You know when you are in water for awhile, and your skin begins to wrinkle. Dori hates that. Only she can never remember the word wrinkle. For the longest time it was macaroni. As in “Mom my fingers are macaroni I need to get out of the bath right now!!!”

 

Now the word she uses is skinny.  Don’t ask me why, I am just the translator.

 

After each bath we apply some almond oil to Dori’s skin (I love that stuff, she does too).  Of course around the same time her “skinny” begins to disappear. Now, lets see how long it takes you to figure out “Mom I need my oil so I wont get skinny.”

 

That oil, great for keeping away the skinny.

Dori is taking her first ballet lessons. They are quick classes at the local community center and she loves them. The teacher is very relaxed and the main focus is having fun. Watching that class is a definite cure for any sort of depression.  Her first recital is early in December and that night she will participate in the local parade of lights with her class.

 

Not Dori and I but my trusty laptop. I guess it was stepped on one too many times and just refused to turn on. Without it I have just not been in the mood to fight the super slow desktop I am currently using. Waiting ten minutes for a page to load is beyond my attention span. But I miss posting and so here I am.

 

We are doing well. Earlier this month we made a big move. We are now sharing a housing with grandma, papa, Aunt Katie and Uncle Matt.  My dad’s job will require he and my mom to be out of town most of the time and Aunt Katie (18) and Uncle Matt ( in his mid twenties with special needs) need some supervision.  I am in a position to help out so here we are.

 

Dori loves being here but at the same time is sad to lose her home. It has been a bit of adjustment but we will get through. Now I just have a mountain of boxes to empty and find a home for all that important stuff. The good news is I am using this move as an opportunity to purge a bunch of stuff and we should have a good sized garage sale to help with those upcoming adoption fees.

Is a new favorite word.

Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”

Dori asked Jesus into her heart tonight for the first time. I know she is three and does not fully know what it means but I still think it needs to be recorded.

We were taking about baptism. It has come up frequently since last week.  I was telling her again that it is something we do if we have asked Jesus to be in our heart to follow Christ’s example.

Dori:  I want Jesus in my heart.

Me: If you want Jesus in your heart He will be in your heart.

Dori got quiet then smiled.

Dori: Jesus says He is in my heart.

And baby you are in His.

Last week we attended my nephew and neice’s baptism. There were about sixty people there including about two dozen kids.  I was watching Dori in the pool. A dad was watching his kids. We introduced ourselves, he pointed out his two boys. Asked which one was mine. I pointed her out as the little one right there (pointing to her).

 Him: Which one (confused)?

Me: There she is right there.

Him: The black one?

Me: Yes, she’s mine. (Dori is the only black child in the whole group)

Him: Well that’s great.

Me: Thank you (unsure what else to say).

Dori officially turned three last Friday. We did not do much - because any mention of it being her birthday just confused her (since her party was last weekend). I did take the day off work – yeah for an extra mommy day! And we did have a cupcake at the mall.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

One busy weekend + two late nights +water day at school = A hysterical breakdown every fifteen minutes

Sleep could not come fast enough.

Dori picked an adoption book for me to read tonight. It is for an older child so I was paraphrasing the contents. We got on the subject of her Ethiopian mother. I have talked about her Ethiopian mother before but she has never paid much attention. This time she did.

Why? Is what she asked when I told her her first mom could not take care of her. Why did she have no home? Why did she not go to the bank? God says that is what we do ( A little confusion on the theology but I think her point is God provides). And – this is the killer -Does she want to see me?  She had tears in her eyes. I told her it was OK to be sad. It makes me sad too.  It was a quick and intense conversation and I redirected her pretty fast.  Not because  I don’t want her to know about or think about these things. Honestly because though I have thought about it read about and prepared for this- I just could not find the right words. There are just no good answers. I have little information to pass on and she is too little to comprehend that going to the bank to get money to buy food is not an option – isn’t she? Should I say more or less? I do not want to over or under protect her.  Ugh!

I know the questions will only get harder. I am adult and I wrestle with them.

I left Dori with this - God can take something very, very sad and use to make something beautiful, like our family. I am Dori’s forever and ever mommy, that is what adopted means. I will not leave her. I said it because that is what she needed to hear. She relaxed after that and went on to another book. Anybody else have this conversation with their three year old?