She sings “Whatcha gonna get me for my birthdaaaaaaay?”
So I’ve been sitting at the kitchen table for the past 2+ hours with Lenia sitting next to me. She needs.
What began as a quick Christmas ordering while eating leftover (steak, potatoes and onions warmed in a cast iron skillet) turned into a comfortable session of “Lenia time.”
You see at random times she comes to me. She doesn’t come with an agenda and I doubt she knows what she is doing. But. She is checking in. She has been at home with us for six months. She has discovered a new life one full of clean water, plentiful food, rules, luxury. She has made friends. She has discovered what Church is in the States and which of her sisters she can aggravate. She has witnessed a wedding and a funeral. She has seen the beach and snow in the mountains. She has become what was meant to be: part of our family. We strive. We discipline. We listen.
Tonight she is asking me for a P-H-O-N-E (she spells it to prove…) for her birthday. My response is maybe. I offer that these things require one to be responsible on many different levels. She responds with a hearty “I KNOW.”
Does she? Does she realize?
As I sit with my feet propped on the kitchen chair she sits just leaning in. Touching. Connecting. Discovering.
I offer to Lenia that when she is in college and comes home I will sit in this same chair with her and talk as we have tonight. Perhaps then she will know what we strive for more than anything with her. Trust. She is safe. She is home.
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Knoxville, TN, United States