Sweet Day

Our first full day at home as a family of 11...

I awoke to the sound of giggling boys playing legos on their bedroom floor.  Ezra was still in his bed smiling and laughing with them...he was ready to get out as soon as I rounded the corner.  And then he was off, exploring the apartment...every room...every corner...looking at books...

A few great moments with both boys today:

1) After a particularly rambunctious trip to the market to get fresh fruits and veggies for the day (we went through 24 bananas TODAY), I was working in the kitchen around noon making a pot of beef vegetable soup.  The girls and Bud often help me with various parts of the meal preparations, but today, seeing his sister Potato working on peeling carrots, Nehemiah quickly offered to help us, too.  He was so diligent and proud of his contribution.  He is truly a softy under the "raised by wolves" exterior!

Then tonight, we had a wedding in our home.  I know it's not the kind we should be talking about, but, Bud married Brownie in a wedding with FOUR groomsmen (his brothers) and THREE bridesmaids (her sisters!)  Nehemiah played his part perfectly!  Then, when the reception started, and the three ukulele players started rocking out to the Newsboys "One Shot" song...the bride danced like like a rockstar and then Nehemiah started showing us his moves!  He was break dancing ALL over the place!!!  We were hysterical!  He was LOVING the audience as we cheered him on, then he stood and bowed over and over again...he charmed my socks off!

2)  I wanted to write about something that happened on the first night when we got Ezra, before I forget to.  Brownie, whose picture with Ezra I had featured on the blog before because the deep significance of her commitment to him was the catalyst that began our journey to bring him home, was laminated and taken with us on the first night to see him.  The photo has been a great treasure for her and she had LONGED for the day when she would see him again.  She told us that she promised him that she would come back for him when she left him last June...and our arriving two days ago to bring him home was the fulfillment of her promise.  When she sat down under him to greet him on the couch at the hotel, he didn't recognize her.  And she was so sad.  Of course, given the time, his age, and the length of her time with him, I didn't really expect him to.  But SHE did.  As we went out walking on the street, she wept silently, heart broken that he wouldn't know the significance of the events that day in her life.  But, we had that laminated photo of the two of them together.  While we were waiting for photos to develop for our paperwork, I pulled out the photo and she showed it to him.  He was immediately really excited by the photo, looked carefully at it and said, "Jie Jie!" (Big sister!)  Then he looked past the photo, finally, amazingly, recognizing that Brownie was the Jie Jie in the picture that has been in his crib at the orphanage for sometime.  He smiled broadly at her and said, "Jie Jie lai le!"  (Big Sister has come!)  I broke down and held Brownie as both of us cried such happy, happy tears.  It was a precious gift for a sister who had carried him in her heart everyday since she left him.

Ezra cannot believe the luck he has to have come to live in a home with 3 CATS!  He is hysterical with joy every time he catches site of one of them!  They are all very patient, "kid" cats, and they have come around him several times already to be petted.  The first time he whacked one cat on the head because I would guess he's never actually seen a living animal/pet or touched one before.  But now I can hear him, over and over again, if he's in another room of the apartment SQUEALING with joy at what is inevitably another cat sighting!  At dinner time, I was trying to get the dinner out and was reaching for the milk in the refrigerator, when from up above me, atop the refrigerator, a loud MEOW, was heard.  Ezra about blew a gasket with laughter, as the unexpected sound from above caused me to jump!  He kept on and on and on...so much joy in such a little person.  Then he started mimicking the MEOW of the cat, as did I, and we both cracked ourselves up. It was so sweet.

We had some great play time outside as a group too...some photos of everyone will be included of that time outside.

Daddy spent the whole day out trying to shop for a few modification items we need for Ezra in our home.  He  was busy using all his creative juices to design, so he can build in the coming days the items on the list.

Thanks for praying.  We have only two days more before we must return to school.  We need to begin to gel together as a family, quickly.  But, as in all things, we are trusting that His timing is perfect in these matters.

Above:  The crew, out in front of our apartment, with trees in bloom.

Below:  Magpie and The Bug in skateboard racing.

Below:  A happy moment for Ezra before going down the slide on The Bug's lap.

Below:  One of our glorious miracles...The Bruiser...how he has changed.  How he delights us every single day.

Below:  Nehemiah proud to show Momma that he can ride a two-wheel bike...like Evil Knievel. 

Above:  Brownie showing off her gymnastic qualities.

Below:  A Bug in the Sun.

Below:  Potato workin' it out on skates. (That weigh considerably more than she does!)

Above:  Nehemiah jumps in to work with Bub to fix a chain problem on one of the bikes.  It melted my heart. In three days, working together like a team...

Below:  The Singer shows his award-winning smile on the swings!

Below:  Nehemiah loves to play with Brownie, and pose for photos, too.

Below:  Givin' his new brother a "trail"...as we used to call it back in Hoosier-town.

Below:  Nature shot.  ;)

Below:  Magpie, hangin' out.

 Below:  The Singer and The Bruiser cooperate to bring a vehicle home safely.

A happy heart tonight as I post...feeling so, so, blessed and inexpressibly grateful.