Yep, Prosper got her wheelchair today. :) When Nurse Betty at our medical clinic in Asikuma found out about Prosper’s need yesterday she took action and immediately hooked us up with one! Jake got the joy of delivering the chair this morning. He said that when they started pushing Prosper she began smiling and was telling everyone that she can now go to school! Now that is the Ghanaian spirit! Rejoicing today that the Lord allows us to be part of His amazing work in the lives of these people - they change our lives more than we change theirs.
I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. ~ Psalm 40:1-3, 5~
Jake took little George to our medical clinic right away this morning and got the medicine he needed. As it turned out, George did have very severe ringworm of his scalp.
Ringworm meds.
He received a lotion that needs to be put on his head twice per day, as well as an oral pill that he takes each day for two weeks. Tomorrow Jake is taking Nurse Betty from the clinic to George’s house so she knows where it is. Our Foundation will be paying the clinic to make daily checks on George and his siblings since they’ve really got it rough. The clinic staff will also assume responsibility for ensuring that George receives his doses of medicine each day once Jake leaves. In addition, Nurse Betty is going to take George to a main nutritional center in a neighboring town in order to receive some nutrition packs. She noted that George is very malnourished and underweight. The nutrition packs will enable him to get some of the calories that he is lacking. Jake might even be able to accompany them on that trip before the team leaves Asikuma. We are so thankful to have such great staff that are willing to go out of their way to help these precious ones.
For the past couple of trips Jake and I have had it on our hearts to help Yaa and Adjoa (cared for by their aunt and elderly grandmother) to get a new home. Here is where the 4 of them live currently…
About a year and a half has gone by since we met them (and since that picture was taken) and now the walls of the home are caving in…
A few trips ago, Jake had told Yaa and Adjoa’s aunt that our Foundation would like to help them get a new home. Since then, we’ve waited on the Lord to provide some direction. Today, the aunt told Jake that she had been scoping out some places to rent over the past few months and she found one. She said that she herself could afford the rent on the place because her business of selling bo-froot (a deep-fried doughnut-like ball) on the street-side was going so well! This was encouraging to hear because on one of the last trips we had given the aunt a monetary gift to put into her business! She put it to use! YAY!
Me and Auntie streetside with her bo-froot on our March 2012 trip
She did ask for our Foundation’s assistance on helping to get the place fixed because it is not finished or ready to move in. She took Jake to view the home today. For lack of better words, the home would be kind of like a ‘townhome’ here in the U.S. It has 3 units shared by different families…Yaa and Adjoa’s family will occupy the unit on the very left.
Among other things the place needs a new ceiling put in, walls plastered, windows put on, and some of the flooring needs pulled up in order to make it liveable for the long term. Sounds like a job for……SAMPSON! Sampson went along with Jake today and estimated that the construction job will cost a total of 350 Ghana cedis, which with the current exchange rates puts it equivalent to $135. Sampson, consider yourself hired! Some more pictures of the place, with an excited Sampson posing on his new job-site!
Outside entry
One of the rooms indoors
Front entry right when you walk in
It’s going to be so exciting to keep track of Sampson’s progress on the place! I can’t wait until they get to move in! Jake pre-paid Sampson for the work today, and he also felt led to cover the first twoyears of rent on the place with the landlord (360 Ghana cedis total for the rent). Jake did not want auntie to have to worry about paying the rent from month to month (rent is 15 cedis per month). Yaa and Adjoa, their aunt and grandmother literally feel like family to us, and it is such a joy that our Foundation is in a position to help them get on their feet and stay there.
PLEASE CONTINUE PRAYING that Jake and the team would be led to the children and families in most need. God continues to answer this prayer, and is literally bringing situations right to Jake’s feet. I got this text from Jake earlier today (Ghana is 6 hours ahead of Iowa time):
Been a crazy day. A Grandfather is bringing four kids to me to meet tonight at the hotel that have been orphaned.
In addition, when Jake met with one of the chiefs of Asikuma today, the chief gave him a letter from a mother in the community. She had written this letter specifically to Jake…written in the local language (and blurred here to maintain privacy)...
