Hello again, blogosphere! So so much has happened in the last almost 6 months. The most significant of which is: WE GOT MOSES HOME!!! I thought I would recount the story here and now mainly because I think it builds my trust in Him to remember and celebrate anytime that God showed His faithfulness in my waiting. It also just gives him all the glory to share stories of His goodness and perfect timing!
All that talk about feeling like Moses was supposed to be home the first week of June because that's when Joanna's due date was and how great it would be if he were home at the beginning of the summer, but thinking we would have to go and push things through ourselves.... Yeah... all of that... THAT all happened, except without ANY pushing on our part. God did it ALL.
Basically, the orphanage finally got someone to go into the judge's office during the strike to find the court order so they could copy it and they found it had been done the day before the strike started, it just hadn't moved off of his desk. Yeah. So three weeks lost there. BUT. When they finally got it, they applied for the passport right away and, instead of the passport taking up to 30 days like we expected, it was literally printed and finished the day after they applied for it. For real. A true miracle. If we hadn't been delayed with the copy of the court order and the passport had gone that fast, we would have had to come up with some interesting childcare scenarios for our kids to finish out the last few weeks of school. And we don't go to a 5 day a week school. All the moms homeschool their kids two days a week. So I had super incredible sweet people lined up who were going to take our kids for a week and not only feed and care for them, but school them as well. Talk about community.
But, by the grace of God, the timing worked out exactly with his passport so that we left a few days after school ended and my mom was back in town and able to take the kids and then Quinn's mom and our nephew came for another week. And God worked it out so that everything about picking him up worked out perfectly and we arrived home the day before Quinn's mom left so that he was able to meet her and our nephew.
It was all just a complete testimony to the fact that God definitely had the timing of it all planned out. Even though we would have loved to have had him home earlier and we hate everyday that we missed with him, this summer has been the best time for him to come home. If he had come home during the school year, I don't think we would be at the same school this year. And I'm so glad that we weren't forced to make that decision in the heat of transition. We were able to go to a ton of doctor's appointments this summer and just spend a whole lot of time together. I think that has been so great for the kids and for me.
The transition into the school year and this first semester has been difficult. Mostly for 2 reasons: I have 3 kids that I am trying to homeschool now instead of 2. And Moses really wants to go to do home school as well, which is just adding to the stress of the home school days. It's proving to be quite the juggling act for me. He goes to a pre-k daycare program 2 days a week. Once when the other kids are at school and once when we are homeschooling. But that leaves Tuesday (the hardest day) with him at home with us while we are trying to get work done. We have reorganized some of our life are figuring out what works best for all of us. We have experimented away and sometimes it's great and sometimes I sit in the homeschool room in my pajamas with only bathroom breaks from 9am until 6pm (like yesterday). We love the benefits of this university model and the community that we have here, but we may be at the point of needing to make a change in our schooling. None of us want that, but Quinn and I definitely want what's best for my health (read: stress level), my relationship with the kids, and our bank account. So we will see where we are as we start the next semester.
There is so much that I could say about Moses Akash and the time that he has been in our family (which seems like forever), but I don't want to make this so long that I never finish it. We celebrated his 5th birthday in September, so I think I'll do a kind of milestones post like I did with the other kids for their birthdays. Ya know, for posterity!
Moses Akash - 5 years old
Height/weight: He came home at 41" and had already grown to about 42.5". This is so great, except that he has only put on about a pound and a half. So it's all in the height. He's a rail and we will be monitoring his weight over the next few months, because he needs to start gaining. He's just shy of 30 pounds. At 5 years old. I would feel worse about this if I wasn't watching him eat as much as the other kids and since it means that I can carry him around with ease. I love carrying him and he loves being carried. So it's all working out! But we need to put some meat on his bones. Stat. We will see a specialist about this next week.
Likes: Riding his bike. Walks. TV. Dinosaurs. Applesauce. Ice cream. Pizza. Cereal. Crocs. Button up shirts. Flashlights. Books. Doing anything that his brothers and sister are doing. Singing (usually at the top of his lungs). Drumming (usually while people are trying to watch a show he's not interested in). Legos/Duplos. Songs. Helping with chores. Doing dishes. Unloading the dishwasher. This list is not exhaustive.
Dislikes: Bell peppers. Spicy stuff (c'mon Bengali kid!) Taking naps. Not getting to do what any of the other kids are doing. When Daddy is late coming home from work. Being corrected (me too, buddy). Having us do stuff for him that he thinks he can do (He's perfected a wicked side eye start when he's annoyed with us).
Personality: He is a really helpful person. I keep thinking (and sometimes saying out loud) that he wins the award for most helpful and observant Smith kid. Example: I picked up a grocery order yesterday and then left all of the paper bags out on the table along with a bunch of other stuff. He just randomly started collecting all of the bags and folding them up to put them in the recycling and then got the table cleaner and a towel and cleaned off the table. I mean... ! He is usually great at cleaning up when it's time, but he's also a 5 year old who often refuses, just for the heck of it. He is really determined and diligent and I am assuming that having a total of 4 fingers really factors into that. He just tried and tries and tries again at something until he's got it. Example: The big kids took years of trying to buckle their own 5 point harness car seats. We would try often and offer rewards when they did it, but it still took most of them until they had been trying for at least 6 months. Moses figured it out in about a week. We kept trying to reach in a help him, but he would always say "Ami, ami, ami!" until we taught him "I'll do it!" and now that it definitely one of his most frequently said phrases. He's funny and silly and just about equally as crazy as the older kids, which is actually great for all of them and only mildly too much to handle for Quinn and I.
