I am reminded again today that God's ways are not my ways. I like to think that I am a pretty logical person and a pretty good planner and organizer. So many times when I think I have my life figured out and the direction that I am heading the Lord seems to throw a curve ball to me to completely throw me off. To say my life has been stressful in the last year would be an understatement. To say my life is boring and predictable would be even a greater understatement. For those of you who have followed my blog this past year, you can understand what I am talking about.
Which now brings me to September of this year. With all the things going on, I have had to work a lot on the weekends and longer days since I have used all of my vacation time. At times I have struggled with not having the time I want to spend with Natalie. Thursday will mark the 6 month anniversary of our return to the US and Natalie becoming a US citizen (she became my daughter on March 22)
It never ceases to amaze me how God hears the cries of our hearts, things that seem so small or insignificant yet mean so much to us. On Friday I had major surgery for a mass that my GYN doctor had been following for months. Without going into a lot of detail (this is what I was alluding to when I mentioned in another post that I was dealing with some personal issues) let me summarize it by saying that I was able to have a less invasive surgery so my recovery time will be less and that the mass turned out to be nothing major. The end result is that I am now out of work for 2-4 weeks and for at least 2 of those weeks, I cannot drive. Natalie is home with me for that time. So I now have that time to spend one on one with her, yet this is even better than when we first returned home because her language skills have improved significantly. I feel so humbled and blessed that the Lord heard my cries and even though this is not the way I would have chosen to be home, I have this great opportunity ahead of me and really want to make the most of it.
His ways are definitely not my ways. But oh how grateful I am that His ways are the best ways!!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Natalie
Every day I think I should write an update and share how things are going, but then I get home and it seems like there are so many other things to take care of. I have had some issues going on in my own personal life (which I may share at a later date) and work has just been so busy.
But I titled this post Natalie so I want to bring you up to date on how she is doing. Since I last updated, she has started a new school along with a new program called More at Four. The purpose is to help children who are behind at the age of 4 to be ready to enter kindergarten by next year. Needless to say, when she was tested she scored low. A lot of that has to do with the fact that she is still learning English. I don't believe I have ever used the word knuckle with her, so I am not surprised that she did not point to her knuckle when asked. She has learned a lot of body parts in English but she still has so many more to learn. Have your ever sat down and thought of all the different body parts there are? For instance, just covering the head we have: face, head, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, lips, chin, ears, hair, eye brows, eye lashes, cheeks, forehead, bangs, brain, skull, jaw, sinuses, the various parts of the eye, etc. You get my point. I don't think she knew her colors at the baby home, so having to learn new names and the concept is a double wamy for her. She knows the names, but can't quite match the color to an object of that specific color. But she is learning so much.
At times I feel frustrated because I am not the person teaching her so many things or being there when she experiences new food items (had tacos at school long before we had them at home.) The other day she was talking about coffee. I don't drink coffee, so I knew she had learned this at school. I do like living in the South, but at times find the syntax and use of certain words or should I say the incorrect use of words is a bit challenging for me. This week Natalie has been using the expression "get gone" which I hear all the time here. So I find it a challenge to help her to learn things the correct way or the way I feel she should be brought up. I feel like she is growing up right before my eyes and I am missing out on so much, because I have to work. On one hand I would love to cut my hours down to six a day which would allow me to be full time, but on the other hand, the adoption was not cheap and I feel the need to work a full 40 hours to pay back the loan. So it is a fine balance between spending time with her and moving towards being debt free. I have also had to work a lot of weekends due to taking time off for my mom and her appointments. With so many things going on with the economy, I am truly grateful for my job and the opportunities that are there.
Natalie has also had the opportunity to spend several days with my sister, BIL and my niece. The day care was closed and she stayed with them since my mom was not up to taking care of her at the time. She had a blast and did not want to come home. She has also spent the night at a friend's home and also did great there. Those days have given me some time to get little projects done around here.
