December 18, 2019

Happy Birthday, Abby J! I can't believe I have time to sit down and write on the day of your birthday! I went to sleep last night thanking God for the last five years of your life. You have brought me so much joy and laughter and fun. We got up this morning and went to Chick-fil-a for breakfast, per your request. You really didn't eat much of your chicken biscuit... I think it's the experience that you like the most. Yesterday, we picked out cupcakes for you to take to school with snowflake rings on top. We are going to have your party this Saturday so that Mimimo and Bepops can be here, and we have invited Hattie and Mary Eliza. You decided you wanted to decorate gingerbread houses, and you wanted a Frozen II cake. Papa and I aren't big on all the princess stuff, but for a cake that will be eaten, I thought it would be okay:) Papa says when he calls you princess he wants you to think about how beautiful you are, not the images that are portrayed in all these movies. This morning we gave you a puzzle. You LOVE to do puzzles and were excited about this new one. On Saturday you will get a little doll house with two little girls to go inside, a car, and some furniture from Mimimo and Bepops. You decided you needed some little people to play with when Ruth-Michael plays with her mice and rabbits, so I hope you will like these. You LOVE "feet leggings" (aka tights) so I'm trying to get you more of those. You have only one pair and I only let you wear them on special occasions.

You love to say, "just so you know..." Even Mrs. Rouse noticed that and used it in one of her newsletters. She said, "one of my students likes to say, 'just so you know,'" and I knew exactly who that was! You don't talk about Kenya that much, but I know you still miss it. This morning you said, "I wish we could be in Malindi so I could have my birthday there with all my friends." It has been hard for you and Ruth-Michael (and me) to make close friends here. In Malindi, we just did life with people and the friendships came naturally. Here, we have to make more of an effort. You haven't found your "Cooper" and Ruth-Michael hasn't found her "Dina," but I know it will come with time. Mimimo had to pray for friends for your mama, and I will pray for friends for you, too. Last Sunday you left me and went to sit by Iddy during church. You love your big brother. We have really grown close as a family during our transition to the States. You love your position as the "baby" and will say, "Do you think I'm just so adorable?" Which, of course, we do!

November 19, 2019

Abby-Jones... where do I start? You are hilarious and full of life. Last night you and Papa were being silly together, and after a pause in the conversation/laughter, you both let out a little sigh at exactly the same time in exactly the same way. It cracked us ALL up! This morning you got in the bed with us and you said, "Where are we going after school today? I just really like it when we go out to places!" And so you do! I got to go on a field trip with your class to an apple picking farm. We were running a little late, so when we arrived everyone was already lined up. One of the other moms leaned over to me and said, "I'm so glad you are here, one of the other students just said, 'Where is Abby Jones? We just won't have any fun if she isn't here!'" You are SO MUCH FUN!

Here are a few things I don't want to forget...

For the longest time you would sit down on the floor after wiping yourself to see if you were clean... If there was no poop on the floor, you assumed you had wiped well! But you had trouble in public bathrooms, because you didn't want to sit down on those floors, so you didn't know how to check yourself😂

One time Papa sneezed on you and you said, "Papa 'bless-you'd' on me!"

I was hugging Aunt Amanda at church one Sunday soon after we had gotten back from Kenya, and you asked why I was hugging her. "Are we not going to see her for a long time?" You had been through so many goodbyes!

You said, "When we live here like we used to live in Malindi, will we still have to wear seatbelts?" You also said, "There are a lot of rules in America!"

You are always in the bathroom while I am showering, and if I let you, you would hop in the shower with me. You hate to be alone... you are my little shadow. One day, I asked you to hand me my razor from the sink. You said, "Did you decide to raze today?" I said, "No, I decided to shave today." You looked so confused!

One time Papa got on to you for putting your dirty clothes down on the floor and told you to put them away where they go... you went and put your dirty clothes on top of Papa's, which were also on the floor! That cracked me up!

Several times lately out of the blue you have said, "I feel like I've been having a fun life."

And you are, my darling, you are having a very fun life. There is a little girl at church named Hattie that you love. She sits with us during church and you chase each other around afterwards. She has curly hair, too, and you two are so adorable together. When it's time to go you give her a big hug. I love your heart and your spirit. You look for opportunities to get tickled, and then you milk them for all they're worth. If something gets a laugh, you do it again and again until it loses its effect. You love the sound of your own voice and chatter on constantly. Sometimes I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't think you really do, either! You love to spell. You say, "Give me a word, Mama." So I will tell you how to spell one word and you repeat it over and over. You know how to spell "stop" because of the "stop" sign we see on the way to Ruth-Michael's school. Your teacher said basically you are doing great with everything. She told me that sometimes you don't sit up at carpet time, but I think that was because she felt like she needed to give me something for you to work on. When she sent home the list of goals, she was supposed to circle areas that needed work and nothing was circled. You take life in stride, baby girl, and you love every minute of it.

