This might be a long one.....maybe you should grab some coffee before you start reading it...... :-)
It seems hard to believe - Martha has been home with us 14 weeks already! And, that day of bringing her home seems a bit like a very distant memory, because in so many ways it seems like Martha has always been here. She has fallen right into the moving and grooving of our household - and we have done the same with her. Though,we are still getting used to the drawers she opens and empties, the toys she believes are better all over the floor and remembering to bring diapers and wipes wherever we go. :-) But, it's all good! She is talking more and more - not a lot of identifiable words, but more and more attempts and finding ways of communicating with us. Someone had told me to remember that she is sort of like an "ESL" (English as a second language) student. Her brain was wired in Amharic and when we picked her up, she was at the very early stages of using words. Then, we threw her in a new culture, where all of the words are new and strange, and she needs to "re-set" the language part of her brain to English. Seeing how determined she is to keep up with everything the rest of the family is doing, gives us no doubt that her language will come - and before we know it, she'll be talking our ears off. For now, her favorite word is "Da DEE" and it sends her Daddy into the hugest grin we've ever seen!
We can look at the pictures of her first few days and see a difference - as we look at them now, there seems to be a look of shock and confusion on her face, and probably some fear too. These days, all we see is a happy, little rascal who is eating up every minute of life - just like any 17 month old child should be. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a lot of progress in her attachment journey - and much of that has happened while Vicki has been home on FMLA. In a roomful of people, she usually (not always) now chooses Dave or Vicki over others - even a month ago, that wasn't happening. She is also now initiating cuddling with Mom & Dad - also a new notable activity. She has not been much of a cuddler at all, so we are thrilled that she seeks comfort periodically from us now. Martha has proven to be friendly and flexible in almost all situations - including being around new people and places. Usually, at this age, that is a good thing. But, because she has had so many primary caregivers in her life already, this has concerned us that she is not attaching to us. Well, this morning proved different......Vicki brought her to the nursery at church and for the first time ever, she started to cry when Vicki walked away. Vicki was then texted after a half hour, and asked to return to nursery because Martha hadn't settled in and was still crying. This is a wonderful happening! But, it also brought Vicki to tears because tomorrow she returns to work and Martha will again have different caregivers during work/school hours. Vicki is very concerned that this will confuse Martha again and we will lose some of the progress we've made in the last 3-4 weeks. Please pray that Martha will continue to know us as her parents and that Vicki will be of some usefulness at work in the coming weeks as going back is proving to be very difficult for her.
Labor Day weekend was also Baptism weekend and we enjoyed having family members here to help us celebrate God's promises to Martha! Thanks to all of you who attended the service that morning - you all did our hearts good! We were delighted to share the celebration with so many. After the service, we had a meal with our family who were in town and were blessed to have 2 Ethiopian friends prepare some Ethiopian food and do a Coffee Ceremony for us. Here are some pictures.......
There are a couple of questions that continue to be asked of us - so here are the long answers: :-)
1)Will you adopt again?
If finances were not an issue, we would do it again in a heartbeat. The joy of Martha joining our family and the journey that got us here have changed each one of our family members in tremendous ways. We also know God's love in a new way, as we are visibly reminded on a daily basis of the fact that God adopted us as His Children and loves us forever, No Matter What. We also continue to have such a burden for orphans worldwide - it is frustrating that it costs so much financially to try to help them.
2) Will you return to Ethiopia?
YES YES YES!!! Again, if finances were not an issue, we'd probably already have a trip planned. We want to go back someday for Martha to see her homeland. We'd also like to go back and show our other kids the Country. We try to help them understand how amazingly blessed they are living in America, but until they see poverty and suffering firsthand, we doubt they will be able to get a true grasp of it. In addition, Ethiopia, the country, the people and the culture has really gotten under our skin and we are still figuring out what to do with all that. Please pray for us as we seek to know and follow God's call.
3) Will you continue to blog?
Most likely, yes. But, our posts may be more about the entire family or how we hope to love more orphans or care for Ethiopians. We really don't know. But, we'll still be blogging about Martha's progress and this crazy Jansen Expansion - knowing that as God has expanded our family, He has also expanded our hearts and we'll continue to seek to know how He wants us to live out what we've learned (and continue to learn). Keep checking back!
