What a difference 24 hours make!

Last night, I was so physically & emotionally exhausted that I sort of collapsed into bed about 10:20 & passed out. I slept about 8 1/2 hours & then needed a nap after church today! Boy was I tired! I guess the week of preparations finally caught up with me. Larry & I had been staying up til 1-2am every night this week working on things or just not sleeping b/c we were so keyed up about all that was going on.
Yesterday afternoon & last night was hard. The kids were not all that cooperative & testing all the boundaries with us. Each step of the way was a struggle, but we did eventually get them bathed & into bed last night. I had a moment of "what have I gotten myself into???" before I hit the bed last night.
But ya know....God is so good! This morning we got everyone up, dressed & ready for church on time (wow!). The kids really liked our church & had a good time w/ their teachers & new friends. I think Kourtney & Sarah stuck together like glue the whole time. Andrew was in Worship World w/ Savannah & Samuel, so he had a couple of buddies, too. He thought it was really neat that our children's pastor played a clip from Star Wars in part of his lesson today.
The service this morning was really good for me. I needed that refueling & had myself a good cry in church. A good friend reminded me of one of my favorite verses: "Don't grow weary in doing what is right, for at the proper time you will reap the harvest if you don't give up!" (Galations 6:9) God really used her mentioning that to remind me of another verse--the one in Proverbs about "training up a child in the way he should go....". I know that this task of raising two new children will be both hard & a veryyyy big blessing. Just watching their little personalities change in the past 24 hours has been so sweet.
I was a little nervous about what the afternoon would bring---we usually have quiet time & take a nap on Sunday afternoons, but I wasn't sure if that would work out today. Things ended up going smoothly! Sarah & Kourtney went into their room for a little down time, Samuel went into the boy's room. Andrew brought his box of dominoes & Matchbox cars to the living room & watched George of the Jungle while Savannah played on the computer. Larry & I actually took a short nap...maybe an hour? It was nice to feel like things worked as smoothly as "normal". :)
This afternoon I gave Kourtney a Bible that a friend from church had bought for her. It's got a soft red leather cover with a neat little fold-over strap to close it with a big flower on it. She LOVES it. Watching her carry it around like her most prized possesion was so sweet! She clearly adored her new Bible & teasingly told the boys that they couldn't touch it b/c it was a "girl Bible". :)
Once Andrew realized that Kourtney had her own Bible, he wanted to know where his was. I pulled it out of our bedroom (a gift from the same friend who bought Kourtney's) & he was amazed that some stranger had bought it for him. He started flipping through the pages & that it was really cool! He took it to church with him tonight & was really interested in trying to find the verses the pastor was using in his sermon.
Watching him get so excited about his Bible & seeing Kourtney tote hers around was so sweet! Thank you Don & Melody! You've truely given them a great gift!
Today has been so much sweeter on an emotional level, too. When Kourtney first arrived yesterday, it was clear that she didn't want to talk to much too much. I guess she felt like I was the intruding "mama" & she wanted to be left alone. By the time she went to bed tonight, I was getting hugs & kisses. This afternoon, she asked me to come watch a movie with her. We snuggled up in Larry's big recliner under a blanket & watched Alvin & the Chipmunks for a while. She's a good snugglebug! :) I saw a lot more smiles on her face today, too! She mentioned her mom several times today..just very matter of factly...but she brings her up. We are trying to make sure & include G & Kelly in daily conversations so that they're never forgotten or lost in their little memories.
Andrew was the one who provided more of a struggle yesterday, but today he was a doll. He's still a wild monkey boy.....but I have another one of those & he seems to fit right in! :) He responded a lot better to our corrections today than he did yesterday & was willing to go along with whatever we needed him to do. I can see the ADD stuff in the early morning (when his med hasn't had time to kick in yet) & late evening (when it's worn off) the most. As long as you stay nearby & give him frequent (ok, constant...) reminders of what he's supposed to be doing, he gets it done, but Lord help us if he gets distracted. Tonight he sat so still & quiet in church...it was obvious that Kelly had him trained well on church behavior! I told him tonight how proud I was of him. He did better than Samuel has EVER done in church! Way to go, Andrew! It was interesting to me to see his little personality come out more today. He is such a sweet, provider, protector type of kid. I can tell he'll be a good daddy one day!
Oh....and a neat thing happened at church tonight!!! One of Andrew's teachers in their last school told us that Andrew is really good at art. We have a lady in the singles dept who teaches private art classes in her home. She walked up to me tonight & said "God told me I need to give one of your new kiddos free art lessons....do you think one of them might be interested??" I almost cried! Yes.....we'd love that! Andrew seemed to think it was a really cool idea, too! He'll go every Friday from 3:30-5:00 starting this week!
Keep us in your prayers as we enroll the kids in school tomorrow. Andrew says that he's a little nervous. Kourtney doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned, even looking forward to it! She's a brave girl--in so many ways! We didn't realize it until Fri when we were withdrawing the kids from their old school that Andrew was in some special ed. classes. Since we didn't have that info earlier, I'm hoping that it won't throw a monkey wrench into getting him enrolled here. He seems to recognize all his numbers, but doesn't appear to be reading yet at all. Otherwise, he seems to be on-track academics wise.
Thank you for all the continued prayers! We can feel them. God has been so faithful (see the updated needs list in the next post).