I'm so thankful for Jesus being our Guide and sending His Holy Spirit to help us! I confess there were a couple days there where Brod and I just would look at each other like, "How in the world are we going to do this?" LOL! Every time we felt overwhelmed we'd get in the Word and let Jesus' truth wash over us and we'd feel better. The main thing I keep feeling as I pray for wisdom and strength is that HE WILL give us all we need moment by moment. The first 3-4 days went so smoothly, the next couple were a little nutty :-/. Little Brother & Kaylee would have simultaneous melt downs where it was hard to calm either one of them. Baby Sister would be crying because Mommy had to put her down. We felt like rookie parents for sure! I think a lot of it was our language barrier with Little Brother. He knows a lot of English but still gets confused at times. I also think he is testing us a bit...when we'd try to tell him no (don't touch, don't pull Kaylees hair, don't throw) he wouldn't know how to act so he'd laugh and just keep doing whatever it was. We'd remove him from the situation and he'd sense our disappointment and just cry and cry...we couldn't communicate well enough to tell him that we aren't mad we just need him to obey.
With the help from the nannies here we are learning better ways to communicate in those times and it has made a huge difference! He really is a very good boy~ super silly, laughs a lot, likes to be wild, and loves to cuddle and snuggle. He LOVES to be with just our family away from all the busyness inside the crechè.
Little Brother getting some snuggle time with Mommy :)
Our big kids started a game that has really helped Kaylee and Little brother to bond~ they tie their arms together and take them to "jail" and either Daddy or Mommy have to free them. We also act like we are crying when they are being taken away and Kaylee and Little Brother just laugh and laugh~ it has helped them to work as a team and learn that they don't have to compete or fight :)
Baby Sister is really funny. She is spunky and almost always happy (unless you take her food~ then she will claw your eyes out to get it back!) She and Kaylee bonded so quickly because Kaylee would really rather not eat so she spends most of her time feeding Baby Sister. Baby Sister is used to most of her friends here taking food from her so at first when Kaylee would touch her food she'd scratch her and hit. But as soon as she learned that Kaylee was giving the food to her and not taking it they became best buds ;)
Every day at nap time Baby Sister makes us laugh~ as soon as we lay the little ones down she gets wild and starts chatting up a storm (probably some creole and some just baby talk). But Little Brother taught us how to say "lay down!" in creole~ and you command it
loudly ~ and as soon as she hears it she slams herself down on the couch and pops her thumb into her mouth. The problem is that we all strarted laughing at how quickly she threw herself to a laying down position the first time that it became a game for her. She sits up, waits for us to say it, then slams herself down and gets the deepest belly laugh :)))
Baby Sister with her snacks :)
Even sharing with Kaylee since she knows she can trust her ;)
Kaylee Grace has done FAR better than we imagined she would~ we are very proud of what a great big sister she is! She is always helping with Baby Sister (even with her dirty diapers!) and always encouraging Little Brother. Today a few of us went down to check out the new vegetable garden they are getting ready for here at the crechè and Kennady and Little Brother were waving to us from the window. Kaylee yelled up to them, "Hi guys! We love ya, Little Brother!!!" She also keeps telling him, "I'm sorry we can't take you home this time, Little Brother". He doesn't understand what she is saying but regardless says, "yes, Kaylee" which makes her feel like she is helping him :)
She also shares Mommy very nicely (most of the time)~ each of her little siblings want mommy to hold them most of the time and she will ask for a turn every now and then and completely understands if I ask her to wait a little bit. She's doing great!
Sitting next to Little Brother eating suckers :)
We are being spoiled at the Chances For Children guesthouse. We have the BEST food served for breakfasts and dinners. (Our New Harvest team that we shared the first week here with knows what I'm talking about! Lasagna again tonight, Jami... I'll eat a piece for you!) We also bought food at a very nice grocery store here to make lunches (PB&J, granola bars, apples, etc). We have actulally gone to the store 3 times ~ once on our way in, once with Julienne who had to do the weekly shopping for the guesthouse and once after our embassy meeting since we were passing by. And honestly we need to go again...I'm telling you, these two kids eat more than you could ever imagine! Literally all day long....so we keep running out! They also eat
all of their regular meals at the crechè so they must be just stuffed ~ but they are loving all the new foods (maybe too much!). ;)
Baby Sister is very proud of her big tummy~ if you even say the word tummy she proudly pulls up her shirt to show you her belly with a huge smile across her face :)))
Thank you all for praying~ I can already tell you we will need prayer for our departure next week (we leave here Tuesday am but will need to say goodbye to them on Monday afternoon) ;(
It will be hard on all 3 littles (and of course us too, but at least we know & understand that we will be back soon) so please pray for all of the littles :)