This Tuesday, September 11th, is Ethiopian New Year! Happy New Year to a Country we love - somehow we're going to celebrate here too! :-)
It seems hard to believe - Martha has been home with us 14 weeks already! And, that day of bringing her home seems a bit like a very distant memory, because in so many ways it seems like Martha has always been here. She has fallen right into the moving and grooving of our household - and we have done the same with her. Though,we are still getting used to the drawers she opens and empties, the toys she believes are better all over the floor and remembering to bring diapers and wipes wherever we go. :-) But, it's all good! She is talking more and more - not a lot of identifiable words, but more and more attempts and finding ways of communicating with us. Someone had told me to remember that she is sort of like an "ESL" (English as a second language) student. Her brain was wired in Amharic and when we picked her up, she was at the very early stages of using words. Then, we threw her in a new culture, where all of the words are new and strange, and she needs to "re-set" the language part of her brain to English. Seeing how determined she is to keep up with everything the rest of the family is doing, gives us no doubt that her language will come - and before we know it, she'll be talking our ears off. For now, her favorite word is "Da DEE" and it sends her Daddy into the hugest grin we've ever seen!
We can look at the pictures of her first few days and see a difference - as we look at them now, there seems to be a look of shock and confusion on her face, and probably some fear too. These days, all we see is a happy, little rascal who is eating up every minute of life - just like any 17 month old child should be. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a lot of progress in her attachment journey - and much of that has happened while Vicki has been home on FMLA. In a roomful of people, she usually (not always) now chooses Dave or Vicki over others - even a month ago, that wasn't happening. She is also now initiating cuddling with Mom & Dad - also a new notable activity. She has not been much of a cuddler at all, so we are thrilled that she seeks comfort periodically from us now. Martha has proven to be friendly and flexible in almost all situations - including being around new people and places. Usually, at this age, that is a good thing. But, because she has had so many primary caregivers in her life already, this has concerned us that she is not attaching to us. Well, this morning proved different......Vicki brought her to the nursery at church and for the first time ever, she started to cry when Vicki walked away. Vicki was then texted after a half hour, and asked to return to nursery because Martha hadn't settled in and was still crying. This is a wonderful happening! But, it also brought Vicki to tears because tomorrow she returns to work and Martha will again have different caregivers during work/school hours. Vicki is very concerned that this will confuse Martha again and we will lose some of the progress we've made in the last 3-4 weeks. Please pray that Martha will continue to know us as her parents and that Vicki will be of some usefulness at work in the coming weeks as going back is proving to be very difficult for her.
Labor Day weekend was also Baptism weekend and we enjoyed having family members here to help us celebrate God's promises to Martha! Thanks to all of you who attended the service that morning - you all did our hearts good! We were delighted to share the celebration with so many. After the service, we had a meal with our family who were in town and were blessed to have 2 Ethiopian friends prepare some Ethiopian food and do a Coffee Ceremony for us. Here are some pictures.......
There are a couple of questions that continue to be asked of us - so here are the long answers: :-)
1)Will you adopt again?
If finances were not an issue, we would do it again in a heartbeat. The joy of Martha joining our family and the journey that got us here have changed each one of our family members in tremendous ways. We also know God's love in a new way, as we are visibly reminded on a daily basis of the fact that God adopted us as His Children and loves us forever, No Matter What. We also continue to have such a burden for orphans worldwide - it is frustrating that it costs so much financially to try to help them.
2) Will you return to Ethiopia?
YES YES YES!!! Again, if finances were not an issue, we'd probably already have a trip planned. We want to go back someday for Martha to see her homeland. We'd also like to go back and show our other kids the Country. We try to help them understand how amazingly blessed they are living in America, but until they see poverty and suffering firsthand, we doubt they will be able to get a true grasp of it. In addition, Ethiopia, the country, the people and the culture has really gotten under our skin and we are still figuring out what to do with all that. Please pray for us as we seek to know and follow God's call.
3) Will you continue to blog?
Most likely, yes. But, our posts may be more about the entire family or how we hope to love more orphans or care for Ethiopians. We really don't know. But, we'll still be blogging about Martha's progress and this crazy Jansen Expansion - knowing that as God has expanded our family, He has also expanded our hearts and we'll continue to seek to know how He wants us to live out what we've learned (and continue to learn). Keep checking back!
This Tuesday, September 11th, is Ethiopian New Year! Happy New Year to a Country we love - somehow we're going to celebrate here too! :-)