One day we took the train to Raleigh and went to the Natural Science museum. We met up with a friend who lived in the area and ran into a family that I have know for years when I lived in Fayetteville. It was a delightful surprise. Natalie had looked forward all week to riding on the choo choo.
Her vocabulary has grown tremendously and she is maturing so fast. She loves that she is a "big girl" and wants to do so many things by herself or to help me.
Tomorrow we will go to a local festival and I am looking forward to attending this and seeing her reaction to so many things. I will post some pictures from our trip to the museum.
But I titled this post Natalie so I want to bring you up to date on how she is doing. Since I last updated, she has started a new school along with a new program called More at Four. The purpose is to help children who are behind at the age of 4 to be ready to enter kindergarten by next year. Needless to say, when she was tested she scored low. A lot of that has to do with the fact that she is still learning English. I don't believe I have ever used the word knuckle with her, so I am not surprised that she did not point to her knuckle when asked. She has learned a lot of body parts in English but she still has so many more to learn. Have your ever sat down and thought of all the different body parts there are? For instance, just covering the head we have: face, head, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, lips, chin, ears, hair, eye brows, eye lashes, cheeks, forehead, bangs, brain, skull, jaw, sinuses, the various parts of the eye, etc. You get my point. I don't think she knew her colors at the baby home, so having to learn new names and the concept is a double wamy for her. She knows the names, but can't quite match the color to an object of that specific color. But she is learning so much.
At times I feel frustrated because I am not the person teaching her so many things or being there when she experiences new food items (had tacos at school long before we had them at home.) The other day she was talking about coffee. I don't drink coffee, so I knew she had learned this at school. I do like living in the South, but at times find the syntax and use of certain words or should I say the incorrect use of words is a bit challenging for me. This week Natalie has been using the expression "get gone" which I hear all the time here. So I find it a challenge to help her to learn things the correct way or the way I feel she should be brought up. I feel like she is growing up right before my eyes and I am missing out on so much, because I have to work. On one hand I would love to cut my hours down to six a day which would allow me to be full time, but on the other hand, the adoption was not cheap and I feel the need to work a full 40 hours to pay back the loan. So it is a fine balance between spending time with her and moving towards being debt free. I have also had to work a lot of weekends due to taking time off for my mom and her appointments. With so many things going on with the economy, I am truly grateful for my job and the opportunities that are there.
Natalie has also had the opportunity to spend several days with my sister, BIL and my niece. The day care was closed and she stayed with them since my mom was not up to taking care of her at the time. She had a blast and did not want to come home. She has also spent the night at a friend's home and also did great there. Those days have given me some time to get little projects done around here.
One day we took the train to Raleigh and went to the Natural Science museum. We met up with a friend who lived in the area and ran into a family that I have know for years when I lived in Fayetteville. It was a delightful surprise. Natalie had looked forward all week to riding on the choo choo.
Her vocabulary has grown tremendously and she is maturing so fast. She loves that she is a "big girl" and wants to do so many things by herself or to help me.
Tomorrow we will go to a local festival and I am looking forward to attending this and seeing her reaction to so many things. I will post some pictures from our trip to the museum.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Life in the Fast Lane
Every day I think, I really need to update my blog and every day I think maybe tomorrow. So much has gone on with my mother. I have to really think hard, but if my memory serves me well, she has had 7 follow up doctor visits, 4 chest X-rays, 2 blood draws, 2 procedures to draw fluid off of her lungs, home visits with a nurse, nurse's aid and physical therapy and multiple medication changes. And all of this has happened in the last 6 weeks. I am very happy to report (since last week alone was 3 of the doctor visits, 1 blood draw and 1 x-ray) that she is done with all medical visits for the next month. Physically she is also doing great and back to driving. I can tell she is feeling better every day and probably just a little better than she did prior to her surgery. Thank you all for praying for her and all of your support during this time.
Tomorrow I will give you an update on Natalie.
Tomorrow I will give you an update on Natalie.
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