Counting Our Blessings

Here's a quick look at some nature study that Pearl has been up to lately. I'm finding so much inspiration for nature study on other Charlotte Mason (that's a style of homeschooling) blogs. I love it when we stumble on something she enjoys and just runs away with, and creating crafts with bits of fall foliage seems to work. She learns plant names and seed habits while practicing for her declared future hobby of artist.   




We've decided to try to schedule a family day each week, and with my husband's duties on Sunday, Monday works best. This week saw us heading into the dark at Indian Echo Cavern. Pearl thought she had been in a cave before, but it had just been a plastic representation of a cave at a nature center, nothing like this. Ruby was unimpressed, even by the tiny but lovely underground lake/pond.









The older two were especially interested in the stories the guide created out of the Rorschach-like markings of flow, algae, and cracks. When we heard that a man lived in the cave for 18 years back in the early 1800s, that got our imaginations going too.  My husband wants a waterfall and heated bed in his cave.

We were so close to Hershey that we decided to visit Chocolate World. That was a hit for all. They experienced a kid-friendly assembly line, and then we headed up the ramp for the ride through chocolate production. Ruby danced on her seat, she loved the cows' song so much.

Sapphire and Pearl kept asking to go back through, even after the second time around! When I questioned Sapphire about why she wanted to go again, she looked at me with a serious expression and explained "I like to see how the chocolate make." This was better than what I expected: that she wanted another helping of the chocolate sample they hand out at the end. So of course we went through again. I think they enjoyed it as much the third time as they did the first.

Three springs ago we went through three times as well, at Pearl's insistence, when she was nearly 4 and Sapphire was just 9 months old.

Now that we've had Ruby for a whole two months (we first met her on August 13th) I've been mulling over all the things I had spent months praying for before we got her. Here's a list I'm pretty thankful about:

• no diseases (her recent blood work confirmed her medical file from China)
• no lead poisoning (a fairly common issue in poorer orphanages in China, but not hers)
• no horrible repetitive habits (kissing her wash cloth is the only repetitive things she does, and it is pretty cute)
• no tantrums (its been weeks since we saw an all out tantrum--she can control herself now that she feels safe)
• no hearing loss (cleft palates often lead to chronic ear infections, but she seems to have escaped this)
• no sleep issues (she is so happy in her crib, and she comes up smiling)
• she is so sweet--her behavior is perfectly normal for a 2 year old, and even kinder and more helpful than normal, I think. She always shuts her sisters' dresser drawers when they leave them gaping, and she's happy to have little tasks.
• she is attached (that's a little different, and more important, than bonding). My husband went to our adoption support group and learned about unattached children, and he came home convinced that Ruby has attached to us. He said that if the early attachment is formed smoothly before 12 months of age, as it was at her foster home, then a new attachment can happen in less than 2 months. We're so fortunate!
• the girls get along...mostly. I see more and more moments where Sapphire and Ruby can sit together and avoid screaming. 
• This week we all four sat on a couch and read books, and it was actually pleasant. Ruby is getting the hang of snugly story time. 
• she's learning to be a part of a family. When she first arrived she had no interest in dollies. Now she picks them up and kisses them, then holds them out to me to kiss too.  Not much snuggling of the dolly yet, but I think it is progress. 

Conestoga wagon at Indian Echo Cavern

So all those hours of prayer in the middle of the night, and all the prayers our friends and family covered us in during the last few months have really made a difference.  Adoption isn't always easy, and we have rough moments and exhausting parenting days, but God must have known what we were able to handle.