Back from Mexico!

We had a good week in Mexico last week, San Fernando!  The group and staff had long days, 10 hours, going out and evangelizing.  The boys and I stayed at the hotel and swam mostly, went for walks, took naps, and played with horses!  Yes, many horses (1 day I counted 9 of them) would wander in the complex and drink from the swimming pool!  We got close enough one day to a couple of them and they let us pet their noses!  I also got to practice my Spanish in talking with the hotel staff.  It got me very excited for school in Guatemala!  It makes such a huge difference when you HAVE to use it!!!!  It was fun, I loved it!

I basically did swim lessons with the boys all week long.  It was great b/c their confidence and ability progressed so much from the beginning of the week to the end of the week.

Sunday was a "day off" and the group took the 9 orphans from the orphanage out to lunch and then brought them back to the hotel pool for an afternoon of swimming.  It was neat!  

The last day, everyone had to check out of the hotel but I didn't want to go out with the boys with everyone b/c it was sooooo hot.  So we st

ayed back at the rehabilitation center which was across the field from the orphanage so we walked over and played with the kids for a while, came back and ate lunch, then attempted to nap.  It was so hot though, no a/c like at the hotel.  I'm glad we went!  We got to eat dinner with Aaron each evening and see him a little before bed.  Otherwise we wouldn't have seen him for a week! 

The facility was very nice.  A church from Dallas built it!  Very beautifully decorated too!  It was crazy to look at these kids and think they had no parents.  I wanted to rescue all of them!  I pray God will bring them families soon!

 

Traveling to San Fernando!

We, the boys and I, are going with Aaron tomorrow to Mexico for a week!  He's gonna be gone for 2 weeks (coming home in the middle to sleep one night at home) and so we thought it would be good to go too!  They are travelling to many different villages sharing the love of Jesus.  We don't normally go b/c Otto had school and I had school.  But now, we are free!  (and we were invited!)  We could go the 2nd week too, but it's a 6 hour drive and I'm not sure I'm up for ALL that traveling.  We'll see though!  I love and sooo appreciate that we can go and be together.  It gets tough after long periods of time!  The boys' behavior gradually starts to get worse.  And they miss their Papa!  ....especially wrestle time!  Besides the stress of all the details my brain focuses on ( I was up at 4am this morning thinking of things for the trip), I am pretty excited! This week in particular will be nice b/c it's only a 2 hour drive and our accommodations are a hotel that just so happens to have a pool!  So the boys and I will hang out and play, take their much needed naps and be able to have dinner with Papa and hang out in the evenings.  There is an orphange very near by which would be so neat to go visit and just play and hug them all day.  At the same time, my adoptive heart already fears the pain I'll feel at wanting to rescue them all!  Sunday is a "day off" so to speak, so Aaron and I are thinking of going that day.  I can't imagine!  Please pray for very safe travels and for people to receive God's love truly in their hearts.

Pee-Pee Success!

What a great potty training week!  It surpassed my expectations!  My friend suggested I pray before we started.  I thought, oh yeh, that's a good idea!  LOL  Owen did great!  We started last Saturday.  For his 1st week he had 2 days with NO accidents (and they were both in the past few days here), 1 day with 2 accidents, and 4 days with only 1 accident.  And here's the real kicker....he wakes up in the morning, and from naps, dry most of the time!!!!!  Wow!  He's got control!  We've even gone places in the car...stores, the park.  Thank you Jesus for caring even about potty training!  Still praying for week 2 and 3 though!  

Here is Owen's Pee-Pee Chart.  We did a sticker chart and the columns started with Sat and went through to today, Friday.  He got to put a sticker on his chart and get a piece of candy.  The boys don't get much candy or junk so it was a big deal!  And everytime, he had to share some candy with Otto.  (That's what Otto had to do with Owen when he was training!)  :-)  It's cute b/c it got Otto cheering Owen on!  LOL 

Months of the Year

Otto was saying these things this morning, and I wasn't paying much attention until a pattern caught my ear.  He said, "October, November, December."  I said, "Otto, are you saying the months of the year?!"  And he got this huge proud grin on his face.  So I started him off with January and he continued (with just a little bit of help a couple times) to recite all 12 months of the year!!!!!  Wow!  I was so proud I felt choked up!  I've also realized in the past couple days that he can recite the days of the week too!  They recite them everyday at school.  I'm definitely gonna have to continue that this summer.  I'm gonna make him up an Otto calendar.  Especially so he can keep track of what's going on each day.  He has to know what the schedule is.  this summer he has speech therapy, occupational therapy, play therapy (for emotional issues), and in June he has gymnastics class twice a week.  Right now, he'll recite his week by saying "school, school, school, school, school, Saturday, church" referring to Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun.  This summer though he can't say that anymore!  (These pictures are from our visit to the Children's Hands-On Museum in Brownsville.  It was a very neat place for the kids to play and pretend!)

