Three Months Ago--more or less

On December 13, 2011 I brought a girl named Hope Kalakule to our "home" in Zambia to be our daughter. Her name is not legally changed yet but will eventually be Evolet Hope. The past three months have been full of ups and downs and many times have seemed to pass so slowly.

Today Evolet's mandatory 3 month fostering period is complete. We can't go to court until at least next week, but we've got to be here until May for Keira anyway so it's really not that big of a deal I guess. I'm still in Zambia and some days I'm not happy about it, but today I remember what it's all about.

It's about one less. One less broken heart. One less orphan. One less little girl with no hope. One less child with no education. One less heart that wonders if someone really loves her and will stick around.

It's about one more. One more child who knows the gospel. One more heart who knows who the "father of the fatherless" is. One more little girl in our family to love and teach and learn from. One more mouth that won't go hungry. One more picture of heaven--one family made up of different colors, different languages, but one bloodline through adoption sitting at the table of God himself!!!

This is the heart of our desire to adopt. At times it has been tainted with the details and frustrations and my own unwillingness to keep fighting. At times I have questioned and considered that maybe we are actually crazy. At times I have completely forgotten the big picture and lost my perspective. But when I step back and think about where my sweet 4 1/2 year old was 3 months ago I literally want to cry over the progress I've seen.

• Three months ago this child could only ever really point out the color green...and sometimes that was wrong. She had no clue about the rest. After a month of constant teaching she got it. I wish I could have captured that smile when she conquered her colors! That opened the floodgates of learning for her.
• She knew the alphabet song, but could not recognize letters and did not know any of their sounds. As of today she has learned the phonetic sound and how to write the letters B,C,D,E,F,H,J,L,P,and T. There really is a method to my madness in not starting with A. Her favorite thing is to go on the Starfall website and learn phonics. This kid is a learning machine now! She can also count up to about 20 and write 1,2, and 3. (I've focused a little more on letters if you can't tell. I preferred English over Math:p)
• She stopped peeing on the back step and learned to use the toilet...every time. This I was NOT expecting to have to teach, but we did it:)
• She got to experience Christmas with her new family (minus dad. Sad) but even the other day she was saying that she remembered Christmas and the little tree we put up and she said she loved getting to open her barbie. I couldn't believe she remembered that1
• She knows 9 of her chatechism questions (don't be scared by that word. It's a set of questions like "who made you?" with answers "God made me"...an easy way to teach kids Biblical truths in a logical format)
• She's started asking questions about the Bible! Examples: After reading about Christ's death on the cross she asked "God died? Can you read the next story tonight too?" She was so eager to hear! I've also gotten questions like "What color is God?" and "Did God make your computer?"She's practically memorized all of Psalm 23.
• She loves to give hugs!
• She's gained a few pounds off momma's cookin'...vitamins help too.
• She knows how to spell her name.
• She's learned to love her sisters. They fight...alot, but they play alot too and she loves them!
• She still has alot of conquering to do. She has alot of fears, alot of anger, alot of battles in the self-control and honesty department that need to be won. But I've seen an immense amount of positive change and a willingness on her part to learn. And now she has a family to teach her and pray over her and love her. I just can't wait to see what the next three months hold for her. We love you, Evolet!

"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home." ~Proverbs 68:5-6