Victoria Faith

Thursday, September 13, 2007

·         Victoria Faith

What is going to make this blog worth doing for me is to not forget all the little moments in my children's lives. I know there have been 20 times that I've thought that I should write down something they said; but I rarely do - now I will. I want to write a little about Miss Victoria Faith; we brought her home from Liberia last August, so she's been here over a year now. She has changed so, so much. She was "the quiet baby at the Children's Home," and never stops talking now!  She has grown and changed so much that it's hard to remember how little and sad she looked when they handed her to us!  She has a personality that is most entertaining.  She walks around and sings, "this ain't no ordinary," over and over, from the new Toby Mac CD.  When you ask her who's singing, she always says, "Toby Mac."  She is known to sing her own version of his "Whoopsie, Daisy, Call me crazy" as well.  When you ask her where she got her dress, hat, whatever, she always stares at it, like she's thinking, and says, "Kohls."  She is asked several times a day, "What are you doing?" usually because she may be doing something that she shouldn't, and she always gets this big eyed look and replies, "What? I'm not doing nosin!" (nothing).  She loves hot tea and has a big mug of it in the morning and evening.  In between she asks, "Peas, me one drink of you soda?"  She loves her baby dolls, Jay-jay the jet plane and Mickey Mouse.  For months whenever we buckled her in the car-seat, she would ask, "Are we getting chicken nuggets?"  When we'd say no, she'd say, "How about french fries?"  She will just now eat rice again, she refused to for a full year after existing on it in Africa. She has been such an enormous blessing; I honestly can't fathom our lives without her!  Here's Princess Tori:

This was Tori on Sunday morning; she got up too early and fell back asleep outside my bedroom door waiting  for me to get up.

She stayed asleep for over an hour after I put her in my bed.

Tori had already drinken all of her hot tea, so she decided to share Alyssa's.

This was Tori while we were doing school yesterday, one of those "I'm not doing nosin moments!"

I know this picture is too dark, but Tori found pacifiers for her and Julia, although neither have ever had one, and they stood behind the blinds with them in their mouths. 

 

Favorite Poem

Here's a favorite "poem" of mine:

Some would gather money along the path of life.  Some would gather roses, and rest from worldly strife; But, I would gather children from among the thorns of sin, I would seek a golden curl, and a freckled, toothless grin.  For money cannot enter in that land of endless day, and roses that are gathered soon will wilt along the way.  But, oh, the laughing children, as I cross the sunset sea, and the gates swing wide to heaven I can take them in with me. Unknown

Horses and Slides

Tori kissing Julia

·         Horses and slides

My girls take horseback riding in the afternoon normally, but since it's been so hot, we went first thing this morning.  Horseback riding is one of those activities that I agonize over; I am always trying to figure out the balance of out-of-the home activities a family the size of mine should engage in.  Obviously, it differs between families, but it seems that every activity that requires leaving the house has to be REALLY worth the trouble.  Don't get me wrong, we leave the house everyday for something, but I still weigh every activity.  Alei, Moriah and Alyssa all love riding, but it's expensive and time consuming; although for now it's passing my "worth it" standard.  Since we have homeschool co-op classes on Tuesday and Thursday and Book Club every other Friday, it only leaves Monday and Wednesdays to cram in music lessons, gymnastics and horseback riding.  I would love to buy an extra day of the week!  So, everyone but Gabriel, headed out the door this morning at 8:30 for riding lessons, then we stopped for 20 minutes at the park.  Turns out, I can take at least 50 pictures in 20 minutes!  Here's our morning:

          James, Ben, Alyssa, Alei, Moriah, Tori and Julia pet the horses.

This was the first time Ben pet a horse; he was pretty excited.

Tori was concerned about the wet park mulch on her Hello Kitty shoes.

Alei and Julia on the "handicap" swing; Julia was saying "Whoa...."

James mastering the monkey bars.

Alyssa and Moriah scaling the slides.

