Joy Unspeakable!

It has been a couple of weeks since I blogged and I have desperately wanted to make the time but I simply have not.

We have had such a beautiful snowy winter. On Monday, February 3rd, we woke up to a very unexpected 9 inches of snow! It was beautiful but that makes our WV roads very dangerous. Jeremy braved the weather and went in to work. The kids earned a snow day and spent hours outside playing. Ben would live out there if we allowed.

He then was so happy to finally be Mariah's "favorite". She desperately wanted to go out and play. Ben was her ticket!

After all, he is so much fun!

Micah was playing then decided a few neighbors needed shoveled out.

And or course.....Kyle wanted to help as well.

We convinced Selah to go ahead out. We have to remind her that she will stay warm in her snow gear.

Becca also loves to be outside. And it suits her well.

Our past two weeks have consisted of more tests and labs for our Selah. I took her down to the hospital for her labs. She needed and EKG, several x-rays, and blood work. 

We started with the blood work.......and it stopped there. On the 15th tube of blood poor Selah passed out. She was out for quite some time. They actually asked me to call my husband in to help with her. Twenty-five minutes later she was awake and we headed out the door with only her blood work completed. Every ounce of color drained from her sweet face. She came home and slept for a good part of the day. We did return the next morning for the remaining tests.

As school began for the week I noticed Selah seemed bored. This is quite common for kids from orphanages. They are not used to "free-time". These kiddos enjoy a very busy schedule. I decided that we needed to have some schooling for her. It is pretty safe to say that she will do just fine. She is excellent in math. I did notice that the only things I have found so far that she is confused with is writing of a quotient as a remainder. She uses decimals. The other confusion is with some of the Roman Numerals. Other than that her addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are stellar!

She participates in Science as we are learning about Botany. We plan to dissect a flower this week after learning about germination, angiosperms, and gymnosperms. I love how she picks up on so much. We are not fooled! 

I went grocery shopping last Friday and Selah wanted to come. I think she does not like me going places alone. On the way there she began talking. She asked me if I remembered our conversation from the evening before. Of course I did! She said to me, "You remember last night? How we talked?" I said I did. She then said,"What can I call you?" 

Oh my! She is really trying to see what feels right. She still does not address us as anything. But I do believe it is coming soon! There is so much confusion in her little heart. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for her to call me "Mom" or "Momma". Rebecca also tries to get her to call me that. In fact, I guess Selah has called me that when speaking to Rebecca about me on three occasions. It has never been loud enough for me to even hear. But it is coming!

Our trip home from church this past Sunday also proved interesting. Once again we got unexpected snow. The roads were beyond horrible.

We made it home safely even though the road were not touched in many places. As I posted on Facebook this past week I am so thankful that my dad taught me to drive on bad roads. He took me out countless times and taught me when to put the car in neutral, D2, or to pump the brakes on vehicles without anti-lock brakes. He actually taught me to drive on my mom's Oldsmobile Omega, which was a stick shift. I drove that car for several years!

I have noticed something happening in our home. I believe that Jeremy does not like this at all. Take a look for yourselves!

 

This actually happened a few months ago. I don't believe Micah is far behind.

This, however, may take some time!

Life in our house is quite interesting. There is a very heavy male influence. Our poor Frozen Infinity figures are being attacked by some dinosaurs.

Selah seems to really enjoy cooking. She loves to watch Food Network. So I have decided to work with her in the kitchen. I love that she is like a sponge. Tonight I was reminded what her life has been like. As she was mixing the ingredients for our salmon rub, she asked me who taught me to cook. I felt sad yet honored that God chose me to be her mom. I get to teach her to cook and clean among many other things. She loves to help set the table. Tonight I watched her teach Mariah where the silverware goes and how to fold the napkins. It is humbling for sure.

She and Rebecca wanted to help bake some chocolate chip cookies. Again, this was the first time that Selah ever baked anything in the kitchen.

The cookies were yummy!

We have such an amazing new daughter. She seems to be loving life. She is opening up with us and sharing a little about her life. One interesting tidbit we learned is that her middle school in China was school to 3,000 students! She was in boarding school there and had 6 roommates. It seems that these girls liked to stay up past "lights out" and use a flashlight to complete their Chinese homework. She giggles about it.

She did her own laundry. She is quite amazed that I fold all the laundry here. The kids sort and wash and dry laundry but I fold. She has asked many times why they don't take care of their own. She has grown up too fast.

Selah also does not understand why American women take their husband's last name as their own. In China the woman keeps her last name and the couple's children take the father's last name.

We have also learned that many words are difficult for her to differentiate. For instance shirt, short and shot all sound the same to her. Also, kids sounds like cats. And boss sounds like box. We laugh a lot! 

She is an amazing speller. When in trouble, we spell things out in English. Just today we were talking about the stars in the night sky. I had to spell it because she was unsure what I meant.

Mariah was promoted to her own bedroom this weekend. She now sleeps in a big bed. She had absolutely no trouble! I was a little hurt that she was so great about it. However, it really speaks volumes how far she has come. 

Here is just one more example of the heavy male influence in our home.

This photo was taken today. Mariah insisted on wearing that helmet outside over her tossle hat (notice my Pittsburgh influence in that word) in the snow!

I am amazed that God chose for us to parent each of our kids. Selah has brought a perspective to our home that was foreign to us. We are watching God work in Selah's heart.

Just last week we were studying about seeds in Science. Selah later asked me how a seed got everything it needed already inside. I simply told her that is how God created it. She looked at me strangely and asked again. I explained yet again how God created plants and seeds. She just took it all in. Honestly I think she was a bit annoyed with my answer.

Our sweet newest daughter truly is perfect for our family. She and Rebecca are best friends. It is so sweet to watch them together. We look at our life and are amazed to see how our obedience to God's direction has brought us such joy. It is pure joy! Joy unspeakable!!!!