Language Explosion!

Ok, so maybe not an explosion... but it feels pretty encouraging to this mom.  The Panda let loose with his second or third "real word, for sure!".  "Hi!"  Also, he started saying "Oh, NO NO".  Hee, hee.  He also learned his first signs yesterday:  book, please, and more.  This signing saga seriously started Monday night at Youth Group with Mrs. VanGordon.  I think, since he said words and made signs all on the same day, that he's "flipped a switch" into understanding.  Wooooo hooooo!

We have about 3 more days of dedicated schooling before we enter summer mode.  Wooooo hoooooo!  (Update:  In the 10 hours I've been working on this little post, the Penguin finished her work for the year!)

The Bunny, the Penguin and the Puppy are all testing for their green stripe belts in tae-kwon-do tomorrow.

I've been trying to get a video of "Hi" and "Oh, no, no!", but so far, there's no cooperating with the filming.  Maybe tomorrow.  

Six Months as a Family of Six

How can I even tell how much the Lord has blessed us.  We've had our Panda home for six months.

Earlier today, the big kids were outside.  The Panda and I had a rare, quiet moment alone.  I was feeding him a bottle and singing one of our special songs.  I got a little teary.  That "relief" that I didn't even know was an emotion before is still overwhelming sometimes.  He blinked really hard.  Squeezed those little eyes shut.  Clearly, he wanted me to imitate.  I did, and squeezed out a tear.  The Panda laughed and squeezed again.  He really thought that my dripping blinks were cool.  Sheesh.

*six months ago he could barely sit up for half a minute
Now he can walk 5-6 feet

*six months ago he was tiny
Now he's a hulking giant and I can barely carry him

*six months ago he'd never seen a book
Now he can't get enough

*six months ago he didn't ask for anything
Now he seeks out "his people" to meet his needs

*six months ago he had no roof to his mouth
Now he has one!  (Thanks Dr. Boyajian!)

*six months ago he was whiter than I am
Now he's a beautiful brown

*six months ago he didn't play or explore
Now he's trying his best to climb furniture and knows just what to do with toys

*six months ago he couldn't hear
Now he is starting to understand (thanks Dr. Zalzal!)

*six months ago, we had the sad peekaboo game and serious overstimulation problems
Now Peekaboo is fun and overstimulation is pretty rare (but we keep the world small...)

*six months ago, he wouldn't eat solids
Well, that hasn't changed, yet...  :)


So, how about me?

*six months ago I felt so sad, so aching, so desperate
Now I'm relieved, my baby is safe.
I'll note that I now feel sad and aching because I miss my husband, but not desperate- I know he's ok.  :)

*six months ago I was really jealous that my husband had a daughter to hold each hand
Now I rejoice because I have a son to hold each of mine

*six months ago I wondered just *how* effective prayer is
Now I know.  The Lord has done a great work.

Our school year is wrapping up.  We've been using Mystery of History I (Ancient History).  Really super text.  We just got to the end of the Old Testament in it, so I started reading the Gospel of Matthew, written 400 years after the end of the OT.  We got to Chapter 4, Verse 1...

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

The Penguin wanted to know why?  Why did He have to go through this?  Great question.

Hebrews 4:14:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Being a mom has required me to run (or drag my injured self) to the throne of grace pretty frequently.  I keep getting tempted and falling into sin.  How great is it that Jesus personally experienced every temptation that I ever will, and DIDN'T SIN!  He defeated every temptation.  He is glad to give grace to me in my failure, and new mercy to have victory over sin.

Oh, Lord, make me glad to give grace and mercy to my children instead of condemnation.

The Panda's First Steps

Happy night!  The Panda took his first steps.  He walked between the Bunny and me, and we Skyped Daddy in to watch.  I hadn't expected him to walk so soon- he's a baby on fast forward!

Today's Video Segment is brought to you by the word "detritus".  Detritus.  When you have a baby crawling around emptying everything onto the floor.

I'm really hoping that the Panda will turn his attention to speech once he's mastered walking.  He seems to be increasing his understanding and making new consonant sounds, like "c", "g", and "b", so I'm feeling hopeful.

We also had a nice, quiet Easter, worshiping and breakfasting with our church family, and baking a little too.

Trip to WV, Growing Up and Painting Murals

We sure are missing Matt, but life is moving along at a fast pace. We arrived at my dad's house this afternoon, and the Bunny went digging through my old stuff.  She tried on my ball gowns.  They fit.  This is impossible.  

 Unacceptable.  Growing up too fast.  Too beautiful.  The shoes don't even fit.

 Wait a minute... she gets the dresses and I get 20 year old shoes?

Then, we had some great mural painting, thanks to Grandad.  Isn't he the coolest grandad ever, to sacrifice a wall for art?

Beautiful and talented, aren't they?

