Marta's first day HOME!

We were all up at 10am, Tuesday morning. Marta got dressed and put her winter coat on as she was chilly. :) As we were hanging out in the kitchen looking out the window, I pointed down the street and told her where Mimi (Tim's Mom) lived. She asked me to help her put her sneakers on and before I knew what she was doing she flew out the door, ran down the driveway and down the street! She stopped midway to turn and wave at me, then kept running. She stopped at the first house and pointed, looking back at me inquisitively. I indicated the next one and she took off running again, rounded the fence and started up the driveway. Meanwhile, I was frantically calling Marie to alert her of her fast approaching visitor. We were incredulous and quite amused. As expected, Marie greeted her with the all of the warmth one could ever wish in a grandmother. Since I was still in my PJ's, Tim threw a jacket on and sauntered down to join her. This was our unexpected introduction to the adventurous and sometimes unpredictable nature of the little being that had just graced our lives. I must admit, I checked later with our attachment therapist as I wasn't sure this was a good or bad sign. Her response: "She had a destination. That was good. It's when they don't have a destination that you need to worry." Whew! :)

Marta came home with Tim shortly after, and then returned to Mimi's with Caleb once he had gotten dressed. They visited for a while and then met the family across the street. They have 4 children, two boys and two girls, ages 5-10, who have been anxious for Marta to come home, too. Marta was VERY shy and that's when we started realizing the disparit between how quickly she feels safe and comfortable with our adult friends but how frightened she is to interact with other children. Her fear of rejection runs deep--there is so much healing to be done...

About noon we finally sat down to eat breakfast. I was SO excited when she dug into the refried black beans I had made (and frozen) before our trip! "Rico," (Yummy!) she said as she gobbled them up! (Thank you, Carlos, for the recipe!!!) When breakfast was over, she started eating the leftovers out of the serving dish and ate every last bit of them. What a great feeling!

The afternoon was spent running amuck in the yard chasing bubbles with Caleb. Exuberance is a great descriptive word for Marta Alicia. Children are a gift from the Lord and each of them bring different things to our lives. One of the gifts that Marta is bringing to my life is living life with abandon. About 95% of the time, Marta is happy, happy, happy. When things aren't "right' in her world, the intensity of her fear is equal or greater, but it doesn't take long given the right support to come back to a place of joy. Living in the moment is something she does REALLY well!

By mid-afternoon she was asking to go visit "Tia" (Auntie) Kristin (Tripp) who had gone to Guatemala with us in December. She and I went to visit and Marta met her 4 children and husband, Ramsey. Again, Marta was very shy, but still wanted to hang out for a while. During our visit, we spotted a small pile of snow in the neighbor's yard. It wasn't very big and was quite soiled, but we ran over and played a bit in it anyway. She was VERY excited to finally see some snow! (She still hasn't quite grasped the fact that after all the pictures of snow we showed her and the months we talked about it on the phone that she has to wait a good 6 months or more before it will snow again!)

On our way home, we were passing Josh Cousineau's house (who she had met the night before at the airport). I pointed out his house to her and she said, "Let's go visit!" Goodness! It's SO unlike me to just drop in on anyone, so I tried calling their house and cell and got no answer. Just to satisfy her we turned around and went back to knock on the door. Low and behold they were all home! They invited us in and we had a GREAT visit for about an hour (see what I mean about gifts?). When we left, they gave her 3 DVD's in Spanish to borrow. Dora has been a GREAT hit--something she watches over and over during down time for comfort as much as anything. Thanks, Josh and Anna!

By 9:30pm we were all tucked in bed for a great night's sleep! One day down, a life-time to go! :)