I thought that today I would give our girls perspective. The holidays have approached so fast. In fact, we don't even understand what is happening at times. There was this day where we all dressed up. Daddy dressed like a woman and mommy like a man. What is happening here. Four months ago, we met these crazy white folks that showed up in our hospital room to care for us. We were scared and not sure exactly what was going to happen. Now here we are dressed up as kitty cats following our witch sisters around asking for candy. This place is great! Dress up like an animal and they give candy to you. Say some special words like "trick or treat" and the treat you like royalty.
Now we have this other thing coming up called Thanksgiving. We don't know what it is, but we love to read the sign that is hanging on our wall. We call out, "that says happy thanksgiving." Oh the joy of thanksgiving. We have also heard about and seen this guy called Santa. Supposedly, he brings gifts to good kids? We also hear that there is an elf that sits around and reports on our behavior.
Wow!!! What kind of magical world did we move to?
Here we can refuse to eat all of our food. They will feed us later. They will offer lots of choices and we get to pick. How can this be? No foofoo? No mushy paste to eat? How did we get so lucky that if we do things right we get tamu tamu? Candy for those who don't know.
We have so many toys we don't even know what to do with them. Sometimes we just sit and talk about imaginary things that we might do. (like go to the bus stop with our older sister's friends).
There are so many activities in this home. We have to drive all over the place so our older sisters can go to different activities. Sometimes it is soccer, dance or bike riding. We want to do it all. We want to do whatever our older sisters do.
Every night we ask if Abby will sleep with us. She has become our favorite, because she always wants to play with us or take care of us. We love her so much we ask about her first now. We do have an older sister, Kate, but she has her own things to do now and sometimes wants to be by herself. We want to be with her, but sometimes she is just not available.
When we lived in Congo, we had our foster mom. We know her as mom. When we wake, we normally see daddy. "Where's mommy?" is our first question. Is she still here? Daddy, why do you take care of us? This is really weird.
In Congo, we had names like Katie and Judith. We now call each other by our American names. We even use our last name. Where did our names go? Maybe it does not matter. We go by Natalie and Josee.
We say hi to strangers. We make friends easily. We see photos of dark skinned people and wonder who they are. We don't question why mom and dad look different to there face. We might talk about it when they are asleep, but most likely we don't just because we are taken care of.
We have so many clothes. So many toys. Two bikes. Two cars. Two sisters. Two dogs. Two cats. So much.
We are no longer sick. We don't take dawa (medicine) any more. We go to school 3 days a week and never want to leave. How magical this place is. Please don't let this end. Don't let our dream end.
Oh, by the way? What happened to our parents? How did we get here and what is the purpose?
I know they don't think the last things yet, but someday these will come. People continue to ask how they are and we respond great. They have adjusted extremely well. They know they are loved. They know we will take care of them. They know that we won't harm them at this point. What they don't know is how they came to be with us. These questions will come in time, but for the time being we will continue to exist in the dream.
This dream is a constant reality for us. We are blessed by two beautiful, smart girls. Our lives have been changed for the best. How did we live without them? How did we survive without them? Things have not always gone smooth. I have had fits. They have had fits. The older girls have had fits. However, in the spectrum of things, we are well. I hate to type things like we are doing great, because I know so many out there are not doing so great. I pray that they may feel this dream. I pray that they may feel the blessing that we have felt. Pray for them. Bless them. Take care of them. Love them. They need it.
Now we have this other thing coming up called Thanksgiving. We don't know what it is, but we love to read the sign that is hanging on our wall. We call out, "that says happy thanksgiving." Oh the joy of thanksgiving. We have also heard about and seen this guy called Santa. Supposedly, he brings gifts to good kids? We also hear that there is an elf that sits around and reports on our behavior.
Wow!!! What kind of magical world did we move to?
Here we can refuse to eat all of our food. They will feed us later. They will offer lots of choices and we get to pick. How can this be? No foofoo? No mushy paste to eat? How did we get so lucky that if we do things right we get tamu tamu? Candy for those who don't know.
We have so many toys we don't even know what to do with them. Sometimes we just sit and talk about imaginary things that we might do. (like go to the bus stop with our older sister's friends).
There are so many activities in this home. We have to drive all over the place so our older sisters can go to different activities. Sometimes it is soccer, dance or bike riding. We want to do it all. We want to do whatever our older sisters do.
Every night we ask if Abby will sleep with us. She has become our favorite, because she always wants to play with us or take care of us. We love her so much we ask about her first now. We do have an older sister, Kate, but she has her own things to do now and sometimes wants to be by herself. We want to be with her, but sometimes she is just not available.
When we lived in Congo, we had our foster mom. We know her as mom. When we wake, we normally see daddy. "Where's mommy?" is our first question. Is she still here? Daddy, why do you take care of us? This is really weird.
In Congo, we had names like Katie and Judith. We now call each other by our American names. We even use our last name. Where did our names go? Maybe it does not matter. We go by Natalie and Josee.
We say hi to strangers. We make friends easily. We see photos of dark skinned people and wonder who they are. We don't question why mom and dad look different to there face. We might talk about it when they are asleep, but most likely we don't just because we are taken care of.
We have so many clothes. So many toys. Two bikes. Two cars. Two sisters. Two dogs. Two cats. So much.
We are no longer sick. We don't take dawa (medicine) any more. We go to school 3 days a week and never want to leave. How magical this place is. Please don't let this end. Don't let our dream end.
Oh, by the way? What happened to our parents? How did we get here and what is the purpose?
I know they don't think the last things yet, but someday these will come. People continue to ask how they are and we respond great. They have adjusted extremely well. They know they are loved. They know we will take care of them. They know that we won't harm them at this point. What they don't know is how they came to be with us. These questions will come in time, but for the time being we will continue to exist in the dream.
This dream is a constant reality for us. We are blessed by two beautiful, smart girls. Our lives have been changed for the best. How did we live without them? How did we survive without them? Things have not always gone smooth. I have had fits. They have had fits. The older girls have had fits. However, in the spectrum of things, we are well. I hate to type things like we are doing great, because I know so many out there are not doing so great. I pray that they may feel this dream. I pray that they may feel the blessing that we have felt. Pray for them. Bless them. Take care of them. Love them. They need it.
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