This mother and her husband have 6 young children. After her last pregnancy the mother developed severe breast cancer. The couple's religion does not believe in family planning, and she recently became pregnant again. She knows she will not be able to breastfeed the child in her womb (due in approx. 6 months) because of the breast cancer, which in reality may also end up taking her life. She had heard how our Foundation had helped Emmanuel’s family, and she was hoping we could help her care for her baby once he/she is born. She knows she will be extremely weak after the birth, and won’t be able to feed the baby. Jake is meeting with our in-country staff over this situation tomorrow. As a mother of my two little formula-fed babes myself, I think I have a solution to this one....
Thanks for praying that God would lead the team to those in most need. Jake was brought to this little girl early this morning in Asikuma. Her name is Prosper.
She has deformed legs and is mentally handicapped/delayed - due most likely to neglect from the stigma attached of having lame extremities. Her mother has been praying for someone to get her a wheelchair so that she does not have to sit in the dirt all day. Our Foundation will be able to purchase a wheel chair for her before Jake leaves, thanks to the donations that Kingdom Cares International receives from many of you! On these trips, when we walk outside of our hotel gate in Asikuma, we are immediately confronted with needs. People are hurting and suffering and in such need everywhere you turn – it is almost suffocating. We’ve learned that we can’t help them all, rather God has taught us to help the ones that He places in our path - to see the individual, like He does.
The Drake students started teaching in Asikuma today! They are spread out, helping at 4 different schools in the community which are a mix of governmental and private schools. One of these 4 is the school that our Foundation helped to upgrade by constructing the library and additional classroom starting back in August 2011 – Asikuma Presbyterian Primary School. The students are also teaching at Godwin International, which is the school that the children in our sponsorship program attend. Below are some pictures Jake took of the Drake students teaching at one of the private schools (not funded by the government) earlier today. To give you an idea, to attend this school it costs 12 cedis per term and there are three terms in the year. 1 Ghana cedi is equivalent to less than 1 U.S. dollar (depending on the fluctuating exchange rates of course).
Here the students are being taken through grammatical exercises…
and here they are learning their capital and lowercase letters in the dirt.
Desks in this particular school are sparse so the older kids/grades get the desks and the younger ones go without. School in Ghana is taught in English so there is not much of a language barrier – other than getting adjusted to accents. :)
Jake also took a trip to Godwin International school this morning to begin checking up on the children in our sponsorship program. You may remember Emmanuel from one of our last trips (read his story HERE) - our Foundation was able to purchase antibiotics for him to treat a massive infection that had taken him over due to a botched circumcision. Emmanuel was one of the children God used to start up our sponsorship program. Since identifying him on that August trip he is now being sponsored to go to school. Jake got to see him at school today…
When I talked to Jake on the phone today he said Emmanuel is doing really well. The school master noted that he is attentive and engaged at school, and Jake was encouraged because Emmanuel could communicate to him a bit in English! He could not speak English before, but has learned this in school. Jake said in person Emmanuel looks very healthy and looks also to be eating well. Emmanuel’s siblings (who are also sponsored) were not in school today and Jake later found out why. ‘D’ who checks up on the family (and was the one who led Jake to help them in the first place) came and found Jake at the hotel tonight. She said that the family ran out of water today. They only had one bucket of water for bathing, so they chose to bathe the oldest, Emmanuel, and keep the rest home from school. Apparently the water bore hole they use is a very long walk. Each person in the community is only allowed 1 bucket of water per trip - (you can make 10 trips and get 10 buckets) and the mother was not able to gather enough buckets before school today. It is culturally unacceptable for a parent to send their child off for the day without a bath. I've always thought it funny that they take a bath and then head right back out into the dirt, however in Ghana bathing twice a day (sometimes 3 times per day) helps protect against disease.
George was another one that God used to start our sponsorship program. You can read his story HERE. George and his sisters were put into our sponsorship program last summer and are also now attending school thanks to their sponsors. As mentioned in his story, George’s father travels for days at a time to farm, so he and his younger sister are often cared for by their oldest sister (Ruth – pictured below in the middle). Neighbors also assist, but George and his siblings definitely go through waves where they are looking quite ‘rough’, as they are currently….these are the times when their father is away. Their sad little faces just tug at my Mommy heart.
