Some thoughts about Abby...

I haven't written about Abby in a while... Sometimes I forget that she's only been home a year, it's really amazing the changes that occur in such a short period of time...

Her language is coming along beautifully... I love her expressions and she is still so literal, it's quite funny sometime. Her vocabulary is increasing day by day... the other day she told Zack, "You're annoying me."

I mentioned in an earlier post that my time in Africa had really created some break-throughs in her relationship with Scott... That has continued and it is really sweet to watch it. But I'm still waiting for the day when she really lets me into her heart...

We've made progress, without a doubt. Our time in the afternoon has really helped... We have about 2 hours every afternoon, before anyone else gets home, to just hang out together. We do homework...read...watch a show...or play Trouble... She LOVES Trouble and she beats me all the time.

I'm having lots of opportunities to teach her about how to treat others as she wants to be treated... For instance, she came home from school one day, very upset that a little boy in her class had told her, "I hate you." We talked about it... I suggested that she needed to keep being nice to him and sure enough, he's come around. But a few days later, Mackenzie was beating her in Trouble and Abby said, "I hate you." Ouch...

After a gentle reminder of how bad that made her feel, when the little boy said it to her... She dropped her head (that's what she does when she knows she's wrong...she hides in her hair)... and was quiet for a long time. I haven't heard that one again...

She loves church and Sunday School and she's old enough to be in the GEMS group (a girl's group) at church now... Just more wonderful opportunities to make up for lost time in hearing about Jesus...

She asked me the other day if I wanted to go to heaven? I said, "Absolutely, but I think it would be nice if I could see all of you grow up first." "Does everybody get to go to heaven?" Hmmm... No... Not if they don't know Jesus as their Savior... But how do you explain the need for a Savior to a 7 year old...there are too many 40 year olds who don't understand it... I tried...but I had to be content with sowing seeds... I can plant and I can water...but only God can make it grow (1 Corinthians 3:7)...

She doesn't cry much, but when she does, the tears really flow... Just today she was really disrespectful and I had to talk to her... She dropped her head and the tears flowed...and flowed...and flowed... I knew this was more than one reprimand, but even still, she wouldn't let me comfort her... It made me really sad, but still I wait for her...

She continues to remind me so much of me, in relation to my Heavenly Father... I long to have Him close, yet sometimes I am so determined to do it on my own, so I push Him away... Like Abby, I get embarrassed by mess-ups and just want to hide my face from Him... But He loves me so much...He pours out so much grace on me... If I would just let Him wrap me in His arms, all would be fine... I'm sure He longs for the day that my attachment to Him will be as complete as I long for from Abby...

Adoption is truly an amazing journey...