Happy Birthday to my TEENAGERS!

Ok so I'll admit it - this birthday is a hard one.  Jack and Noah, I still see you like this:

When in reality, you are this:

Somehow, I never quite believed, or could get my mind around the fact, that one day you would be TEENAGERS.  You are my BABIES, for crying out loud.  And you always will be - no matter how old you get or how far you move away.  It seriously seems like just a couple years ago you were pushing trucks around the house with your sippy cups, we were reading books to you, working on potty training, and you went to bed with your blankies.  Where did 13 years go?!  And yet each of those years has been God's precious and priceless gift to us, and somehow I love you even more now than I did then.  More than being our children, you have also become our friends, confidants and even advisors - the people we love to hang out with more than anyone in the world.  (But yes, we are still parents first!  No one worry - we get that.)  :)


Noah - you are growing into quite the young man, and can you believe this was the year you became a big brother?!?  You continue to surprise us with new facets of YOU all the time.  To be honest, you were one of our ROCKS through our adoption during the past year.  When things would fall apart (as they often did!), you were the one to keep a level head, would reason with us and bring us back down from whatever tree we were in.  I believe there were many reasons that God led us to bring you to Africa twice - one of them being the comforting presence you were to Dad and I.  You have the tenderest of hearts, yet can argue and debate better than most adults.  You are QUICK.  I used to be the queen of "comebacks" and now you can think faster than I can, which just leaves us chuckling and shaking our head.  You are incredibly smart, breezing through 6th grade with straight A's - but more important than that, every teacher we talked to this year gave you high praise about your character and behavior.  Your loves are football and basketball - you are like a walking encyclopedia about the NFL, and even though I'm not a huge fan, it's always interesting to hear you rattle off facts about all the teams and players.  You were somewhat frustrated
with your basketball season, but you were too hard on yourself and didn't see all the things you did RIGHT - evidenced by the fact you received the Coach's Award, which is given to someone who makes the coach love his job.  That's more important than any score stats, buddy!  Even though we see you maturing, you are still my cuddle bug, always ready to wrap me in a big hug, or hold my hand while watching TV.  You have no idea how that helps my heart through this growing process.  This year was the first time we got to witness you as a big brother - and you are AMAZING.  You were first a big brother to all those precious kids at the orphanage - they adored you and you responded with lots of hugs and played with them all, never wanting to leave.  You were a huge advocate for bringing like 3 or 4 or 7 of them home instead of just one - and it's been apparent that you left part of your heart in Uganda.  I believe God placed a seed in your heart there and I can not WAIT to see what He will do with it.  Your adjustment to Maggie has had it's very normal ups and downs - it's hard for 2 twelve year old boys to have their lives upended by a 3 year old girl but you have done amazing.  You are so patient with Maggie (MOST of the time!), eating the pretend food she cooks for you, listening to her endlessly talking your ear off, letting her ride on your back while you crawl around like a horse and most recently, trying to teach her hide-and-seek.   You've even mastered the art of putting her to bed, which is no small feat!  Your current favorites include Minecraft, debating/manipulating your parents, hoops in the driveway, tater tot hotdish, Duck Dynasty, reading your bible, Nutella, Nerf gun wars, camping, the NFL channel, and spending time with your buddies.  You will never understand the amazing gift you are to us, our sweet Noah - you have impacted our lives in a powerful way and you are a blessing to anyone who crosses your path.  There aren't words to tell you how much you are loved and adored - not only by us but by your God.


