Yesterday was Steven's Gotcha Day--his fifth "birthday" with our family. We made the usual Kenyan feast of rice, beans, ugali, fresh pineapple, chai, and sakuma. As always we "bemoaned" the lack of omena at Safeway, omena being little salted and dried whole fish. And as always we reminisced about when Steven came.
"Remember how Mom was so worried he wouldn't like our food, and she was sure he would get sick on meat like steak, because he would never have eaten a slab of meat like that. And Dad thought he might not like hamburgers." This evoked lots of laughter because for all my worries, food was never the slightest issue.
"And we thought he'd be so cold here, and we had it all planned out to homeschool him for a while and gradually ease him into school. And we were afraid the other kids might not befriend him."
More laughter. Even though the Kenyan kids used to huddle in their winter coats when it was 75 degrees, and there was ice on the puddles when Steven came, he never minded the cold a bit, and to this day he runs out to feed the chickens in pj shorts and bare feet when there's frost on the ground. And I ended up homeschooling him for about two days and we were both very ready to send him off to school.
I definitely have a pattern in my life of worrying about all the wrong things, not that this keeps me from worrying.
Quote of the Day:
"Ok, shall I be cowardly and smart, or brave and stupid?"
--Steven, contemplating a "boy" move
Steven, there is a lot of wisdom in your question.
ReplyDeleteAh, Joyce, I think the wisdom lies in how he ANSWERS the question! LOL Dorcas, Steven is clearly a wonderful fit in your family. Funny how God's plans work out like that. In spite of OUR worries! =)) Happy Gotcha' Day, Steven!
ReplyDeleteYou know what Mark Twain said: Who says worry doesn't work? everything I ever worried about didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteWe had 'adoption day' celebration this week - it was a week late because of the holidays. We don't really have a gotcha day celebration, because our three adopted children came to us as foster children first, and were adopted months later.
ReplyDeleteIt's so neat that you celebrate this every year. And you can't imagine your family w/o Steven, can you?
ReplyDeleteWanda, no we can't imagine our family without Steven. The old family pictures look somehow incomplete. And I find myself thinking I had six pregnancies instead of 5...
ReplyDelete