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| 9/14/2006
First of all, a BIG congrats to Julie and Deb (and families) for getting out of PGN this week! They have both been waiting right along with us, and their children are coming from the same Hogar. I am SOOOO happy for you! What an answer to prayer. A big thank you to my sister for being there to listen yesterday. I am in much need of sister time, and it grieves me that we live so far from one another. Know that I love you and need you even when I don't say it. I cannot say that the prayer requests I mentioned yesterday are resolved. Please continue praying, for resolution and for my heart...I feel very vulnerable right now and feel like such an easy target for Satan. Okay, a couple more FAQ's... Will I return to work? Oh, goodness, yes. I love my family, and they are top priority other than God. However, I have always believed that God created me to teach. It is the one place I feel most like "me". And it is the one place I am missing most right now. I know Maria will be well cared for and look forward to our time together, yet until God calls me somewhere else, I feel like that is where I need to be during the school year. What language does she speak? Honestly, she doesn't speak much in a language we can understand, though she knows a few Spanish words. She does respond to Spanish. We use English most of the time, but we do use Spanish, esp. for words that don't have any visuals. I have taught ESL for years and have always used Spanish at the beginning of the year, simultaneously with English, especially for abstract directions. I can say that by the end of the first month, I rarely have to use Spanish. However, if I didn't give some kind of connection for those English phrases, I feel it would take MUCH longer for them to pick it up. I am pretty sure if I went to Russia and heard the words over and over again, I wouldn'tt pick up on it without visuals or connections to my base language. To do anything else with Maria would be unfair to her and really frustrating to us! I can say "nice" over and over, but that is hard to show a visual for. I say it in Spanish right after using the English, she responds immediately. It may not be everybody's choice, but Mark and I are in total agreement on this. |
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| 9/15/2006
Happy birthday to Grams! (My mom) A big thank you to all of the prayers, encouragement, etc. Today was a hard day...not really with Maria, just with me and some situations/feelings. It helped though knowing that you were praying. A few more things I have learned about toddlers: If a door is open, they must close them...even if you still want it open. :) You cannot leave open water bottles out on the table. Going byebye is the goal for the day. Toys can't be played with for more than five minutes at a time. And why can't you drink the water in the tub? (ICK) Even though I had a hard day, Maria actually had a pretty good day. When Daddy got home, he took the kids outside and I got to lounge inside for a while. We have really been working with Maria on communicating. Since words don't seem to work right now, we are teaching her how to sign "please" for food and drink rather than this fake cry she uses. She has done it, but chooses not to most of the time. So we help her do it and make a big deal out of it. Well, I guess she wanted some of Daddy's water bottle, and he asked her to sign "please". She must have been REALLY thirsty...she did! (She also got water ALL down her shirt.) Lauren was so excited...she came running in to tell me. Since then, she has done it probably 25 times. (Lauren was eating popcorn and had Maria sign to get another piece.) She is also learning how to sign "All done" rather than dropping food on the floor to let me know she is done. :) Later, Lauren, Maria, and I were playing with magnetic letters. I kept telling Lauren what letter to find and would give her the color if she was stuck. All of a sudden, Maria said "Yellow". Over and over. Okay, so she doesn't actually understand the color thing, but we have been just praying for a word or two. We will take what we can get. Finally, I turned on this fun Fisher Price Spanish song CD...it has songs like "La Bamba". We danced all over the living room. Maria likes to dance. So all in all, it was a good afternoon for her. Prayer requests: Continue to pray for Maria's relationship with Daddy. Also, I will return to school in two weeks...please pray for Maria's adjustment to that. And just some unspoken ones for me. Thanks! |
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| 9/17/2006
It still seems so strange to me that I can take pictures of Maria ANY time I want rather than wait until the middle of each month for my handful of pictures. You may have noticed, I am changing the pictures at the top out pretty frequently. It is so much fun to be able to do that! Another thing you might notice is that third picture! Yes, it is Maria "flying like an airplane" WITH HER DADDY. And she is smiling. Ever since Friday when they had a bonding moment over a bottle of water in the backyard, she has decided Daddy is O.K. He can even carry her most of the time. (PJs and book time = is still not her preferred time of choice with him, but we are getting there...) It has been so fun to watch the transformation. She has even started jumping on him and wrestling with him like the other two kids do. Please continue to pray for that bonding, especially since I have parent/teacher conferences next week (even though I am on maternity leave) and will be gone some in the afternoons/evenings. Maria also had a good day at church. I wasn't sure what to expect since last week she was not crazy about being in her class, even with me there as an assistant. It took her just a couple of minutes though to get into the groove. Soon she was playing and jabbering and eager to participate (in her own way). I almost think I could have left her there the second hour, but we are going to wait just a few more weeks for that. She has just been going to church with us. She actually is pretty quiet, though she is QUITE wiggly. Okay, here are a couple of funnies on the other two kiddos. Lauren told me that she did an "Enormous" page at school. Since I teach kindergarten, I knew exactly what she had done. I asked her what she chose that was enormous for her page...her answer? GOD. :) Isnt' that sweet? Then in the same sweetness, our son Hunter told me the other day that I don't always need to wear my "mom" jeans. If you have ever watched TLC and seen their life lessons, you know exactly what he is talking about. We have funny kids. Speaking of funny, as you can see in the picture above, Maria likes to pretend to talk on the phone. She says, "Hello? Okay." It is pretty cute. I think today she also said "Up" for the first time. I think we are going to keep her. :) |
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