Two years ago before we started our "forever home" journey with our new children, we joined a dear family friend of ours for a visit. She was farm-sitting. My biological kids fell in love with the dogs. Jessica wished for one as you can see in the pictures below my girls were overcome with emotion by these beautiful animals.
Moriah-Jane was on her last away time with us before she was heading off to study in Germany and she was spending more time with the dogs than us. Her post on Facebook read "My Happy Place"
However, when the four little ones arrived the only one who had no fear of the dogs was the toddler. In July last year we again visited the farm and the little ones reactions to the dogs made the stay quite unpleasant. We were sure a dog was not going to work...
When we were offered one of these dream dogs as a gift, we were so grateful and hoped that the children would grow out of fear of an animal if they had a relationship with it from puppy stage...it seemed to work for most of them.
Here is where I start the story of my oldest foster child...who we will name "Overcomer" in this blog. Her fear of the puppy was extreme, she had to be carried to the car. If Maya ran up to her she literally panicked. No reasoning was helping her. So we committed to pray and slowly trusted that she would make friends with the dog. Helping her with strategies to cope with the dog. It seemed to me that Maya was aware of her fear and tried so hard to help, but in her eager way was making it worse.
In the last two weeks we have seen a significant shift in "overcomer" as she seemed to warm up and become friends with Maya. It started after a conversation with her just over two weeks ago, trying to sort out what was making her sad one day. I offered Maya as a starter on a page after I had drawn two columns, one for happy and one for sad. She started drawing Maya in the sad box. I left the room for her to finish and when she was done she called me. What a great exercise, we found out what was making her sad, but the big learning was that it was NOT Maya, she moved Maya over the line to the happy side...making sure she had scribbled over the dog in the sad box.
That afternoon I felt I should get her a Happy meal - the why of that is for another day! The toy was a 'white wolf'
When I asked her who it looked like she said MAYA! I then told her that I am so proud of how she has overcome her fear of the dog and that God was going to help her overcome all her fear.
Yesterday, we went back to visit the farm. The kids got to meet Maya's parents and the big celebration was that there was no fear of the dogs. This visit was a lot more fun as the kids played outside a lot and the dogs were always near. When it was time to go "Overcomer" made sure to go and greet all the dogs. I was aware but not really taking it all in yet. I was just happy we could visit in peace.
When we got home I was amazed how excited she was to see Maya and she played with her for a long time. Later she came up and asked me if Maya's parents remember her? I told her I did not know enough about dogs, but next time we can take Maya and see what they do. She went back to play with Maya some more...
At bedtime, after prayers and the other routines I turned out the light and sat on the bed to do what I do every night lately, wait for the kids to fall asleep. I heard faint crying...it was "Overcomer". What followed was a big conversation about living away from parents and with another family...that Maya belongs and she belongs... and that they both do not want to go home! All I did was listen... I can not promise anything.
It was if the bond between the two of them went deeper yesterday, because Maya knows how she feels!
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| Maya's Parents :) |
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