So, how's the Panda doing?

So, those big kids ate up all the space on the last post....  here's what everyone wants to hear about:

The Panda is learning very fast.  He's been cruising the furniture for a few weeks, but now he's a confident cruiser.  So confident that he learned to pull up to a stand so he could cruise all day long.  Three days later, he learned to get down from a standing postion.  This was a welcome relief, because he was pulling up in his crib at night, but couldn't get himself back down.  Being stuck on your feet when you are exhausted is not fun.  If I laid him down, he got right back up though, because he could.  Bedtime is much better now that he can get back down when he's done standing.  The Panda got himself from crawling into a squat for the first time today, also.

Finally, we are getting some expressive language.  He will say "oops" at the end of each page of Blue Hat, Green Hat (that Sandra Boynton masterpiece).  We're pretty sure he's saying "head" when he points to his head.  He LOVES books, and brings them from across the room, and demands reading time.

We aren't making much progress in the food/ eating area.  Spoons are still off-limits and baby food is unpopular.  We keep at it, though.  After our Fruit Loop success from last weekend, we were hopeful, but no repeat performances...    maybe he only does the fancy tricks for Miss Christina...

The Week When Everything Happened. Whew.

Every Tuesday I teach at our local homeschool co-op.  I love being a mom, but this is seriously the highlight of my week.  I adore my students.  Between last Tuesday and today, everything happened.  It was just that busy/ emotional/ everything.

Wednesday morning, our family headed to Norfolk to say goodbye to Matt.  He is now officially on active duty again.  We are all very proud of him and of  being a Navy family, but it would be great if this were the final deployment.

We started the trip on a happy note: a night at Great Wolf Lodge.  We checked in and hit the indoor waterpark from 2pm-9pm.  The Panda surprised us all.  He was not overstimulated and he was very relaxed and happy in the water.  He floated around the lazy river about 100 times on his back with a huge smile.  He bobbed in the wave pool.   We got out of the water with a few minutes to spare so we could buy the kids' Magiquest wands.  We spent Thursday playing Magiquest at Great Wolf Lodge, which all three big kids enjoyed very much.  It was pretty fun for the grownups and the Panda too, plenty of walking and exercise... I was glad to have my stroller.

Then we enjoyed a wonderful weekend with our dear friends in VA Beach.  They even sent us on a date- our first date without the Panda.  We visited and enjoyed good company.  The Panda was convinced to put a Fruit Loop into his mouth.  This is a huge milestone.  We aren't seeing miraculous progress with food, but these little baby steps keep my hope alive.

Sunday came, and we attended our old church in VA Beach and enjoyed a too-short chat with old friends.  Matt and I took the kids to lunch.  The goodbye time had arrived.  I tried to find a way to delay, so I said, "I'm going to go to the zoo today, either figuratively or literally.  Let's make it literally."  So we went.  Our membership was still valid, so it was free!  We had such a fun afternoon and it made the parting easier.

We got home really late Sunday night because of the unplanned zoo trip.  The kids were really good about school work on Monday and we all headed out to take the Bunny to youth group and run some errands.  We picked her up and completed some unfinished errands.  I was starting to think that my week of fun and emotion had not included grading my stack of papers for the next day as we were paying at the final store.

But God.....

that moment when God has plans that you didn't plan on.....

The Puppy did something really bad at the end of that last errand.  We went to the car and everyone buckled in.  We talked.  We sat.  I was feeling so emotionally spent from saying goodbye to Matt the day before.  God was so merciful, and gave me patience and the right words, even though I felt pretty empty inside, not particularly eager to deal with this really bad thing.

I gave the Puppy the bad news.  He's a sinner, and he'd done something vile.  Regardless of my numerous prompts, he had no apology.  He was determined to stay on the wrong path.

But God....

There's another road.... and the Lord brought this to my lips....

Psalm 51:4
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 


Did you know that only one sin is enough to separate us from God forever?  Suddenly, I had a crumpled Puppy.   He was sorry for his sin.


But Jesus....


2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 


The Puppy asked Jesus to take his sin and give him His righteousness.  Praise God!

We went home and got ready for bed.  The Penguin was quiet.

But God....

"Mom, I've never repented either...."


John 10:28
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 


Praise the Lord for changing the hearts of these two little ones and adopting them as His own.  We've all seen the miracle of adoption this year three wonderful times.  Is there a word that is beyond thankfulness to describe how I feel?


Ezekiel 11:19
I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 


My heart still needs to be made soft, to be changed by the Lord Who Heals.  How easy it would have been to chew the Puppy out and miss out on allowing the Lord to work through mercy and kindness.  Scares me a little   lot....

Now I cling to this promise for them and for me:

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.


Oh, and I almost forgot!   The Panda is getting so close to walking!

New Panda Pictures- almost 2 mos. since surgery.