trickier, third I wanted to run screaming from the store. between Micki, Lawson and Caitlyn I was being asked for something every 5 seconds. And with Micki he didn't care what he picked up it was always But please Mommy. And when I said no he huffed and puffed and just went to the thing beside it asking the same question. We went down the movie isle and he proceeded to pick up no lie 10-15 movies at random and each time it was but please mommy. My answer no come on. He was picking up rated r pg 13, things I wouldn't even watch and he wasn't even looking at the covers just picking and asking just to do it. so that was a bad night for me. I felt like I had ticked off all three of the kids and said no 100 times.

So those are my top 4 things we are going to work on. Nothing major just normal kid/ adoption stuff. I just hope he is really as happy as he seems all of the time. I feel he has bounded with us and is opening up more all of the time.