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 4th 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!!”
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