I cried. They didn’t.
Their teachers were blessings to us and the girls in every way. I’m so happy that our church is their school too. Both girls feel so comfortable there, and what better place to want to be than your church? God willing, (and grandpa willing 
) I think they will get to go there again next year.
Here are the memories. To see them larger just click on the slide show.
We got a puppy.
MacKenzie, our blue heeler mutt mix, loves our girls. Indeed, she’s a central reason why Monica can fall asleep at night. She cuddles up at the end of her bed and dozes off for an hour our two before we crack the door open and let her out for one last piddle before the real night begins.
She adores Kelly, who can’t seem to eat without dropping all kinds of goodies on the floor.
But we’re at that stage in life where, loving dog owners that we are, our thoughts turn morbid and we realize that MacKenzie is coming up to the half way point of life expectancy. And, knowing what a heart crushing experience that is to be, we want to have a crutch, a companion pup, to pace it out.
I know. A bit twisted.
That’s not the only reason. MacKenzie loves other dogs. Ren and I are dog people. I grew up in a two dog family. She wanted to get another dog last year. But I wanted to wait until after we got our daughters. It needed to be a family experience.
Last Saturday, in a spur of the moment trip, we headed east along the Ohio river until we arrived at a small podunk town where a young couple had a litter of blue heelers. The girls watched Benji on the ride there. Kelly muttered “puppy” while Monica muttered “baby” throughout the entire movie.
We quickly narrowed the choice down to two of the pups. Taking them both out of their enclosure, we set them before MacKenzie. The one she showed the most interest in was the one we took.
Here’s a picture of her.
Magdalena
We named her Magdalena – Lena for short – after the Rio Magdalena.
Monica is ecstatic. The puppy is giving her lots of practice with moderation (how to hold her gently, how to back away and not be intimidating, how not to jump around and make loud noises around a sleeping pup).
We’re happy to add more chaos.
I’m using that term loosely. I figured that since the last post was a bit uncouth I’d just add another.
Kelly’s comfort “object” is to pick her nose at night and eat the buggers. I know, disgusting. And yet, as soon as she gets it all out, she falls right to sleep. For the longest time I didn’t have the heart to tell her not to do this. But, this past week Zach and I have been telling her not to pick her nose anymore. Use a tissue.
She can’t fall asleep! She gets really fidgety. So, yesterday I told her she could pick her nose again. But only at night, in her bedroom, right before she falls asleep. The rest of the day, at school, home, in public, she must use a tissue.
Tonight, as I was rocking her to sleep, she asked, “Mami, I can pick my nose?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes, because it’s night time and you’re going to sleep.”
“Can I eat it?”
“Yes.”
“Oh THANK YOU MAMI!”
I apologize if you think this is gross but I busted out laughing.
Yesterday, Kelly walked up to me and started talking to me in her sweet sing-songy voice. She said, in perfect English, “Um, my baby, um, is farting, um, chicken.”
I said, “What?!?!”
And she repeated, “Farting chicken!”
I blame pre-school for this new English ability
We were very happy to share our adoption story with our church on Mother’s Day. Below is the transcript of what we said.
Ren Starts:
We’d like to share with you the story of how God built our family through adoption. After about 6 years of marriage, Zach and I were ready to have children. We changed our whole lives in this pursuit. We got new jobs, moved from Texas to Ohio because we wanted to be surrounded by a network of family in order to raise our kids. We bought a house, tried to get pregnant, then found out we couldn’t.
That was the first time we realized that we may have certain plans in mind for our lives, but sometimes God has a different idea, and the steps we take to get where we think we want to go might look very different.
For us, it was a fairly easy decision to adopt. We did research, chose international adoption, went through the mountain of paperwork and thought, “We’ll be family of four in two years.”
And that was the second time we realized that God might have different plans for us, because Colombia approved us to adopt 2 children, ages 0 to 4, when we had requested 2 children ages 0 to 6. While we were thrilled at the thought of having younger children, our 0 to 4 waiting list did not move for two years, while the 0 to 6 waiting list did. It looked like it was going to be a five year wait. Mothers day 1 went by, mother’s day 2 went by and they were very hard because I didn’t know when I was going to be a mother. I wanted something over which I had no control.
Over and over I was reminded of the verse Proverbs 16:9 – In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
Zach continues:
Last year, a few weeks after that difficult mother’s day, we got a call from our agency. They had a special circumstance. A sibling group of 6 kids was up for adoption. We would have to commit to Colombia to keep all 6 siblings in contact by building a relationship with two other families, but were we interested in the two youngest sisters, age 3 and 5?
