Insights

My mammow hasn't been doing very well the past few months. She passed away last Tuesday. We were glad to be able to visit her a few weeks before. She was in a hospital bed in her home for the last few weeks.

The question we get all the time is "how are the kids adjusting?" I still don't think I can answer that question. "They" say that it will be a year or more before adjustment takes place. We have been a family for a year and adjustment is still a day by day step forward or backward. But the kids are progressing.

Elizabeth Kate. Adorable. Full of life, laughter, and silly faces. She is full of love. She loves to dance and sing. She makes up songs and loves to act out the ballet dances she has seen on TV. Her daddy is everything. She has no fear when it comes to him. She loves to be tickled and tossed high into the air. She loves to cook in her kitchen and put on make up and fix hair. Elizabeth Kate plays doctor.

We have noticed that Elizabeth Kate has a very sensitive heart. She prays for people when they are hurt or sick. She curled up next to mammow in her hospital bed to just sit with her. She held her hand for a long time. She cries when Breanna and Benjamin are in trouble and often tells us not to take something away from them or to get them in trouble. The other day I was bummed about a craft project not working out and she gave me a hug, patted my back, and said "I'm sorry, Mommy." She gets upset when she thinks that someone is alone. (although I really think this feeling of being alone comes from her unconcious memories of her early life in Peru)

On the flip side. She now ignores us when we call her, says no a lot, and is super clingy to me. She screams and pitches a fit when she doesn't get her own way. She is really trying to figure out some independence. :) This is new as of June. Terrible three's right? :)

I hope that this tender, sweet, strong - willed, full of excitement about life and all it offers stays with her as she grows up. I think that upon her salvation God will gift her with a special love for others and the ability to see need and the wisdom on how to meet it. (just judging from what we see in her natural gifts already)