An Adoption Story

I ran across this video through another friend's blog and thought I'd share it with you.

God Story: The Howerton Family from ROCKHARBOR on Vimeo.

Did you enjoy it? So did I!

Three's a crowd! Five's a pack! Seven's a Family!

Today, we hit the park after picking up O and Jo. (These nicknames only apply to our pickup line chant. We don't call them O and Jo -- we just yell it out gleefully while we wait for teachers to march them to the car line:) A baby girl at the park (maybe 16 or 18 months old) took an interest in Girum, Tarikwa, and Taye, alternately. Tarikwa has a funny ambivalence about small kids outside of her triad. She's VERY nurturing. Very small babies, cousins, or children that seem unincluded get her full onslaught of empathetic tenderness. Other kids, though -- big kids or kids unfortunate enough to want a toy that Tarikwa has in her possession -- see a different side of sweet Tari...a silent, square-shouldered, eyes-averted tenacity that defies description. The little girl at the park was dancing on the line between compelling sweetness or stoic territorialism until Tarikwa played a little peekabo, and softened when it made the park baby laugh. I commented on their sweet interaction, "I think that little girl really likes playing with you Tarikwa." Tari smiled and then looked at me, confused for a moment, before asking, "Mama, where's her brothers and sisters?" It really struck me how much Tari's universe coalesces around her place in a constellation of family. Right now, she has only a limited understading of how intricate and peopled her constellation is. I'm just so grateful to be a part of it.

Our Life is a Fairy Tale....(Guess which one!)

The other day, I grew frustrated with my two-year-old triplets. (I'm not sure why, but that sentence makes me laugh:) I'm not sure which scheme they were executing at the time of my frustration --- and they certainly know how to execute a scheme --- but it was something on the back porch, involving all three of them. Here's the part I'll never forget: After halting whatever danger may have attended their mischief, I launched into a moderate, but no doubt intense, lecture. (Let me characterize my toddler lectures, for clarity: pursed eyebrows, voice louder than normal -- though not generally a yell --, firm, punctuated hand gestures, etc.) Then, I turned away, and started to walk out into the yard. I turned back when I didn't hear six feet following me. They were all standing stock still with wide eyes and startled expressions. They, Taye looked over at Girum and Tari, began to stomp, slowly, with arms and legs stiff, wrinkled his eyebrows and said in a growly voice, "Feee, Fie, Fo, Fum...."

The other two stared back, and looked, then, at one another -- like they were agreeing with his assessment.

I cracked up.

It's good I can laugh at myself, because I never seem to run out of material!