Of course! (Heck yes). What an answer to prayers.
Again, this was not the family tree we imagined. Now we’d have “adoptee-in-law” extensions. Might be a bit complicated to explain to your kids! But we also knew and felt that God was presenting us with a blessing.
So, in January, we traveled to Colombia to bring Monica Tatiana and Kelly Johana home to Cincinnati. Here are pictures of the first day we met them.
Monica is six. She’s spunky, athletic, loves all animals, and has a fascination with the US Postal service (mail carriers, mail boxes, etc). She struggles with speech, is a hard worker, and is learning that there is middle ground (not just extremes).
Kelly is four. A chatterbox, she has a vivid imagination, and easy to get along with. She’s so affectionate. She struggles with paying attention and following directions. But learns with laughter.
Adoption is not an easy road for any of us, but it’s a commitment to family that we’ve made to Monica and Kelly. And we’ve experienced a good dose of God’s grace throughout this journey.
We would ask that you keep our family in prayers. The girls are bonding well, but it takes time for the concept of permanent family to sink in. It’s a long process.
We’d also ask that you keep our brother and sister-in-law in your prayers. Their paperwork is currently in Colombia. If or when they’re approved, they’ll head down to adopt Monica and Kelly’s older brothers.
Thank you!
Graeters, a Cincinnati favorite, makes a mean banana split. The other night Monica and I had a Papi daughter date. I told her we would share – I’d pick a flavor (strawberry) and she’d pick a flavor (chocolate) – and we’d eat from the same dish. She kept saying “compartir (share)” with a mixture of desire (she really liked sharing with her papi) and agony (she really liked the banana split).
Monica eats her 1st banana split
At one point she said “we don’t have to eat fast.” But then proceeded to plow a spoonful of whipped cream and chocolate syrup into her mouth.
I felt love, sadness, and hope. All kids deserve to have their father take them out for a banana split. It should be a basic right. And I want to make it a habit.
***
Since giving them their own rooms, Kelly gets up before Monica. No doubt this is because she goes to bed earlier, and faster, than when she shared a room with Monica. She’s also conquered her tendency to run into our bedroom and wake her sleeping Mami.
What she does is stumbles downstairs and runs into my routine. Mid-shave, making coffee, tying the tie, she stands there with muddled eyes. And then raises her arms for me to pick her up.
Lately the morning weather is downright awesome. Cool, damp, and sunny (the sun actually rises by 6:15). We walk out the door, her in my arms, and say our good mornings to objects of the day.
“Good morning baby robins,” who have a nest right outside our kitchen.
“Good morning bunny rabbit” who sleeps in Mami’s flower bed.
“Good morning flowers.”
“Good morning dirt.”
We then swoon together near the end of the drive way and pick up the newspaper (my one major link to a bygone era). Kelly holds it to her tight (I tell her it’s important). We go back inside and I give her a strawberry to chew on until her sister wakes up.
***
The other day the girls entered a sisterly spat. Sisterly spats are a normal occurrence (in every family – I remember Leah and Anna going to town on each other), but the outcome differed from the norm. At one point Kelly grabbed Monica’s hair and gave a tug-of-war yank. It was 7:00, close enough to bed time, that I marched her up the stairs to start the routine.
Kelly, who can go from soul wrenching sobs to happy laughter in .5 seconds, screamed the entire procedure of brushing her teeth, putting her pajamas on, and combing her hair. Indeed, she almost inhaled a huge glob of toothpaste while screaming.
But in the midst of me walking her down to give her Mami a goodnight hug, she stopped crying for a second to nestle into my neck and give me a kiss.
“Luv you Papi.”
And then she continued to scream.
***
When I get home from work the girls want to play outside. Yesterday the entire family, with Grandma Kissee watching from the porch, played baseball.
I pitched. Mami played catcher. And Monica, whose physical talent constantly amazes me, hit wiffle ball homers into the primrose patch.
Kelly ran around in loopy circles, sometimes playing with her yo-yo, sometimes looking at ants.
It felt very cheesy American. That moment. But we were so happy. Monica would leap and sprint and laugh and laugh every time she hit the ball.
And that’s where I’m at. Happy and content. Some days bring challenges. Some days bring humor. All days bring hugs and kisses and random needs. Yet I fall asleep at night and the words of Psalm 63 roll around in my head.
My soul will be satisfied as with richest food and with singing lips I will praise you.
The girls have been so very eager to help me in the garden. Well, Kelly just likes to play with dirt (and eat it – I had to ask her to spit out a stick), but Monica actually works hard! Here are pics of their first real weeding expedition.
