When Lasa turned SEVEN

 Look who turned seven years old, right on time!  She is every bit of seven.

 

This birthday's favorite thing for Lasa was an unexpected event for us all - meeting up with Angelique finally!  We pounced on the idea when she offered it up out of nowhere.  We visited the week or so before her birthday at Moss Wright Park.  It was a sweet a time as it could have been in every way.  Lasa got to play with her half-siblings, Labella and DeAngelo, and spent so much time playing and talking with Angelique.  It was very reconnecting for them all.  Lasa hadn't seen Angelique since she was two and half, so this was just SUCH a big deal.  We are beyond thankful.

In other birthday news, Lasa was overjoyed to finally be having her first ever birthday party with friends, especially after last year's attempt had to be cancelled last minute due to Noah's contracting COVID.  Instead of a pool party at home this time, she opted for a craft party at Pinspiration.  It was delightful and adorable.  It's wasn't cheap so we could only invite a handful of friends; Lasa picked four  from church - Caylee Lou, Reese, Savannah, and Addie.  They all could come, which was a daymaker!  Addie got sick right before though, so Anna filled in and that suited just right, too.

 

Then back home for family gifts.  She got Jixels, a grocery store gift card, a US Puzzle, polka dot decals to put on her walls, bracelet-making string, a diary with a key, a kayak (from Anna), a spike bracelet (from Noah), moolah (from Memaw), and a many treasures from Mimmie and Papa including jewel stickers, a recorder, lemons, Shrinky Dinks, and a couple drawing books.

Some birthday survey responses to mark SEVEN:

• Fave color:  I can't pick between black, gray, and white.
• Fave toy: Oh, that's hard.  Stuffed Animals!
• Fave TV show/movie:  I have 3 - Hobbit, Harry Potter, Lego Star Wars
• Fave eats:  Lemons, Toast with butter and jelly
• Fave game:  Mario Run, Hide and Seek at Bedtime with Daddy
• Fave snack food: Doritos, Oreos
• Fave Song: Mary, Did You Know and Riu Riu Chiu
• Fave Book:  Pete the Cat, Harry Potter
• Fave Friends: Clare, Kinley, Sophia, Callie, Korbin (all at school)
• Fave dinner: Chicken Poppyseed Casserole
  
• Fave thing to do outside: Play with the cats, swim
• Fave Holiday: Halloween
• Fave restaurant: Panda Express
• What do you want to be when you grown up:  Nurse, Chef, Artist
• What are things you'd do if you could be invisible for a day:  Give people presents
• What is the biggest thing to happen to you this year:  Seeing Angelique
• I am very proud because ... I am older.
• If I were president I would ... find a comfy chair, eat donuts, drink coffee.
• I am afraid to ... go on a rollercoaster backwards and loop-de-loop.
• What do you do well:  Cartwheels, Paint
• How would you describe yourself:  Kind.
• Fave time of day:  Morning because I see the cats to crazy things then.
• If I could choose a different name, I'd choose ... Rosie.
• What disappoints you:  When my cat dies.
• What is a Bible truth you learned this year:  At VBS - He takes care of us.
• What do you think about before you fall asleep:  What I will dream about
• Fave thing to wear:  My black and white dress
• Birthday Wish List:  Lemons, spike bracelet, diary, jewel stickers, recorder, bracelet string, a party
• What are your goals for this year: Tell time, Read more
• What do you do when you feel down:  Go upstairs and look at pics
• What do you like about yourself:  That my eyes match my skin

Some things I have been saving to share about her at this year/this age:

• How quick a learner she has been all year at school, coming home saying the smartest things like, "I participated in a Socratic seminar today," or "I think they need to be in a Remedial Niceness Class!" or outlining the parts of her persuasive paragraph she wrote at school or telling me a million cool facts, which lets me know what an attentive learner she has been while there.  So proud!
• Funny sound bites I have collected of hers:  I feel good about that cotton candy I had today.  The sky looks Jesusy.  I am just getting fabulous (while she was applying some lip gloss). When I rattled off some conditions some symptoms of Josh's might indicate, she piped up from the backseat saying, It could indicate dying.  Ha!  Why is it called a forehead? Why not call it a twohead? I know how to say OK and burp at the same time!  I wonder if there's a world where everything that's not real is real?  My boots make me feel joyful. When a classmate puzzled over how I could be her mom when she and I don't have the same skin color, Lasa just looked deadpan, sighed, and said, "It's a long story."  Yesterday, you said I could have my ice cream tomorrow and today is the tomorrow of yesterday, so.....  When I told her she was going to use the vacuum for the first time, she squealed, "Eek, I love being grown up!"  She always forgets the name for the candy Hot Tamales, which she loves, and calls them Hot Beans.
• She still has her beloved imaginary friend around every so often - Pescella, the unicorn.  But she does finally acknowledge/refer to her as imaginary.
  
