ADOPTION DAY

A heart-warming tidbit:  I listen intently to their prayers at the table and have noticed that they all pray for the poor and for the hands that prepared our meals.  It always hits me so strangely, when they pray for the poor.  On the one hand, I feel like they have been fortunate at San Jose, but have been surrounded by obvious poverty; on the other, their hearts are filled with riches we may never understand.   

Today is officially, adoption day!  We found out last night through María and Raúl that we don’t need to sign anything; they will be issuing a document stating the fact that we are the adoptive parents and this document will be couriered to us from Lima.  We should have it on Wednesday, so we can take it to request their new birth certificates, which we will sign.  The children are so excited and have grown quite comfortable with us.  Even when we have to be strict about a particular issue, they are respectful, and we don’t have to repeat ourselves, at least at this point.  This morning we had Zucaritas (Frosted Flakes).  After breakfast, the kids watched Kangaroo Jack.  Cornelia arrived around 9:30 and began preparing her grocery list of ingredients for the meals we request.  Today she made a delicious cannoli con pollo; basically, a chicken lasagna with diced ham and a cream sauce.  The salad consisted of lettuce, tomato, avocado, and asparagus.  I’ve also found that I never need to dress a salad, here.  I haven’t figured that one out, yet!  Xavier continued to play with his bag of marbles while the girls helped Cornelia with the dishes.  Later, Xavier was bothering Lizet a bit upstairs and I actually had the opportunity to respond to “¡Mamí!” from Lizet.  I had to tell Xavier, “¡No más molestando tú hermana por favor!”  He responded with a simple “Sí,” and continued looking at the puzzle book I gave him.  Angela is laying flat on her stomach on her bed, listening to the radio, and looking at her puzzle book.  Xavier confiscated a small spray bottle of water from Lizet’s purse and started spraying the air with it while visiting Angela, who was uninterested.  I asked him to leave her so she could relax, and he did.  The next time I checked on her, she was under her blanket, with the radio on softly, falling asleep.  Anyone who knows me really well knows this is my twin! Of course, our next big event was Lizet getting mad at Xavier for getting in her purse, resulting in Dave taking the bottle away from both of them, and Lizet stomping off to the backyard where she sat for awhile. It’s been an hour now, and we’re still getting the silent treatment with the occasional glare.  What fun!  Dave has now gone to purchase some of that Arequipan bread we love so much, since Cornelia made us a pot of chicken and rice soup for dinner.  After returning, Dave also had a chocolate cake and ice cream to celebrate Adoption Day!  The candle he picked was a question mark; after all, what DO you place on an adoption cake?  The children thought that was funny.  After dinner and dessert, the children went to their usual spot:  Television Central.