Rihanna's Date with Daddy

Rihanna had a date with Daddy yesterday.
Troy tries to take each of the kids out on a "date" once every month or two, and Saturday morning was his first time to initiate Rihanna into this family tradition.  She was not so sure that she wanted to go at first; we have seen her warm up much more quickly to me than to him and I think that she is just having to learn that men can be trusted.  Anyways, when he gave her the option of taking her clothes-shopping during their date, her eyes lit up and she gave in.  (Hmm...now why hasn't he ever given ME that option for our dates?)  Off to Gymboree!
According to Troy, Rihanna was a quick and decisive shopper.  She walked in the doors, made a few swooping circles through the merchandise and laid out her 5 choices.  Troy said, "Pick one." And she immediately pointed to a darling little peach dress.  (As an aside, his comment was, "That was the best shopping experience that I ever had with a woman!"  I tried not to be offended.)
Then they headed to Waffle House, and Ri got to taste the yummiest waffle on earth, at least in our opinion.  Troy ordered all these other items so that she could sample them, but she was satisfied with her waffle, so he came home sporting an extra pound or two.  
Ah, the smile on her face when she walked through the door.
I swear, one date with that man changed that girl.  (This I can identify with.)
She bounced off the walls for the next hour.  (Literally.  It drove me crazy.)  She seemed more secure.  I really don't think I am just reading into this.  He gave her the gift of two hours of love, attention, and affection, and I think he might have won her heart.
In the mini-van later that day, she busted out with a story from her past about "Mama D".  This is no small thing, as I can count on one hand the number of times that she has initiated talking about Mama D since we got her on May 11th.  And then a couple of hours later, ANOTHER story about Mama D.  Again, amazing.  Rihanna is so lucky (oops...Christians are supposed to say "blessed"!) to be adopted into the Bird-a-well home (This is how Ri says her last name, even after 6 months of trying to teach her otherwise!) where the Greatest Dad on Earth just happens to live!  What are the odds?!  I think that the Lord might just love that little girl. :)

As Hillary said...

It really does take a village. No, I haven't gone liberal, but I do keep hearing the words of Hillary Clinton in the back of my mind as I try to parent this brood of children, and realize every day that I could not do it alone!  "Village" may not be the best word.  "Church" might be more accurate, since so much of the help we have received have been from our awesome friends at Perimeter Church.  Especially since we don't have any family in town, they are our Atlanta family, and I don't know what this transition would have been like without them.

Just for fun, I will mention a few things that the "village" has given us...
*$13,000  towards our adoption and legal fees.
*At least 20 home-cooked dee-lish meals.  (I just had to start cooking again this week...isn't that amazing, 2 months of food?!)
*2 months of formula for Alana
*Hundreds of diapers!  We may run out of kids before we run out of diapers.
*Lots of cutie baby outfits
*A closet full of size 5 clothes for Cate and her new "twin" sister Rihanna who happens to wear the same size.  Including...
*Beautiful holiday dresses and red wool coats for the girls from my fave kid store, Gymboree
*Babysitting...including 2 date nights...ah, glorious
*yard work
*Hand-me-down toys to keep my preschool class (Cate, Will, and Ri) busy
*Childcare for Alana so that me and the kids can go to the gym (Alana can't go until she is 3 mo old, which is 20 days from now, not that I am keeping track or anything!)

Such a big, huge thank you to y'all for loving us and helping us out.  We still need it and probably will for a while.  When you give to us, it is like God is giving to us, and we feel so loved by you AND by Him.  No doubt He adores these little girls, and He has rescued them (by bringing them to us) AND He has rescued us (by letting us parent them)...because He knew that we needed them just as much as they needed us.