Joy of My Heart: October update

Wow, I can't believe how far behind I am. It seems that time is just flying. In fact, one year ago this coming Tuesday I met the boys for the first time on my court trip to Ethiopia! So hard to believe. We have come so far and yet have so far to go. I struggle daily with the demands of two small boys as a single parent. The first thing every morning I pray for patience to wake them, rush them off to school, and head to work. Then on the way to school each afternoon the prayer becomes endurance for the remainder of the day. I am 49 years young now, and some days I feel every bit of it! At the same time I have begun to wrestle with God over the desire to go back to Ethiopia for more children!! How that can possibly happen only God knows. He knows I do not have the financial resources for more in daycare nor the room in my car for more car seats, and so the answer is adopt older. As much as my heart yearns to follow through and fill my house to the brim, I find myself in the same place I was in two years ago, only this time my eyes are perhaps a bit wider to the reality this brings. So, I pray and wait.

The month of October was very busy. On Oct. 15th we went to the Shrine Circus and the boys got a taste of clowns, elephant rides, pony rides, souvenirs, and lots of junk food. The 16th we went to the pumpkin patch and enjoyed an afternoon with the boys' classmates. They went on a hay ride (minus the hay), worked their way through mazes, fed and saw many animals, and played with and on a variety of other things. Not to mention their first taste at trick-or-treating. I must say that I have the cutest Batman and Robin on the planet! Halloween was quite a treat as they went door to door and ended the evening at a neighbor's house for a Halloween party. I do believe America became even more enjoyable with this night alone!

November began with a bang for Jacob. After literally weeks of recurrent ear infections and issues with his asthma he was referred to an ENT and on 11-2 had ear tubes placed and an adenoidectomy. Prayers were answered as he sailed through the surgery without breathing complications, but perhaps the hardest moment in my life (well, in a lot of years) was when they carried him away from me toward the OR and I watched him flailing and reaching and screaming Mommy. We are two days post-op now and the swelling is residing and pain seems some better. He is quite cranky, but after reading the operative report I can understand why.

We now look forward to the winter holidays. Joseph asks almost every day if it is going to snow and today he asked when Christmas would be here. He seems to remember our Ethiopian celebration last year and has begun circling most every toy in every catalog in hopes that Santa will bring them his way. Jacob turns two years old on 11-7 so I hope to post again sooner rather than later. I plan to put his big boy bed up soon as he is trying to scale the side of the crib every morning! Yes, we have come so far. This little boy who came home wearing 12-18 month clothes is now in 3T. He is coming out with more words every day and I expect once his hearing normalizes he will be talking up a blue streak. Though he has begun having issues with biting in school again (after 2 months without) he is doing well and shows how smart he is every day, counting while breathing in his albuterol and singing his abcs. Joseph is doing well in school and seems to be catching on more every day. He still refuses to call himself Joseph, referring to himself instead as Yosef Tyler Shinkle. Oh well. If that is the part of his identity so important to him, than so be it.