Adoption Training Day 2

Another full day of training on Saturday. Now I’m trying to remember what we talked about - medical issues (lice, scabies and all manner of fun things), traveling (we feel pretty comfortable with all of that), tips for after you get home, etc.

Again we got to meet two different adoptive families. This really was my favorite part. One family was that of my caseworker. They have 3 bio children and 5 adoptive children (3 Ethiopian siblings and 2 from India). I just loved being able to ask them questions from their perspective - including the bio children. They were good sports. Two of the older kids are actually going to Tanzania for a couple of months this summer to do missions work - all money raised on their own.

It’s awesome to see what adopting has done for the family as a whole - broadened their worlds and given them huge hearts for the hurting. It is my prayer that it does the same for our family.

We also got to talk about hair care - whole ‘nother world for me. Noah has lived the last 8 years with a buzz cut that I give him about every 2 weeks. Natalie barely had hair until she was about 2 - her first “real” haircut at age 3 or something. She hates having anything in her hair - barrettes, ponytails, etc. Last September she came home from 2 weeks in Arkansas and declared she wanted to grow her hair out “long and beautiful” like her cousin Averee. I told her that was fine but that probably mean we’d go through some periods where we would have to put it up. So she’s gotten a little better and occasionally lets me do something fun with her hair.

But with B-girl hair time will actually have to be scheduled Some of the families there said it’s just an every Saturday night thing and can take a couple of hours. Our goal is to make it fun and not seem like torture. In the two pictures we have of B-girl, she has beautiful hairstyles. The first one has cornrows leading back into a little poof or bun in the back. Then the other two shots have her hair all in braids. It’s about shoulder length or so.

Two books on my amazon.com wish list are:

Wavy, Curly, Kinky : The African American Child’s Hair Care Guide and Kinki Kreations: A Parent’s Guide to Natural Black Hair Care for Kids

Both have gotten high marks from other adoptive parents. So much to learn!