Ruth Michael's 7th Birthday

Wow, what a year this has been for you! You started 1st grade at Light Academy, and that was a bit of a tough experience. The last week you were there, Papa and I had paid security guards to stay at the school to make sure you and your siblings were safe. Safety was becoming a big issue in Malindi, and we didn't like the freedom with which people could come and go from your school. Ultimately, we decided to keep you home the next semester, and we found a really great tutor for you, Quinter. In the midst of taking you out of Light Academy, we also decided that it was time for us to move back to the United States. This was not an easy thing for you to understand, and it made you so very sad. You cried about it a lot, and when it finally came time for us to leave, you told us that it felt like your heart was broken into a thousand tiny pieces. I was trying to be strong for you, but I felt shattered, too. I think because I was trying to be strong, you felt like I wasn't hurting as much as you were, so I tried to let you see my sadness some, too. The first month in America was all fun: visiting friends and family, shopping for new clothes, and eating lots of good food. Then it was time to settle down in Greenville. You had to get used to a new church with lots of new people, you had to go to the doctor and get shots, and then you had to start a new school. You had never been to American school before. It hasn't been easy for you, but you are really trying to stay positive, and I am so very proud of you. You are trying to make friends, and you told me that you have been playing with Lilly at recess, instead of standing beside your teacher, so that makes me very happy. You are so sensitive! You say that your teacher plays sad music, and sometimes it makes you cry. You also get really sad at dismissal time. For some reason you think I will forget to pick you up. Papa and I did come late to get you for the first month, because we thought school was dismissed at 2:45, but it was actually 2:30! We felt really really bad about that.

Your seventh birthday was fun. Mimimo and Bepops were here, and we met the Atnips at Chick-fil-a. We had a princess cake for dessert. I really tried to make it special, but we didn't know many people, and we didn't have a house to invite people to, and I was feeling a little overwhelmed by my life in general, so it was a simple birthday, but you said you loved it. You got an American girl doll, which you thought was the best thing ever, although you haven't played with her at all since then! Alana made you and Abby-Jones these really cute frames with your names in them for your bedside table, and Mattie gave you a bunch of clothes and shoes for your American girl doll. I think your favorite things were the little kangaroos and the little house you got from Mimimo and Bepops, and the little red car and baby hedgehogs and pandas you got from Mimi later on when she came to visit.

Here are a few things I don't want to forget from our time in Kenya:

You used to thing the roundabout in Malindi was a carousel. You would get so excited when we would mention the roundabout, but when you never saw a carousel, you would be so confused!

When we got to America, we would often get gas at QT. You asked why all the workers at QT wore "home clothes." You thought the people pumping their own gas were workers. 😊

We were having some peaches, and I said, "I love peaches because I'm a Georgia girl." You said, "Well, I love Mangoes because I am a Kenyan girl."

AJ was complaining one day about a playground we were playing on because it was wet. You said, "We are Kenya people. We don't care if we get sunned on or rained on, and we don't need shoes!"

You and Mimimo love to watch the Chinese girl cooking. One time, Mimimo said, "She must be feeding an army!" And you said, "Really?!" You take everything literally... that's why we call you Amelia Badelia. Also, when you heard Iddy was going to run cross country, you said, "Wow, I guess he's gonna be really tired," because you thought he would be running across the country!

Also, you are so sensitive to your mama. When I met with Mr. Potkanowicz for your parent-teacher conference, he went on and on about how good of a student you were. He also said you get sad a lot and you like to stay with him during recess instead of playing with the other children. He has really been working with you on your vowels, because your education in Kenya sort of confused you in that area. I was surprised when he told me that you love to work with him on vowels, because you hated working on it with me. I asked you about that in the evening, and you said, "Mr. Potkanowicz makes it fun!" That hurt my feelings a little bit, which I tried to hide, but you saw through me immediately. You quickly said, "But you make it fun, too, mom. I love working on my vowels with you, too!" You gave me a big hug and were so worried that you had hurt my feelings. I love you so much, my precious child.

