Saturday, September 5, 2009

Sweet Abby


I am absolutely amazed by the resiliancy our sweet Abby has shown during all the transitions and adjustments of the last few months. If you had asked me a few months ago, I might have predicted that being displaced from the "baby" role in the family might have made Abby into a jealous, more demanding little girl. I would have been so wrong!

Instead, Abby has shown remarkable maturity and an incredibly loving spirit. On another Ethiopian adoptive family's blog, I was reading about how many families considering adoption might have thoughts like this: "Part of us feels pulled toward adopting older kids or a sibling group, but another part is very scared of what it might do to our family, how it could affect our current kids, and what kind of short- and long-term implications it might have. I don't want to take anything away from what we already have." After re-ordering their family through adoption SIX TIMES, this family has some credibility when they address such fears by saying: "You are NOT taking anything AWAY from your birth children. Instead, what you are doing is imparting to them something eternal: You are expanding their capacity to love. Think about that for a minute before you read anything else. How do you plan to teach your child to love others unconditionally and in total compassion without giving them the opportunity to do so? I'm telling you now, You CAN'T."

Well, for me, it is an incredible joy to watch Abby's heart capacity stretch to love in ways I've never seen her love before. I am so thankful for that.

I wanted to share some more random "special things about Abby" for your enjoyment!



  • We purchased a used bunkbed in our area and replaced the double bed in "Abby's room" with this bunk. I used the quotations around "Abby's room" because, while the room has contained all her clothes, dolls, dress-up clothes, etc., she refused to sleep there. She insisted on sleeping on the top bunk in the boy's room, contending that she didn't want to be alone and would move to her room only after "big brother" came home. However, with the new bunk's arrival, Abby reconsidered. She loves her new room arrangement and has slept the last few nights on her own in what can now truly be called Abby's bedroom.



  • We got some clothes down from the attic (thanks, big cousins!), and Abby found this beautiful dress with cheetah-print trim. As we took a walk that day (with Baby along, too, of course), Abby informed me that the reason she was walking so fast was because she was wearing her cheetah dress!



  • Abby enjoyed decorating these visors with the names of all the kids in our family. She did a great job! As we worked that day, she asked about when Abu was coming home. I explained that, in 7 sleeps, we might know whether Daddy could bring Abu home very soon.


Abby looked at me with exasperation. "But I can't wait that
long."


"Why not?" I asked.


She exclaimed, "Because he'll be too tall!"





She's a keeper, our Abby girl!




4 comments:

Smith Family said...

Abby we sure miss your sweet smile!

Helen said...

She is fantastic!

Love and miss you, Abby girl!

anxiously hopeful said...

Wish I knew your Abby. She sounds like a sweet heart. Thanks for sharing the quote about teaching kids how to love unconditionally. That is a great point. We are praying for good news for your family in "7 sleeps".

Laura Fenske said...

We watched the video today from Pathway's where they did the, "Noah built a great big ark..." with the kids and we were dying! Poor Abby didn't make it up to the stage before she was done with it, and Garrett and two of the other boys just sat there and stared mutely. Love it. We miss you, Abby and Ethan! Garrett still gets up and pulls the picture of the four kids jumping on the couch into his bed with him every day during nap time.