Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Getting ready


(Go to the beginning of our adoption story)

Part 13

Getting ready and waiting for Talitha sent my mind in happy directions.

Driving past a playground that would have been "invisible" earlier: "I'll be sitting there again, watching."

Seeing a mother with her small child on a wrist leash: "I don't think I'll do that . . . but maybe."

Noticing a glider rocker at a store, I pictured it in the baby's room.

At a mall, I passed a mother followed by her daughter. They look so much alike, I thought. In 5 years I'll be the one with her daughter. No one will say how much we look alike, though. But maybe if people spend more time with us and see us in action, they might notice ways we're alike.

As eager as her new brothers were, there were some challenging moments for them. Twelve-year-old Barnabas was making room for his new sister by moving into the room with almost-15-year-old Abraham. He'd reminded me several times that we needed to patch the plaster and touch up the paint where poster putty had done some damage.


But when it came time to actually remove the cool life-sized athletes from the wall, the tears came. “Abraham won’t want my posters up in his room. There’s not enough room in there anyway. There’s nowhere for me to put my posters.”


“Never mind," I said, "we don’t have to do it right now." I put my arm around his shoulder and told him how much I appreciated his and Abraham's willingness to make changes for their new sister. I knew it wasn’t easy, but we’d try to make it work out happily.


So, Talitha's first decor was sports themed. Well, babies like big pictures of people, right? And there they were soaring over her crib.

(to be continued)

2 comments:

Laurie in CA said...

I just love hearing your adoption story! I can relate to your son's bit of struggle when reality began to set in....when we first brought our daughter home from Russia, she cried. ALOT! She was about a year old and my then 4 yr old son, who was so eager for her arrival, told me flat out "Send her back. She's too noisy." I very gently explained that I knew the crying bothered him (it bothered me too) but that this was a chance for us to seek God and ask for His strength (and patience!), to love practice loving His sister in God's name and with His power. He looked at me in disbelief (he wasn't convinced apparently) but we did pray and we did make it through that rough time! :-)

Praising Him-
Laurie

Bonnie said...

It might have been a little unusual for Nursery decor, but at least Talitha had some stimulating pictures to look at! I love the way you handled that particular "bump" in the road. After waiting that long for a girl, you showed restraint in not rushing to make it all feminine for the cause of family harmony!