Observations

I wanted to talk about some of my observations from this past week. When God called Joe and I to take in a Afghani child this summer, He told me there was something we needed to learn from this experience. I thought “Well of course, we aren’t parents yet… we don’t know anything.” It seemed like such an obvious notion that I wondered what God was thinking. Well, I’m seeing what He meant even after a week with our sweet Madina. This journey is preparing us for the adoption of Ruby (our baby girl in China). I have fears of “what is Ruby rejects me and won’t bond with me.” I will be a complete stranger that looks, smells, talks and acts completely different than what she has ever seen in her orphanage in China.

Madina is teaching Joe and I that “love is a universal language and knows no bounds of race, religion or culture”. God made this possible… We love only because He loved us first. Children are so trusting and easy to love. Madina immediately, from the time we picked her up at the airport, received and responded to our love and care. It’s amazing how far a hug, touch, squeeze and kiss can go. I feel like we have bonded so much in the last week. Being from two completely different lifestyles on opposite sides of the planet, we are communicating beautifully! We can read each others gestures and facial expressions to know how each other is feeling. I have to tell you that this is so much easier than we anticipated. I would say that it’s only a couple times a day we can’t decipher each other, so we just let it go… no biggy. We also use humor to communicate. It is so much fun to tease her and now she’s teasing back! She is so funny and I’m always trying to make her laugh. She is all smiles all the time. Again, I’m amazed at how all our actions are so universal. I’m always down on the floor with her. I think it’s important to be on her level. Through this experience so far, I’m gaining confidence that we will be able to quickly bond and form attachments with our Ruby someday.

Madina is so smart; she is like a little sponge soaking everything up! She eagerly is trying to learn English and in turn is (trying to) teach me Farsi. It’s not going well on my end. Once I can finally pronounce a word correctly, I forget the word a minute later. She on the other hand, asks me what the English word is for something, then will say the Afghani word for it. She has a much better memory than I. We sat down a couple days ago and went through a short glossary of helpful words provided by LNCR. She wrote a two page vocabulary lesson in both translations. She can write all our English letters and sound out words. I think by the time she leaves, she will be great at English. I’m in awe of how bright and beautiful this little girl is. I ask The Lord for a special blessing on her life. I pray she will get opportunities to excel and pursue her dream. She wants to be a teacher.

Madina has this smile that just melts my heart. When she’s trying to convince me to change my mind and give her more ice cream or something, she takes my hands and looks at me so lovingly and says “Yes Mom, Yes” over and over. She knows that as soon as I crack a smile that I’m at her mercy. I’m telling you, it is so hard to say “no” to a child that has nothing and lives in an orphanage. Am I spoiling her? Yes.