I CAN DO IT MYSELF!

"I can do it myself! " This seems to be Keeley's new favorite phrase (whether she's getting dressed, getting in her car seat, putting on her jacket, fixing lunch, etc). It's not the phrase that bothers me so much - it's the tone she uses when she says it. I think we can officially say she has hit her terrible twos. She has become quite a "Ms. Attitude!" and it has become a little of a challenge. I can't help but think..."One day this little girl is going to be teenager!" Ugh!

That being said, sometimes her independence is pretty darn cute! This morning I got her dress out and headed upstairs to get myself ready for church. A few minutes later she came upstairs and proudly exclaimed "Momma, I did it myself!" She had gotten dressed all by herself (her shoes were even on the right feet!) I was very proud of her and she looked adorable. I just had to share this with all of you...


Honestly - she found the socks herself. I did not put those out for her to wear! :)

She accidentally missed an arm hole, but who noticed!

While I'm sharing things about Keeley, I'll also share this about Keegan. Today in Sunday School (I'm his Sunday School teacher) the class and I were discussing how cool it was that God had made each and every one of us. I was surprised when Keegan said "I wish God wouldn't have made me brown. I wish I was light skinned." This floored me and totally broke my heart. We've always tried to make sure that Keegan (and Keeley) are proud of their color, their country and their historic cultures. I explained that he should be very proud of his color. I told him I think his brown skin is absolutely beautiful and that some people pay lots of money to have their skin look like his. He didn't seem upset about it, he just simply wanted it to be lighter. Then I explained to all of the children in class that God made each of them beautiful and no matter what our skin color is... white, brown, olive, black... God made each of us special. God does not make ugly. Then I also told him that Jesus's skin may have been brown too - that no one really knows. He looked up at me, smiled big and said "Cool!" And that was the end of that.

Some times I forget that Keegan and Keeley are actually a different ethnicity than Greg and me. I simply see them as my children - a part of me. This may seem odd for any who have not adopted internationally, as I am sure to others they may look different than Greg and me. This is only confirmed by some of the looks we get when we're out and some of the comments curious individuals have made. I am positive this conversation (or one similar) will come up again by one of our children and pray God provides me with the right answers at that moment. And I pray that all of our children will know they are absolutely loved beyond compare - no matter the differences!

Isn't he handsome!

This is in front of his art work at school.

Keegan's quite the artist! This is a town he created.

Still no word about Otoniel. We're anticipating that cases will begin to exit out of PGN next week. Hopefully once things get moving again we will enter PGN. I feel good about this and can honestly say that I'm not too worried. Not worried??? This is unusual for me! :) Feels kind of good!