Favorite things Friday . . . from Taylor and Brandon's perspective

We got our newest set of foster boys (yes, BOYS . . I am still wondering if the Lord is ever going to bring us some girls!) this past Wednesday afternoon: Taylor, age 7 and Brandon, age 6. A few things about them so you can be praying for them. They have been in a home with mom, who has been pretty neglectful . . . filthy house, filthy boys, filthy clothes, etc. She also has had several live-in boyfriends who have possibly been abusing them physically, although I don't think it's been too bad, as we see very little evidence of that. Mom also practices "witchcraft," so we have a HUGE opportunity to share the love of Christ with them for the first, and possibly only time.

This is the first set of kiddo we've had who have come straight from their homes and have recently experienced some disfunction in their home. Because of that, the first 48 hours have already been filled with so many moments of just watching them be so excited about very small things. I hope many of you will get to meet these boys at some point this month . . they are truly sweet little children of God. They have not shown hardly any sign of missing their mom or their house . . . they are thrilled to be here, thrilled to have some structure and attention, and just thrilled to be clean and have clean clothes. Here are a few of their "favorites" so far:

1. Meat that doesn't taste like "dishwater:" This was both of their exclamation last night as we at Tator Tot cassarole, which they scarfed down. "And the meat tastes good! It doesn't even taste like dishwater!"

2. Clean beds: I guess they slept on yucky, dirty piles of blankets at home. :(

3. Play-doh: They are playing with it right now with our neighbor, and "honorary son," Darren.

4. Having someone give you a washcloth to cover your face while getting shampoo out of your hair: Brandon has shaggy, longer blonde hair, which is adorable. (I typically don't like boys to have long hair, but he pulls it off very well!) He put shampoo in his hair himself yesterday while in the bath, and I came in to help him get it out. He thought the washcloth over his eyes idea was the most amazing thing he had ever heard of . . and "we got all the shampoo out, which is what matters."

5. Clean clothes, even if they're too big, and handed down from someone else. Enough said.

6. Hot cocoa and popcorn for snacks: They have been very receptive to scheduled mealtime and snacks in between. The hot cocoa today was a big treat. They had "never had any with marshmallows" before!

7. Shoes that stay on: This one is my favorite story so far. Brandon came in with a very worn out pair of shoes that were too big to begin with, very stretched out, and falling off his feet. We just got our voucher to get new clothes today, so we've been trying to make do with what stuff we could find (thank you, Mashel for some added items last night). Brandon went outside yesterday with neighbor kids to play and came in crying because his shoes kept falling off and the kids were laughing at him. Jeremy took him upstairs and dug around in our box of donated shoes and found one pair that is, as he puts it, "still too big, but they stay on my feet!" He came running down the stairs as if it was Christmas morning and proudly displayed these shoes to me. He then proceeded to literally run circles around the neighborhood, exclaiming, "Look how fast I can run when my shoes stay on!" The excitement for these shoes did not wear off this morning, either. He's still beaming.

It's pretty humbling and heart-breaking at the same time to watch these two. They are so overjoyed by some of the simplest things. It definitely makes you aware of how much you have that you take for granted. They will be attending our home school, Boze Elementary, starting Monday. This is their 3rd school, I believe, of this school year. Possibly more. They are both behind considerably academically, so hopefully they can stay at Boze until at least the end of the year.

Another funny story that I don't want to forget (and I use this blog as my little "journal," too)
Jeremy fed them lunch yesterday. They have been talking a lot about manners and trying to have good table manners especially. Brandon asked Jeremy if he was having good "manners" while Jeremy was making his sandwich. Brandon has a pretty bad speech impediment and doesn't pronounce his "r"s correctly. So, "manners" was being mistaken by Jeremy for "mayonnaise." The two of them went back and forth several times trying to understand each other! The way Jeremy tells the story is hilarious. :)

I also had a blast with them at the doctor yesterday. I had to take Clara. They had to have TB tests and blood drawn. Brandon watched Taylor get that done first, then proceeded to get himself into a huge tizzy about it, which sounded like this, "I don't think I can be happy here. I don't want that to happen to me. don't they know that I am six? I am not sick. I just want to leave this place. This is terrible." When Taylor assured him that it only hurts for a second, his reply was, "No. It will hurt me longer, I just know it. I am six." In the end, I had to pretty much restrain him and get bled all over from his super bleeding finger. Fun times. :)