Learning to Share...or Maybe Not!

So, as I think I've mentioned before, our last update on Yikealo before we traveled to Ethiopia last June said, "Yikealo is very territorial, so it is good that he will have both parents to focus on him and help him to transition from life with so many other children at Hannah's Hope!" Let me just say that I know exactly what they were talking about. I suppose that most of us have some issues with sharing our "stuff", but honestly, I think that "territorial" was putting it mildly! To give you a few examples:

• about a month ago, I watched our nephew Quinn for a few hours. Yikealo was NOT happy that Quinn was in his space, regardless of the fact that Yikealo invades Quinn's territory for a few hours whenever I go to work. Quinn was a very well-behaved little boy in spite of the fact that Mr. Y tried to pick fights over EVERYTHING. That evening when Yikealo said his bed-time prayer, he thanked God that Quinn had gone home. Ummm...yeah...so we obviously need to work on the sharing thing a bit more!
• two weeks ago, we were visiting my parent's house for the weekend, and Yikealo and Zavi had been having their typical arguments over anything possible. That night, Y's bedtime story/Bible lesson was about sharing and being kind to others. After I left the room, David and the boy continued the conversation. David: "Yikealo, we talked about sharing tonight, so tomorrow I want you to try really hard to be nice and share with Zavi, okay?"  Yikealo stuck our his lower lip and replied, "I don't want to share. I don't like it."  David responded patiently, "Son, I understand how you feel. Sometimes it IS hard to share, but you know what? It's still the right thing to do because God says it is. In fact, Jesus says that if we have two magnets (Yikealo's favorite church toy) and we see someone without any magnets, we should give one of our magnets to that person. Or, if we have two fruit snacks and we see someone without any fruit snacks, we should give them one of our fruit snacks." (By the way, I love to hear my husband paraphrasing the Scripture to make it relevant for our three-year old!) Yikealo just looked back at David with a stubborn look on his face and said, "But Dad, Zavi already HAS fruit snacks!"  Way to find the loophole, son!
• We were on our way home from some shopping a few days ago when I glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed that Yikealo was doing some serious pouting, so of course I asked about it, "Honey, what's wrong? Why are you sad?" Yikealo gave a very irritated huff and replied in his best victim voice, "Mom, George is bugging me. Please tell him stop fighting with me!" Right, because after all, who really needs an imaginary friend who picks fights with you? The following day, as I was buckling him into his carseat, he started shouting, "I had it first! It's mine!" I looked at him rather startled, and asked, "What in the world are you talking about?" at which point he held up a tube of chapstick. "Mom, George is trying to take dis away, and I had it first!"
• His very favorite pastime of late is playing Memory, which he really does quite well. He gets pretty cranky however if someone else gets too many matches in a row, or if, at the end of the game we DARE to count our cards before we count his. He is pretty certain the the entire world revolves around him. As a total side note, I must admit that his way of "setting up" the cards is a bit more interesting than the typical boring old grid!

As always, life with Yikealo is interesting to say the least!  He frequently talks about wanting a "brudder" or sister, which I must say would be fascinating to watch, considering the things that I've shared in this post. For sure, if God leads us to another adoption, somebody will HAVE to learn to share at least a little bit more!

Mowing the Lawn

So I mowed the yard tonight. Big whoop you may think, but for me... yeah, it was big whoop.

A year ago today Larisa and I spent our first, and only, night together in a $3,000 suite. It had all the amenities: free room service entrees, complete turn-down service,  a fresh bouquet of flowers and a staff dedicated to nothing more than just waiting for your every need. Of course, the room service was limited to ice chips and the bed was in the Cleveland Clinic... and Larisa had to sleep in a chair which was winningly named "the iron maiden".

Yes, last year today was the day my semi-colon was reduced to nothing more than a space. The limit of my exertion last year was sitting up in my bed (whew!).

I did not mow once last year. In a circumstance I believe to be orchestrated by my God, our next door neighbor decided to earn summer money by mowing lawns... and came knocking for business... only days after I returned home and the grass was really growing.

How am I doing? you ask. Really good. I can work through the day, I can mow, I can even do all that and still go to a special meat canning project our church sponsors to help feed the starving (all of which I did today). This is really amazing in the back-drop of a year ago. By no means am I as physically strong as I was before my latest bout of Crohn's; however, I can operate day to day with impunity. No GI pain, no heartburn, no trouble with my appetite, no nausea. I'm still having a bit of touble with being "too regular", but I really don't know what the new normal should be for me. I am blessed.

Now, before you all get too impressed, I have to confess I did have some help mowing...

Happy Easter!

The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!