All that talk about feeling like Moses was supposed to be home the first week of June because that's when Joanna's due date was and how great it would be if he were home at the beginning of the summer, but thinking we would have to go and push things through ourselves.... Yeah... all of that... THAT all happened, except without ANY pushing on our part. God did it ALL.
Basically, the orphanage finally got someone to go into the judge's office during the strike to find the court order so they could copy it and they found it had been done the day before the strike started, it just hadn't moved off of his desk. Yeah. So three weeks lost there. BUT. When they finally got it, they applied for the passport right away and, instead of the passport taking up to 30 days like we expected, it was literally printed and finished the day after they applied for it. For real. A true miracle. If we hadn't been delayed with the copy of the court order and the passport had gone that fast, we would have had to come up with some interesting childcare scenarios for our kids to finish out the last few weeks of school. And we don't go to a 5 day a week school. All the moms homeschool their kids two days a week. So I had super incredible sweet people lined up who were going to take our kids for a week and not only feed and care for them, but school them as well. Talk about community.
But, by the grace of God, the timing worked out exactly with his passport so that we left a few days after school ended and my mom was back in town and able to take the kids and then Quinn's mom and our nephew came for another week. And God worked it out so that everything about picking him up worked out perfectly and we arrived home the day before Quinn's mom left so that he was able to meet her and our nephew.
It was all just a complete testimony to the fact that God definitely had the timing of it all planned out. Even though we would have loved to have had him home earlier and we hate everyday that we missed with him, this summer has been the best time for him to come home. If he had come home during the school year, I don't think we would be at the same school this year. And I'm so glad that we weren't forced to make that decision in the heat of transition. We were able to go to a ton of doctor's appointments this summer and just spend a whole lot of time together. I think that has been so great for the kids and for me.
The transition into the school year and this first semester has been difficult. Mostly for 2 reasons: I have 3 kids that I am trying to homeschool now instead of 2. And Moses really wants to go to do home school as well, which is just adding to the stress of the home school days. It's proving to be quite the juggling act for me. He goes to a pre-k daycare program 2 days a week. Once when the other kids are at school and once when we are homeschooling. But that leaves Tuesday (the hardest day) with him at home with us while we are trying to get work done. We have reorganized some of our life are figuring out what works best for all of us. We have experimented away and sometimes it's great and sometimes I sit in the homeschool room in my pajamas with only bathroom breaks from 9am until 6pm (like yesterday). We love the benefits of this university model and the community that we have here, but we may be at the point of needing to make a change in our schooling. None of us want that, but Quinn and I definitely want what's best for my health (read: stress level), my relationship with the kids, and our bank account. So we will see where we are as we start the next semester.
There is so much that I could say about Moses Akash and the time that he has been in our family (which seems like forever), but I don't want to make this so long that I never finish it. We celebrated his 5th birthday in September, so I think I'll do a kind of milestones post like I did with the other kids for their birthdays. Ya know, for posterity!
Moses Akash - 5 years old
Height/weight: He came home at 41" and had already grown to about 42.5". This is so great, except that he has only put on about a pound and a half. So it's all in the height. He's a rail and we will be monitoring his weight over the next few months, because he needs to start gaining. He's just shy of 30 pounds. At 5 years old. I would feel worse about this if I wasn't watching him eat as much as the other kids and since it means that I can carry him around with ease. I love carrying him and he loves being carried. So it's all working out! But we need to put some meat on his bones. Stat. We will see a specialist about this next week.
Likes: Riding his bike. Walks. TV. Dinosaurs. Applesauce. Ice cream. Pizza. Cereal. Crocs. Button up shirts. Flashlights. Books. Doing anything that his brothers and sister are doing. Singing (usually at the top of his lungs). Drumming (usually while people are trying to watch a show he's not interested in). Legos/Duplos. Songs. Helping with chores. Doing dishes. Unloading the dishwasher. This list is not exhaustive.
Dislikes: Bell peppers. Spicy stuff (c'mon Bengali kid!) Taking naps. Not getting to do what any of the other kids are doing. When Daddy is late coming home from work. Being corrected (me too, buddy). Having us do stuff for him that he thinks he can do (He's perfected a wicked side eye start when he's annoyed with us).
Personality: He is a really helpful person. I keep thinking (and sometimes saying out loud) that he wins the award for most helpful and observant Smith kid. Example: I picked up a grocery order yesterday and then left all of the paper bags out on the table along with a bunch of other stuff. He just randomly started collecting all of the bags and folding them up to put them in the recycling and then got the table cleaner and a towel and cleaned off the table. I mean... ! He is usually great at cleaning up when it's time, but he's also a 5 year old who often refuses, just for the heck of it. He is really determined and diligent and I am assuming that having a total of 4 fingers really factors into that. He just tried and tries and tries again at something until he's got it. Example: The big kids took years of trying to buckle their own 5 point harness car seats. We would try often and offer rewards when they did it, but it still took most of them until they had been trying for at least 6 months. Moses figured it out in about a week. We kept trying to reach in a help him, but he would always say "Ami, ami, ami!" until we taught him "I'll do it!" and now that it definitely one of his most frequently said phrases. He's funny and silly and just about equally as crazy as the older kids, which is actually great for all of them and only mildly too much to handle for Quinn and I.
... 1.5 years later...
I never published this. I am going to now. So much has changed for our MoMan and I could give a huge update, but for now, I will put this sweet reminder out there of where we were and he was all that time ago.
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