• She is always, always, always loud ... talking, eating, singing, playing, pounding footsteps wherever she goes.  She hums while she brushes her teeth and she sings like a rock star in the shower.  
• My favorite word she still mispronounces is adventures.  She insists is IGventures.  She also says basically, literally, actually, and obviously a lot.  Her literally comes out "literry."
• She usually has applesauce and granola bar after school.  She eats a bunch for breakfast. Sometimes multiple breakfasts.  
• She's newly into Pokemon cards thanks to a craze with some boys in Sunday School.
• She is the wiggliest thing ... always ends up out of her seat at dinner.  I don't know why we haven't dealt with this before now. It IS becoming a problem with her not finishing her food because she is up and bouncing around and then distracted and doing other things.  Oy. 
• She still has the best, most dramatic tragedy face when she is upset.  It matters not how silly the thing is that has upset her... it's gets all the tragedy oomph as the others.  It's a little exhausting to reel back in, but we are working on it.  Ha!
• I still adore the dimple in her right cheek.
• Texts with Angelique have been so good for her heart this year.  And like mentioned above, finally seeing her again after the last year and a half of asking!  So glad for new breakthrough!
• She has enjoyed having her first chapter book read aloud to her this summer at bedtime - Harry Potter.  She is now in the second book, though I have tapped out of the reading of that book.  It bores me to tears, so Josh is keeping on with that with her.  
• Her chores these days include cleaning the kitty litter, sweeping the kitchen and hardwoods, gathering the chicken eggs, and cleaning up after herself in her room, playroom, and living room.  Also emptying the silverware in the dishwasher!  
• She is so proud to have learned to use the toaster oven and vacuum this year and to have learned to blow a bubble finally.  She is also proud of her cartwheels and her powerful swimming kicks.
• Her summer bedtime got bumped to 8ish usually, but now that we are back in school she will be a 7:00 bedtime girl.  Which is later than the 6:30 we leaned into all last year, which I knows sounds early, but it was needed and it worked well for her system and schedule.
• She is THRILLED to be taking lunch to school this school year after two years of eating school lunches while they were free.  I miss the free lunches already. Ha!
• It has to be said ... we let her watch way more TV than we let Noah and Anna watch at her age.  We have been attempting to reign in it this summer though!  The babies of the family really do get away with more.  😬 
• She's asked a LOT more questions surrounding her adoption story and her birthmother this year ... which is an interesting progression to be a part of, watching her understanding and curiosity grow each year.  She came to ask and understand the what and why of DCS placing her somewhere besides with her mother when she was born, she put a word to the culprit then - drugs, she has come to feel a loneliness at being different in skin color than her family when we are all together, she has come to see the numbers of people that look like her and the many more who don't and that has begun sending a message to her little heart.  She notices when black characters are always given second place in toys and shows now.  She's learning the strength to speak to that and know it's not fair that that's how it is.  She has even, I think, begun to romanticize the idea of what life would be like for her if she lived with Angelique. All of this is normal and fair and I am doing what I know to do to comfort and support her and give her voice all the space it wants along the way - validate her feelings and not brush them off or try to convince her that our love should block those harder emotions out.  It is ok to be happy and be sad about something at the same time and she is coming into that hard place here lately. I am proud of her as she sits in it.  Proud of her as she communicates it.  Proud of her as she keeps on and is willing to accept my reminder that the Lord is building a unique girl with this life.  She is slowly going to learn to trust Him with the hard stuff and the not knowing stuff. Pray for her and us as she grows up in this! Thank you!
  

Lasa, my love, you are growing up faster than I knew to expect.  I guess that's the hazard of being the littlest and hanging out with such older siblings all the time. I keep catching my breath with each new season and milestone you come to so seemingly quickly.  You are a fun, fun trip and your daddy and I are here for it!  Keep on shining, baby girl, keep on thinking all the deep thoughts and questions you think.  It is a unique life situation the Lord has planted you down in ... tagging along as so much the baby ... in a transracial family ... up on a new hobby farm on a hill in TN.  I know some of these things aren't the easiest.  I love how you ask and talk about these realities as the thoughts and wonderings come to you.  I am praying the joys and the challenges and the blessings and the puzzles of this road the Lord is having you walk will draw you to Him in a saving way so soon.  And I praying you grow into a woman who sees His purpose all over your life with such assurance and doesn't yield to defeat or discouragement at the challenges you face as a result of your adoption and this transracial family life you live.  Your daddy and I are hopeful for some specific discipleship he means to start with you this year especially.  You are a treasure.  You are so beautiful.  You are an energetic light!  We love, love, love you, Lasa Brown.  

Happy 7th Birthday!

Mom