Swimming Near Fire

 Tuesday, September 11, 2007

·         Swimming Near Fire

Now that we are clearing for the new house, we have hundreds and hundreds of dead trees that fell during the hurricane a few years ago, that JD is pulling out of the woods.  They are not good for anything, even firewood, so we have to burn them. We have a burn pile, in the drain field, that is about 50 feet long. Once JD piles it 30 feet high, we burn it.  We have had 4-5 fires that last for 2-3 days each, since we keep throwing more on the pile. I am posting a picture of the kids swimming in the backyard with one of the fires burning in the background.  I should mention that Gabriel is our resident lifeguard and swim instructor. He taught James to swim last year and Ben this year.  Obviously, Ben had never seen a swimming pool until he arrived here and started the year with a life preserver and swim-ring everyday.  He eventually gave up the ring and is now swimming, under the water, without any assistance!  Victoria is enrolled in Gabriel's swim class for next year!

The New House

Monday, September 10, 2007

·         The New House

We are finally getting ready to build our new, bigger house, we have been working towards this since fall of 2004!  We delayed our original plan to build to go back to Liberia and adopt Ben and Julia.  We agreed that we would have to wait until at least 2009; but I CAN'T - I'M SO CROWDED!  Ok, I could if I had to, but instead we have changed our expectations of our new home.  In 2004, we dreamed of a vaulted family room and a hot tub, since being in Liberia, we now are looking for the most room for the best price!  We need a lot of bedrooms, so we can pass home-studies.  We need a lot of bathrooms, because we have a lot of daughters.  We need a big coat closet, because there's nothing more entertaining than trying to cram coats for a family of 10 in a closet that is 18" wide.  So, here's another area of my thinking that has been totally changed by a few weeks in Africa.  After spending time in Liberian homes, you realize how absurd it is to obsess about counter top choices.  Just give me the standard, but make sure the kitchen is big!

Terri and Zoe hanging out at the front door -

 

  Two weeks ago, this was thick trees - 

 

Benjamin

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Today I'm going to write a little on Benjamin.  It's really amazing how you can take a child out of the Bush of Africa, away from everything familiar, and he can do so well in America.  Ben lived his first 5 1/2 years in a grass hut, in Bong County, way, way out in the African Bush. I really know how way out it is because we attempted to take him back to his village to say goodbye. We spent almost six hours on a bus before they announced that the roads were too bad and we were giving up and heading back. In the village, Ben ate only rice, eggs and few things that his family could grow.  He lived with his mother, sometimes a father, two older sisters and Victoria (before she was taken to the Children's Home) in a one-room hut with no real windows or door. There was only one "bed" that everyone crowded in on.  Cooking was done on a little coal stove outside. Ben had never seen electricity or plumbing before he came to stay with us at the guest house. Ben had a different situation than most of the children in the orphanages.  Although he was cleared for adoption over a year before, he was still living with his mother because they didn't have room for him in the WACSN Children's Home. So, when he was finally taken to the Children's Home, it was because we had "claimed" him and already paid his adoption fees. He didn't have to sit for a year or two watching the other children get adopted and hope for a family that would choose him. When I asked him for details about moving from his village to the Children's Home; he said that his Liberian mama told him that he had to go to America, because she said so and to get in the car (African parenting requires a lot less talking than American parenting). We know from WACSN that the village neighbors killed a chicken that was being saved for a special occasion and fed the WACSN employees that came for Ben! So, Ben waited for us to come from November until June 3rd, when he was scrubbed clean, dressed up, including shoes two sizes too small, and driven over and delivered to us. The poor little guy looked scared too death, but he was very excited to come to America. As we skip forward from June until September, the only thing that would clue you in to Ben's background is his strong Liberian accent. I'm sure even that will fade over time. He's learned to flush toilets and to turn the faucets off after turning them on. He does American chores like taking out the garbage and unloading the dishwasher and plays like an American by riding a bike, swimming and swinging! He is thrilled with McDonalds, Chuck E Cheese and the idea of presents at Christmas! And most importantly, he is an American first grader this year and going to learn to read!