The Honeymoon is Over

I was at a leadership meeting recently for an activity that I participate in with my girls.  At the meeting, our leader was reviewing the stages of development that a group grows through.  Apparently this was a concept familiar to my husband too, as he could rattle of the stages, "Forming, Norming, Storming, etc..."
 In the "forming" stage the group comes together and everyone is polite and nice and on their best behavior.  It is fairly peaceful and idyllic.  The reason I bring this up is that there was a point this week where I realized that we, as a family, have exited out  of the "forming" stage.  The honeymoon is over.  The kids all yell at each other and fight as if they had lived every day of their lives together.  I find this maddening as there seems to always be at least one person either hitting, crying, tattling, or pouting.
We now fight over seats at the table, seats in the car, who gets the last piece of gum, who  spent too long in the bathroom, whose turn it is to pick a movie, who gets to be the doctor when we play "town", who gets to use the floatie at the pool....and the list goes on.  In my pre-adoptive days I would insist on better behavior and I would sternly set things straight with the crew and probably lecture them for far too long on their bad behavior.  This week, though, I grinned.  This kind of normal sibling behavior indicates that we are bonding.  We are letting our guard down, we are trusting each other, we are not on our best behavior, we are operating like a family.  Yeah, I love arguing!!  (well, not really, but I do understand the significance of it and am thankful that we are seeing it!)

In other news, we went to the zoo this week!  (I don't love the zoo as much as I don't love sibling fighting but it was for the good of the kiddos so I did it).  The kids all really enjoyed a beautiful day of animal watching.  The weather was perfect (not like a typical Washington DC August) so the animals were all out and enjoying the day.  A baby panda, two tiger cubs, monkeys, an oragutan on the overhead lines who was actually swinging his way from one platform to another, zebras, and prairie dogs all made the list of fun things to spot.  Naomi seemed to especially enjoy the sound the animals were making.  We were all a bit taken back when the grey seal belted out a Beagle-sounding howl!  Naomi thought it was hilarious and immediately recognized the sound as the way Bailey talks to the neighbors who walk by!
The highlight was the carousel ride.  I was so grateful to God as I rode on a ladybug selected for me by my kids that He has provided us with abundance.  We have more than what we need, and I was so happy to be able to give my kids the gift of a ride on the carousel.  I know it seems insignificant (it does it add up with  riders!) but it really did draw me to my Savior as we rode around and giggled and delighted in something so whimsical and so fun.  Each of the kids had a favorite animal that they rode on and Naomi and Joanna were thrilled with the ride.
 Though I deserve none of the gifts I have been given, I am constantly in awe of a loving God who chose to save me, bless me with an amazing family, and who continuously chooses to lavish me with good gifts.  The trials have been many, and they will continue to be plentiful and challenging, but the zoo reminded me that God's grace and goodness and blessings are to be celebrated.  (I do still strongly believe that the zoos in heaven will not require me to push a stroller up a HUGE hill at the end of walking around 20 miles of zoo paths in  95% humidity just to get back to my car that I had to pay a lot of money to park.....but that is another blog topic!)
The last highlight or notable thing this week seems to be the language development we have seen.  Four kids are mastering Creole as two others are mastering English.  Both of the girls have transitioned to mostly English when they talk to me.  They still use creole with each other sometimes, but most of what they are saying is in English with the rest of us. There have even been several times where Naomi has had to translate for me what Joanna is trying to say.  She has had to come up with alternative ways to say things-and she has done really well with it!!   It is amazing how much they comprehend.  Today as we were headed out to Target I was able to say to Naomi, "Could you go close and lock the front door please?"  And she quickly responded, "Yes!" and ran off to do just that.  Her sentences are getting longer and more detailed.  Each night at dinner one of the coolest things is when she remembers all of the things we have done that she wants to tell Ryan.  Sometimes the words are not quite there, but she will always remind me of what needs to be shared and then enthusiastically help me retell daily events.  I love how she waits for her daddy so she can share her day with him!