Instant Parenthood (part 3)

Physically, they are each thriving.
With as much as they eat, I can’t believe they haven’t gained weight
though. When we met Luis and Jeison, although
always very excited to run around, jump, and play, they would so easily get out
of breath and just simply didn’t have very smooth form, as if physical activity
had not been encouraged much. Jeison
can keep up with the rest of us pretty well on a walk now, that of course is
with him jogging… and he now climbs and runs up the play place at Chick-Fil-A,
no more crawling one leg at a time! Luis
is working on his running form and practicing a lot of soccer and enjoys going
to practice with Coach Papi for the High School boys. Ana Maria, well she never runs out of
energy. Jose describes bedtime with her
like “trying to put a cat to bed!”, kicking and laughing she goes down and is
the first up in the whole house in the morning. It’s like the “on” switch is turned on and she is rearin’ to go!

Academically, they are doing
quite well. They are a bit behind, but we just have to work hard with them, to
build the foundation they lack and help them catch up.  Our #1 goal this year is English
acquisition. Luis and Ana are learning
to read, which is a very big goal as well, when you’re learning to read and the
words are in English… I’ve seen that it’s hard for them to get excited that they
just read a word or a sentence when they
don’t recognize the language. Jeison is
working on his writing, coloring and numbers right now. As a reminder, Jeison still can’t talk, but
he is trying so hard and wants to so badly!

Acquisition of the English
language has finally become more natural to them, they were really struggling
with the language for the first several months that we almost felt as though
they were afraid to start trying, just to be sent back to Colombia.

They
acted as though they didn’t believe this new
family situation was really true and permanent, maybe it was just too good
to be true. Now that they are more comfortable and accepting of their
"Forever Family" it is wonderful and since this summer we have
started to hear them interacting with one another and listen to them use
English amongst themselves. We just laugh and laugh with them, when they use
some of our expressions at the right time. Luis’ favorites: "Oh my
goodness" and “Nala wupper pupper,” Ana Maria’s favorite: "Okie-Dokie,”
and Jeison simply likes to say our names over and over and over and over again…
because that is what he can say!

Whew! This has been one long update of
our first, technically seven months together! God is good! We have such a collection of ‘Stories of God’s
Faithfulness” throughout the adoption process and the past couple of
years. We really do – what a treasure
that will be to look back upon and share with our children how they were loved
and prayed for and supported to bring home by so many.  Thank you!!!

Hope you have a fantastic fall
season! Don’t forget to leave a comment
for the kiddos, they just love it when we read them to them and enjoy knowing others
have been enjoying their journey!