We have been able to spend lots of time together lately which has been awesome. Every resource I have read (and if you know me, I have made it a research project) says that a gradual transition for kids at this age is best when you are adopting so that is the method we all agreed to take with Sarah. We started off with day visits. They have mostly come on Sundays as we love taking Sarah to church with us. We would get her Sunday mornings, go to church, sometimes out to lunch afterwards, home for play and a nap, then back to nanna before youth group. Makes for quite a busy Sunday but we don't mind a bit!
Our first Sunday together resulted in lunch out with Sarah, Jay, Evan and myself. We went to an old standby of Applebee's. We ordered Sarah her own meal and gave her choices. Nanna told us that she has no problem knowing what she wants so if you give her choices, she gladly makes the decision. What was so funny during the lunch is that she and Jay just were like 2 peas in a pod. She decided about mid-way through lunch that she would prefer to eat Jay's steak and veggies than her chicken and french fries. She found her way into his lap and gladly ate off of his plate. Jay didn't mind sharing :)
When we put Sarah down for her nap we realized what a great sleeper she was as well as how obedient she is. We discovered that when you put her in her bed and tell her to stay, she does what you ask. We realized at that point that we may not know how to raise THAT kind of kid! LOL. Our boys were always pushing the boundaries and staying in bed was not something they were very good at. I guess that some of our experience with our boys won't necessarily translate into raising Sarah - and that's just fine with us!
We also realized at this time that the boys would be just as "goo-like" as their father when it comes to Sarah. She has no problem bossing them (or the dog buddy) around. She tells them where to sit, what to play with along side her, and what she needs. They do pretty much everything she says because as Evan put it, "I just can't resist the cuteness!" We all kind of feel that way - can't resist the cuteness most of the time. Jacob is very involved with the busy life that many teenagers live. He has school, a job, and transportation available to him to see friends so he isn't around quite as much. He did realize very early on though the magnitude of the age difference between he and Sarah - his first thought was, "I will be 30 when she goes to prom!" Jay said, "That is alright because you can sit on the front porch with me and our shotguns to meet the poor lad who decides to try and date her!" They all think that is hilarious!
We ended up able to keep her on the holiday on the Friday following (president's day I think) and we got to hang out for the entire day. We went shopping at Goodwill (where we got a few toys to have around the house), played outside for awhile, met a new "friend" Alaina (one of the youth kids at church) and napped. Sarah stayed with us through dinner so that Jay could have some time with her also. Sarah has easily adapted to our household and seems to really enjoy her time here. In fact, that evening we were saying, "time to go back to nanna's house" and she was like, "NO I stay here!" Knowing that she feels comfortable and safe here in our home means the world to us. She finally went home that Friday night and spent the Sunday of that weekend with us again for the day.
So, our first couple of weeks worth of day visits with Sarah went swimmingly! We feel so blessed to know this little angel and we feel God's hand is on this entire situation for sure. She never once acted uncomfortable around our family. She seems genuinely excited to see us every time we get her. She is full of smiles and giggles whenever we see her and that brings us so much joy. I will continue with more adventures in the next installment of the blog - didn't want to write a novel on this one! One more step!
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