Family is Forever

This week feels like Michel's introduction to the on-the-go suburban American family, and Michel is rolling with it well so far!  The schedule has been very full this week, and as a result, I am behind on my daily blog posts.  So, I think I'll break this monster-length "catch-up" post into two posts, so that you can make it through the whole thing!

Michel started swimming lessons on Monday.  She enjoys the water but has never had formal swimming lessons.  She is having private lessons with the same teacher we use for our boys.  She is doing great so far!  I can tell she is really working hard, and she follows all of the teacher's instructions.  I love watching her reach for the side of the pool, because every single time, she comes up with a smile on her face.  Hopefully this will give her new skills to enjoy the water more and keep her safe.  She occasionally seems hesitant to try something new, but she always gives it a shot.  At the end of swimming lessons, when she can choose which activity to practice, she often selects the newest or most daunting skill learned that day.  Such perseverance!

On Monday afternoon, Michel visited another host family because I had to go to an appointment.  I thought she would enjoy time with one of her Colombian friends, but the host mother told me she hardly played with him at all.  Instead, she spent a couple of hours with the family's five-year-old daughter, enjoying plenty of "girl time" that she must be missing at our house!

We had spaghetti for dinner Monday evening (a common meal around here - quick, easy, cheap, and a crowd-pleaser!).  Michel wasn't sure if she would like it but agreed to try "a tiny bit."  I gave her one bite, and she asked for "a little more," and then "a little more" after that.  She probably only ate a quarter cup in all, and I don't think she loved it, but she was a very good sport about trying something unfamiliar.

I asked her what else she would like so that she didn't go hungry (especially after an active day of swimming and playing).  She asked for strawberries, and then said, "Could I make a fruit salad?"  Of course!  Within minutes, she had prepared her own beautiful fruit salad, with finely chopped strawberries, grapes, bananas, and canteloupe.  This seemed to satisfy her for the evening, although she continued to enjoy strawberries right up until bedtime.  (She even had to brush her teeth a second time, since she kept eating after brushing her teeth!)

We are seeing more of Michel's playful, almost mischievous side.  When we were walking to the park over the weekend, she told me, "This is what kids do in Colombia," and proceeded to sweep her toes under Matthew's heel, not quite causing him to stumble but definitely catching him off-guard!  The rest of the trip to the park became a challenge for each of us to walk behind the others, to avoid those sweeping toes!  The kids laughed all the way to the park.

It has been interesting to watch the kids start to interact more like siblings, rather than hosts and guest.  During a recent water fight, Matthew got tired of Michel dumping buckets of water over his head, so he - being a six-year-old boy - hit her over the head with his water gun.  (Sigh.)  They were both upset, but we negotiated our way through it pretty easily, they forgave each other, and soon they were full of smiles - and water - again.

Michel plays well with the kids, but she also steps easily into a leadership role.  As she grows more comfortable with our family and our routines, she can more easily prompt the boys when it's time to go or rally them to whatever action is needed.

Michel saw a movie in a movie theater for the first time yesterday.  I took her and the boys to see "A Dolphin Tale" through the local kids' summer movie program.  I did not interpret much of the movie for Michel, since the action usually could speak for itself.  However, in the scenes with little action, I quietly explained what the characters were talking about so Michel could track what was going on.

The film has been one of our family favorites since it was originally released a couple of years ago.  I remembered the basic dolphin story, of course, but I had forgotten how many different family dynamics and related messages were woven into the plot.  It was hard to explain some of the relationships - a young girl whose mother has died, a boy whose father abandoned his family - knowing that Michel's experience mirrors the lives of the characters.  (These are not the specific circumstances of Michel's life, but like the boy and girl in the movie, she has suffered great loss when it comes to her birth family.)

At one point in the movie, a man leaving for the military gives his young cousin a pocket knife engraved with the words, "Family is Forever."  Later in the movie, the young cousin addresses a large crowd.  I was leaning over to Michel to interpret the speech as it was given, and I almost couldn't get through his closing line without crying, when he quotes, "Family is forever."  My heart breaks when I think of Michel, how her family has not been forever, and her current foster family will not be forever.  More than anything, I want Michel to have a family that will truly be forever, that will love and support her for the rest of her life.  Every child should be able to trust those words:  family is forever.