8 months already?

I have to apologize at the lack of "blogging" we have done.  As you can tell neither Jeremy or I are "bloggers".  I have had a few requests to update everyone on how Jayna is doing and decided that tonight was the night.
It is hard to believe that it has been a little over 8 months that Jayna has been home with us.  In some ways it feels like it has gone so fast and in other ways it honestly feels like she has been here all along.  She is an amazing little girl and has adjusted so well.  She doesn't miss a thing.  She copies everything Nyla says and does.  It is almost like having an echo in the house.  If Nyla wants a snack, Jayna wants a snack.  If Nyla tells us about painting at school, Jayna tells us about her painting at "school".  If Nyla has to go to the bathroom, Jayna has to... well you get the idea.  Jayna and I are enjoying our days together while the kids are at school.  I don't return to work until January so I am trying to get as much time in with her as I can.  She is a great little helper and loves to have a job to do.  She is very focused when given a task, today she washed the kitchen floor for a good 1/2 hour.  One of her favorite things to do right now is be out in the garage with Daddy and play with the sawdust and pick up wood pieces.  She plays really well on her own but is incredibly social as well.  She really enjoys being around people and is very excited when I tell her to get her shoes on because we are going "out".
Her english is amazing.  Within the last 2 months she has reached the point where she can pretty much always find a word to use to say what she wants or what she is thinking.  It is wonderful to sit and have her"read" a book to me or just let her tell me stories she comes up with (which usually involves whatever she happens to see around her at the moment).  To progress from pointing and reading body language to being able to have a conversation with her is amazing. She is such a smart little girl.  She reminds me of Ethan in that she always has to figure out how something works.
She loves to sing, and she can dance.  She has great moves.  Puts the rest of us to shame really.  She loves to stand in front of the mirror in our living room and sing away.  I have a feeling they did a lot of that down in Haiti.
She loves to wear dresses.  Almost everyday she asks if she can wear her "favorite dress".  Which is a different dress each day.  So to everyone who bought her a dress please know that they are loved and well used.  Jayna and Nyla love to match when they can.  They really are great friends.  They play together great and run to hug each other almost everyday after school.  Nyla loves taking Jayna to school.  One day they were playing in the back yard "painting" the playhouse with sidewalk chalk.  I guess at some point Nyla discovered that it was more fun the "paint" Jayna.  She was "white like Nyla".  I will try to include a picture of this if I can.
They are now sharing a room together and sleep in the awesome bunk bed their Daddy made for them.  (My husband is truly amazing by the way!).  Jayna had no problem transitioning from our room to sharing with Nyla.  For the first 5 months she was with us she would wake at night whimpering.  All she would need is to hear our voices and she would go back to sleep.  I think she has gotten to the point where she is comfortable here, and knows that we are not leaving and she is not leaving because she doesn't "whimper" anymore.  It is actually pretty rare that she wakes up during the night at all anymore.
She is a great "eater".  She will eat almost anything now, but it is done in almost slow motion.  She is always the last one eating which is complete opposite of Ethan.  Supper consists of us telling Ethan to slow down and reminding Jayna that she needs to finish tonight sometime.
It is such a gift to have Jayna here with us.  All the firsts are so fun.  Being able to make her a cake this year for her birthday that she actually got to eat was amazing!  Summer holidays out in B.C. this summer were wonderful.  She really enjoyed getting to know her cousins better and is constantly asking when she gets to see them again.  We tell her she will get to see them at Christmas and now she likes to tell us that it is "Christmas time".  It's funny because she has no idea what this means... another first I am really looking forward to.
I guess one of the biggest struggles was potty training.  Knowing that she was smart enough to figure it out but just choosing not to was a little frustrating.  I'm pretty sure we tried everything...I think I could write a book.  I think it was something that she had control of in a world where she had lost control of everything else.  It was just a matter of waiting until she was ready.  She is happily wearing panties now and proud to be a "big girl".
Jayna has a photo album that we made her of her life in Haiti, the night we met her and brought her home and her life here.  She loves to sit and go through the pictures over and over again and comment on them all.  There is one picture of Jeremy holding her the night we met her after we were back in the hotel room.  Her face looks a little frightened and she always comments saying "Jayna was scared of thunder" and the next picture is of her laughing and she says "I am brave now".  Thanks to lots of prayers our little girl is feeling "brave" and you can tell that she knows that she is loved.  We tell her that she is a treasure and that God has a special plan for her and I know she believes it.
There is so much more to tell you.  Maybe pictures will help.  I will get Jeremy to put some up within the next week or so.  Thank-you for all your prayers and support for our family.

Grace and Peace
Amanda and Jake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48197558@N04/sets/72157624096046673/

Month 4 and counting...

Its really been four months - and it seems like Jayna has been here for years. She's working the tricycle pretty well, watching her older sister for cues as to what and how to act in different situations (sometimes thats good) and seems to have a decent grasp of the language. She definitely loves shoes, going for drives and simply being outside. She's a great little girl. Here's a few photos to update you visually...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48197558@N04/?donelayout=1

Dedication location change.