Ruth wasn't in her school uniform today because it was dirty (as part of the culture she will receive punishment for this at school). I imagine she did her best to get her siblings together and ready first, and put herself last.
George has some sort of infection on his head right now. I believe this is ring worm of the scalp.
Jake is planning on taking him to the medical clinic tomorrow to get it checked out and to get him medicine.
I also got this sweet picture of ‘our girls’ Yaa and Adjoa at school today. :)
Jake and I started adopting these two orphaned girls in September of 2011. Months later an aunt stepped up to care for them, so adoption turned out to not be the answer for their situation. From there God led us to adopt Jennifer and Jasara, so we now consider Yaa and Adjoa our ‘adoption messengers’. Yaa and Adjoa are in our sponsorship program, and every trip we are so eager to check in on them. Each of our teams seems to fall in love with these girls, and we are thankful that their aunt is taking good care of them.
Lastly, you might remember poor, little Graham. I last blogged about him HERE. Since then, it was a struggle to get an exact answer on what Graham needed. We thought it had been communicated to us that Graham needed medication for his heart to get stronger in order to have surgery. However, as it turns out, the doctors aren’t exactly sure what is going on with his heart – other than they know there is a hole in it. They are now saying that Graham needs an analysis that lasts for 6 months in which he constantly goes into the doctor, dye is put in his blood, and then they chart how it is flowing. Then they decide about surgery from the results. Call me crazy, but to me this doesn’t seem like the best use of time, however, there are also no other present options. Graham’s family had gotten through 2 months of this 6 month analysis when Graham’s father lost work again, and they had no money to go to the doctor. Our Foundation is pledging to provide for this 6 month treatment analysis, but we are hopeful that God will intervene and show us if there is something else that can be done in a more timely matter. I cannot imagine how Graham’s mother feels as she continues to wake up and hold her suffering boy in her arms day after day. Would you all be willing to pray a prayer of faith along with me? That God will miraculously heal the hole in Graham’s heart without the need for surgery? I’ll be praying to this end.
Mark 16:15-18 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Graham pictured with Jake and Wisdom - one of our new in-country staff members - earlier today.
Two days ago on Friday, Jake and a team of 20 University of Drake education majors, as well as the chair of the Drake education department, set off for their 10-day trip to Ghana. The team arrived safely and with all bags accounted for yesterday evening. Today, Sunday, they have traveled by bus to Asikuma where they are getting settled in and preparing for the coming week’s activities.
The theme of this trip is to give these students a crash course in how education is done in Ghana. They will also have the unique opportunity of getting to teach in the various rural schools in Ghana. They will receive course credit for this newly implemented J-term (January term – read about it HERE) and each student is required to create an I-movie of their experience as part of the coursework.
The team will spend part of their trip in our beloved community of Asikuma, and then they will move onto Cape Coast for the remainder of the trip.
These items are among the itinerary:
-Assess sponsorship program in Asikuma
-School visits will involve the student teachers speaking to the children on the importance of education, cleanliness, and discipline.
-In Cape Coast the student teachers will be involved in a literacy program in the Amanful community. An open air library will be established for the day so that the children in the community can interact with the teachers.
-The student teachers will lead the children in creative drawing, reading, and a spelling bee.
-The student teachers will get involved in teaching malaria awareness and health care education.
-There will be a door to door affair where the student teachers will distribute and hang insecticide treated bed nets to young mothers in the community.
-During the visit to Cape Coast Jake will be leading a basketball camp hosted by Hoops Care International (http://hoopscare.org/), and they will have a mini-tournament that evening.
Please be praying that God would move amongst the team in supernatural ways. Pray that many of the student-teachers would feel God’s appeal and invitation into faith. Pray for Jake as the leader of this group – that God would give him strength, direction, guidance and wisdom. He really has a lot of pressure on him this trip! Lastly, pray that God would lead the team to the children and families who are in the most need and can be helped by our ministry.
