Journey to Adopt - February 13, 2014

Update

If I were any of you I’d be wanting to know how the Bensons were doing. Am I right!? Here’s a quick update. I actually have Little Bit taking a nap and I’m trying to get some work done so I have to make this quick...we'll see if I can manage that.

I have about a zillion things I want to tell everyone. Our first night went crazy well. She went right to sleep, slept all night until 10am. Baby girl was TIRED! Yesterday consisted of checking out a church school and Primrose (where Addie attends). There are a lot of crazy and confusing details regarding where K is allowed to attend school and WHEN she can actually start. The plan has changed so many times I’m definitely learning to be flexible. We had friends over last night who brought us some dinner (thank you Littlers!). It was a good first full day.

This morning we visited another school and after that not so encouraging visit decided we need to just pray hard that we can get Primrose approved and that we can swing it financially to have K there as well. I’m telling you guys – we love Primrose so much. They are so good to Addie and they are so good to our family. (The owner’s parents are actually the CEOs of Covenant Kids) If I can just tell you we had 5 staff members in the office yesterday in tears as they were meeting K. They’ve known this was coming but also Addison was telling ER’BODY at school yesterday all about this little girl and they all knew it. Hilarious and cute.

As for Addie – yes she is definitely excited but the reality that our family just went from 3 to 4 is starting to settle in (and I know that’s normal for any family!). I can see it. She’s grieving it. She had a good cry last night. But on the flip side, she just told K last night that she loved her and gave her a kiss. She’s so helpful and is ministering to K in just about every way she can think of. IT’S AMAZING TO WATCH. God has so created Addison for this! I’m telling ya’ll. But my mommy heart hurts a little for Addie as I watch her get used to all this. She will be ok – but it’s just hard sometimes. We definitely have training and lessons to teach not only K but Addie as well. She does take pride in the fact that she ‘loves to share’ and anything she has K can have – but in the moment sometimes it doesn’t always work out that way.

I don’t think we could have had a better child placed with us. She is SO compliant. She has ridiculous manners. She talks A LOT and says so many funny things. It’s so cute! And her accent….ya’ll just wait till you hear it. So. Funny. We are also finding that just about everything is an opportunity for us to point K to Christ. We are on it. The concepts and conversations about Jesus we typically have as a family about anything is all new for her. Yesterday K and I hung out alone for awhile and it was some sweet bonding for us. She wanted to sing on Addie’s mic so I taught her Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children and He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands and that’s the one she loved the most. We sang it over and over and over. And I just let those words sink into her little heart. Probably the thing we continue to tell K the most is that God loves her. Last night as I was putting her to bed, she heard the words on the CD playing in her room -- “God loves me so, God loves me so, God loves me so, He’s so good to me”… She looked over at me and said “God loves Me!”. I could hardly contain the tears.

There are a lot of things K says that are hard to hear too though. Things I will report to our case manager and keep private but things that are heartbreaking and make me want to cry my eyes out. As she’s getting used to us she’s also becoming more comfortable to say things or bring up things. She hasn’t asked for her mommy or daddy but she has mentioned them a few times. At night she asks for her Aunt – who she was living with for about 6 months last year and lived with for a few weeks before she came to us.

More to come later. You can just be praying we get the school situation figured out and what’s best for little K. For us to remain strong for her and say the right things and make the right decisions. And for Addie – that the Lord will continue to grow her through this experience and protect her little heart.