Playdate with Jesse

Last week Madina played with our little neighbor girl, Jesse. They had a wonderful time together. Madina is shy at first, but will easily play with any kids, regardless of the language barrier. She had a chance to try many things. Jesse was very sweet to share her toys. Madina rode a scooter and a bike for the very first time. We have very kind neighbors that gave her the opportunity. Thank you Nicci and Jesse! The girls kicked a ball around, shot some hoops and worked on a puzzle. It was such a nice afternoon to share together. Nicci invited us to swim at the pool tomorrow and Madina has been dancing all over the house and singing a song she made up called “Jesse Swim”.

Special Time with Joe

Joe and I laughed because about 2 weeks into her stay, Madina looks at Joe and asks “What’s your name?”. She wasn’t calling him Dad or anything really. She decided at that point she wanted to call him by his name. It was around this same time that she was really warming up to him. Now they are buddies and she calls him Joe all the time now.

Joe’s Mom gave Madina the perfect book. It’s a Disney character seek and find picture book. She and Joe went through the whole book together. Joe’s Mom also sent some cute clothes. Madina’s favorite is the little green polka-dot dress with the pink flower. She looks adorable in it... thank you so much!

Unfortunately, most of the clothes we’ve bought her cannot go back to Afghanistan. Yesterday, her and I went through her entire room, dresser and closet. I communicated to her which clothes are staying and which are going by saying “Yes Kabul or No Kabul”. I think she understood and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We’ll see what happens when I pack up her suitcase on August 4th. We are told the girls can only take back long pants—no dresses or shorts. Madina mainly needs winter clothing because of the extreme harsh winters in the mountains of Kabul. Libby so generously donated some clothing items that Lindsey no longer needs. Madina will have a couple beautiful winter coats—one is a gorgeous pretty-in-pink coat and the other is a Hello Kitty pink fur-lined denim jacket. Oh I wish they came in my size! From now on, I’m only buying Madina clothes she needs to take back with her. This is challenging however, considering it’s the middle of summer and winter clothes are not in stores now. We will be going to Lydia’s Loft tomorrow to pick up some winter items from storage. If anyone has any warm winter clothing or long pants that they no longer need and would like to donate to Madina, please let me know. She is a size 8 and shoe size 3. Her and Lindsey are the exact size and height. I’m sad all the cute summer clothes we’ve gotten her can’t go back, but I’m saving them for next year if we get another host child. We are also looking for a large suitcase with wheels to send back with her. It must be really old, beat-up and ugly. The worse the condition the better. We are told that a nice, clean, newer suitcase will be stolen on the trip back. If anyone has a very large one in terrible throw-away condition, please let me know. Thank you so much! I going to see if I can get caught up on some posts today. Much to tell... so little time!

Mama’s Little Helper

Last Saturday, we slept in and had a much needed lazy morning. We then did a little cleaning and picking up around the house. I showed her the vacuum and she was fascinated. She then vacuumed my whole downstairs! This was all she could take though before just getting silly. Madina will try most things, but rarely will stick with something for more than 10 minutes—then she’s done and wants to move on. She is my little helper though.

My Glitter Girl

Oh, I just can’t resist the sales at Gymboree... my favorite store (which is strange considering we don’t have children yet). We found this super-cute dress for church last week. It is reversible to pale blue with little pink flamingos, but she doesn’t like that side. Madina has been wanting a purse (like Mom) so I gave her my little pink jelly barrel bag. We also got her new shoes. Oh how she loves to shoe shop! She is just drawn to anything sparkly. She loves to try on all the high heels in the stores. Since she has little feet, she tells me the samples fit perfect. She says “Oh, Mom, Yes’”. The little silver shoes she ended up getting have little faux diamonds up and down the straps. We painted her toes silver metallic to match. Now her feet are as sparkly as her smile! We didn’t stop here, however. We dusted body glitter on her arms and legs for a perfect shimmer. She then applied her new strawberry-flavored pink glitter lip gloss for the finishing touch. We were then ready for church!