Asikuma school kids greeting Jake on our March 2011 trip
Typical classroom setting in rural villages in Ghana
The biggest milestone that Jasara has reached since I last updated is that she is now potty trained (whoop whoop)!!!!! This is partly because she is a smart cookie and partly because the foster mothers had introduced her to the potty in Ghana. From what I am told, at many foster homes and orphanages it is typical for the children to sit on the potty before their baths which happen twice a day, sometimes 3 times per day. I am pretty sure they make them sit there until they ‘go’. So, from the start of when the girls came home in October, every time us girls took a trip to the bathroom Jasara would point at the potty, motion that she wanted a turn, and start trying to take her diaper off. She would get very mad if I didn’t let her! She is so keen on getting to try everything that her big sisters do that she gets really offended if I don’t allow it. Much to my surprise, the first time I put her on the potty she started pushing right away like she’d done it a hundred times and she went #2 (sorry if that’s too much information but I don’t know how else to say it!). From then on, I let her sit on the potty about 2 times a day and each time she went. I wasn’t ready to get serious about fully potty training her until after Jennifer went to school because there were too many other things that we were focusing on in getting them adjusted. For the past two months she had been staying dry in between diaper changes, and telling me every time she needed to go #2 so she could do so on the potty. Her bladder and bowel control was definitely working! On Monday of this week I put her in underwear and just made sure to set her on the potty about every hour. She did great, stayed dry in between potty trips, and went each time I set her on the pot. A few times she even told me that she had to go by saying her version of ‘potty’ which sounds like ‘peeee’ and then heading off to the bathroom. WOW! I was so impressed! It is now day 5 of her being out of diapers and in underwear and she’s only had one accident all week and it was a mild one. That was the easiest potty training adventure I’ve ever had! Whoo hoo!
Jasara’s birth certificate has her turning 3 years old at the end of April. From the beginning, Jake and I have felt that she is much younger than that. In Ghana villages, mothers typically give birth in their huts…they don’t go to the hospital because there is no hospital to go to. They do keep track of the day of week that their child is born (because it plays into what they name them in Ghana tradition) but they do not have a way to know the actual date, and honestly, village children don’t ever need their exact birthdate for anything anyways. If you ask any child in Ghana how old they are, they might tell you 8 years one day only to tell you 10 years a few days later. It is just a guess. For adoption a birth certificate must be printed, so usually a social worker guesses how old a child is and then picks a corresponding birthdate (this gets pretty difficult to get accurate because so many children on the adoption track are malnourished and appear younger/smaller than they really are – that was Justice’s case). Jasara is displaying toddler behaviors and developmental achievements that seem to put her anywhere between 18-24 months. She had her first dentist appointment a few weeks ago and her 2 year molars were not even poking through yet. You can’t always go by dental records in adoption, but so many things are confirming to us that Jasara is closer to turning 2 than 3. With adoption you are able to change your child’s age when you re-adopt them in your state (that is also when you can change their name). You just have to submit supporting evidence from a doctor or dentist and a teacher if applicable who can give additional testimony to the age change. We are actually going through the process with Justice right now. We already ‘verbally’ changed his age when we tell people how old he is (this past August we celebrated his 10th birthday although by his birth certificate it would have been his 8th). But we need to get it legally changed on his birth certificate so that for example when he can start driving, his birth certificate will reflect that he is of age. We re-adopted Justice in our state before we knew that we’d be changing his age. So we basically are having to go back and make an amendment on the adoption decree. Anyways, for Jasara, when we go through the re-adoption process we are planning to change her age to turning 2 in April instead of 3.
I have never in my life met anyone like Jasara. I know I’ve written about it on here before, but she imitates everything and everyone so intricately that it is striking! She can watch you do something once, and then go through the exact movement or sequence of what you did without you helping her. I cannot imagine what God is going to have her be someday because this trait of being able to observe and then imitate can be used for so much! I’m already thinking DANCE for her, because she’ll be able to catch onto the moves in no time! Jake is thinking POINT GUARD because she’ll be able to learn skills so quickly with her innate body awareness. I wish I had more videos displaying her observations and imitations, but they happen so fast and in the moment that going to grab my camera would cause her to stop in the middle of what she’s doing. I did manage to grab a quick clip on my phone of her cleaning her baby (my phone can’t upload very long videos so this one gets cut off towards the end).You can kind of get a feel for what I am talking about….watch for the little detailed movements….like her sound effects of putting water on the ‘sponge’ (Kleenex) – she came up with the idea to make the sounds on her own - and then watch towards the end when she squeezes the imaginary water out of the ‘sponge’. I know these things aren’t jaw-dropping by any means, but when you are around her all day and see her constantly able to imitate and remember your every move it becomes quite noteworthy!
