The Zoo Kids

The Zoo Kids
Finally Together

Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Homefront

We have been home now for 7 days so thought I would update on how things are going....I will be honest and say...there are moments when I look and all the kids and praise God with gratitude for all He has done.  They are orphans no more!  There are also moments that I look at all the kids and just want to sit and cry out to God,"what have we done!"..."what have you called us to??"..."this is so hard!".

Zoe is precious in every way...she is learning English fast, she is incredibly smart, she loves Briena and gets along well with her siblings.  She is a Girly girl, she's anxious to try new things, and she has been very compliant when corrected.  Please be in prayer for us as we take her to Atlanta for her first medical evaluation on Monday.  We have been advised that this could be very costly because of her special need so please pray for Gods provision here as well.

Eli has been the biggest challenge for sure...we desperately covet your prayers....that we would view him from a lens of love and compassion, that'd wed be able to love him as Christ does and that our children would do the same.  It's not that he isn't compliant, he is.  The challenge is in teaching him socially acceptable ways to interact and behave and to try to view him not as a 13 year boy but more as a 10 or 11 year old based in his maturity level.  We sometimes have to tell him the same things over and over again and that gets quite old.  His idea of engagement with the little kids at times is to flick them on the cheek or jerk them up and spin them...things the orphanage kids probably enjoyed just because they were getting attention but that my kids don't find fun or funny!  With the older kids he can just be downright aggravating.  He can walk up to them and holler in their face or just make weird noises...like I said...things that might have been funny in China but that's just weird here!

The other issue is just going out in public...I dread taking him in public right now but I know it's necessary so he can learn how to behave.  Here are some things we've encountered, sometimes it's easier to just laugh!  At the grocery store..if you holler when you walk in, everyone shopping will turn and stare.  It is not ok to stand right behind the cashier while she is working.  Walking up to the counter at a fast food restaurant when there is a line is not received well by everyone waiting!  It is also not ok to walk behind the counter at Wendy's....I could go on and on...

I know things will get better with Eli as he learns English and we can communicate.  I know he will mature at some point from an annoying, aggravating, middle school boy into a teenager and young adult but right now...it's just plain hard!

I am writing all this in complete honesty..I want others to know that when God calls us to adopt, it won't be easy!  There will be adjustments and so much growth, humility and selflessness will surely come through this. God does call us to obedience and He reminds me daily that his grace is sufficient for me for His power is made perfect in my weakness and right now...I am surely weak.  We are completely in survival mode.  I will close with this verse from my Jesus Calling devotion from Romans 8:28..."We are assured and know that (God being a partner in their labor) all things work together and are (fitting into a plan) for good to and for those who love God and are called according to (his) purpose and design."


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