Friends at the Park

It’s been awhile since my last blog. We have been so busy. I know I’ve said this before, but we are running on a very fast paced schedule. I’ve had so few spare moments to myself to gather my thoughts. Maybe this is just my perspective since I’m a new Mom? Maybe this is what awaits me in motherhood? I don’t know, but I’m a little scared.

Last Friday we went to the park again. Madina loves the swings best. I have noticed a really sweet observation. When there are other kids around, she will gravitate to the little babies and toddlers. She helps them climb around and picks them up when they fall. She is very motherly. She has a baby sister (10 months old) back home. I think she takes care of her sister in the orphanage. I’m sure her mother is busy caring for the other 60 girls. I think Madina is really enjoying being an “only child” at our home for these 6 weeks. She is getting our full, constant and undivided attention. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired. Oh well, it’s worth all my energy knowing the life she will return to soon.

Religious Education Class

The visiting Afghan children are moderate Muslims. LNCR has organized Religious Education Classes for these kids during the month of July. Each class focuses on an Old Testament hero, the first one being Noah. The kids are learning about the commonalities between Christians and Muslims. We each believe in one true God.

Upon arrival, the kids put together photo cards that they can take home with them. Next they were divided up into groups based on their language and dialect. Each interpreter then explained the Noah and the Ark story to them. After this, a small skit was performed for them. The children really loved this and I think it was effective for them.

Fun at the Fountain

Every morning Madina wakes up and wants to know if she is swimming that day. We’ve gone over the days of the week and calendar to show her when she will swim. She doesn’t really get it though. When we went to the quarry it was a Wednesday. So, leading up to that I said “swim Wednesday”. Then on Thursday she wakes up and says “swim Wednesday?”. Friday she wakes up and says “swim Wednesday?”…you get the picture. I feel bad I can’t explain this to her. It is her most favorite activity here so far. So Pam (host Mom to Manija) and I took the girls to the Birkdale Fountain where they could get wet. It worked out well and they loved it! We went for ice cream afterwards at Cold Stone. Both Madina and Manija ordered vanilla ice cream and wanted the M&M’s sprinkled on top (Yum!). Soon after, Pam and I noticed M&M’s flying through the air. Both girls were sitting on the bench flicking the candy out of the dish with their spoons because they didn’t like it. It’s very strange that so many of these kids don’t like chocolate. I think in their country if you don’t like something or are done with it you just throw it on the ground wherever you are. I had Madina in the backseat one day going down the road and she rolled the window down to throw out her popsicle wrapper. I luckily caught her, but I have to keep watch on this habit.

My First Farsi Lesson

Madina speaks Farsi along with about 40 million other people. It is the most widely spoken Persian language and used mainly in Afghanistan and Iran. She writes right to left and it looks like a bunch of little squiggles to me. She loves my white board in my office. One day she was practicing the English alphabet and writing the Farsi letter equivalent. You’ll notice in the picture she wrote the English A, drew a separation line and wrote the Farsi A. I think they have more letters in their alphabet, but she stopped at our Z. She was laughing at my attempt to match up the letters and write her name. I guess it doesn’t work like that. She erased that and wrote the names of her family using our English letters. Their names are:

Padar = Father “Yasin”

Madar = Mother “Nazifa”

Twin Brother “Masan”

Baby Sister “Marva”

I have learned to say “Hello” and “Goodbye” in Farsi, but I have no clue how to spell it.

LNCR Quarry at Carrigan Farms

Last Wednesday LNCR host families and children enjoyed a swimming and cookout event at a quarry on the Carrigan Farm property in Mooresville. I had no idea this existed. It was absolutely gorgeous! I heard the cliffs there are 70 feet high. The site is rented out to private events such as weddings and graduation parties. The Carrigan family was very kind to us. The kids loved jumping off the rocks, which scared me every time. I never did get used to seeing that. I was nervous all day and was relieved nobody got hurt. Madina spent the day just floating around in the middle with a tube and couple of friends. She’s not a jumper, thank goodness!