Jasara’s imitating skills have really come in handy in the language department! She can repeat anything that we say, and like Jayla was at her age, she has become my little echo! I’ll say something like, “Jayla, lunch is ready!!!” and pretty soon about 2 seconds behind me Jasara is hollering her repeated version of what I said. It’s so cute. Jasara is really picking up on communicating in English and is now saying these words on her own: thank you, all done, baby, eat, help, open, go, stop, no-no, water, sleep, uh-oh, take, ow (ouch), yummy, come. Some of the words don’t sound perfectly clear but are spoken like a true toddler! Jasara can say all of our names, and she especially LOVES to holler at JJ because his name is so easy to pronounce! She is constantly yelling for him or trying to get his attention when he is home. About two weeks or so ago I started noticing that Jasara was referring to Jennifer as “ba-ba”. She can say the rest of our names really well, but I could not figure out why she never said Jennifer’s name or even called her Jenny which is what we often call her. After I noticed Jennifer answer to “ba-ba” I asked, “Is that what she calls you? Why does she call you that?” To which Jennifer said, “My name too in Ghana was Amma.” Ohhhhhh! Well that makes sense! Ghanaians often have around 3 different names that they go by, for sure at least two. They are named for the day of the week that they are born on, and are also given an English name - sometimes this is a biblical name, and even more have another traditional Ghanaian name, and some are named according to the order in which they were born in their family. Amma is the Ghanaian name for girls born on a Saturday. :) I am sure Jasara had been calling Jennifer this all along, but I didn’t catch on until recently! Just for fun, here is a list of these ‘soul names’ that Ghanaian children get according to the day they were born:
Characteristics of each day
• Monday's child is the father or mother in the family; nurturing in nature, dependable and organized, and protective of his/her family.
• Tuesday's child is the problem solver and planner of the family. They are structured in nature, neutral in all matters and never take sides.
• Wednesday's child is fully in control of every situation, does not want to be told what to do, knows it all, is spontaneous, vibrant and cordial.
• Thursday's child is quiet in nature and incredibly observant. They are generally listeners, not talkers, and analyzes situations very well.
• Friday's child is a leader, not a follower. He/she is very temperamental but has a big heart. Generally the instigator of everything.
• Saturday's child likes to take control of family situations. He/she runs the show and make the rules, but will go out of his/her way for others any time.
• Sunday's child is the passive, sensitive and warm member of the family. He/she tends to be shy and likes to keep to his/her self, but is very aware of his/her surroundings and usually is the secret keeper of the family.
Let’s see, one other thing that I wanted to make sure and document is that we believe Jasara may be a secret Italian! You have got to watch this girl down a plate of spaghetti! She is loving anything with a tomato base….any form of pasta with a marinara sauce, lasagna, pizza, and chili are her absolute favorites! She will now choose these over chicken any day!
I also wanted to share these cute pictures….the other night I took the kids to the gym to run around during practices and it didn’t take long for Jasara to head out into mid-court to be right in the mix with Dad.
He had to set her down once or twice while he demonstrated drills and she just stood there watching practice almost like she was taking notes!
And here are my sweet girls, all snuggled up together (they did that themselves!) and enjoying their nightly treat of ice cream!
Our girls are changing SO FAST and hitting so many milestones that I have got to squeeze in some time to write an update!
The biggest change around here is that Jennifer started Kindergarten last week!!!! Here she is getting ready to head out to catch the bus on her first day of school (yes, it is dark out when they get on the bus)!