It's Coming!

This was our last week of school!  Both for Otto and for me with the big kids!  On Wed though I didn't have school so I put underpants on Owen all morning.  We dabbled with the potty before.  He knows about it and has peed on it, but I haven't gone full force with it yet b/c of school.  My "plan" (I say it like that b/c Owen may have another plan!!!!!) was that as soon as school got out, we were gonna go buy him some new underpants that he picked out and then go full force!  I'd love to have him potty trained by the time we go to Guatemala Aug. 27.

Anyway, on Wed morning I had underpants on him all morning until naptime and he didn't have 1 accident!!!!!!  I was so proud of him!  It got me so excited to get started.  But we'll see!  I'm praying about the issue!  LOL  It's too cute....if he stands at our toilet, he is the perfect height right now that his penis rests right on the edge and he can pee right in.  He thinks it's really cool to stand and pee like Papa!  His catch phrase is, "It's coming!"  LOL  It's so funny!

T-Rex

We are just amazed by Owen!  He is talking up a storm and his imagination is so great!  He loves to pretend a T-Rex is getting him!  When he and Papa are on the bed, he'll say that a T-Rex is coming and they have to hide under the covers.  Sometimes Aaron will pretend to be the T-Rex and Owen will run away with a squeal of laughter pretending to be afraid!  Hilarious!  

Well we've been having a hard time

 lately with him getting out of bed when we put him to bed.  So anyway, he's laying in bed calling me.  I don't answer.  He starts talking and singing.  He calls me again.  I ignore him.  All of a sudden he shouts, "mama, mama, help me, T-Rex is biting my leg!"  Trying to do anything to get me to come in there!  I laughed and said, "no Owen, go to sleep!"  So funny!  Aaron and I so often just look at each other and smile or laugh!  What a joy!

The Conversations Continue

I am so loving conversing with Otto!  I love getting to know him through how he's interpretting the world around him.  The other day we were laying in bed after nap again and had 2 amazing (to me anyway) conversations....

The 1st one.....

Otto said, "Be-" (short e sound).  I said, "what?" And he repeated himself.  I said, "bed" He said, "no."  I said, "bear?"  He said, "no."  I said, "I don't know what you're saying."  He's very good at charades or whatever it takes to help me figure it out.  He said, "coo-coo monti" (which means Cookie Monster). 

I said, "oh Ben?"  He said, "yeh!"  To remind you, if you've read about our tragedy here lately, Ben "Cookie Monster" died.  For Otto to bring him up out of the blue like that is very strange.  I'm sure he's heard us and everyone around here talking about stuff but I still think it's weird!

Anyway, I said, "what about him?"  He said, "where is he?"  Now, I'm telling you, this was SO odd for Otto to be asking about Ben in the first place and then to be asking about his whereabouts was very strange!!!!  I said, "he's up in heaven with Jesus."  He said, "why?"  I said, "b/c Jesus said 'come on Ben it's time to come be with me!' And Ben said 'OK!'"  Otto said, "oh"  And that was that.  I decided since that went so well, I'd add that Andrea was with Jesus now too.  He remembered when she came over and played in the puddles with them b/c he said something about that time implying "is that who you're talking about?"  I said, "yes, Andrea, she played in the puddles with you."  He said, "oh" And the conversation was over!  I laid there in disbelief that I just had a conversation about death with him.

The 2nd one...

A few moments later from that last conversation, still while we're laying there on the bed, Otto is observing the photos of he and Owen on the shelves on the wall.  He points out "Otto baby, Owen baby"  Then he asks, "what mama doing me baby"  (which means what were you doing when I was a baby?)  I said, "I was praying for you."  He said, "where?"  I said, "at home"  He said, "oh."  

Then he asked, "what mama doing OE baby?"  (which

 means what were you doing when Owen was a baby?)  I said, "I was taking care of him."  Then it came.....the 1st real question trying to understand adoption.  I was dying!!!!!  He said, "why mama no care me baby?"  (which means why mama didn't take care of me when I was a baby?)  I very matter of factly said, "B/c Yohana was taking care of you when you were a baby."  He said, "oh."  And that was that. (Yohana was his foster mom in Guatemala.  And he knows that from his Lifebook. We talk about it when we look through his book.)  Thankfully he was satisfied with that and that was the end of the conversation b/c I was dying inside!  I couldn't believe we just had that conversation!!!!  Lord, give me the wisdom to know exactly WHAT to say and HOW MUCH to say whenever the questions arise.

What a glorious afternoon of laying on the bed talking with my son waiting for other one to wake up.  I was blown away by the connections he's making and what's going on in that little noggin of his!