Iddy's 17th Birthday

Well, this birthday was kind of a funny one for you, I think. We arrived in Greenville, our new home, on August 2, and your birthday was the very next day! We didn't know many people, didn't have a house, didn't have any kind of life there at all... so celebrating a birthday wasn't easy. We had already celebrated with Mimimo and Bepops early on August 1st. She made you poppy seed chicken and I made chocolate sheet cake with peanut butter icing. We gave you Papa's iPhone 8 as your gift, because you really needed a phone, as the one you brought over from Kenya wasn't working well with the American phone networks. On August 3rd we went to downtown Greenville to walk around and get ice cream and do a little exploring. That evening, we had dinner with Travis and Kendra at Tipsy Taco, and you went with Hayden and some other guys to Top Golf. I know you are really having to push yourself to be around so many people that you don't really know (I totally understand that feeling), but you are doing a great job. You have been so outgoing at church, meeting so many people and just being friendly. Everyone loves you, and you seem to enjoy being with everyone at church.

Iddy Graduates from Light Academy

Iddy, you graduated from Light Academy in the middle of all the chaos of us packing up and making preparations to move to the US. You worked so hard and studied a lot for your IGCSE exams. You didn't always feel great about every test you took, but you worked really hard and gave it your best shot. When I look back at your education, I'm amazed at how well you have done. You went from school in Siaya, to school at RingRoad, to Jalaram, to Light Academy. Each time starting in a different grade than the one you left based on where we thought you needed to be. You missed big chunks of school when we traveled. I don't think you really started getting meaningful instruction at school until Light Academy, which you started at the end of your 8th year. Even there, your math teacher spoke with such a heavy Turkish accent that you couldn't always understand him. And yet, you persevered... and you got your education in spite of all these circumstances. I'm so proud of you!

Not only did you succeed academically, but you also succeeded as a public speaker on graduation day! You were selected to give the speech for your class, and you were nervous about it, but you did it anyway. You and Papa worked so hard putting your speech together, and you practiced a lot. When the time came, you did an awesome job, spoke with confidence, and made me and Papa so incredibly proud. I will never forget watching you throw that graduation cap up into the air at the end of the ceremony. It felt like such a long journey for you to get there. What is in store for you? How I wish I could see the future! But I'm so confident in the gifts that I see in you:compassion, empathy, resourcefulness, intelligence, and the ability to make everyone you meet love you almost instantly. No matter how many fans you gain in life, me and Papa will always be your biggest! We love you so!

28 March 2019

Ruth Michael, first grade has been an interesting year for you. You did your first term at Light Academy, and you did really well. You even got an award for excellence in reading. It was a struggle for you, and many mornings we left you at school in tears, but you made it through. My heart was so very sad to see you that way! We decided not to send you back to school in the spring and hired Quinter to come and teach you at home. She is wonderful, and you love each other. She is patient and kind with you. We struggle to motivate you, because you would always rather play or tell stories, but I try to help by finding science experiments for you to do online, or some kind of craft. You are much happier than you used to be... like you are back to your old, happy self. You LOVE your friends at the apartment. When we told you we were leaving, you put your head down in between your knees and sobbed. AJ observed you and then copied you exactly. It broke my heart. You draw pictures of you, Dina, Naomi, Abby-Jones, Nora, JJ, Cooper, and Graham, and you label it "my best friends." Young and old, you love them all. You LOVE to hold Graham. You and Dina play so well together. Sometimes you have disagreements, but the next day you are right back to being best friends.

You call sewage "sea wedge," which is a word we have to use a lot because we can always smell it. Yesterday someone had brought over a lawn mower to mow the grass, which has never happened before. You were really puzzled by the sound, but you loved the smell. I think it was the first time you had ever smelled freshly cut grass.

You told me once that you knew the "f" word. I asked you what it was and you said, "fart."

You made some funny observations when we were in the States this last time. When you saw all the dishes in the dishwasher at Aunt Cindy's house you asked why Aunt Cindy put all the dishes in the oven! For Christmas, Mimimo and Beepops set up a treasure hunt for all the grandkids. Your part was to sing the Kenyan National Anthem in Swahili, which you did perfectly. Then you each got $30 (wow!) to spend at target. You picked out some Woodzeez and a little Barbie girl. Afterwards I asked you if you felt good about what you got. You said that you did, but you didn't get exactly what you wanted. When I asked you what that was you paused for a moment and then said, "well, everything in the store!" I know the feeling!!! You lamented that AJ got to have a birthday party in the States. It really hit you this year that birthdays in America look a lot different than birthdays in Kenya. This year, you will get one, too!

Quinter is teaching you the pledge of allegiance, which you will need to know next year in an American school. All of our hearts are grieving a little bit at the thought of the transition that lies ahead, but you are gonna do awesome. Last night we prayed for you to find a really good friend in America. I can't wait to meet her!