Happy Easter!

Good Friday

Last night, my husband/pastor talked about each of the 7 words Christ spoke on the cross.  This year, one of these words hit me like a ton of bricks.

John 19:26  When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"  and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."  from that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

There is Jesus, bearing the sins of humanity on the cross and undergoing suffering like no other, and he thinks of his earthly mother.  Knowing the pain she is experiencing, and that she must be provided for in his absence, he makes an ADOPTION PLAN for her from the cross.  And John, writing this account, adds that he did comply with this plan.  He did make Mary his mother from that moment on and likely cared for her until the day of her death.  

Jonah is trying to hype Anju up for her first Easter.  He keeps telling her that tonight "while you are going night-night a bunny will come and give you candy".  However, she just gets the "night-night" part of it and wants no part of it, so Jonah gets frustrated trying to explain it again.  Today we will dye the eggs I boiled yesterday, and tonight I will likely be cleaning up a multi-colored dining room.  Happy Easter!

Prayer request for good friends

Anju is very happy today-----if she is on my lap.   Did you every try to put away laundry with a toddler on your lap??  Or make lunch??  Or, after resigning yourself to give up on the idea of accomplishing even the smallest task, even just read your own grown-up book while she reads a board book you've already read to her 10 times??  Not good.  So, we're still in the recovery mode of the "great Anju abandonment of 2009" on Tuesday.  The kids have off tomorrow for Good Friday, so hopefully a long weekend of activities with siblings will be a good cure for her.  

While I'm talking about Easter weekend--I have a question.  Do any of you mothers know if the Easter Bunny leaves baskets of coal for naughty kids???  I've got a child that needs to know the answer to that one.  :-)

Happy Birthday to our Indian Princess friend in Illinois!!!

Please keep my childhood neighbors, Chet and Marianne Richardson in your prayers.  They were helping Chet's sister and brother-in-law move yesterday, when the house exploded, likely due to natural gas.  Chet was protected by a mattress he was moving, but Marianne is suffering from serious burns and injuries and is hospitalized.  

Chet and Marianne have always been wonderful neighbors, helping my parents out whenever they could, getting the mail when my family was out of town---all the good neighbor stuff that doesn't happen much anymore in this day and age.  They even attended my wedding in Mankato.

For pictures of the home, click here.

*******************Update- interview with Chet**********************

Lessons learned today

Anju's mental notebook:

An onion is not an apple.  If you beg and beg and beg for it because you think it is an apple, and your mama gives you a chunk, you will not like it.  You will need to run and find your sippy cup of milk while your eyes water. 

If I reach through the slats of my crib and put my arm all the way through to my armpit, I can reach the doorknob.  I can open the door and scream out that I don't want to take a nap.  However,  Mama knows how to push the crib away from the doorknob, and I still have to take a nap.

Baby koala

I had city council Monday night, so Anju went to sleep without me.  Then, yesterday, I had a meeting and left her in her father's care for about 6 hours.  Today, she is clinging to me like a baby koala.  She needs to be held at all times including while I make breakfast and go to the bathroom.  I read her 25 books before 8 a.m., and she knocked on the door and wailed while I showered.  I guess she's not sure anymore that I'm not going to leave.  Poor girl.  Poor mama.

Merit Care clinic called this morning to finalize details for Anju's appointment in Fargo next week.  The Red River is expected to crest the 16th-18th, and her appointment is the 17th.  I guess we leave all that in the Lord's capable hands, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned.  We haven't made hotel reservations yet, as we want to make sure the hotel we stay at has some dry rooms---so I have no idea when I'm going to move on that.

Finally, news that has been troubling me and my adoption friends lately: WACAP (the first agency we tried because of their wonderful reputation for low cost waiting child adoptions) is discontinuing their adoption subsidy program, presumably because of lack of funding.  They have not been forthcoming with the details of this change, and we await this information.  Children with special needs whom previously had all their fees covered by a generous donor (like our pal in Illinois) now carry the burden of all the same fees as a healthy child adopted through the regular adoption process.  Please pray for all the children and families affected by this change.  There are many families whose adoption plans must now change who had already attached to a child in need, and many children who have already been waiting for families so long who now may wait much longer, or may never know the joy of a family.  

We especially keep our friend, Jennifer, in our prayers who was beginning the process of adopting one of these waiting children whom she met at Ashraya when she picked up her daughter in November.  We pray for guidance for her and her husband as they decide how to make their next move, and thank God for allowing them to have the gift of their beautiful new daughter through the use of the adoption subsidy program while it still existed.  

Newton was a genius!

This morning I awoke to little hands pulling at the quilt and, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom....."  I scooped up the tiny "tottle" and she laid in bed with me for awhile until Daddy enticed her to breakfast so I could shower.  She laid face-down on my chest, and snuggled in closely to my neck, her arms holding tight around my shoulders.  Her soft curly mop landed on my cheeks and once in a while she would look at me and smile, then put her head down again and sigh.

These are the moments you cling to when you're having a bad day.  When she's angry because she can't watch Elmo 24/7.  When she's upset you don't have a block of cheddar in your purse during church.  When she only wants to be held while you are standing up, not sitting down.  When you've given your all and she needs more and you just don't know how you can do it.  

"For each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."  I think of Newton's wisdom often, which not only applies to physical laws of nature, but I believe the interpersonal laws also.  How wonderful that we have reached the point where for each of Anju's not-so-pleasant actions, there is another opposite one to balance it out.  I know I'm interpreting Newton very loosely (hope no Aspies are reading) but it comforts me, so deal with it!  (One could also then say, that the degree of my reaction to her action is equal in intensity to the original action, which is probably true, but not my point here.)

Can you tell I'm a hard science dropout and a social science major??

Communication

The social worker was able to make it yesterday for our second post-placement visit after canceling Wednesday due to a winter storm.  She is our 3rd social worker from LSS due to their rearranging and lay-offs, so it was nice to finally meet her.  She said that they really had a down time due to the bad economy, with people backing out of the adoption process, but that now their starting classes/meetings are full with people starting again.  Either people's finances are looking rosier, or they are just prioritizing expanding their families.  Good news.

Anju is speaking more and more, but it sometimes takes awhile for us to realize what she is saying.  I just figured out yesterday that "ga" means socks.  She's likely said that for awhile, but the context has to be right for the "dumb" mom to pick up on it.  Also, she is making the sign for "cookie" for her Indian biscuits, but does something else I didn't teach her to get a cookie.  She also does the "cookie" sign sideways to get cheese, similar to the sign I taught her, I guess, but it took me awhile to figure that out too.  She says a one-syllable non-verbal nasal noise when she signs for cheese, so that's how I tell that request apart from the one for a biscuit.  She makes the "candy" sign for "apple" (one has a straight finger, one a bent finger) but it always means "apple", since I didn't teach her the other one.

So, long story short, when people ask how many words she can say, I'm not sure what to answer.  "Mama" and "Dad-n" are about the only recognizable ones, but she sure has a way to communicate more than that through a combination of consonant sounds, signs and nasal/gutteral grunts.  Right now she is communicating through wailing, pulling on my leg and slapping me that she doesn't want me to be paying attention to the computer.  I get the message.  L8r everyone!