June 23 - Zalen Moise home for 5 months

I missed my monthly update on Mr. Zalen being home for 5 months so still playing a bit of catch-up here on the blog.

At the beginning of June we got together with two amazing families that we met while in Africa.  We met up in St. Louis and spent a day at the zoo.  It was a great time.  It was so good to see the kids and hear how everyone was adjusting.  It was also fun to get to meet the brothers and sisters in each family.  Originally we were to travel with two other families from our agency but we ended up leaving a week ahead of time and traveled on our own.  Meeting up with the Mong and True families at the hotel was an amazing blessing! (Check out Amy's blog over at True Journey of Love)  Nothing like having those inside Congo jokes.  :-)  I really hope we are able to make this an annual event.  They are forever written into our story.

Here is a great pix of all of us:

This was Zalen's first time at the zoo and he had a great time.  He really liked the elephants and has talked about them a lot since we have returned.

Fave moment from this month was catching Zalen singing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus while he was playing.  It really touched my heart.  His language is picking up a bit more but I still feel like he is behind where he needs to be.  I am going to start working with him more regularly on flash cards and have been checking out some esl videos from the library.  I find it a challenge to be disciplined with such things during the summer break for some reason.  :-)  On a positive note I enjoyed understanding a story Zalen told me about Dad teasing him and beeping at him while driving the van.  He was laughing and telling me about it and I understood most of it.  We are so close to breaking a communication barrier. 

We have been swimming a lot due to the excessive heat.  He really loves the water.  His favorite thing to do at the beach is to scoop sand and water into his bucket and "cook" something.  He did have a lot of fun with a play boat that he drove everywhere the last time we were there.  His tongue hanging out the whole time.  It is just his thing.  :-)

I purchased a slip n slide as well so we tried that out.  Like always he was really unsure at first but it didn't take him long to try it after watching the other kids.  I love to see him laugh and enjoy life.  It never seems like a small thing.

  

I love this picture of him with my dad taken on Father's Day with all the grandkids.  Zalen really loves his Pom-Po.