I know many of you adoptive families want to pick my brain about how we knew she was ‘ready’ and what we based our decision on so I’ll give you a rundown. First off, the biggest thing was that Jennifer has not struggled with attachment since coming home. Thankfully, since I get to stay at home full-time with my kids, I've had two and a half months at home with the girls, connecting with them, playing with them, disciplining them, and being there to meet their needs 24/7. Jennifer has really thrived under our routine and expectations, and transitioned and adjusted into our family even slicker than Justice did when he came home. She has shown no signs of emotional disengagement or rejection to us, thanks be to God. On the flip side, she also looks to us for comfort, direction, affection, guidance, help, and to meet her needs.
Another big factor that played into our decision to get Jennifer going in school is her age. We feel that her estimated age of turning 6 next month in February is right on. After the first few weeks of Jennifer being home, both Jake and I knew that it would be most beneficial if she and Jayla were NOT in the same grade at school. With them being girls and so close in age, we’ve realized that we have to be very mindful of helping them create their own identities and not be too concerned and comparative with one another. Jayla will turn 5 this May and will start Kindergarten this fall. So, since we knew that we did not want them in the same grade, and since their ages paved the way for this, it was an additional factor that played into our decision.
Other supportive factors were that Jennifer caught onto English extremely fast. By Christmas she could understand and follow our every command and instruction. She was formulating choppy sentences and could communicate her needs, questions, thoughts, and feelings verbally in English. We felt comfortable in knowing that we weren’t just ‘throwing her out there’ but that the ground work had been laid for her to function in a classroom setting...she would be able to figure out the teacher’s verbal directives for starters. Also, Jennifer is age-appropriately obedient. This has come by discipline because she was not obedient to us, respectful of our commands, or submissive to our authority during our time in Ghana or upon her homecoming. Over the past 2 ½ months, we’ve had many opportunities for correcting her, disciplining her, and leading her into obedience and respect for us as her parents. She has responded positively, so we knew that she wouldn’t be a distraction or unruly subject to the teacher in authority. My main point to share this as a factor in her starting school is that Jake and I wanted to be the ones to teach Jennifer obedience. We didn’t want to throw her into the classroom being wild and uncontrollable and put this parental duty on the teacher. Although discipline is unpleasant for all involved, we’ve found that God often gives us parents those times as an opportunity to connect emotionally with our kids when their hearts are laid open. Discipline has become a gateway for growth in our relationships with our kids….and with our adoptive kids, it is an opportunity for connection which is needed in the attachment process.
Lastly, since Jennifer has come home, she has had a strong desire to learn as Justice also did. She was constantly practicing her writing on pieces of paper, and breezing through Kindergarten level work books at home with my help. Part of the foster care fees we paid while the girls were in Ghana were school fees. School is taught in English in Ghana, so Jennifer had learned how to write her ABCs and how to count among other things.
On Jennifer’s first day of school her teacher emailed me in the morning to let me know all was well….
Jennifer is off to a great start. She is so cheerful and respectful :)
That’s our girl! I was at such peace the rest of the day in just reading those two sentences! And since her first day, everything has been going great! One of Jennifer’s favorite parts of school is the songs that they sing for their different activities….there is a hello song in the morning, a song to learn the days of the week, a song for lining up...pretty much a song for everything. Of course she would love the singing because this is also a big part of school in Ghana…..and not just Kindergarten level kids. Even secondary school students in Ghana march around singing their school songs….it’s part of the culture. I am sure that the song-singing really gives Jennifer warm reminders of Ghana!
Jennifer is also very social and inviting for friendships. She is proactive in finding people to play with. Even Justice commented after her second day of school, “How does Jennifer get along with people and adjust to them so fast?” This came after he had observed her with her new friends on the bus. I just smiled and told him that it is the way God has wired her. Her teacher nailed it on the head when she described Jennifer as cheerful. She really is such a cheerful little thing….and she’s genuine….the perfect ingredients for a great friend!
