"And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them." (Mark 10:16)

Monday, January 30, 2012

A beautiful start to 2012


“Manman, ou bel!”  I lit up every time one of my sweet boys said this to me.  In Creole, this means, “Momma, you are beautiful!”  I was spoiled by their sweetness and totally immersed in their smiles and laughter for 5 straight days – what a gift.  The only bad part was that Todd couldn’t be with us.  In fact, the second thing Wilnes said to me after I arrived was “Where is my Daddy?”  (the first was, “Hello, Momma”).  So, yes, Wilnes now speaks a lot of English!  I am just so proud of him.  I am excited to send updates on the boys and my last visit...

Wilnes – what a sweet and grown up young man!  He never ceases to melt my heart.  He is so tender and kind to his little brothers and the other children at the orphanage.  He serves as the translator for all of us, which I think he enjoys – like he’s the conduit for everyone.  I had so many special moments with him watching him be this gentle yet brave boy.   I can still hear him shouting out in excitement when he wanted me to come see something – “MOM!” Not mommy or momma, but MOM!  Such a teenager, and I love it.  Because he can now speak English, I was very intentional about explaining the “wait” and the “process” to him – assuring him we very much want to bring him home with us but that we have to wait for certain things to happen – and he would nod with understanding as I explained, yet still have tears filling up in his eyes – to which I would validate and say, “yes, mom gets sad too, and that’s okay. But we can have hope, and that’s what I hang onto.”  I wrote in all their journals before I left  - Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope.  Be patient in tribulation.  Be constant in prayer.” 

Woody – He has really opened up!  My usually shy and quiet kid – he was super talkative – even sharing some of the English he had learned like, “Thank you so much – I love you!”  And apparently he likes to sing and dance too – what a sweet voice!  He loves to sing “Yes, Lord.”  He told me he wants to be an aviator when he grows up.  He was super excited when I told him his PaPa (my Daddy) is a pilot!  He had airplanes on his favorite pair of pajama pants he wore every night.   On the day I was leaving he said in Creole (Wilnes translated), “Momma, I don’t want to go to school today. I want to stay with you.”  Ah – broke my heart!

Wendy – As creative and playful as ever, I was woken up each morning around 5:30am to his whispered request, “Momma, music?”  To which I would reply, “Momma dome (sleep).”   He wants music playing 24/7, and he’s quite particular about it – if I chose something with not quite enough groove, he would hold his hand up, close his eyes, and shake his head “no.”  And if I chose a song that was just right, his eyes would light up and those hips would start shaking.   Never-ending entertainment I tell ya.  One time he was going on and on about something in Creole, and Ms. Claudette (Dr. B’s wife) said, “oh, do you know what he say?  He say ‘momma, if you let me go swimming, God will bless you!’”  yep, he’s going to be THAT son. 

As far as the “process” – yes, we know, the question everyone wants answered is “When do they come home?”  We want that question answered more than anyone.  Unfortunately we do not have any further news, but we do know a very important age requirement law (lowering the age of adoptive parents) is close to being passed that will hopefully move us along.   We will most certainly send an update as things progress.   We just keep hoping and believing and welcome your prayers for our sweet family.  Todd will go for a visit in April (dates not determined yet), so there will be more fun memories and pics to share then!