Blog post #5

April 18, 2013

What’s that I hear? It’s momentary silence. And I am taking the opportunity to write. A is napping, Tabby is having quiet time in bed with crayons, and Jamie is reading. This morning has probably been the best so far, behavior-wise. Only a few small instances of bickering or disobeying. We spent the morning at Tala Game Reserve. We drove through for almost two hours, spotting giraffes, gazelles, wild boars, bison, hippos, and ostriches. And one animal I couldn’t name—maybe an antelope? The animals came so close to our car windows & just stared at us as we took pictures. This is nothing like the “safari” at Six Flags! We are clearly on their turf, not the other way around. The animals all looked healthy, happy, and at home in their environment, which made my heart glad. The girls were funny—there was some initial excitement over each animal, but it eventually turned into, “I already saw a bison. I’m going to keep looking at my books.” They are a tough crowd to wow. Jamie & I marveled at the variety of improbable-looking trees. There were twelve foot cacti, and beautiful yellow & purple wildflowers.

After the Game Reserve, we headed home for hide & seek and lunch. A is still having a hard time sharing with Tabby, but she is doing a little better. I’m coming to see that she has a stubborn spirit, which will make some things hard, but can be an asset in the long run. The few times I have insisted that she apologize to someone or say thank you to Tabby, it has clearly been very hard for her. She does not like to recognize when Tabby does something right, or when she, herself, does something wrong. Aren’t we all like that? I think the things that frustrate me most with her are the things I don’t like to see in myself. But progress is definitely being made. I think once they can understand each other better, and once A is on Tabby’s turf, they will get a better relationship going.

We are counting down the days till we can move to Durban. On Monday, we and the other family meet together with the adoption lawyers. It will also be Tabby’s 4^th birthday that day, so they will make our meeting into a party of sorts, replete with cupcakes. Clearly they are in the business of working with families. Tuesday is the big day—court! That is the day A will officially become a part of our family. We will be making a big deal of the day—dressing up, taking family photos, going out for ice cream afterwards. Already, whenever we talk about that day, we jump up & down and smile to let A know that we are joyful to bring her into our family. She has started adding “Gaffga” to her name, which makes me smile. She asks me to write it down for her, and she copies it in her six-year-old handwriting. Whenever we say, “Tuesday is court,” Tabby likes to say, “And then you’ll be ours!!”