Help!

Help! I'm buried under my two children and I can't get up! (And I thought my dogs were bad...) 

The kids are still sleeping through the night in their own beds. This is a picture of them watching Dora and snoozing in my bed after waking up. Don't worry, behavioral therapist (and saint) Brittain Coleman. We haven't reverted! 

Kindness on a Stick

I continue to be amazed by unexpected generosity. Today, the kids and I hadn't had much of an outing, so we headed over to my new house (have I told you I closed on a new East Memphis house right after we got back in country?!) with my dad while he did some work. The kids ran around like maniacs in the house (there are LOTS of awesome hiding places), rode their little push toys, and tackled me repeatedly. Then--and this is where the generosity comes in--we decided to cool off at a wonderful Mexican ice cream shop down the street. La Michoacana is famous for its homemade paletas (Mexican popsicles), so we ordered Kina a pineapple one (she LOVES pineapple) and Benjamin Godson a mini vanilla one (which melted all over him, me, and the floor). The guy at the counter was questioning me about their background, and I have to admit that even though we have only been back in the US for two weeks, all the questions are starting to wear me out. Anyway, I assumed the worst and kind of brushed him off...at the end of our visit, he really surprised me by filling up a brown sack with a variety of fruit paletas for the kids...for free. Man, did I read him wrong. He turned out to be such a sweet guy! This wasn't our first visit to LM, and now

I can tell you it was far from our last. You never know whose heart will be genuinely touched by adoption. Today, that was the case. Here are some pictures from our visit. 

YUM. I am soooooo about to fall off the diet wagon. The watermelon paletas in the fridge are calling my name. Hope everyone is well!

Anna 

Dog Lessons with Koko Vickie and Derby

One of our greatest concerns regarding bringing Benjamin Godson and Shekina home was our dogs. I have three and my parents have three, and four of those six are 50+ pounds. None of our six dogs are accustomed to children, and two of them are downright nervous around children. Congolese generally don't keep dogs as pets (in a country where many cannot afford to feed themselves, a pet is just another mouth to feed), so many Congolese children are fearful of them...Benjamin Godson and Shekina are no exception. I thought fearful dogs and fearful children were a recipe for disaster, and if you know anything about our dog rescuing habits, you know this would be particularly terrible for us. Thanks to my mother, however, who once again I will refer to as St. Koko Vickie (because she truly has been a saint with the kids), the kids and the dogs are learning to like each other. She has conducted dog lessons four or five times now in which all they do is basically pet and hand-feed the dogs. The kids are still somewhat fearful, but they are totally enthralled with dogs now, and their fear decreases with each lesson. Now, every single time we see a dog, Benjamin Godson squeals, "Derby!!!" (the name of my mom's beagle). Here are some videos of today's dog lessons: 

Part one:

http://youtu.be/79Zsh1yl3as

Part two:

http://youtu.be/2dhWafTIaGQ

Part three:

http://youtu.be/aS-7Z07puxc

After our dog lessons, we watched a phonics cartoon and ate popcorn while laying on a comforter on my parents' floor. Benjamin Godson absolutely LOVED laying on the down comforter. In his previous life, he spent a lot of time crawling around on concrete (his poor knees and legs are so rough as a result). Maybe he appreciates squishy, comfy things because of that. 

Can you believe how smiley and happy he is this days? After almost a year of receiving somber, sad pictures of him, we can hardly believe our eyes. 

Hope everyone is well. I'm off to watch more Phonics Land! 

Anna 

A Few Random Pictures from Kinshasa

My dad sent me these Kinshasa pictures and I thought I would share them. 

Both kids fell asleep on me while we waited several hours at the Turkish Embassy for our travel visas. 

Outside the doctor's office while Goddy was being tested and treated for malaria. 

At the orphanage, July 4, the first day we met each other 

Shekina LOVES to carry Benjamin Godson around, and it scares me to death. Here she is at our guesthouse, Sunny Days, with the book "Count to Sleep Maine". 

First Dill Pickle

The pictures speak for themselves. Papa Skip will be sad. After she rejected it, she gave it to Bing, who made a face but still ate it. 

New Pictures

Meeting cousin Coleman for the first time 

First ice cream cone (Baskin Robbins--she chose the only ice cream that had pink and purple)

Got these fantastic Elton John-ish glasses at Diagnostic Imaging when we went to get Shekina's bone-age scans done today. (They say she is 5, by the way.) 

Our Baby Bird

Have I ever told you about our baby bird?  When we first picked up Benjamin Godson, he wanted nothing to do with us. In fact, until we got back to Memphis and he started spending time solely with me, he always wanted Koko Vickie, Papa Skip, or Kina, and never me. I was his last resort. It felt great, having waited for a year and a half for him and having him totally reject me upon meeting us, let me tell you. 

In addition to having a hard time adjusting to his new family at first, Godson also refused to eat and drink for the most part. All the sensitive stomach formula we brought? No thanks. (It was later donated to the orphanage.) At first, he would touch nothing except for the medicine syringe, so we took advantage and started squirting him full of Pedialyte with that. Later, he added those baby food fruit pouches to his repertoire. (If you are an adoptive parent who is getting ready to travel, I highly recommend these  because they will lay down flat in your checked luggage--i.e. they pack well. I have been told that those fruit purées also count as a liquid, so while they're a little higher in sugar than I prefer, they're good stuff for travel! 

Anyway, here is my absolute favorite picture of our baby bird--nicknamed after the baby birds we used to hand feed. It turns out he was actually sick as a dog when we picked him up. Now that he is much healthier, he is a little piggy who will try almost anything. And me? Twenty-nine days have passed since we first held him in our arms, and he now PREFERS me. Hallelujah!