LET'S GO FLY A KITE!

It seems like such a simple thing.  But it takes just the RIGHT amount of wind to get a kite UP and AWAY.

And this seems like such a normal picture of a pleasant Sunday afternoon.  But pictures rarely tell the whole story.

We see a grandpa and three grandchildren, right?  No big deal!  Scenes like this occur all over America every day!

Look closer.  Honeybuns is giving kite instruction to three little ones and the wind is doing the rest.

The little boy hugging his "Papa" is Tiki and while Tiki and his siblings were visiting this past weekend we celebrated his one year anniversary with us.  Just one year ago he arrived in the United States having boarded an  airplane for the first time in his little life.

That airplane ride took him from his native Rwanda and his known home (an orphanage of many children and a few nuns)  to his new environment of a mommy, a daddy, two sisters and two brothers.  He spoke French with just a few English words and a great big smile to get him through the challenges of communicating.

Adopting an older child presents a different set of adjustments than adopting a baby but I'm writing to declare that TIKI is doing just FINE! 

He speaks fluent English,  knows slang, fights with his siblings,  and plays hard like every six year old should play. He loves books, knows his ABC's, can count, cries when he falls,  prefers milk to juice and knows when his brothers are giving him the short end of the stick.  He is delightful and we love him!

He tells a few stories of life B.A. (before America) and remembers some special friends.  He's requested that his friends be adopted soon, too.  He misses them.  But I'm pretty sure he would  never trade his new life here with his old life there.

Every child needs a family, and every family that can possibly open their arms and hearts needs a Tiki.  Is it really so hard to make room for just one more?   Just one more little guy or girl that grows, smiles, dreams, hugs, and prays.

He's still learning, but then again so are the rest of us.  

At our Thanksgiving feast he raised the question, "What's stuffing?"  Answer, "this dish, right here, want some?"

His question, "Do you put it in a teddy bear?"

And he LOVES kites.  Kites  are free to be carried by the wind, just like little orphan boys that are freed from their circumstances and  carried by love.