I am the Lord's servant; be it unto me as you have said...

......says the young virgin Mary after receiving news that she would become pregnant and bear the Son of the Most High. Here she was...a young, engaged teenager who had been virtuous and remained chaste...and she was told that she would become pregnant outside of wedlock, a crime punishable by death in her time and culture. Nevertheless, Mary believed in the fulfillment of the things spoken to her by the Lord through the angel Gabriel. Mary was blessed for taking God at His word, for believing Him in the midst of a seemingly impossible situation and for believing His seemingly impossible promise.

This Christmas season has made my youngest sister Ciahnna especially attentive to the Christmas story from Mary's point of view as Ciahnna is 15, the same age that Mary was believed to have been when she gave birth to Jesus. Cici and I have spent considerable time discussing Mary's complete humanity, complete faith in God, and complete blessedness. Ciahnna and I both would like to be more like Mary and proclaim that we are servants of the Lord and desire to have everything befall us as the Lord wills.

Luke 1

46 And Mary said, My soul does magnify the Lord,

47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

48 For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from now on all generations shall call me blessed.

49 For he that is mighty has done to me great things; and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

51 He has showed strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He has put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he has sent empty away.

54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

The Spirit of Adoption

“Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry ‘Abba, Father.’” I’ve had this verse on my sidebar for quite some time now. However, this verse is more pertinent now than ever before.

For the past three weeks our family has been celebrating and adjusting to the arrival of two new family members. As planned, all finalities were completed for our pending adoption by the day after Thanksgiving. The following Monday, Karmello and Kaydence came home. I honestly feel like I forget what our lives were like before the arrival of these two precious blessings. What a reason to be thankful during that Thanksgiving season!

Both Karmello and Kaydence have been adjusting very well and are reaching attachment/bonding milestones right on time.

Kimora and Kariah have also adjusted amazingly well and have shown themselves to be flexible, easy-going little girls. Karmello and Kimora are attached at the hip now; sometimes they include Kariah, and sometimes they choose not to. That proves to be a challenge.

Before coming to us, Kaydence had not learned to walk. She was simply content to crawl about on all fours. Kimora and Kariah both walked before they were a year old, so I was a little shocked that Kaydence at 15 months had not yet begun. During these past three weeks I’ve worked with her a little bit, walking around the penthouse helping her walk (you know, with me standing behind her and her little hands curled around my pointer fingers). I know she’ll take off on her own when she’s ready, but she’s already shown substantial progress….she just needed a little individual attention, which was something that could be rarely given her at the foster home.

Kaydence continues to call me “MOOOMeeeeeeee.” Karmello prefers “Lia.” Hmmmm..ok. For now. I don’t blame the poor kid. He’s almost four years old and has never had a mother figure in his life. Why would he be expected to come into our home and instantly dub me “mommy.” How is he to know that’s what my title is in relation to him?

Some of you may be thinking, “Well, what about the baby? What about Kajanae?” Well….as always, Kajanae has been an amazing source of joy in my life. That little pumpkin is my “ride or die” chick (don’t know what that means?...look it up on urbandictionary.com). Kaji is always with me; she’s my constant companion. If there’s going to be a late walker in our family, it’s probably going to be Kajanae. I NEVER put that baby down!! People have jokingly asked me if she’s cemented to my hip. Yep. I believe she is. Actually we’ve scheduled a surgery to do just that. She won’t ever have to be without me; I won’t ever have to be without her!!

One other thing that I want to be sure I mention so as to not confuse my readers is that my sister Jaslene comes over every weekday to help out with the kids. She’s not really a nanny because I’m not off on my own jaunts, but of course we pay her generously. It’s been so fun to be able to spend my days with Jaslene. I freakin’ love that woman, and so do her nieces and nephew. Before “employing” her, she would come by and hang out with us just about every evening anyway. We’re tight (crossing middle and pointer fingers). Thank you for being such a blessing Jassi!!

So……..Kx5……Karmello, Kimora, Kariah, Kaydence, and Kajanae’s Mommy. Being a mother of five children three and under has already proven to have its challenges, and surely there are more posts to follow on such incidents. But my heart is so FULL of JOY that I simply can’t focus on those challenges. The overwhelming focus is how in love I am with my kids. Normally I apologize if my blog undergoes a hiatus…but this time I just can’t bring myself to feel sorry. No worries, you all know me….I’m documenting every little “jot and tittle” in journals, scrapbooks, and baby books, so nothing is going unrecognized or forgotten. The fact is that I love my life and I’m living it, and if it happens to not show up online for everyone to read about, that’s okay!! I love my five K’s, and I’m so honored that God has chosen me to be their mommy, that He has entrusted them to my care for this short segment of eternity.

