My Monday Blog on Tuesday

Usually I blog on Mondays about a kid that I'm working with, but today, we will blog on Tuesday. Last night, John and Stacy had to take Mama Theresia to the hospital (malaria among other things), so I hung out with the kids and watched The Lizzie Mcguire Movie. I love that movie. . .even if it is for kids, I love that movie!

Anyway, today, I want to introduce you to Miracle. He is one of the Omorefe kids and he is 8 years old.

I first met Miracle through email last year. Stacy wrote asking for advice on what she could do with him. He (along with Rosemary and Paul) are John's youngest siblings and they moved to Ghana from Nigeria in February. When they came, Stacy decided to homeschool Miracle along with her own 6 year old, JJ. He had a really difficult time learning how to read, and though he was 2 years older, he struggled far more than JJ. But, after lots of practice and encouragement, Miracle began to read and he began to learn quickly.

This year, my favorite moments with Miracle are when we take our walks at night. Miracle comes next to me and holds my hand and asks me to tell him a story from when I was a child. He will listen to the story and say "mmhmmm" as I tell him each part. Then, the next night that we go walking, he'll ask me to tell him the exact same story by saying, "Auntie Autumn, I want you to tell me the story of when the cow was in your basement. . ." and he'll finish the whole story but still want ME to retell it.

Miracle loves sports. He is very competitive, even in every day things, but especially with sports. He can dribble the ball, even with an arm that doesn't quite work right, run fast with a soccer ball at his feet, and loves to play games.

Miracle LOVES attention, so when someone is not giving him the attention that he wants, then he will make up a reason to get the attention. Usually, his attention-getting behavior has to do with finding some random cut or scrape on his skin, picking at in, starting to cry and begging for a bandaid. If this doesn't work, he'll usually pick some kind of a fight, and come running with tears down his face for having been hit for something he started. Gotta love his perseverance. . .eventually he'll do something to get attention!

Miracle loves to answer questions and tell stories at school. He is usually one of the first to raise his hand, even if he doesn't know the answer, but he always wants to try.

He is SUPER ticklish. I think it's one of those ticklish things where it is just painful it's so ticklish. You tickle him and not too soon afterwards, he'll just start cringing and tell you to stop. But, he'll sure get to giggling for awhile before I let him go!

Overall, I love how this little boy loves others. There are times when he is so gentle with Justice, or so kind to Caleb, or so giving to JJ--I know that he is a boy that will grow up to be a man of integrity--if only we can get him past the attention-getting thing! haha

Here's a pic of Miracle:
(my uploader isn't working on this website, so you'll have to copy and paste the url into your browser)
http://www.facebook.com/autumnbuzz#!/photo.php?pid=5570516&id=552826775&ref=fbx_album