Instead of meeting @ kin coulee, we are in room 8 in Hillcrest church. Hope to see you there!
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Dedication

Its time for us to dedicate Jayna - a reminder to us and our family and friends that she's a gift to us, like our other kids. We believe that God has the best plan in mind for her and our role as parents is to daily give our lives and our kids lives into his capable hands to guide her.

On saturday, May 22, we will have a ceremony to celebrate/ remember this and would love for those close to us to celebrate it with us! Its sposta be rainy and cold, so it might not happen at Kin Coulee, but we'll update the blog to keep everyone in the loop as to where the backup location is...

Grace and Peace
jeremy and amanda

Piecing together the words.

My family is awesome.

Today, it was time for daddy to take the kids on our first 3 : 1 outing. With amanda K.O.'d with a cold and running on little sleep, i decided she needed a solitary place to rest and not have to care for anyone but herself for more than 5 mins at a time.

Jayna and i met the kids at school and it was an extremely happy reunion for Nyla and Jayna - running towards each other, laughing and yelling... kinda scary too, seeing as how neither one are really super stable runners, but fantastic to watch. We played on the playground at school for a bit, and Jayna once again was being cared for immediately by some older girls from Ethan's class. Then, (as part of her introduction to a rollercoaster loving family) Jayna was training on the tire swing - its still a little sketchy for her, with the nervous laugh and tense limbs, but she's getting the hang of it. Her first time feeling dizzy was after Ethan had finished running around her about 10 times(imagine that!?), and she didn't enjoy that at all. So the tire swing is a great step!

Then it was off the the pet store. What a blast that was! Nyla would build a home there if she could, and Ethan likes seeing all the fish and reptiles... Jayna hasn't reacted well to pets of any sort so far. I thought a layer of glass in between would help... she couldn't stop giggling when she saw the little puppies who couldn't reach her! Then a little hamster on a wheel, then all kinds of birds and rabbits... "what kind of crazy place is this?!" She wasn't sure about the fish area, but watching Ethan and Nyla wander in eventually drew her in... but it wasn't long before she was saying  "puppies" and working her way back to those silly furry barking things.

A "quick" visit to home depot (Nyla and Jayna sitting in the Race Cart), Jayna tried her first lithium ion drill, and liked it. I was about to buy her one, but though i better hold off. Its important for my kids to never be afraid of the hardware store... yeah, i was just making sure my kids are well balanced individuals... thats all.

I must say, at this point i was expecting some kind of mutiny. We were obviously killing time, not really doing anything, but they were handling it well, so we needed to go to McDonalds. Not the play-park one,  though - most of my being has to hold back the gag reflex watching my kids play in those germ infested urine traps - i am crazy, but not insane, we would be dining in a "normal" fast food dive. We enjoyed a lovely high cal meal together and had some great conversation. Jayna is definitely comfortable just yapping in toddler/english/creole dialect. Ethan and Nyla try to get her to say funny words until its not funny at all... I had a moment to just watch my kids eating, talking and laughing together and it was pure joy.

On our way home, Jayna said her first "on her own" sentence: "Ethan, can you open this for me, please?" i almost hit the ditch... yeah, she's gunna be ok with language... We watch her learn new words, try new tastes, open herself up to allow us into her uniqueness, and we are in awe that God would invite us into life with our kids. I think too many times that i ignore the beauty and joy that God puts in front of us because we are too busy looking at the all that isn't "perfect". It becomes more and more clear to me that God's love for me is not because of my potential, but in me, his kid, just in this moment - he stares at me and is reminded of how good his creation really is. I hope that i can in some way be this kind of dad from time to time - that my love will bring out their real strength and beauty.

Some recent pictures...

grace and peace
jake and amanda

Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?!!

The past couple days have been more interesting than usual... Jayna has reached a point where, as Amanda puts it, "trusts us enough" to throw a few extra tantrums and test her boundaries. Yes, we have a 2 year old! For those of you who don't have that experience yet... much joy awaits you! It really isn't that bad, but i can deal with a child crying because they're hurt, or angry, or sad, but the "cry just because you want to make a loud noise" is like chewing on foil whilst rubbing styrofoam - hence, the eye twitch.

Jayna truly has been such a joy to our whole family, and today, instead of tantrums, she was talking like crazy! We couldn't understand a word she said, but she was pointing and explaining a story about Ethan and Nyla for about 5 minutes... her cute little accent and random finger pointing was awesome to watch, and, as my father would do, i just nodded and agreed. She also is picking up a lot of real words like please, thank you, potty, all done, more... and even uses the "baby signs" for most words. Its amazing how great it feels to actually begin to understand each other! I almost forgot "coffee" immediately followed by "yum", which is my fave.

Amanda has sorted out the best way to get her to go to bed easily, and for the last couple nights, she's gone down without any explosions - which is good for my eye twitch, too! My wife is amazing. I know, you all know this, but everyday i watch her care for her kids and i am amazed that i get to be in on this adventure with her. She is able to do some lifting and its incredible to watch her hold Jayna in her arms... blessed.

Ethan, Nyla and Jayna played in puddles after school today and watching them all together was great! the sun shining, sipping a latte and playing with my family... heaven was very close today.

grace and peace
jake and amanda