The Normal-ness of it All

I must confess I have been terrible about blogging lately. I am so sorry about that! I can't come up with a good reason why except just life itself! In some ways Daughter of Purpose lends me plenty to write about and in some ways she has become so much a part of us that there is nothing out of the ordinary to write about--she's just normal--and that's a good thing! It leads me to wrestle with whether I should bother to blog about the average-ness of our life and bore you to death or whether I should just blog anyway!

At some point over the Christmas season, I saw a switch over for Daughter of Purpose. Somehow I just knew she had stopped thinking in two languages and had switched to English only. Do I think the Russian is still in there? Yes, but I think her primary thought process is in English now. More and more often these days when I speak to her in Russian and she's paying attention, she asks me what I'm saying. Every once in awhile when it just requires a physical response, like "sit down" she responds appropriately. This leads me to believe it is still there subconsciously, but yet when she really thinks about it--she wonders what the heck I'm saying to her.

Another reason I believe her Russian is already on its way out is because when I sat down to do a Rosetta Stone Russian lesson this week, I did better on the lesson than she did. When I would ask her which were the right answers in Russian, she didn't have a clue. When I asked her to say the words in Russian, her pronunciation stumbled over the words like mine did when I first started speaking Russian. It's like as if her tongue has changed its abilities. This is all so very fascinating to me. Never did I think she'd become so much a natural part of us so quickly.

Here are some other indicators that she has slipped into family life in America and doesn't think a thing about it.

- She eats a taco like a pro.
- In-n-Out Burger is her favorite meal and she easily pounds a whole cheeseburger down. She's even has mastered the ability to "work" her grandparents into taking her to get an "Amburger." If only you could hear her sweet little voice saying the word.
- It is no question as to whether she'll eat pizza or not. Upon arrival, she wouldn't touch pizza.
- Each day I place a plate of fruit on the counter for the kids to munch on whenever they are hungry. She so naturally knows to reach her little hand up and get whatever she needs. This "being a part of the family" hit me again last night when I made kettle corn. There was a bowl for Valentines gifts and one for the family to munch on. Daughter of Purpose ran through the kitchen, grabbed a handful of popcorn and continued on her merry way. No thought as to asking first or waiting for me to offer. No thought as to whether this was okay or not. Just a part of the family. Can't imagine she had "grazing privileges" at the orphanage.

Daughter of Purpose knows where things go, knows the routine, and knows what belongs to who and most of the time she uses her words appropriately. I do have to say that I still miss it sometimes when I don't hear her little voice respond to my "I love you" with "I forgive you Mommy." That used to crack me up! She knew that phrase was a proper response to something just not sure which one! Now I hear her sweet little voice make sure to tell me that she loves me and receives her hug and kiss when I tuck her in.

This reminds me of when Nate and I go out on a date. She's one of the first to make sure she's given us a hug, a kiss and an "I love you" before we walk out the door. Some of our kids need that before we leave, but others just wave us goodbye. I love that she offers us that gift as we walk out, but yet doesn't cry about it because she knows we'll return. Her confidence in being a part of our family is solid. She doesn't seem to ever question as to whether we are her family and if we'll return for her. We certainly don't take this lightly. We keep it ever in our mind to make sure to be sensitive to this issue for her. Coming up soon, Nate and I will have the opportunity to spend a few days out of town by ourselves. This will be a big test for Daughter of Purpose to see how she does in that confidence of being a natural part of us. Right now, she is practically kicking us out the door because she wants to go in my friend's pool while were gone, but we'll see how it goes.

Side note, I've given my friend permission to throw Daughter of Purpose in the pool while we're away so that she will understand why she cannot go in the pool in February and stop asking me daily about going swimming! I'll let you know how that turns out.

As you can tell, we're just a normal family and Daughter of Purpose has acclimated well to that normal-ness. We are grateful for that and are glad that we don't feel like we're raising a stranger anymore. It feels more and more like we're raising the child that God intended to be in our family since before time began we just didn't know it.

1 Samuel 1:27 "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."