Happenings....

We are so busy doing life its hard to find time to blog. I'm down with the flu right now, so here goes....Collins continues to progress in a million ways. She keeps us laughing most of the time. Her english is phenomenal considering we got her less than 5 months ago. One of the biggest blessings for her and us right now is her school. She is going to 1/2 day kindergarten at a Lutheran church five days a week. She wouldn't let me leave her there for about the first week, but we learned a little song "Mommy Comes Back", and finally it registered with her that I would always come back for her. Yesterday was the first time she would let me leave her in Sunday School, and last Wednesday was the first time she let me leave her in Awanas. So....big, big steps forward! Tomorrow we're going to Arkansas to my mom's house. She has been packing her little pink suitcase for weeks. My cousin Beth, adopted a little girl from China years ago. Her name is Jade and she and Collins' birthdays are 2 days apart in the same year! Beth and I went on this journey together so many years ago, and here we are about to bring our girls together. Faith becoming sight.....The other day Collins wanted to sit in the very back seat in our van and I was saying "no". She said, "My cousin Jade telled me to sit in the bat (back)." Her english words are pretty much right, but one that makes me laugh that she says often is "crelly", which is "pretty". She is playing basketball, the only girl on the team. She cracks us up because she plays it just like Spencer did at that age....like it is football! Knocking people over, and yelling at them if they try and guard her. She's competitive and aggressive in sports, and then yet she's lovable and sweet and girly all at the same time. She spends alot of time changing outfits, accessorizing, doing her hair....The other day she saw my wedding picture and wondered about it. I told her that was the day Daddy and Mommy got married. She burst out with, "Where's mine?" I explained this wasn't going to happen until she grew up, to which she burst out crying that it wasn't happening now....Oh my....She's gone to such extremes in such a short time, to having nothing to having so much. Reality hasn't quite set in that she doesn't get everything that she wants. I keep telling her thats not how life works out here, and she's slowly getting it I think. That has been such a lesson for me, just relating that to my relationship with Christ. He gives me millions of things everyday, every breath that I take, and yet I dare to get upset when He doesn't give me something I want? Yikes....Being an orphan, Collins learned to be a blamer. If someone does something she doesn't like (especially Carl or me), she'll cut those beautiful eyes, lift her chin up and say, "I tell Tonna (Conner)"! Recently she has started saying, "I tell everybody!" Last night, she got really upset when we asked her to go upstairs to get her bath. The situation went south, and finally after I had her in bed she was still crying. I said, "Collins, Mommy and Daddy love you. We give you food, and toys and drive you to school....and you threw a fit just because we asked you to take a bath?" A few seconds later came the sweetest little, "I sowwy, Mommy!" We're finally able to reason with her and she understands. Those outbursts are becoming few and far between, but I like posting them in here so I can remember them. They can be pretty funny. One night she was mad at me for making her brush her teeth (geeez) and she told me she was mad at me. Then she blurted out, "I LOVE SAVANNAH!" Savannah is Spencer's girlfriend who she absolutely adores. I asked her if she loved Spencer? No. Mommy and Daddy? No. Conner? No. Just "I LOVE SAVANNAH". Another day she was mad at me for not letting her wear flip flops in the snow. She was in time out in the kitchen. I had gone upstairs, and when I started coming back down, she was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her hand was on her hip, hip out, chin high and eyes cut. She said, "Cowwins no love Mommy, Cowwins love Daddy!" She's hilarious..... Friday was a hard day. Friends of ours, Cody and Maria Whittaker, lost their little 4 year old daughter to cancer. Carl and I had an appointment with them at noon on Friday. When we pulled up and got to their front door, we knew she had just died because we could hear them crying. Standing in Susana's bedroom, seeing her tiny body, I had such a strong sense that she was not there. And she wasn't, she was experiencing "absent from the body, present with the Lord." How any family can go through something like this without the hope of Christ is beyond me. After about 30 minutes, I had to go pick up Collins. I ended up taking their 6 year old, Isabela, with me to spend the day with us. We picked up 2 other friends. It was neat to see God use Collins' bouncy personality and these other little girls to help Isabela through a very tough day. You can check out the blog of Susana's story at howcantheyhear.org.