Super Powers

B continues to believe that Super Daddy and I have super powers. We can "see" him in the next room about to break something even when the door is closed, I can tell without looking that he has stuck his feet out of the car window, I know when he has to use the potty, etc. It's just the stuff you learn about your kid and the use of the side mirrors on the car, but even when we explain our "powers" B won't buy it, he insists we must have super powers.
Tonight on the way home, B said "I'll never have super powers, I've been praying to God and He still didn't give me any!" It's tough being 5 (and a half).

Beautiful Kids

We had house guests for the weekend, our friends the Yorks, including their gorgeous baby boy G. Mrs. York was so kind and took loads of beautiful pics of the kids.

Please Pray for the Chapman Family

My heart is breaking for the Steven Curtis Chapman family as they endure the tragedy of losing their 5 yr old daughter, Maria. The family has done much to promote international adoption and their foundation, Shaohannah's Hope, has helped 1700 families with grants to offset the financial burden of adopting internationally.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/TUNEIN/80521174/1005/ENTERTAINMENT
Please pray for the entire family as they grieve this loss, especially for the son who was driving. Maria is with Jesus now.

Our Nudist Colony

The warmer weather has caused my children to put on their "birthday suits". They've spent lots of time outside and playing in the pool, and most of it has been BUCK NAKED. I love baby nudies, it's so innocent and refreshing.

SJ's language is improving daily. She is able to tell us what she wants easily, but is quite stubborn if she does not get her way. She's enjoying sleeping in her big bed, and sleeps all night as long as we stay with her until she falls asleep. The girl is crazy about shoes, loves to brush her teeth often and is a Kissing Bandit. If you get close, she'll grab you and give you a big kiss.

B is doing well too. He's got his 5 yr Dr. check up and kindergarden shots tomorrow. Believe me, there will be unabashed bribery involved! He's also learning how to annoy his sister, I think all brothers master that skill quickly. I had to teach her to say, "Wendom, NO". (Wendom means brother) B is lately into Ben 10, Pokemon and loves to spend time drawing the characters.

These sweet naked darlings are keeping us busy and laughing. Thankfully the joyful days outnumber the tough ones. What blessings we have!

Super Funny

http://fullyoperationalbattlestation.com/index.php/2008/05/13/okay/
This is the funniest story of The Call ever.
(for those unfamiliar with adoption slang, The Call is when you are finally matched with a child)

Ethiopian Fistula Hospital Documentary on PBS tonight

Check out this documentary on PBS tonight. It chronicles the stories of women in Ethiopia afflicted with childbirth injuries and the help available to them. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beautiful/?campaign=pbshomefeatures_2_novabrawalktobeautiful_2008-05-13

God hears her

SJ has been looking at her "Opia" (how SJ says Ethiopia) album today. She was pointing to her buddy, T, quite a bit. I called T's parents and let the girls talk. SJ jabbered away in Hadiya and T's mom said that T was listening and responding. The girls both speak Hadiya, it was so cute to hear SJ jabbering away to her friend who understands her.
A part of me is sad, however, that our girls' precious words are not understood by their mothers. I rest in the fact that my God knows my daughter's words and hears her.

Breakthroughs

SJ has had several breakthroughs withing the past 3 days.

-She comes to me and says "shuma" every time to go potty. No more accidents!

-She let Papaw get her out of her carseat at church and carry her in.

-She climbed in Mamaw's lap and sat for a while.

-She will be in a different room than me without crying. She knows I'm nearby and will come back.

-She walked to Missy and lifted her arms to be picked up. Missy has some weird voodoo Kid Magic that they love her instantly, it worked on SJ!

-She played with the other kids in the church nursery on Wed. I stayed in there, but she was running around playing and quite proud of herself.

-I have learned to manage the tantrums. I ignore it for about 5 minutes, then distract her and she's willing to move on.

-She fell asleep in her bed without Mama there holding her hand. I waited 30 mins and she was still singing and playing. I said goodnight and she fell asleep without crying, on her own. We thought it would be months before she was able to do that!

It's been an adventure learning to parent a non-English-speaking tantrum-prone adorable girl. Some definite challenges, but not nearly as difficult as I had thought it would be. I do have a nasty muscle pull in my upper back from carrying my 25 lb bundle of love. A good excuse to ask for back rubs from Super Daddy!

B is doing well too. He expressed some feelings of jealousy. We're making the effort to include him in all things and continue having special time with him. B is learning how to be a great Big Brother, we're all learning. He's such a verbal kid, we're glad he's telling us his feelings so readily, it could be much worse.

Thanks be to God for our wonderful kids!

Healthy Girl!

We had SJ's pediatrician appt today and he also had the results from the lab tests from last week at Children's Hospital. SJ is perfectly healthy, not even an ear infection! Even her poop was normal! I was expecting ear infections and parasites at the least, but this is great.
We will be catching up on immunizations, she had 4 today. She's like her mama, a screamer when the needles appear. It took 4 nurses to hold her down for the TB test!
SJ is quite low on the percentage charts, 2% on height and 5% on weight. Her smart head is 75%. She's showing progress, so it's of no concern, she's simply petite. Our B was small too, so we're used to these numbers.
In Ethiopia, SJ had a wheezing, rattling cough which has almost cleared up on it's own. The Dr thinks it was a cold that has run it's course.
We are so thankful to God for our daughter's good health. We are waiting on 2 more lab tests, and assuming they're negative, we'll get a clean bill of health. Now for catching up on those shots, yikes!

The Latest from Our Coffey House

We're doing well here at The Coffey House. SJ is settling in nicely and communicating her desires more and more. B is also well, but unfortunately for him, the squeaky Ethiopian wheel gets the grease.

On Wed, I took both of the kids to our MOPS playgroup at Michelle's. SJ lasted 1.5 hrs before she was ready to go. In that time, though, she ate 5 cinnamon muffins. The girl can eat! Miss Michelle was sweet and offered to keep B for the afternoon. I took her up on the offer and had a guilt free nap with SJ. We went to church that night, and the sweetest thing- SJ held Jelly's face and gave her a kiss. Due to poor planning on my part, they got to bed late, setting us up for Thursday...

Thursday was our worst day so far, by a long shot. SJ and B woke up grumpy and stayed grumpy. SJ has fallen deeply in love with Super Daddy, which is a good thing, but then Super Daddy had the nerve to leave for work. SJ had a 2.5 hr fit over Super Daddy's leaving! She ran to check every car that drove by, saying "Daddy!". Later, B was pulled from the tub and put in timeout naked and dripping. SJ glared at me and peed in the floor. I could go on and on. I barely survived the day, called my bestie Abby to whine, and put the kids to bed early.

On Friday, the kids were much better. We took B to Granny and Papa's for his regular Friday visit. Granny fed us blueberry pancakes and bacon, B's favorite meal. SJ had 3 pancakes, thrilling Granny. While B was with Granny and Papa, I took SJ to Children's Hosp for routine international adoptee bloodwork. Poor kid, I had to hold her down while they drew vial after vial. She was fine by the time we got to the car though. Daddy got home from work early, so the whole family got to play in the yard. B and SJ got to take turns on the swing, chase each other around, and get lots of hugs. It was a terrific evening. That night, I was able to put SJ down to sleep without her crying! SJ does sleep wonderfully, 11-13 hrs per night with a 2 hour nap in the day.

So, that's the latest. We're doing well and feel good. We are ready for visitors and phone calls and would love to get out a little too. Give me a call or email please! We'd love to show off our kids!