Today started with the 2nd best news that a school kid can get: a 2 hour delay. Although we didn’t get as much snow yesterday as we anticipated, the roads must have been bad around the district, so they delayed the start of school today. That meant that the kids got to sleep in, and I got to make breakfast for them. Annabelle had her customary noodles. I let her choose the package–beef, pork, shrimp, or veggies. She was pretty hesitant, looking at the wrappers of each and seeing vegetables. She wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to ruin her noodles by putting veggies in them! I helped her understand that there were no veggies to be found, only some mystery sprinkle stuff in the foil pouch, and she was good to go. She takes her glasses off to eat, because they get fogged up from the hot noodles!
After school, Annabelle’s new big sisters paid us a little visit. Evangeline, Joyce, and Jarlene dropped by to chat and play a little. It was fun having them here. We got to learn a little more about them, and they got to see us on our home turf. They’re all involved in AACF (Asian American Christian Fellowship), and they love Jesus. It’s good for Annabelle to interact with Asians who follow Jesus. We don’t want her to think that Christianity is only for westerners.
We don’t want every visit with them to be like an inquisition for Annabelle, but there are so many questions that we want to ask her. She’s adjusting to life in the Sublett house very well, and seems to enjoy being part of our family. We want her to know that she’s one of us–that this isn’t a short-term deal like her time in foster care. It’s important that she knows that we’re her family.
She blew some bubbles that we proceeded to bat around and pop, then went to grab her Travel Trouble. Once again, she won. I don’t know how she does it. Every stinking time…Evangeline even had a pretty big lead, but Annabelle pulled it out in the end. I finished dead last. I’d like to say that I was being gracious, letting her win, doing the dad-thing. But, man, just once I’d like to win…
The girls say that Annabelle mixes her Cantonese and Mandarin, sometimes even in the same conversation. I don’t fully understand that, but I’m glad that we’ve found some friends who can speak to her in her native language. If she can hold on to that, I think it will be helpful for her for the rest of her life.
Kim cooked up a delicious pork roast, complete with kraut, kielbasa, hot dogs, and mashed potatoes for supper. Annabelle was hesitant to try the new foods. She almost gagged on the hot dog, and it took her almost 5 minutes to swallow the smallest bite. But she did like the pork roast. Dipped in the broth of her noodles!
Baby steps…it’s only been a couple of weeks. Baby steps.
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