Jack - my sweet baby, you are quite the dichotomy right now (yep, go look it up!).  We have looked at you so many times in the past 6-9 months with astonishment at what we see happening right before our very eyes.  You are rapidly and visibly turning into a man.  You and Noah started meticulously measuring each other on the wall last winter - sort of as a competition - and we were all shocked to see you had grown an inch in 6 weeks (and then another inch since then!).  You are now as tall as me, and your feet are bigger than mine.  Your bone structure has changed dramatically - you now have these huge man-hands, your shoulders are broad, your arms are muscular and your face has totally lost it's "little-boy" look.  I look at you and have such an intense mix of emotions - part of my heart screams to the little boy in there "NO, don't go!" while another part of my heart leaps with excitement at who you are turning into and what God is doing with you.  So much of you seems old - you are getting all "cool" on us - but I can still find my little boy in that heart of yours which was broken in pieces in Uganda.  We were amazed to see how profoundly you were affected by your time at the orphanage and how deeply those kids touched your heart.  You shed many tears over those kids, and had your heart totally ripped in two by one of them.  You even had your first experience with righteous anger over the fact we couldn't take more than one child home with us.  While it was so painful to watch you go through all of this, the whole time God was reassuring me that He would USE this experience later.  I can't wait to see what He will do!   You had an amazing first year of middle school - straight A's, and just like Noah, earned high commendations from your teachers about who you are - which we find infinitely more important than a grade.  Your sports are also football and basketball - in football you made your mark as a QB and earned yourself the starting position next fall.  In basketball, you earned the Rookie of the Year award, scoring 83 points during the season, and even playing up on the 8th grade team.  You are clearly gifted athletically and it's so fun to watch you play - you are INTENSE.  And FAST.  And unfortunately ended up sidelined the last 2 weeks of basketball because you were growing too fast and the bones in your leg outgrew the tendon in your knee, making any physical activity painful.  A trip to the orthopedic doctor revealed the condition may last up to 18 months, which was devastating to you - but you've learned to work around it.  You spend many minutes each day icing your knee, but you never complain.  You are also a fantastic big brother to your tiny sister who ADORES you.  You taught her to tickle, so that's exactly what she does to you ALL THE TIME, even when you aren't in the mood. :)  You and Maggie tease each other like you've been siblings for years, and while it drives me nuts, it somehow also warms my heart.  She is a blessed little girl, having you in her life to look out for her.  Besides the aforementioned, your favorites in life are shooting hoops in the driveway, eating ice (constantly), Duck Dynasty (specifically Si), fishing, Looney Tunes, pizza rolls, reading your bible, hiding out in your room, blaring your Christian rock while in the shower, eating ice cream a 1/2 gallon at a time, and frequently rolling your eyes at your parents.  Overall, this year has brought the most change to your life since your very first year of life - and you have weathered it all spectacularly.  You fascinate us, Jackaroni, and I absolutely know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God has big plans for you.  You are an amazing gift to us and you are truly loved with all our hearts.

You both have lived in Maggie's shadow for much of the past year so I really wanted this birthday to be a special one - all about YOU and the amazing young men you are becoming.  I don't think you will ever really understand how much your dad and I (and your whole family) love you.  You guys are LIGHTS in our world - the bright spots in our days - a comfort to our souls.

So you're probably thinking we dropped the ball on this birthday - no party planned, no cake chosen, not much fuss so far.  WELL.  That's about to change.  We have some surprises planned over the next couple days, so your party is just beginning.  I hope this is one you will remember!!  I love you both with every fiber of my being, Mom.

A Maggie Update (several months in the making!)

I decided it was high time I sat down and recorded some things about Maggie's adjustment to Roisum life . . . yikes, can't believe she's already been home 7 months!  Overall, she has done great - way better than we expected.  Each area of her life came with some quirks that we have either adjusted to or she has overcome.  I'll list some of the major areas below:

The dogs - oh the horror she experienced!  Dogs are NOT your friends in Uganda, and children are taught that practically from infancy, so this was an enormous challenge to overcome.  Maggie would act like Satan himself walked in the room anytime the dogs would enter - eventually we got past the screaming and crying and she managed to co-exist with them - meaning if they were out, she was as high up on the furniture as she could get.  This went on for months and we began to question if the dogs (mainly the golden) would have to find a new home.  Then one day, out of the blue, she got up in the morning and told me she wasn't scared anymore.  And gave Tucker (the golden) a hug, and that was that.  ?!?!?  Crazy!  Now both dogs are her buddies - she hauls them all over the house and bosses them around all day long.  It's amazing.

Food.  Initially, she wouldn't eat anything processed - from a can or box - mainly just plain, simple food (which is what she was used to).  She's progressed from that (not sure if that's good or bad? haha) and her favorite is pizza. :)  She LOVES vegetables and fruit and I have learned to "sneak in" all manner of smoothies - the ones that include veggies like spinach, pumpkin, squash, etc. and she loves them all.  As a result of all this amazing nutrition, she has GROWN - almost 2 inches and 4 pounds since we came home.  Two funny things: 1) she will NOT eat breakfast, and I've decided not to fight it - it's a losing battle; and 2) milk - which I knew she drank at the orphanage, but she wouldn't drink here.  Once she learned enough English, she explained that it was too cold.  :)  They BOILED their milk at the orphanage and drank it hot.  So once I learned to put it in the microwave, she drank milk.  She's now adjusted to it being cold.

