We survived-Week 1 of school!

We at the Lewis household survived week one of the back-to school routine! This year the transition has been more difficult than past years because my oldest daughter started middle school and Joy is having a very difficult time with the transition and leaving Momma all day. Thankfully, my son loves school and his transition has been very easy. He is excited about school and even said, "I forgot how much I like school!"

  Joy has been through so much change in this past year. I totally understand her apprehension, but it is difficult for me to see her struggle to go to school each day. She did very well this first week behavior-wise, but every night she told me she wants to go to Momma Tine.  She hasn't talked about missing Momma Tine in months, so I know it is the fear of the unknown making her feel insecure and long for the "comforts" of her first 7 years. Yesterday she also told me, "School is REALLY hard, Momma.  I just want to go home and go to bed." I have never had a child until now that struggled with school-and it breaks my heart. I tried to work with Joy some over the summer on her sight words and learning to read. She did make some progress, but not near what I was hoping. I feel guilty because I know I didn't spend as much time working with her as I should have. So, my new routine will include spending time reading and working on sight words every night with Joy. Please continue to pray for Joy that she will be able to learn to read and do math, and it won't be so difficult for her.

When I told Joy Friday was the last day of school for the week, she exclaimed, "Hallelujah!" I guess that pretty much sums up how Joy feels about school!

This morning, Joy was excited to sleep in and spend time with me. She gave me "lots of big hugs" and said, "I miss you, Momma." I said, "But I am here, how can you miss me?" She replied, "At school, I miss you and Momma Tine." Hey, it's progress, right? At least she misses me and Momma Tine now!

So, we survived week one. There are so many more weeks to go, but I am thankful the first week went better than I expected! Even though Joy is not really excited about school, she is making friends and she likes her teacher and she is behaving well! Micah loves his teacher and is excited and Natalie enjoyed her first week of middle school (everything except for getting up so early!) I think it will be a good year and I am praying for all of my kiddos that they will learn and do their best.

It's been awhile....Update on Joy!

Oh, my! I cannot BELIEVE I have not made a post on here since APRIL!! Life has a way of doing that, I guess-especially with my busy summer schedule. I am home from church tonight with a sick little one-no fun, but I decided now was a perfect time to do a little update on my blog.

Here's what is going on: We FINALLY received the "official" consent to adopt Joy from the I.C.A.B! (Hallelujah. Bless the Lord-as Joy likes to say!)  We just today sent in our retainer to our lawyer to get the paperwork finished. I have no idea how long it will take before we are able to finalize the paperwork and officially change Joy's name to Joy Noelle Lewis. I would have loved to complete it before school starts, but that isn't going to happen. Oh well-she is a part of our family and truly our daughter-I don't need the paperwork to tell me that!

Emotionally: Joy is doing AMAZINGLY well. The changes in her even in the last couple months are incredible. She still misses Mama Tine and Papa Aschi (the directors at the orphanage) and prays for them nearly every night-but she rarely cries for them anymore. She will probably always miss them and her Ate's (caregivers) at the orphanage; they were an important part of her life and always will be. She was so blessed to be in a home with so many people who loved her and cared for her! Joy has come to a place where she enjoys being a part of our family and she feels much more secure in her place as our daughter. Seeing the changes and growth in her have been some of the most rewarding parts of this adoption journey.

Language: Joy is doing well with the English language. She is doing speech therapy every week and will go back to speech therapy several times a week once school starts. She is very behind in her language skills, but we have seen huge improvements! She makes us laugh often with the funny things she says. It amazes me how much she is learning on a daily basis. 

Academically: Please pray for Joy as we get ready to start back to school in the next few weeks! She is very nervous about going back to school and meeting her new teacher and new classmates. The transition will be tough on her as she has been with Mommy and Daddy all summer. Natalie will also not be at the same school with Joy, since Natalie starts Middle School this year. (Pray for me-the mother of a middle school girl!!!)  Please pray with me that the transition will go well and Joy will love her teacher and her classmates. Also pray that she will make leaps and bounds in reading, writing and math this year. It is difficult for this Momma to see her so far behind because I don't want her to ever feel like she is not good enough or not smart enough. I want her to do her best and not get discouraged!

Thank you to everyone for their continued prayers and support! Hopefully, it will not be so long until my next blog update!! :) And hopefully, soon, I can post the pictures of Joy Noelle Lewis at the finalization of her adoption!!! I cannot wait!

One Day at a time

Do you ever just feel completely and utterly helpless as a parent? Today was one of those days. Joy was scheduled to be tested today by a  psychologist who specializes in dealing with children with epilepsy and learning delays.  I was really looking forward to this testing because I desperately want to help Joy learn and grow academically.  I felt like this was the next step and we would gain some ground on figuring out the puzzle and helping her learn to read, do math, and socialize better.  BUT....after about an hour of questions with very few answers from Joy that made any sense, the psychologist decided that it would be better to wait at least another 4-6 months before doing the actual testing because Joy's English is so delayed. He wasn't sure the testing would be very accurate since she has difficulty expressing herself and we don't know exactly how much she understands of what we are telling her. So, we are back to square one. And I feel completely and utterly helpless. Where do we go from here? I feel like we have come so far in 6 1/2 months, and yet we have so far to go. I feel helpless on how to assist Joy in getting where she needs to be academically. The psychologist recommended speech therapy, which she is already in at school. He recommended occupational therapy, which she also already does weekly. Are we already doing what we need to do? It seems like we should be doing more. Sometimes it feels like we are just going 'round and 'round in circles and getting nowhere in helping her!

I struggle often with sorting out the pieces to the puzzle of adoption and learning delays. What part of Joy's delays are due to the physical malformation in her brain? What part of her delays are due to being in an orphanage with much younger children? How has the life-changing event of adoption affected her? How in the WORLD do we sort this out? And so, we just take it one day at a time. On days like today, when I feel helpless, I pray and I think about how far we have come.  I pray for guidance to find the right therapists and the right child care for summertime. I pray for her teachers and for the transition next year at school. I pray that I will have the knowledge and wisdom on how to help her as her mom.  And I pray for Joy, that God will give her peace and strength and she will learn and grow to become the person God created her to be. I am so glad that although I may not have any of the answers, I serve a God who has ALL the answers. So for now, I am doing all I can do-just taking it one day at a time.