Wordless Wednesday: Caramel Apples

Princess, Pippi, Pepper

Three P's for our three K's! This year for Halloween, Kimora dressed up as a princess, Kariah as Pippi Longstocking, and Kajanae as a chili pepper. Our evening was filled with pumpkin whoopie pies, caramel apples, gingerbread cake with lemon sauce, apple cider, and pumpkin chocolate chip bread. We all exhibited great self-control and portion moderation, of course! ;)

Jamal and I took all three girls trick-or-treating through several neighborhoods Friday evening. Jamal, Princess Kimora, and Pippi Kariah Longstocking ran ahead a bit, and I was left just slightly behind with little Kaji. Hanging back with my baby gave me a bit of peace and some time to think....I thought about our family of five. I thought about last Halloween when we had just two kids- Kimora and Kariah. I thought about next Halloween when we go trick-or-treating, we'll have two additional little ones running/toddling ahead with daddy. How my life has changed in the past few years, and what a blessing that I wouldn't change a single thing! Taking a deep breath of the clear night air, I could smell familiarity mingled with exciting change. Looking around me, dear Atlanta looked to me how it always has, yet there was something new and intangible ready to burst from its fringes. Well, one change since last year was indeed very tangible; I looked down at the baby in my arms and thanked the Lord for Kajanae for probably the millionth time these past 9 months. I was jarred back to reality with the voice of Kariah calling me from ahead; she had become concerned that I would get lost if I didn't keep up with them. LOL! :) I looked up at Jamal, Kimora, and Kariah and said to Kajanae, "C'mon, Baby Girl, let's go get 'em," and cuddled my chili pepper close. :)

Not Me! Monday

After reading McMama's Blog for about a month, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and post a "Not me!" Monday blog post. If you're a regular mycharmingkids.net reader, you may recognize one of my "not me's" as I had a similar experience to McMama. This week:

1) I did not cry on Saturday when I realized Kariah is finally done nursing after 26 months of life. Nope, not me. Didn't do it!

2) I absolutely did not make a mess of my new, magazine-ready kitchen making caramel apples with Kimora and Kariah...complete with sprinkles...and lots of stickiness. I did not attempt this without the help of another adult, as that would be foolish. No, not me.

3) I did not blow a gasket when a stranger commented on Kimora and Kariah's "good hair" and about how it doesn't look like Kajanae is going to have "good hair." I did not feel like spewing poison from between my teeth or shrieking in her face, "Leave my baby the heck alone!" I did not feel like using more severe language than "heck." Nope, certainly not me. Huh-uh!!

4) I did not feel like fainting when I saw FIVE carseats in the back of my vehicle after installing Karmello and Kaydence's carseats. I didn't pause for a moment to contemplate how I managed to accumulate five children over the course of 3.5 years.

5) I did not finally relent to Jamal's request to keep the pole in our bedroom that came with the highrise, and I was not amused by his joke that couple pole dancing lessons would be fun. A wholesome prude like me, I should think not!

6) I have not recently felt the strong, insatiable desire to be pregnant again. Nope. Not me!

With My Frappuccino in Hand....

Would you believe that I’m actually out at Starbucks, BY MYSELF with my computer, drinking a Frappuccino, finally updating this poor neglected blog? I can’t believe it either. Jamal pushed me out the front door (more like into the elevator), insisting I take a "me time" evening. How amazing is he? ;)

Before I begin, I’d like to issue an official apology to my regular readers! Those of you who I see on a weekly, if not daily, basis have naturally remained updated on the goings-on in our family. However, if we rely on this online venue to keep connected, then I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long. I have, however, been regularly checking my personal and online emails in case someone was REALLY trying to contact me. Some of you have asked for my email, but I get my email through my husband’s practice; for this reason, I don’t give out my personal email as it would be too exposing. However, if you make an account on hellorazzi.com I can email you through that site, or if you have a blog of your own, just leave the address in a comment to me (I won’t post it if you’d rather I not). I’ll be sure to come by and visit!

