Bitter and sweet moments

Whoa- Mommyhood takes over your life!!   I’m so thankful for all of the prayers, emails, and comments to encourage me as we have officially been a little family for a month now! It seems like it has been so much longer than that though!!! I’ve been learning and experiencing so many things so I will try to relive the past month briefly!  

Here is our first family photo!! For those of you who don’t know the whole story here is a brief review: I was asked to take on the role of “house mom” (foster mom), on top of my duties at the school and group home. My heart’s desire was to adopt Catie, after she stole my heart two years ago. I now feel that I’m supposed to adopt them both, so pray me through that paperwork! Catie is 6 years old and as smart, sassy, and sweet as they come! She has spina bifida, so she uses a wheelchair to get around, but she AMAZES me with her strength and the things she can do! She is SOOO helpful around the house, helping with the baby, helping with laundry and the dishes, and even sweeping after dinner! Sometimes she will insist that she helps me, even when I tell her she can go play instead! She has such a servant’s heart already! My heart explodes if I sit and process that MY little girl, the one I’ve longed to be with for so long, is living with me. She is MINE! Thank you Lord for answering prayers! She calls me “Tannie Megan” still, but I think after time, she will call me “Mommy”. Her English is improving so much- after listening to Disney stories and watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman with Mommy every night! She is still speaking and learning in Afrikaans, so she will be a bilingual little lady- which will be a HUGE benefit for her! She tries to help teach me Afrikaans, but sometimes she simply doesn’t’ know the word! She LOVES to snuggle and give me hugs and kisses!!! I really hammered the manners with her when she first moved in, so now I have to be careful to use MY manners, otherwise my little police officer will correct me! We have had some trying moments, things that are just a part of the adjustment period from moving from the group home to a family home. She is learning the rules and my expectations for her. I’m striving to make her as independent as I can, even though that can be hard at times.

My beautiful princess LOVES to do puzzles!

Mignon (Me-yon), aka Nonny, is my sweet little 10 month old baby!  She is adjusting well to living with us, as she learns that she doesn’t always get what she wants right away, no matter how loud she screams. This was her tactic where she was living before. Obviously, she is just a baby, so it comes with the territory, or so I’m told! She is absolutely beautiful and loves to be held! She loves to “talk” or do her crazy baby chatter! I will say one of my least favorite parts of mommyhood was taking her for her 9 month shots a few days after I got her. I tried to be brave and not cry right along with her, which I was able to keep it together while she was crying, but I was BAWLING on the inside! She has grown so much over this past month- in her abilities and her weight! She isn’t crawling yet, but she wants to move! She gets up on all fours and wiggles like she is going to go, but just isn’t quite there yet! She has started eating some soft table foods with us, and Catie and I LOVE watching her reactions to new foods! She also LOVES to dance!!! I often have music playing, so the girls and I have many, MANY dance parties together! We ALL love dancing and giggling together.

  

I cherish every moment that I’ve had with my girls, and no matter how hard of a day I’ve had, I will NEVER regret the decision to take them into my home and love them as my own. One of my favorite parts of our day is our morning song, “Good Morning” By Mandisa. (Check it out if you’ve never heard it!)  We dance and sing all around the house while we get ready for school! It is so much fun!

 

Catie and her teacher, Chantelle. She has become another one of my dear friends here. She is expecting her first child any day now! {Catie asked if I had baby in my tummy too! Haha! }

 

We’ve have enjoyed some outings already- one of them being family day for Catie’s school. They had blow up water slides, but Catie couldn’t climb the big one, but we found an alternative to the slip-n-slide:: I put her on and pulled her down and let her slide to the end! She loved it until she got splashed in the face by another kid!

Jessica is one of the girls that lives at the Asiphe` house and also goes to the Agape 4 School so I took her along to the party with me, but I had to take her home early because she kept taking off her diaper and leaving some extra things in the pool! Silly girl!!! Haha!

 

 

We also enjoyed going out for lunch at “The Orchard” one last time with Tannie Annet when she came back for a short visit before she returned to Holland. We also had a taco night before she went home and enjoyed our time together! We really miss her! We hope she can come back for a visit VERY soon!

 

Last weekend, we embarked on an adventure to the beach with Gideon, Tessa, Faizel, Sili, Nina, & Sisipho- which was tons of FUN!!! Catie LOVED playing in the water and the sand, while Nonny HATED the water- screaming most of the time- but LOVED putting handfuls of sand in her mouth! I was assured that as the spring passes and the summer comes we will be spending LOTS of time at the beach! It is free and only 20 minutes from home! It is weird to think that we could go to the beach for Christmas or for my birthday, when I’m usually playing in the snow!

 

Gideon helping Catie in the waves and Catie was buried in the sand and had a mermaid tail! <3 My little Ariel!

 

Because of God’s goodness, blessing, and provision our newest adventure is with our MINIVAN!!!!! Thank you all for your gifts, financially and prayers that God would bring the perfect vehicle to us and He has! Here is our new “swaggerwagon”!!!!

Love and hugs from all of us!!! <3