Quick Update

Wow! What a crazy few weeks this has been! Most of you know that our princess' Ethiopian cousin has come home to America. The princess has been waiting for this all summer long & the prospect itself brought her so much peace. However, the weekend that she arrived in America ended up beginning a tough time in our daughter's little heart. It had been almost a year since she cried about her past, but she began crying at night before bedtime & dwelling on her feelings through out the day. It seemed the experience of knowing her cousin had left Ethiopia brought many of her emotions to a head. This was such a good thing b/c we were able to openly discuss things. Up until now, we were mostly using play therapy & other subtle techniques to help her work through her feelings of fear, saddness, & grief. One of the most challenging aspects of this time for us, as her parents, was balancing helping her through this time while also helping her as she began a new school year. In the middle of that first week, I often thought, "God, why now?", but I quickly realized that God ordained that to be the time b/c beginning the new school year gave her feelings of excitement & joy to provide relief for her more intense emotions. Now, more than 2 weeks later, she has worked through this time & found new peace. This week she finally received the picture of her cousin coming home to the airport which apparently her little heart really needed to be at peace. We are so thankful for this! She had wanted so badly to be able to be at her cousin's airport welcome, but we had helped her realize this wasn't the best thing for her cousin. She had asked for a picture, & it seems this picture helped her to be able to experience it for herself even though she couldn't be there. Now, she is back to talking about Etopia with hope in her eyes & peace in her heart. It's a good place to be...for her & for us, as her parents!