Five

Five months home with our little man. Crazy how fast time goes by and yet at times it feels like a lifetime. As our social worker says, "all things considered" this kiddo is doing amazing! He is such a happy, joyful, go-with-the-flow kid and almost always has a smile on his face.

This past week he joined the entire family for a week of VBS. He did amazing and far exceeded our expectations for how he would handle the crazy week and how well he would do with his group. It helped having big sis as his leader and mom and dad around every corner but he did a great job participating and even made it the entire morning with his group one of the days.

To see him with his siblings you'd think they'd been together their whole lives. There is no shortage of love, hugs, snuggling and of course fighting. I knew we were a true family when the arguing began. Last week, in the midst of snuggling, Jo turned to me and said I'm so glad you went to Africa to get my little brother, I love him so much. Have I mentioned adoption rocks?

This past week Z has expressed some hard stuff about Ethiopia and we have experienced some deep grief. It is heartbreaking and leaves me feeling so helpless. His heart is missing his first home and his first mama. I did the only thing that made sense and cried with him and prayed over him. There is something in your mama gut that knows the difference between a tired, frustration cry and a cry that comes from deep within that is filled with mourning. As difficult as it is we aren't going to shy away from talking about Ethiopia or listening to music or looking at pictures. We pray this helps him work through the grief and keeps him connected to his heritage. It's hard to even comprehend how a three year old can articulate the loss as he does. He amazes me every single day.

Oh what a ham this sweetie his!

This kiddo, he inspires me everyday. His strength and courage are far beyond what they should be at just three years old. He is teaching me and I am being stretched in motherhood like never before. But I wouldn't trade one moment of it. Okay, maybe just a little less whining.... but it's all worth it when I see this cutie pie smile and do a little dance.