Sleeping - this has been interesting.  The biggest miracle is that she sleeps through the night - 11ish hours, with no problem.  Her sleeping hours at the orphanage? 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. !!  I have no idea why they kept such crazy hours.  When she first came home, she would only use the blanket on the bed - no sheet (she'd shove it down to the bottom of the bed) - and would wrap that sucker around her body like a burrito - head included!  It took some serious effort to unwrap her and check on her!  This remained a mystery until I read that kids in Africa will sleep like that to protect themselves from mosquito bites.  We started explaining to her that there weren't any bugs in our house and she didn't have to sleep with her head wrapped up like that - so then she quit.  But still no sheets - she even had to lay a blanket down underneath her so she wouldn't feel the bottom sheet.  Once again, learning a little more English helped this mystery as well - she said the sheets were too cold.  Just like the milk.  Ha. :)  She is slowly overcoming that as well - sometimes is ok with the sheets - but it's not a battle we feel we need to fight.  One thing she is ADAMANT about is sleeping with her lamp on.  We initially decided this wasn't a big deal and let it go - but now thinking we need to fix that because when we all sleep in a hotel room together - or in our camper - we have an issue.  Lastly on the sleeping - this girl is a FANATIC about having everything on her bed and in her room in PERFECT condition before she sleeps.  She will fuss and arrange and fuss and arrange and fuss and arrange her pillow, blankets, comforter, stuff on her nightstand and dresser until all is in PERFECT ORDER.  It's really interesting to watch, but it also worries me a little that she has OCD.  Whew.  I get tired watching her.

Stuffed animals - this has been crazy for me, a huge stuffed animal lover (yes I still have some on my bed and I'm over 40!).  She HATES them.  She doesn't like them "looking" at her.  ??  Before she came home, I bought her a huge, totally adorable giraffe that sits in the corner of her room and it has caused a significant amount of distress - one minute she can't stand it in her room, so then Jack and Noah try to adopt it, but then she wants it back.  I've tried telling her we'll get rid of it, but she doesn't like that solution either.  So each week is a question as to whether the giraffe will remain in her room or not.  :)

Speech - her English is amazing and she caught on incredibly fast -with no outside help.  She's even ahead of herself, if that makes sense.  She says phrases that she hears us saying, but doesn't know what they mean.  :)  She communicates perfectly for the most part - but still has an accent, which is adorable, but it gives her trouble with "ha"and "ho" sounds - and in general words that start with H are difficult.  It's interesting.  We aren't too concerned yet - she'll start preschool in the fall and if they think we need to get her some assistance, we will.

One of the big struggles for me is her age - not knowing when she was born, and knowing that I will never know.  This is harder than I ever anticipated.  We  truly have no idea how old she is, and that has been a challenge, setting a birthdate.  How does one do that?!?  I have to believe it will all work out, but it's hard for me mentally.  Looking at her, she's tiny - definitely the size of a 3 year old, but her intelligence level (and attitude!!) make her seem a lot older.  My own brain is having difficulties in figuring out how to handle her - like the 3 year old we've determined she is, or like the 8 year old her maturity level points to (or even the 16 year old attitude!).  But in the big picture, this is a small thing to overcome, much smaller than many other adoptive issues.

Maggie has told us a lot about life at the orphanage - something we didn't expect.  It's amazing what she still remembers for such a little person.  She's told us about her bed, her food, her friends, described washing the floor, and washing clothes (yes, she did those things at 2 years old!) - told us she got spanked if she didn't finish all her food, and would also get spanked if she got up during the night to go potty.  She showed us how she was spanked, which was with a STICK. :(  But she acts like it was no big thing.  She still names her friends by name, and talks a lot about "her baby."  (Even the littlest kids there took care of the babies - it's amazing to see).  Evidently, there was one in particular she was attached to, and she still refers to him as "HER baby."  It breaks my heart because I know she wonders about him, and she will likely never see him again.

Overall, this little girl is a complete riot - she is FULL of life and energy - talks and talks and TALKS some more, and laughs and giggles and teases her brothers and is always ready with hugs for us.  She has a huge personality which comes with some big highs and some big lows as well - she still questions authority but we are slowly winning that battle - but mainly has adjusted beautifully.  We do still have bumps in the road, things certainly aren't perfect, and we still have a journey ahead of us but we are THANKFUL for how far she (and we!) have come.  We have a court date for July 10th, on which a judge will hopefully declare her a Roisum. :)  Can't wait.

Updates on our other two precious babies coming next week . . . on their 13th birthdays!