Here goes:

I would put high on the list an adoption update, but there’s not really an update to give. Everything is still going as planned as far as that goes, and we plan to welcome Karmello and Kaydence by Thanksgiving. I suppose I may have a few stories to share from our visits, though. I'm also in the process of planning a homecoming party for them, which I suppose could be thought of as the parallel to a baby shower. However, I'd like them to be here for the celebration, of course, since they are the reason we'd be celebrating anyway! Kimora and Kariah are already so tight with Karmello; it's very exciting to see their relationships develop. Little baby Kaydence already calls me mommy....except it's more like "MO..meeeeeee" with the first syllable very loud and high-pitched and the second syllable lower and strung out. She shrieks and claps when she sees our family coming to visit her and her brother. Unbelievably cute!!

The item next on the list for updating is Kimora's preschool experience.

September

2- This day was described in my first post about Kimora and her preschool. Blah...'nuf said.

4- This day was described as a "Tuesday repeat"

9- This was the first day that Kimora went to school armed with the "Mommy Comes Back" song and photo of our family. These things seemed to increase her security...she seemed less anxious. Before leaving this day, I stayed a little bit again to help her get accustomed. Another tearful goodbye, but the teachers report was promising: she calmed down after about 45 minutes. I saw that Kimora had been kissing the family photo I gave her because it had a bunch of little lip prints on it.

11- It was suggested that I spray some of my perfume on Kimora's wrist so that she could smell it and feel close to me during her school day. On this day I tried that; I could tell she felt very special wearing mommy's special Baby Phat perfume.

16- Kimora continued to take the photo with her to school and wear some of my perfume. I never asked her if she sang the song I taught her, but her teachers said that they indeed heard her singing a song about Mommy, whether or not it was the exact one I intended :). Today she cried for about 45 minutes to an hour after I left (not ideal, but hey, we have to take the small victories).

18- This day we were swarmed at the door by a bunch of preschoolers, all anxious to get Kimora's attention and play with her. "Wow, my baby's popular," I couldn't help but think. Kimora seemed happy to see her little buddies, but that didn't quite override her desire to cling tightly to my leg. The teachers said that today she cried about a half our after I left.

23- I don't remember much distinct about this day....much the same as the last day, I think.

25- This day the teachers gave me a report saying that they are very impressed with Kimora's knowledge of numbers and the alphabet. Apparently they had no idea of Kimora's capabilities because she hadn't said much to them until today. They were also teaching the class numbers 1-10 in Spanish, and Kimora corrected them on their pronounciation. LOL! I can just see her doing that. "No, not 'trace'...it's 'tres!'" You know, with the tongue-rolling "r" and no dipthong on the vowel ;).

30- Kimora's teacher's rave reviews on her academic abilities seemed to coincide with Kimora's excitement about learning at school. Today she took me by her desk to show me (once again!) her nametag where she "sits and does her homeworks." How adorable is that??!!

October

2- Today was the day that Kimora hit the only-crying-for-fifteen-minutes-after-mommy-leaves benchmark. She also came home from school excited about their upcoming fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. She also begins talking to me about specific friends by name: Amani, Kaneisha, and Isaiah.

7- Kimora continues to spend a lot of time at the art station. It never fails, there's always at least one picture of she and I together...everyday. Her teachers say that Kimora is always saying "My Mommy...." this and "My Mommy...." that. "My Mommy is coming to get me after snack." "My Mommy's favorite color is pink." They ask her, "What's YOUR favorite color, Kimora?" She says, "I like ALL the colors, but my Mommy....."

9- And...this was yesterday. It was another typically tearful goodbye, but she calmed down very shortly after I left. I'm so proud of her! Her teachers continue to be floored by her literary abilities. She did her little, "Cap. C-A-P spells Cap" thing today while writing the letters as she spells. Yes, my little 3.5 year-old...that floors us all!

So there you go! Kimora preschool update! She's come leaps and bounds if you ask me. It still is difficult to leave her as she's tearful, but I find relief in the fact that she's no longer sad the whole morning. This coming Tuesday is the field trip to the pumpkin patch, and I'm going with! :)

Octopus Woman

I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! I promise a decent post within the next few days, but until then, this is me:





Some update topics coming up:

-Adoption update
-Kimora's Preschool Progress
-Out of the mouth of Kariah
-Kajanae- What's new with the baby!
-The Move
-Our new home