We spent one recent Sunday afternoon raking leaves despite the wind that was blowing them around. Ella and David made up a game with the leaves and wind pretending that they were rounding up sheep (the leaves) and that the sheep bandit (the wind) was trying to steal the sheep. It was entertaining watching them have so much fun helping. After a long time of hard raking our pile was in place and the kids got to jump in and enjoy one of the best parts of fall – messing up a leaf pile! The only problem with this year’s leaf pile was that the leaves were so dry that they literally just disintegrated. The leaf pile was only a fraction of its original size by the time the kids were done playing.
I recently found David and Masamo busy scanning the Toys R Us catalog that came in the Sunday paper. They were busy pointing things out to one another, I’m just glad they didn’t have a pen to circle everything they wanted!
We had a levy on the ballot for voters to decide on for our school district. This was the seventh time our levy had been up for approval and for the seventh time it was defeated. The chairman for the state oversight commision that was formed to get our district solvent even said that our emergency financial crisis is due to "lack of funding" and not reckless spending. This is a cause for concern for all of the parents and students in the district. The state took over control of the school board in August and the longer they are in control the more money our district is going to have to repay the state. I do not profess to understand all the details but I do know that more cuts are coming to our already stripped schools. So many cuts have already been made and there is talk of split schedules and no extra curricular activities at all next year. My fear is for the quality of education that will be provided with the teachers that are left. I would not blame any of the teachers for leaving a district whose citizens do not support it. This is something that is weighing on my heart, please be in prayer for wisdom for all involved.
Well, now that I’ve said all that I’ll move onto something more exciting, Halloween!
It was especially fun carving pumpkins this year, it was Masamo’s first time! It was amusing to watch him stick his hand inside the pumpkin and pull out its “guts”. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to do that and needed some encouragement. Once he had tried it out he was very enthusiastic about it, especially if he could use a spoon instead of his hand! I must say that Jason has become quite the quick pumpkin carver. He had all four pumpkins carved (to certain specifications) in no time flat! Here are some video and photos from our time!
Masamo with his "You want me to stick my hand in where?!" look
The finished products!
Halloween was more fun this year too! It was hard trying to explain to Masamo what we do on Halloween. Dressing up in costume and getting candy is just a strange concept to explain to a four year old. I guess it’s just one of those things you have to experience to understand. Masamo’s costume was a bee costume that my mother had originally made for Emily but that all our other children have worn at some point when they were younger. It was important to me to keep that tradition alive, I felt so blessed to be able to find this costume, which I thought was lost, and have Masamo wear it too!
Emily, Fall 1997
I can tell you that once Masamo got to his first house and saw that people were giving candy to him he became a HUGE fan of Halloween! He was so excited to go up and say “Happy Halloween” and then to have candy lavished upon him, he was squealing with delight for the first few houses. We went trick or treating in Jason’s parent’s neighborhood instead of our own due to the lack of houses around us. Ella, David and their cousin Nataliya took off a lot more quickly than Masamo could go, so Nataliya’s parents went along with the older ones while Jason and I stuck with Masamo. It was fun to take our time and enjoy the experience with him. Emily, meanwhile, was at Mamaw and Papaw’s house handing out candy, she’s an expert!
Ella wore a hodgepodge of things and called herself an "animal dancer"
David was Batman
Masamo broke into his candy halfway through our trick or treating. His favorite candy? "Big lollipops" (Tootsie Pops)!
Here's a post candy collecting interview with Masamo...
Jason and I went to the UC Homecoming game with my sister Carolyn, her husband and a good friend of ours from high school and college and her husband too (that’s six of us total if you’re keeping track). Unfortunately UC didn’t play a very good game and we ended up leaving at the end of the third quarter. We decided to go to Skyline in Clifton and enjoyed some good Cincinnati chili. It was a good thing we got there when we did because it was almost standing room only by the time we left!
Just this past week Jason used some of his many skills and fixed our furnace. It was making some horrible noises and was so loud it was even waking me up from a sound sleep! Jason tried to explain the problem to me but the only thing that made sense to me was that new bearings were needed. Masamo was happy to help when he saw Jason going for his tools. Masamo loves to help Jason with anything technical, especially if tools are involved!
I had a very challenging day at work recently. It was one of those unwanted and unexpected events that nurses are trained to deal with but secretly pray don’t actually happen. Thankfully things seemed to be alright after awhile but it was a trial and pointed out to me that I am not in control of my situations. I was amazed at how God gave me exactly what I needed at exact the moment I needed it and not a second sooner. I saw how I much I need to stretch my faith and trust in Him more.
I’ll end this update with recent news on some the kids….
Emily got her learner’s permit for a driver’s license! She has been driving for about a week and a half now. She found out when we first went for the test that she could not even pass the visual test without her glasses and unfortunately she had failed to bring them! They would not let her complete the written exam without having passed the visual test. The second time she went she passed the visual with flying colors (with her glasses on) and passed the written exam as well. She has a large amount of time she is required to spend behind the wheel and so now I am being chauffeured around whenever she is in the car. I am happy to report that she is a very careful and cautious driver. She has not hit anything and I've only had to grab the wheel a couple of times. It will just take time and practice to refine her skills.
David has recently been calling me “Ma’am” and Jason “Sir” whenever asked to do something. I asked him why he was doing this since it is not anything we taught him to say. He informed me that he decided to start using those titles because he thought they were more polite! What a gentleman!
Lately Masamo has been on a roller coaster of emotions. For some time it was like we were on a teeter totter. We would be having a good time together and then all of a sudden and without any warning or provocation he would get a hurt look on his face and pull away (emotionally and sometimes even physically). He would get emotionally close and then quickly pull away (the teeter totter). He is also all of a sudden having a hard time separating from me and won’t look at or address strangers anymore. I was able to discuss this with some other adoptive mothers and looked some stuff up in some of the adoption books that I have and found out that this is not so uncommon. The important thing is for me (and Jason) not to pull away as Masamo has seemed to do but to pursue him lovingly. Patience is the key. He has a lot to process, and although things may seem to be wonderful on the outside, he still has so many things to make sense of and sort out.
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