Friday, August 22, 2008

SUCCESS

Perhaps my definition of success has changed since my earlier years but the feeling of success feels just as good (no...better!). Yesterday I would most certainly dub as a great family success day!

The most important~ Jim did get Jacques' paper work filed! We have a letter from USCIS acknowledging that it has indeed been received (and accepted) before his 16th birthday. We were also finally able to get questions answered that we were concerned about and all the answers led to only great relief! CELEBRATING JACQUES!!!

More success~ We had really been having some concerning issues with one of our children. On Wed. I thought perhaps it was going to be just impossible for me to parent this child (and there were a lot of tears). Some punishment was given out for disrespect and disobedience and it felt just crummy. That day, thinking I was just going to totally fall apart, I reached out to my Mom who prayed with me that I would love this child the way God loves this child. After that I was able to go up and pull them into my arms and we prayed together. After prayer and a serious talk things were much better. Then Jim came home and we took this child to our room for a very serious yet very loving pow wow. We made it really clear what our expectations were (as far as obeying and respecting) and what the punishments would be if these things were not done. Then the three of us prayed together again.

Thursday morning I woke up to a different child!!! For the first time there were no dirty looks, no stomping around the house or hitting things, everything I asked was done with a smile. Praise God!!! This child was an absolute joy to spend the day with! Let's just pray that we continue to have more days like yesterday.

I decided to take them all to the pool but, once again, could not find a clean swimsuit for everyone. We swim nearly every day and nearly every day we have this problem. So I loaded up our six little ones and off to Walmart we headed. My first time in Walmart alone with six kids could not have gone much better! Our children were sweethearts in the store and nearly everyone left with a new swimsuit and flipflops. Now that's what I call SUCCESS!!!

Because this "supermom" has limited powers we grabbed some cheeseburgers from the McD's in Walmart. It was kind of sweet to see all the kids in one booth laughing and playing together! Afterwards we hit the pool for more family fun. I still insist that six children does not at all seem like a lot of kids.



3 comments:

Amanda said...

I appreciate the way you sweetly, gently, post the realities. I'll pray for you specifically this week that the 'pow wow' was a success! Even more, that God would continually work in all of your children's hearts as they adjust.

Anonymous said...

Angela,

I am celebrating with you your success in moving forward with Jacques' adoption. Forging a family through adoption is not for the faint of heart or even for those who feel steadfastly sure of their ability to parent any child who happens to enter their home. Sometimes it is more about clinging to our support systems and having a willingness to try and do things differently... different from how our parents did it, different than how we are doing it with other children and different than what society expects of us. I am so glad that you are connected to an all-powerful, all-knowing loving God!

Chapter Two said...

Hi Angela,
I've followed your adoption journey through your blog for many months. Congrats on getting Jacques' I-600 filed in time! And for getting your first three Haitian angels home.
I just wanted to reach out to you as the mom to three older children (home from Haiti almost 10 months). The early months were so trying and difficult, I can relate to this post. I will be praying for you and your family, but please feel free to write me to talk if you'd like. My daughters came home at 10 and 5; my son at 8. Our older two have had (and times still do) many hard times adjusting but they are doing do much better now. I know God's grace has been sufficient for I also thought I might not be able to parent one of my children. He was faithful to keep me strong enough and to bless my family with progress. Keep on clinging to Him and if I can offer some help through ideas for getting past some of those hurdles, please don't hesistate to contact me.
God bless!
K
mwenmanmi@gmail.com