Living for the moment

We've been home for almost two weeks now, and life has definitely been filled with a variety of interesting moments.  I'm learning to just take each moment as it comes.  We've had fun moments, funny moments, frustrating moments, serious moments--all memorable moments that I don't want to forget.

Fun moments have included watching the boys play Wii together for hours on end, getting to teach Juan David new things and watching him soak in absolutely everything about his new environment.  I've had a blast listening to my biological child suddenly speak a ton of Spanish in his own home, a language that he's always been so resistant to.  We had a lot of fun taking Juan David to his first "garage sale" two doors down.  We scrounged up about $3-4 in change before we went and came home with water shoes that he'd been wanting, school supplies from David's list, an organizational caddy that I needed for paperwork in the kitchen, a full-sized working George Foreman grill that we've actually been looking to replace our old one for several months, and even some supplies for my new PreK classroom!  Later we went back with $2 more and came home with a bunch of little balls, a game, and a few other little odds and ends that David wanted.  Even later yet, Mike went back with David and came home with a free ping-pong table!  We truly have no room for the ping-pong table, but we figured the boys can play it out on the back porch until they get bored with it, and then we can sell it or pass it on.  I'd say we did pretty good for the $5 in change that we had in the house. :)  He's quickly learning how we live--not on much, but God always multiplies the little that we have.

Besides having fun, we've had quite a few laughs.  The main ones have been over his reaction to food.  I never knew baked potatoes should be eaten like a hot dog.  Anything in a tortilla is now a taco.  I handed him a bag of microwave popcorn for a snack, and he had no idea what it was.  Never seen anything like it.  A friend told me to start writing it all down, so I'll try to make a point to write down our daily "funnies".

Then there are times of frustration that abound, like watching David struggle through having to share things that have always been his, watching Juan David arrogantly assume that David and I must cater to his Spanish rather than him even trying to learn much English at this point, knowing that my boys have been raised so completely different yet now trying to parent them in a similar way, or just hearing details about the "damage" of the last five years that we need to attempt to undo (things/ways of life that the "last family" taught him).  It's also been frustrating trying to keep his tummy full while we're still trying to catch up financially from all of the expenses in Colombia. 

Yet in the midst of all the fun and games and daily frustrations, those serious moments seem to creep up when you least expect them, those moments when you stand back in awe and remember just what a miracle you're living through.  Yesterday Mike and David spent a day together at Six Flags with our two free tickets, while Juan David and I had the day to ourselves.  He went to the dentist with me, later helped me move out of my old classroom into my new one, we went out to eat together, and finally we went out on the porch to play some ping-pong. Yet a simple game turned into a massive spilling of his heart about what's gone on in his life over the last five years.  (The psychologists in Colombia warned us that he's had a very hard time talking about it, so we needed to be prepared for him to not open up willingly.) He just started talking and didn't stop...... I learned so much as God kept filling in more missing pieces for me, and I got to fill in missing pieces for him.  Once again I learned just how much he loves his brother and sister, and just how much they have sacrificed for one another because of that love.