We find that Jennifer talks about Ghana….A LOT! If you followed my blog after Justice’s homecoming you will remember that there was a point where he did not want to talk about Ghana at all. Every time I turn around Jennifer is telling Jayla something about Ghana! Part of it is because Jayla will always ask her, “Did you do that in Ghana?” or “Did you have that in Ghana?” or “Do you miss your friends in Ghana?” There is something so innocent and sweet about Jayla interviewing her sister about her former life! There are also many things that spur Jennifer’s memory of Ghana….like when we got our first sack of clementines. As she peeled one herself and took a bite I asked her if she liked the taste and she said, “Yes, I like! We had these in Ghana!” The other day she had her first glass of grape juice and it spurred her to tell Jayla this story:
When I was in Ghana one night I got very, very sick. I was throwing up and throwing up. They gave me some medicine. I couldn’t sleep and I was crying for my Mommy.
I only caught the tail end of the conversation, so I am not sure what spurred it, but perhaps the taste of the grape juice? I wanted to ask who ‘they’ was and I wanted to ask where she was at the time…perhaps the foster home….but I just let the two of them talk in their little people way. For now I love just listening. I know a time will come when I can ask more questions.
Speaking of Jayla and Jennifer, they have literally become FRIENDS right before our eyes! One evening (before Jennifer had started school) it hit me that Jayla and Jennifer had played together all day long in a very sisterly sort of way. Their big thing right now is to pretend that one of them is ‘the baby’, one of them is ‘the mommy’ and then Jasara always gets the role of being ‘the daddy’. :) They go along with this imaginary game for hours at a time. They also play board games together, dance in their room to music, color and draw together, take turns ‘reading’ books to each other, play house with their baby dolls and stuffed animals, and play school. Before Jennifer started school they were choosing to do every activity together. It is an awesome feeling to see God answering my prayer of giving them a friendship. Yes they still fight and get mad at each other and give each other attitude. But instead of that filling the majority of the day (like it did in the beginning) they now play and talk and giggle the majority with little spats in between. And just this last week, they started chatting with each other after I put them to bed and turn off the lights in their room. Jake and I can hear them gabbing and giggling through the closed door. I even had to go in one night and tell them to be quiet because Jennifer needed to get to sleep for school the next day! Now if that doesn’t say SISTERS than I don’t know what does!
Lastly, I wanted to share two things that happened recently with Jennifer that have warmed my Mommy heart. First, whenever we go to sit down somewhere (at the table to eat, at basketball games, etc) Jennifer has been saying, “Mommy, can you sit by me?” Oh, I just love that! I SO want my kids to want to be around me and near me. As Mark Batterson says in his book ‘Praying Circles Around Your Children’: I want to be famous in my home. This is the deepest desire of my heart and the greatest challenge of my life. Oh how my own heart echos that yearning! Jennifer asking me to sit by her is such a little thing, but yet so encouraging to me at the same time!
Second, the other night I was putting the girls to bed like I always do. I always give Jennifer a hug and say “I love you” before she climbs up the ladder to her bunk bed. On this particular night I said it, and for the first time ever she said back to me, “I love you too, Mommy.” This is a MAJOR milestone when it comes to adoption! Not only is she receiving my love, but she wants to communicate that she loves me back. As with all my kids, I won’t ever forget the feeling of hearing her speak those words to me for the first time. After that I laid on the bottom bunk next to Jasara as we all belted out our nighttime worship song playing on my Ipod. I looked up and saw Jennifer raising her hands to God as she sang. I looked over and saw Jayla sitting up in her bed, eyes closed, hands raised in the air and singing with her usual, childlike passion. And next to me was little Jasara, about a beat behind, but echoing the last word of each lyric that we sang… “ooh-yah....ooh-yah” (hallelujah). My mind floated back to when I laid in their room before they came home, staring at the looming bunk beds that had invaded the space, feeling anxious and pretty much broken over the sacrifices that we were going to be making to add these girls to our family. But now. Now I could not have pictured a more beautiful scene. God is coming through for us. He’s coming through in His time, after He’s taught us the things we need to learn through the rough parts. It’s these little scenes that speak to my heart so personally and so timely. “What one person may see as ordinary, another may see as His miracle.” ~Craig Johnson~ To me, these are little miracles sprinkled throughout our days that give me such a high. I’m addicted to watching God transform lives. Theirs and mine.
